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Synopsis of the Books of the Bible
John Nelson Darby
1800-1882
PHILIPPIANS
Introduction
In the epistle to the Philippians we find much more of christian
experience, and the development of the exercise of the heart, than in the
generality of the epistles. It is in fact proper christian experience.
Doctrine and practice are found in them all, but, with the exception of the
second to Timothy which is of another nature, there is none that contains
like this, the expression of the Christian's experience in this toilsome
life, and the resources which are open to him in passing through it, and
the motives which ought to govern him. We may even say that this epistle
gives us the experience of christian life in its highest and most perfect
expression-say, rather, its normal condition under the power of the Spirit
of God. God has condescended to furnish us with this beautiful picture of
it, as well as with the truths that enlighten us, and the rules that direct
our walk.
The occasion for it was quite natural. Paul was in prison, and the
Philippians (who were very dear to him, and who, at the commencement of his
labours, had testified their affection for him by similar gifts) had just
sent assistance to the apostle by the hand of Epaphroditus at a moment
when, as it appears, he had been for some time in need. A prison, need, the
consciousness that the assembly of God was deprived of his watchful care,
this expression on the part of the Philippians of the love that thought of
him in his necessities, although at a distance-what could be more adapted
to open the apostle's heart, and lead to his expressing the confidence in
God that animated him, as well as what he felt with regard to the assembly,
unsupported now by his apostolic care, and having to trust God Himself
without any intermediate help? And it was most natural that he should pour
out his feelings into the bosom of these beloved Philippians, who had just
given him this proof of their affection. The apostle therefore speaks more
than once of the Philippians' fellowship with the gospel: that is to say,
they took part in the labours, the trials, the necessities which the
preaching of the gospel occasioned to those who devoted themselves to it.
Their hearts united them to it-like those of whom the Lord speaks who
received a prophet in the name of a prophet.
This brought the apostle into a peculiarly intimate connection with this
assembly; and he and Timotheus, who had accompanied him in his labours in
Macedonia, his true son in the faith and in the work, address themselves to
the saints and to those who bore office in this particular assembly. This
is not an epistle which soars to the height of God's counsels, like that to
the Ephesians, or which regulates the godly order which becomes Christians
everywhere, like the two to the Corinthians; nor is it one which lays the
foundation for the relationship of a soul with God, like that to the
Romans. Neither was it destined to guard Christians against the errors that
were creeping in among them, like some of the others which were written by
our apostle. It takes the ground of the precious inner life, of the common
affection of Christians towards each other, but of that affection as
experienced in the heart of Paul, animated and directed by the Holy Ghost.
Hence also we find the ordinary relationships which existed within an
assembly: there are bishops and deacons, and it was the more important to
remember them, since the immediate care of the apostle was no longer
possible. The absence of this immediate care forms the basis of the
apostle's instructions here, and gives its peculiar importance to the
epistle.
Chapter 1
The affection of the Philippians, which expressed itself by sending help to
the apostle, reminded him of the spirit they had always shewn; they had
cordially associated themselves with the labours and trials of the gospel.
And this thought leads the apostle higher, to that which governs the
current of thought (most precious to us) in the epistle. Who had wrought in
the Philippians this spirit of love and of devotedness to the interests of
the gospel? Truly it was the God of the glad tidings and of love; and this
was a security that He who had begun the good work would fulfil it unto the
day of Christ. Sweet thought!-now that we have no longer the apostle, that
we have no longer bishops and deacons, as the Philippians had in those
days. God cannot be taken from us; the true and living source of all
blessing remains to us, unchangeable, and above the infirmities, and even
the faults, which deprive Christians of all intermediate resources. The
apostle had seen God acting in the Philippians. The fruits bore witness of
the source. Hence he counted on the perpetuity of the blessing they were to
enjoy.
But there must be faith in order to draw these conclusions. Christian love
is clear-sighted and full of trust with regard to its objects, because God
Himself, and the energy of His grace, are in that love.
To return to the principle-it is the same thing with the assembly of God.
It may indeed lose much, as to outward means, and as to those
manifestations of the presence of God, which are connected with man's
responsibility; but the essential grace of God cannot be lost. Faith can
always count upon it. It was the fruits of grace which gave the apostle
this confidence, as in Hebrews 6:9, 10; 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 4. He
counted indeed, in 1 Corinthians 1:8, and in Galatians, on the
faithfulness of Christ in spite of many painful things. The faithfulness of
the Lord encouraged him with regard to Christians, whose condition in other
respects was the cause of great anxiety. But here-surely a much happier
case-the walk itself of the Christian led him to the source of confidence
about them. He remembered with affection and tenderness the way in which
they had always acted towards him, and he turned it into a desire for them
that the God who had wrought it would produce for their own blessing the
perfect and abundant fruits of that love.
He opens his own heart also to them. They took part, by the same grace
acting in them, in the work of God's grace in him, and that with an
affection that identified itself with him and his work; and his heart
turned to them with an abundant return of affection and desire. God, who
created these feelings, and to whom he presented all that passed in his
heart, this same God who acted in the Philippians, was a witness between
them (now that Paul could give no other by his labour among them) of his
earnest desire for them all. He felt their love, but he desired moreover,
that this love should be not only cordial and active, but that it should be
guided also by wisdom and understanding from God, by a godly discernment of
good and evil, wrought by the power of His Spirit; so that, while acting in
love, they should also walk according to that wisdom, and should understand
that which, in this world of darkness, was truly according to divine light
and perfection, so that they should be without reproach until the day of
Christ. How different from the cold avoidance of positive sin with which
many Christians content themselves! The earnest desire of every excellence
and likeness to Christ which divine light can shew them is that which marks
the life of Christ in us.
Now the fruits produced were already a sign that God was with them; and He
would fulfil the work unto the end. But the apostle desired that they
should walk throughout the whole of the way according to the light that God
had given, so that when they came to the end there should be nothing with
which they could be reproached: but that, on the contrary, set free from
all that might weaken or lead them astray, they should abound in the fruits
of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
A fine practical picture of the Christian's normal condition in his daily
work towards the end; for, in the Philippians, we are always on the way
towards our heavenly rest in which redemption has set us.
Such is the introduction to this epistle. After this expression of the
wishes of his heart for them, reckoning on their affection, he speaks of
his bonds, which they had remembered; but he does so in connection with
Christ and the gospel, which he had most of all at heart. But, before I go
beyond the introduction into the matter of the epistle, I would notice the
thoughts which lie at the foundation of the sentiments expressed in it.
There are three great elements which stamp their character on it.
Firstly, it speaks of the Christian's pilgrimage in the wilderness;
salvation is viewed as a result to be obtained at the end of the journey.
Redemption accomplished by Christ is indeed established as the foundation
of this pilgrimage (as was the case with Israel at their entrance into the
wilderness), but the being presented risen and in glory before God, when
victorious over every difficulty, is the subject in this epistle, and is
that which is here called salvation.
In the second place, the position is characterised by the apostle's
absence, the assembly having therefore itself to maintain the conflict. It
had to overcome, instead of enjoying the victory gained over the enemy's
power by the apostle when he was with them and could make himself weak with
all who were weak.
And, thirdly, the important truth, already mentioned, is set forth, that
the assembly, in these circumstances, was cast more immediately on God-the
inexhaustible source for it of grace and strength, of which it was to avail
itself in an immediate way by faith-a resource which could never fail it.
I resume the consideration of the text with verse 12, which begins the
epistle after the introductory portion. Paul was a prisoner at Rome. The
enemy appeared to have gained a great victory in thus restraining his
activity; but by the power of God, who orders all things and who acted in
the apostle, even the devices of the adversary were turned to the
furtherance of the gospel. In the first place, the imprisonment of the
apostle made the gospel known, where it would not otherwise have been
preached, in high places at Rome; and many other brethren, reassured as to
the apostle's position,
became more bold to preach the gospel without fear. But there was another
way in which this absence of the apostle had an effect. Many-who, in the
presence of his power and his gifts, were necessarily powerless and
insignificant persons-could make themselves of some importance, when, in
the unsearchable but perfect ways of God, this mighty instrument of His
grace was set aside. They could hope to shine and attract attention when
the rays of this resplendent light were intercepted by the walls of a
prison. Jealous but hidden when he was present, they availed themselves of
his absence to bestir themselves; whether false brethren or jealous
Christians, they sought in his absence to impair his authority in the
assembly, and his happiness. They only added to both. God was with His
servant; and, instead of the self-seeking which instigated these sorry
preachers of the truth, there was found in Paul the pure desire for the
proclamation of the good news of Christ, the whole value of which he deeply
felt, and which he desired above all, be it in what way it might.
Already the apostle finds his resource for his own case, in God's operating
independently of the spiritual order of His house with regard to the means
that He uses. The normal condition of the assembly is that the Spirit of
God acts in the members of the body, each one in its place, for the
manifestation of the unity of the body and of the reciprocal energy of its
members. Christ, having overcome Satan, fills with His own Spirit those
whom He has delivered out of the hand of that enemy, in order that they may
exhibit at the same time the power of God and the truth of their
deliverance from the power of the enemy, and exhibit them in a walk, which,
being an expression of the mind and energy of God Himself, leaves no room
for those of the enemy. They constituted the army and the testimony of God
in this world against the enemy. But then, each member, from an apostle
down to the weakest, acts efficaciously in his own place. The power of
Satan is excluded. The exterior answers to the interior, and to the work of
Christ. He who is in them is greater than he who is in the world. But
everywhere power is needed for this, and the single eye. There is another
state of things, in which, although all is not in activity in its place,
according to the measure of the gift of Christ, yet the restoring energy of
the Spirit in an instrument like the apostle defends the assembly, or
brings it back into its normal condition, when it has partially failed. The
epistle to the Ephesians, on the one side, and those to the Corinthians and
Galatians, on the other, present these two phases of the history of the
assembly.
The epistle to the Philippians treats-but with the pen of a divinely
inspired apostle-of a state of things in which this last resource was
wanting. The apostle could not labour now in the same manner as before, but
he could give us the Spirit's view of the state of the assembly, when,
according to the wisdom of God, it was deprived of these normal energies.
It could not be deprived of God. Doubtless the assembly had not then
departed so far from its normal condition as it has now done, but the evil
was already springing up. All seek their own, says the apostle, not the
things of Jesus Christ; and God allowed it to be so during the life of the
apostles, in order that we might have the revelation of His thoughts
respecting it, and that we might be directed to the true resources of His
grace in these circumstances.
Paul himself had to experience this truth in the first place. The bonds
that united him to the assembly and to the work of the gospel were the
strongest that exist on earth; but he was obliged to resign the gospel and
the assembly to the God to whom they belonged. This was painful; but its
effect was to perfect obedience, trust, singleness of eye, and
self-renunciation, in the heart, that is, to perfect them according to the
measure of the operation of faith. Nevertheless the pain caused by such an
effort betrays the inability of man to maintain the work of God at its own
height. But all this happens in order that God may have the whole glory of
the work; and it is needed, in order that the creature may be manifested in
every respect according to the truth. And it is most blessed to see how,
both here and in 2 Timothy, the decay of individual life and ecclesiastical
energy brings out a fuller development of personal grace on one hand and
ministerial energy on the other, where there is faith, than is found
anywhere else. Indeed it is always so. The Moseses, and Davids, and Elijahs
are found in the time of the Pharaohs, and Sauls, and Ahabs.
The apostle could do nothing: he had to see the gospel preached without
him-by some through envy and in a spirit of contention, by others through
love; encouraged as regards the apostle's bonds, these desired to alleviate
them by continuing his work. Every way Christ was preached, and the
apostle's mind rose above the motives which animated the preachers in the
contemplation of the immense fact, that a Saviour, the deliverer sent of
God, was preached to the world. Christ, and even souls were more precious
to Paul than the work's being carried on by himself. God was carrying it
on; and therefore it would be for the triumph of Paul, who linked himself
with the purposes of God.
He understood the great conflict which was going on between Christ (in his
members) and the enemy; and if the latter appeared to have gained a victory
by putting Paul in prison, God was using this event for the advancement of
the work of Christ by the gospel, and thus in reality for the gaining of
fresh victories over Satan-victories with which Paul was associated, since
he was set for the defence of that gospel. Therefore all this turned to his
salvation, his faith being confirmed by these ways of a faithful God, who
directed the eyes of His faithful servant more entirely upon Himself.
Sustained by the prayers of others and by the supply of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ, instead of being cast down and terrified by the enemy, he gloried
more and more in the sure victory of Christ in which he shared. Accordingly
he expresses his unchangeable conviction, that in nothing should he be made
ashamed, but that it would be given him to use all boldness, and that
Christ would be glorified in him, whether by his life or his death; and he
had death before his eyes. Called to appear before Caesar, his life might
be taken from him by the emperor's judgment; humanly speaking the issue was
quite uncertain. He alludes to this, chapter 1:22, 30; 2:17; 3:10. But,
living or dying, his eye was now more fixed on Christ than even on the
work, high placed as that work might have been in the mind of one whose
life could be expressed in this one word-"Christ." To live was for him-not
the work in itself, nor only that the faithful should stand fast in the
gospel, although this could not be separated from the thought of Christ,
because they were members of His body-Christ; to die was gain, for he
should be with Christ.
Such was the purifying effect of the ways of God, who had made him pass
through the ordeal, so terrible to him, of being separated for years,
perhaps four, from his work for the Lord. The Lord Himself had taken the
place of the work-so far at least as it was connected with Paul
individually; and the work was committed to the Lord Himself. Possibly the
fact that he was so engrossed with the work had contributed to that which
led to his imprisonment; for the thought of Christ alone keeps the soul in
equilibrium, and gives everything its right place. God caused this
imprisonment to be the means through which Christ became his all. Not that
he lost his interest in the work, but that Christ alone held the first
place; and he saw everything, and even the work, in Christ.
What consolation it is, when we are perhaps conscious that our weakness has
been manifested, and that we have failed in acting according to the power
of God, to feel that He, who alone has a right to be glorified, never
fails!
Now, since Christ was everything to Paul, it was evident gain to die, for
he would be with Him. Nevertheless it was worth while to live (for this is
the force of the first part of verse 21), because it was Christ and His
service; and he did not know which to choose. Dying, he gained Christ for
himself: it was far better. Living, he served Christ; he had more, as to
the work, since to live was Christ, and death of course would put a stop to
that. Thus he was in a strait between the two. But he had learnt to forget
himself in Christ; and he saw Christ entirely occupied with the assembly
according to His perfect wisdom. And this decided the question; for being
thus taught of God, and not knowing for himself which to choose, Paul lost
sight of himself, and thought only of the need of the assembly according to
the mind of Christ. It was good for the assembly that he should remain-for
one assembly even: thus he should remain. And see what peace this looking
to Jesus, which destroyed selfishness in the work, gives to the servant of
God. After all, Christ has all power in heaven and earth, and He orders all
things according to His will. Thus when His will is known-and His will is
love for the assembly-one can say that it will be done. Paul decides as to
his own fate, without troubling himself as to either what the emperor would
do, or the circumstances of the time. Christ loved the assembly. It was
good for the assembly that Paul should remain; Paul shall then remain. How
entirely Christ is everything here! What light, what rest, from a single
eye, from a heart versed in the Lord's love! How blessed to see self so
totally gone, and Christ's love to the assembly seen thus to be the ground
on which all is ordered!
Now if Christ is all this for Paul and for the assembly, Paul desires that
the assembly should be that which it ought to be for Christ, and thereby
for his own heart to which Christ was everything. To the assembly therefore
the apostle's heart turns. The joy of the Philippians would be abundant
through his return to them; only let their conduct, whether he came or not,
be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Two thoughts possessed his mind, whether
he should see them or hear tidings of them, that they might have constancy
and firmness in unity of heart and mind among themselves; and be devoid of
fear with regard to the enemy, in the conflict they had to maintain against
him, with the strength that this unity would give them. This is the
testimony of the presence and operation of the Spirit in the assembly, when
the apostle is absent. He keeps Christians together by His presence; they
have but one heart and one object. They act in common by the Spirit. And,
since God is there, the fear with which the evil spirit and their enemies
might inspire them (and it is what he ever seeks to do; compare 1 Peter 5:
8) is not there. They walk in the spirit of love and power and of a sound
mind. Their condition is thus an evident testimony of salvation-entire and
final deliverance-since in their warfare with the enemy they feel no fear,
the presence of God inspiring them with other thoughts. With regard to
their adversaries, the discovery of the impotence of all their efforts
produces the sense of the insufficiency of their resources. Although they
had the whole power of the world and of its prince, they had met with a
power superior to their own-the power of God, and they were its
adversaries. A terrible conviction on the one side; profound joy on the
other, where not only there was thus the assurance of deliverance and
salvation, but they were proved to be salvation and deliverance from the
hand of God Himself. Thus, that the assembly should be in conflict, and the
apostle absent (himself wrestling with all the power of the enemy), was a
gift. Joyful thought! unto them it was given to suffer for Christ, as well
as to believe in Him. They had a further and a precious portion in
suffering with Christ, and even for Christ; and communion with His faithful
servant in suffering for His sake united them more closely in Him.
Note, here, how thus far we have the testimony of the Spirit to a life
above the flesh, not of it. In nothing he had been ashamed, and fully
trusted he never should be, but Christ magnified in his body, were his lot
life or death, as He ever had been. He does not know whether to choose life
or death, both were so blessed; to live, Christ; to die, gain, though then
labour was over; such confidence in Christ's love to the assembly that he
decides his case before Nero by what that love would produce. Envy and
strife against himself leading some to preach Christ would only turn to
victorious results for himself: he was content if Christ was preached. The
superiority to the flesh, living above it so completely, was not that it
was not there or its nature changed. He had, as we learn elsewhere, a thorn
in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. But it is a glorious
testimony to the power and working of the Spirit of God.
Chapter 2
But this, too, produced its effects. The apostle desired that their joy
should be full, and that unity among the Philippians should be perfect; for
his absence had allowed some seeds of disunion and disaffection to
germinate. Love had been sweetly and powerfully demonstrated by the gift
they had sent to the apostle. Consolation in Christ, comfort of love,
fellowship of the Spirit, tender mercies were displayed in it, giving him
great joy. Let them then make this joy perfect by the full establishment of
this same bond of love among themselves, by being of one accord, of one
mind, having the same love for each other, being all like-minded, allowing
no rivalship or vain-glory to display itself in any way. Such was the
apostle's desire. Appreciating their love towards himself, he wished their
happiness to be complete through the perfecting of that love among
themselves: thus would his own joy be perfect. Beautiful and touching
affection! It was love in him which, sensible to their love, thought only
of them. How delicate the way in which a kindness, which precluded reproof,
made a way for what really was one, and which a heart that added charity to
brotherly love could not leave unuttered!
Now the means of this union, of the maintenance of this love, was found in
the abnegation of self, in humility, in the spirit that humbles itself in
order to serve. It was this which perfectly displayed itself in Christ, in
contrast with the first Adam. The latter sought to make himself like God by
robbery, when he was in the form of a man, and strove to exalt himself at
God's expense; being at the same time disobedient unto death. Christ, on
the contrary, when He was in the form of God, emptied Himself, through
love, of all His outward glory, of the form of God, and took the form of a
man; and, even when He was in the form of a man, still humbled Himself It
was a second thing which He did in humbling Himself As God, He emptied
Himself; as man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even
to the death of the cross. God has highly exalted Him; for he who exalts
himself shall be humbled? but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Perfect love, glorious truth, precious obedience! A man by the just
judgment and act of God is exalted to the right hand of the throne of the
divine Majesty. What a truth is the Person of Christ! What a truth is this
descent and ascension by which He fills all things as Redeemer and Lord of
glory! God come down in love, man ascended in righteousness; entire love in
coming down, entire obedience by love also. Worthy from all eternity as to
His Person to be there, He is now as man exalted by God to His right hand.
It is an act of righteousness on God's part that He is there; and our
hearts can take part in it, rejoicing in His glory-rejoicing also that by
grace we have part in it as to our own place.
His humiliation is a proof that He is God. God only could leave His first
estate in the sovereign rights of His love; it is sin for any creature to
do so. It is also a perfect love. But this proof is given, this love
accomplished, in the fact that He is man. What a place has He acquired for
us in Himself! But it is of Him, not of us who are its fruits, that the
apostle thinks. He rejoices in the thought of Christ's exaltation. God has
exalted Him to the highest place, and given Him a name which is above every
name, so that everything in heaven and earth, and even in infernal regions,
must bow before this exalted man, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
It will be remarked here, that it is the lordship of Christ that is
presented in this passage, not His divinity in itself. His divinity is
indeed the primary point of departure. All in fact has its origin there-the
love, the self-renunciation, the humiliation, the marvellous condescension.
Nothing of all this could have been, or would have its value, without the
former; but it is of the Lord, complete in His Person in the position which
He took as man-it is of Him who humbled Himself, who when He had gone down
to the lowest possible place, was exalted by God; it is of Jesus, who
could, without exalting Himself, be equal with God, but who emptied
Himself, who went down even into death, that the apostle speaks: of Jesus,
Lord of all, and who, thus exalted as man, shall be owned as Lord
throughout the whole creation to the glory of God the Father.
The apostle's heart enlarges whenever he speaks of the Lord Jesus; but he
turns to the objects of his solicitude; and as he had spoken of the
self-renunciation and the humiliation of Christ, as a means of union which
would take all occasion from carnal rivalship, he has also been led to
speak of the obedience of Christ in contrast with the first Adam and the
flesh. He now applies this principle, also, for the instruction of the
Philippians: "Wherefore," he says, "my beloved, as ye have always obeyed."
And here the effect of his absence and removal from the work is
introduced-"not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for," he adds, "it is
God which worketh in you, both to will and to do." That is to say, while he
was among them he had laboured; now they were themselves engaged with the
enemy, without the aid of Paul's presence and spiritual energy; but God
Himself wrought in them, and they ought to work so much the more earnestly
in that they found themselves in such a warfare, God Himself being engaged
for them as acting in them for this conflict, and they themselves striving
in their own persons, directly with the power of the enemy. This was not
the moment to boast in their little gifts, on account of the absence of
that which had thrown them into the shade, nor to be at strife among
themselves. On the other hand, if they were deprived of Paul, they were not
deprived of God. God Himself wrought in them. This is the great principle,
and the great consolation of the epistle. The Christians, deprived of the
important aid of the apostle, are cast more immediately on God. The apostle
himself, separated from the assembly, finds his own consolation in God; and
commits the assembly in its lack of his personal care, to God Himself, in
whom he had himself found this consolation.
It is to be carefully remarked here, that it is the very opposite of an
exhortation to our own working in contrast with God's effectual power.
"Your own" is in contrast with Paul in his absence, who had laboured for
them, because God did work in them to will and to do. They were to work,
because, if Paul was absent, God wrought in them. I have noticed already
that salvation, every blessing, is looked at everywhere in this epistle as
at the end of the Christian's course, even the manifestation of their
righteousness (chap. 3:9). This passage is an example. There are two ways
the Christian is seen in the New Testament. In Christ-here is no progress,
no question: he is accepted in Him-a complete, perfect, present state. But
he is also a pilgrim upon earth, having to attain the goal: so always in
Philippians. This gives occasion to every kind of exhortation, warning and
"if." Thus he learns obedience and dependence-the two characteristics of
the new man. But with this he is led to the sure infallible faithfulness of
God to bring him through to the end, and bound to reckon on it. See 1
Corinthians 1:8, which I cite because they were going on very badly; but
passages abound.
Diligence and earnestness ought to characterise the walk of Christians in
these circumstances, in which immediate connection with God and personal
conflict with the enemy have to be realised.
The apostle returns to the spirit of meekness and peace, in which the
fruits of righteousness are sown. "Do all things," he says, "without
murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye
shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life": a very
striking passage, because it will be found that in every member of the
sentence it is an exact statement of what Christ was. Whatever may be the
circumstances in which the assembly is found, such, as respects itself,
should ever be its state and its walk. Grace sufficient for this is ever
there in Christ.
Unity of spirit among themselves by grace, and a walk according to God, in
order that they may be as heavenly lights amid the moral darkness of this
world-always carrying, and thus holding forth, the word of life: such was
the apostle's desire. They would thus give proof by the constancy and
practical effect of their faith, that the apostle had not run or laboured
in vain; and they would themselves be his glory in the day of Christ. Oh,
if the assembly had continued such! Be that as it may, Christ will be
glorified. The apostle thus unites his work and the reward in the day of
Christ with the blessing of the assembly. He would not be separated from it
in his death. This union of heart and faith is very touching. He presents
himself as capable of being poured out (that is to say, his life) upon the
sacrifice and service of the Philippians' faith. They had shewn their
devotedness to Christ in thinking even of His servant; and he looks upon
all their faith as an offering to the Saviour and to God; looking at them,
Christ's people, as the substance of the offering, the great thing, himself
only as a libation-his life poured out upon the offering. Perhaps his life
would be poured out in the service of the gospel, to which they consecrated
themselves on their part, and be a seal to this offering of theirs, which
was dedicated to God by this sacred bond with the apostle. He rejoiced, if
it were so, that his life was poured out: it would crown his work for the
Gentiles. He desires too that they also in the same spirit should rejoice
in the same thing. It was all one thing, their faith and his, and their
common service, offered to God, and well-pleasing to Him; and the most
exalted proof of it should be the source of the most sacred joy. This world
was not the real scene of that which was going on: what we behold here in
connection with the divine work is but the outside. The apostle speaks this
language of faith, which ever sees things as before God.
Nevertheless his watchful care did not cease, although he committed the
Philippians to God. It is always thus. The love and the faith which commit
everything to God do not cease to think according to God of that which is
dear to Him. Thus in 1 John, chapter 2, the apostle, while saying that the
little children in Christ needed not that any one should teach them, yet
instructs them with all tenderness and foresight. Here also the apostle,
full of holy solicitude for these souls who were dear to Christ, hopes soon
to send Timotheus that he may know their state. But the condition of things
is evident. He sends Timotheus because he had no one else in whose heart
the same feelings towards them flowed forth from the same spring of love.
All sought their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. What an exercise
for faith! But what an occasion for its exercise!
Still, with regard to Timotheus, these beloved Philippians should receive
him with a heart that responded to the apostle's confidence. They knew how
he had served Paul in the gospel The bonds of love in the gospel are but
the stronger-God be praised-when all grows cold. And observe, that God
carried on His work, when as to the common testimony of the assembly,
everything failed through a coldness which oppressed the apostle's heart;
for God does not weary in His work. This bond however does not fail here
with the Philippians either. As soon as Paul knew how it would go with
himself, he would send Timotheus to them; but, as he had said, he had
confidence in the Lord that he himself should come shortly.
But there was also Epaphroditus, who had come from the Philippians to carry
their testimonial of affection to the apostle; and who, the faithful
instrument and expression of their love, had risked his own life and
suffered from dangerous sickness, in order to accomplish their service.
This fine testimony of christian love breaks out here on every side.
Epaphroditus so counts upon the love of the Philippians, that he is much
troubled, because they had heard he was sick. He reckons on the feeling
they had towards him-the place he had in their affections. Would it not be
thus with an affectionate son, who knew that his mother had heard such
tidings of him? He would hasten to inform her of his recovery, in order to
tranquillise a heart whose love he knew. Such is christian affection,
tender and simple, confiding, because pure and unsuspicious, and walking in
the light of God-walking with Him and in the affections which Christ had
consecrated as man. Divine love, no doubt, goes higher; but brotherly love,
which acts before men and as the fruit among men of that divine love,
displays itself thus in grace.
The apostle responds to this affection of the Philippians for him who
taught them and laboured in the Lord for them (the Holy Ghost also
remembers it here), and he sends back Epaphroditus, encouraging and seeking
to sustain this feeling in the heart of the Philippians. He takes part in
it himself, and brings into it God's own tender love. Paul would have had
sorrow upon sorrow (and he had much already), if the Philippians had lost
their beloved servant and messenger by means of the services he had
rendered them; but God had spared Epaphroditus and the apostle himself. He
would however have them assured of it by the presence of Epaphroditus again
among them; and thus the apostle's own heart freed from all anxiety, would
be also relieved. What a picture of mutual love and kind solicitude!
And observe the ways in which God, according to the apostle, takes part in
it. What are presented to us here are His compassions, not the counsels of
His love, but compassions worthy of God, and affections of which He
approves among men. These affections and this value for labourers are
sometimes feared; and so much the more so, because the assembly has in fact
to disentangle itself from all false dependence on man. But it is in the
entire failure of manifested strength and outward organised bond, through
the apostle's absence, that the Spirit of God develops the play of these
inward affections and bonds for the instruction of the assembly; as he
acknowledges all that remains of the ruins of its primitive position and
its outward bonds. He does not create these anew; but he acknowledges that
which still exists. It is only the first verse of the epistle which speaks
of this-no more was needed; but the inward bonds he develops largely, not
as doctrine, but as fact. God Himself, the apostle, his faithful Timotheus,
the valued servant of the Philippians, who was so dear to them, and the
fellow-labourer of Paul, the servant of the Lord, the Philippians
themselves, all have their part in this precious and beautiful chain of
love. The graciousness of the christian life is thus developed in every
part of this chapter; the delicacy of his reproof of the spirit of
division; his sending Timothy when he can let them know how it went with
him, but Epaphroditus at once because they had heard he had been sick. This
graciousness, and consideration of others, note, connects itself with a
Christ who humbles Himself. A lowly Christ humbling Himself from
Godhead-form down to death, is the spring oflowly graciousness; an exalted
One sought in glory, the spring of energy which counts all to be dross and
dung to win Him.
After all it was in the Lord Himself that they had to rejoice, and the
apostle now puts them on their guard against that which had eaten away the
life of the assembly, and produced the painful fruits that filled his heart
with anguish, and the deplorable consequences of which we see at this day,
even as he foretold-consequences which will yet ripen for the judgment of
God. Be this as it may, the Lord does not change. "Rejoice," he says, "in
the Lord." There all is sure.
That which might prevent their thus rejoicing is developed, as well as the
true knowledge of Christ, which preserves us from it: not here according to
the doctrine and the practice that belong to the high position of the
assembly's union with a glorified Christ as His body, nor according to the
unity which flows from it. This is the subject of the Ephesians. Neither is
it according to the urgent necessity of cleaving to the Head, because all
fulness is in Him. This is the instruction of the epistle to the
Colossians. But, in accordance with the general character of the epistle,
the subject is here treated in connection with the personal experiences of
the Christian, and, in particular, of the apostle. Accordingly-as was seen
in his personal combats and sorrow-he finds himself on the road to the full
enjoyment of this object whom he has learnt to know, and the state which
his heart desires. This ought to be the Christian's experience, for, if I
am united by the Spirit to the Head as a member of the body of Christ, and
if by faith I apprehend this union, it is none the less true that my
personal experience (although this faith is its basis) is necessarily in
connection with the paths which I follow in order to reach the glory this
entitles me to. Not that the sentiments awakened by that which I encounter
on this path either falsify or contradict my position in Christ, or destroy
the certainty of my starting-point. But, while possessing this certainty,
and because I possess it, I know that I have not in fact reached the result
of this position in glory. Now, in this epistle, we are on the road, we are
individualised in our relations with God; for experience is always
individual, although our union with each other as members of Christ forms a
part of this experience.
Chapter 3
In chapter 3 Paul resumes his exhortation; but it was not burdensome to
him, and it was safe for them (danger being present and his tender love
watchful), to renew his warnings and instructions respecting the admixture
of Judaising principles with the doctrine of a glorified Christ. It was in
fact to destroy the latter and to reinstate the flesh (that is, sin and
alienation from God) in its place. It was the first man, already rejected
and condemned, and not the second Man. Yet it is not in the shape of sin
that the flesh appears here, but in that of righteousness, of all that is
respectable and religious, of ordinances which had the venerable weight of
antiquity attached to them, and as to their origin, if all had not been
done away in Christ, the authority of God Himself.
To the apostle, who knew Christ in heaven, all this was but a bait to draw
the Christian away from Christ, and throw him back again into the ruin out
of which Christ had drawn him. And this would be so much the worse, because
it would be to abandon a known and glorified Christ, and to return to that
which had been proved to be of no value through the flesh. The apostle
therefore spares neither the doctrine nor those who taught it.
The glory which he had seen, his contests with these false teachers, the
state into which they had thrown the assembly, Jerusalem and Rome, his
liberty and his prison-all, had gained him the experience of what Judaism
was worth as to the assembly of God. They were dogs, evil workers, that is
workers of malice and wickedness. It was not the circumcision. He treats it
with profound contempt, and uses language, the harshness of which is
justified by his love for theassembly; for love is severe towards those
who, devoid of conscience, corrupt the object of that love. It was the
concision.
When evil without shame, and labouring to produce evil under a disgraceful
veil of religion, is manifested in its true character, mildness is a crime
against the objects of the love of Christ. If we love Him, we shall in our
intercourse with the assembly give the evil its true character, which it
seeks to hide. This is real love and faithfulness to Christ. The apostle
had certainly not failed in condescension to the weak in this respect. He
had carried it far; his prison testified it. And now the assembly, deprived
of his energy and that spiritual decision which was full of love to all
which is good, was more in danger than ever. The experience of a whole life
of activity, of the greatest patience, of four years' reflection in prison,
led to these forcible and urgent words, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision." The doctrine of the epistle to the
Ephesians, the exhortation of that to the Colossians, the affection of that
to these Philippians, with the denunciation contained in chapter 3:2, date
from the same epoch, and are marked with the same love.
But it sufficed to denounce them. Elsewhere, where they were not well
known, he gave details, as in the case of Timotheus, who had still to watch
over the assembly. It was sufficient now to point out their well-known
character. Whatever Judaised, whatever sought to mingle law and gospel,
trusting in ordinances and the Spirit, was shameless, malicious, and
contemptible. But the apostle will rather occupy himself with the power
that delivers from it. We are the circumcision (that which is really
separate from the evil, that which is dead to sin and to the flesh), we who
worship God, not in the false pretension of ordinances, but spiritually by
the power of the Holy Ghost, who rejoice in Christ the Saviour and not in
the flesh, but on the contrary have no confidence in it. We see here Christ
and the Spirit in contrast with the flesh and self.
Paul might indeed boast, if needful, in that which belonged to the flesh.
As to all Jewish privileges, he possessed them in the highest degree. He
had outstript every one in holy zeal against innovators. One thing alone
had changed it all-he had seen a glorified Christ. All that he had
according to the flesh was thenceforth loss to him. It would place
something between him and the Christ of his faith and of his desire-the
Christ whom he knew. And, observe, that here it is not the sins of the
flesh which Christ expiates and abolishes that he rejects; it is its
righteousness. It has none, we may say; but even if the apostle had
possessed any righteousness of the flesh-as, in fact, he did possess it
outwardly-he would not have it, because he had seen a better. In Christ,
who had appeared to him on the way to Damascus, he had seen divine
righteousness for man, and divine glory in man. He had seen a glorified
Christ, who acknowledged the poor feeble members of the assembly as a part
of Himself. He would have nothing else. The excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus his Lord had eclipsed everything-changed everything which was
not that into loss. The stars, as well as the darkness of night, disappear
before the sun. The righteousness of the law, the righteousness of Paul,
all that distinguished him among men, disappeared before the righteousness
of God and the glory of Christ.
It was a thorough change in his whole moral being. His gain was now loss to
him. Christ was become all. It was not evil which disappeared-everything
that belonged to Paul as advantage to the flesh disappeared. It was another
who was now precious to him. What a deep and radical change in the whole
moral being of man, when he ceases to be the centre of his own importance;
and another, a worthy of being so, becomes the centre of his moral
existence!-a divine person, a man who had glorified God, a man in whom the
glory of God shone out, to the eye of faith; in whom His righteousness was
realised, His love, His tender mercy, perfectly revealed towards men and
known by men. This was He whom Paul desired to win, to possess-for here we
are still in the paths of the wilderness-he desired to be found in Him:
"That I may win Christ, and be found in him." Two things were present to
his faith in this desire: to have the righteousness of God Himself as his
(in Christ he should possess it); and then, to know Him and the power of
His resurrection-for he only knew Him as risen-and, according to that power
working in him now, to have part in the sufferings of Christ, and be made
conformable to His death.
It was in His death that perfect love had been demonstrated, that the
perfect ground of divine and eternal righteousness had been laid, that
self-renunciation was practically, entirely, perfectly, manifested in
Christ, the perfect object to the apostle of a faith that apprehended it
and desired it according to the new man. Christ had passed through death in
the perfection of that life, the power of which was manifested in
resurrection.
Paul, having seen this perfection in glory, and being united (weak as he
was in himself) to Christ the source of this power, desired to know the
power of His resurrection, that he might follow Him in His sufferings.
Circumstances held this as a reality before his eyes. His heart only saw,
or wished to see, Christ, that he might follow Him there. If death was on
the way, he was only so much the more like Christ. He did not mind what it
cost, if by any means he might attain. This gave undivided energy of
purpose. This is indeed to know Him, as completely put to the test, and
thus to know all that He was, His perfection-of love, of obedience, of
devotedness-fully manifested; but the object is to win Him as He is.
Having seen Him in the glory, the apostle understood the path which had led
Him there, and the perfection of Christ in that path. Participating in His
life, he desired to realise its power according to His glory, that he might
follow Him, in order to be where Jesus was, and in the glory with Him. This
is what the Lord said in John 12:23-26. Who had apprehended Him like Paul
by the grace of God? Observe here the difference between him and Peter.
Peter calls himself "a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed"; Paul, a witness of the glory as it is
in heaven ("as he is," as John says), desires to share his sufferings. It
is the special foundation of the assembly's place, of walking in the
Spirit, according to the revelation of the glory of Christ. It is this, I
doubt not, which makes Peter say, that in all Paul's epistles-which he
acknowledges moreover as a part of the scriptures-there are some things
hard to be understood. It took man clean out of the whole ancient order of
things.
Having then seen Christ in glory, there were two things for Paul-the
righteousness of God in Christ, and the knowledge of Christ. The first
entirely eclipsed everything of which the flesh could boast. This was "mine
own," the righteousness of man according to the law. The other was the
righteousness of God, which is by faith; that is, man is nothing in it. It
is God's righteousness: man has part in it by believing, that is to say, by
faith in Christ Jesus. The believer has his place before God in Christ, in
the righteousness of God Himself, which He had manifested in glorifying
Christ, having glorified Himself in Him. What a position! not only sin, but
human righteousness, all that is of self, excluded; our place being
according to the perfection in which Christ, as man, has perfectly
glorified God. But this place is necessarily the place of Him who has
accomplished this glorious work. Christ, in His Person and in His present
position,
is the expression of our place: to know Him is to know it. He is there
according to divine righteousness. To be there, as He is, is that into
which divine righteousness freely, but necessarily, introduces
man-introduces us-in Christ. Thenceforth, having seen the righteousness of
God in that Christ is there, I desire myself to know what it is to be
there: and I desire to know Christ. But in truth this embraces all that He
was in accomplishing it. The glory reveals the power and the result. That
which He suffered is the work in which He glorified God; so that divine
righteousness has been fulfilled in His exaltation, as man, to divine
glory. And here divine love, perfect devotedness to His Father's glory,
constant and perfect obedience, the endurance of all things in order to
give testimony of His Father's love for men, perfect patience, unfathomable
sufferings, in order that love might be both possible and perfect for
sinners-all in short that Christ was, being connected with His Person,
makes Him an object which commands, possesses, delivers, and strengthens
the heart, by the power of His grace acting in the new life, in which we
are united to Him by the all-powerful link of the Spirit, and causes Him to
be the alone object before our eyes.
Accordingly Paul desires to have that which Christ can give, His cup, and
His baptism; and to leave to the Father, that which Christ left to Him, the
disposal of places in the kingdom. He does not desire, like John and James,
the right and left hand, that is, a good place for himself. He desires
Christ, he would win Christ. He does not follow tremblingly, as the
disciples did in that chapter (Mark 10); he desires to suffer-not, that is,
for the sake of suffering, but to have part in the sufferings of Christ.
Instead therefore of going away like the young man in the same chapter,
because he had much that could profit the flesh, instead of clinging like
him to the law for his righteousness, he renounces that righteousness which
he had in common with the young man; and all that he had he counted but as
dung.
Here then we have the practical personal experience of the operation of
this great principle, which the apostle has set forth in other epistles,
that we have part with a glorified Christ. Also, in telling of the result
as to himself, he speaks of his own resurrection according to the character
of Christ's. It is not that of which Peter speaks, as we have seen, the
simply participating in the glory that was to be revealed. It is that which
precedes. Having seen Christ in the glory, according to the power of His
resurrection, he desires to participate in that: and this is the force of
his word, "if by any means." He desired to have part in the resurrection
from among the dead. If, in order to reach it, it was needful to pass
through death (as Christ had done), he would go through it, cost what it
might, be it in ever so painful a way-and death was at that time before his
eyes with its human terror: he desired fully to take part with Christ.
Now it is the character of this resurrection that it is from among the
dead; it is not simply the resurrection of the dead. It is to come out, by
the favour and the power of God (as it regards Christ, and indeed us too by
Him, by the righteousness of God), from the condition of evil into which
sin had plunged men-to come out, after having been dead in sins, and now to
sin, through the favour and power and righteousness of God. What grace! and
what a difference! By following Christ according to the will of God, in the
place where He has set us (and to be content with the lowest place, if God
has given it us, is the same renunciation of self as to labour in the
highest-the secret of each is, that Christ is everything and ourselves
nothing), we participate in His resurrection-a thought full of peace and
joy, and which fills the heart with love to Christ. Joyful and glorious
hope, which shines before our eyes in Christ, and in that blessed Saviour
glorified! The objects of divine favour in Him, we come forth-because the
eye of God is upon us, because we are His-from the house of death, which
cannot detain those who are His, because the glory and the love of God are
concerned in them. Christ is the example and the pattern of our
resurrection; the principle (Rom. 8) and the assurance of our resurrection
is in Him. The road to it is that which the apostle here traces.
But since resurrection and likeness to Christ in glory were the objects of
his hope, it is very evident that he had not attained it. If that was his
perfection, he could not be yet perfect. He was, as has been said, on the
road; but Christ had apprehended him for it, and he still pressed onward to
lay hold of the prize, for the enjoyment of which Christ had laid hold of
him. No, he repeats to his brethren, I count not myself to have attained.
But one thing at least he could say-he forgot all that was behind him, and
pressed on ever towards the goal, keeping it always in sight to obtain the
prize of the calling of God, which is found in heaven. Happy Christian! It
is a great thing never to lose sight of it, never to have a divided heart,
to think but of one thing; to act, to think, always according to the
positive energy wrought by the Holy Ghost in the new man, directing him to
this only and heavenly object. It is not his sins properly which he here
says he forgot-it was his progress that he forgot, his advantages, all that
was already behind. And this was not merely the energy that shewed itself
at the first impulse; he still counted everything but as dung, because he
had still Christ in view. This is true christian life. What a sad moment
would it have been for Rebecca, if, in the midst of the desert with
Eliezer, she had forgotten Isaac, and begun to think again of Bethuel and
her father's house! What had she then in the desert with Eliezer?
Such is the true life and position of the Christian; even as the
Israelites, although preserved by the blood from the messenger of judgment,
were not in their true place till they were on the other side of the Red
Sea, a freed people. Then he is on the road to Canaan, as belonging to God.
The Christian, until he understands this new position which Christ has
taken as risen from the dead, is not spiritually in its true place, is not
perfect or full-grown in Christ. But when he has attained this, it is not
assuredly that he is to despise others. "If," says the apostle, "they were
otherwise minded, God would reveal" to them the fulness of His truth; and
all were to walk together with one mind in the things to which they had
attained. Where the eye was single, it would be so: there were many with
whom this was not the case; but the apostle was their example. This was
saying much. While Jesus lived the peculiar power of this resurrection life
could not be revealed in the same way; and moreover while on earth Christ
walked in the consciousness of that which He was with His Father before the
world existed, so that, although He endured for the joy that was set before
Him, although His life was the perfect pattern of the heavenly man, there
was in Him a repose, a communion, which had quite a peculiar character;
instructive nevertheless to us, because the Father loves us as He loved
Jesus, and Jesus also loves us as the Father loved Him. With Him it was not
the energy of one who must run the race in order to attain that which he
has never yet possessed; He spoke of that which He knew, and bore witness
of that which He had seen, of that which He had forsaken from love to us,
the Son of man who is in heaven.
John enters farther into this character of Christ: in his epistle therefore
we find more of that which He is in His nature and character, than of what
we shall be with Him in the glory. Peter, building on the same foundation
as the others, waits however for that which shall be revealed. His
pilgrimage was indeed towards heaven, to obtain a treasure which was
preserved there, which shall be revealed in the last time; but it is more
connected with that which had been already revealed. From his point of
view, the morning star on which Paul lived appeared only on the extreme
horizon. For him practical life was that of Jesus among the Jews. He could
not say with Paul, "Be ye followers of me." The effect of the revelation of
the heavenly glory of Christ, between His going away and His reappearance,
and that of the union of all Christiansto Him in heaven, was fully
realised in him only who received it. Faithful through grace to this
revelation, having no other object which guided his steps, or to divide his
heart, he gives himself as an example. He truly followed Christ, but the
form of his life was peculiar, on account of the way in which God had
called him; and it is thus that Christians possessing this revelation ought
to walk.
Accordingly Paul speaks of a dispensation committed to him.
It was not to turn their eyes from Christ; it is on having the eyes
constantly fixed upon Him that he insists. It was this which characterised
the apostle, and in this he gives himself as an example. But the character
of this looking to Jesus was special. It was not a Christ known on earth
who was its object, but a Christ glorified whom he had seen in heaven. To
press ever forward to this end formed the character of his life; even as
this same glory of Christ, as a testimony to the bringing in divine
righteousness and to the assembly's position, formed the basis of his
teaching. Therefore he can say, "Be followers of me." His gaze was ever
fixed on the heavenly Christ, who had shone before his eyes and still shone
before his faith. The Philippians were thus to walk together, and to mark
those who followed the apostle's example; because (for evidently it was a
period in which the assembly as a whole had much departed from her first
love and her normal condition) there were many who, while bearing the name
of Christ and having once given good hope, so that the apostle speaks of
them with tears, were enemies of the cross of Christ. For the cross on
earth, in our life, answers to the heavenly glory on high. It is not the
assembly at Philippi which is the subject here, but the condition of the
outward universal assembly. Many were already calling themselves
Christians, who joined to that great name a life which had the earth and
earthly things for its object. The apostle did not acknowledge them. They
were there; it was not a matter of local discipline, but a condition of
Christianity, in which even all were seeking their own interest; and,
spirituality being thus lowered, the Christ of glory little realised, many
who had no life at all might walk among them without being detected, by
those who had so little life themselves and scarcely walked better than
they did. For it does not appear that they who were minding earthly things
committed any evil that required public discipline. The general low tone of
spirituality among the real Christians left the others free to walk with
them; and the presence of the latter debased Still more the standard of
godliness of life.
But this state of things did not escape the spiritual eye of the apostle,
which, fixed on the glory, discerned readily and clearly all that had not
that glory for its motive; and the Spirit has given us the divine judgment,
most grave and solemn, with regard to this state of things. No doubt it has
grown enormously worse since then, and its elements have developed and
established themselves in a manner and in proportions that are very
differently characterised; but the moral principles with regard to walk
remain ever the same for the assembly. The same evil is present to be
avoided, and the same efficacious means for avoiding it. There is the same
blessed example to follow, the same heavenly Saviour to be the glorious
object of our faith, the same life to live if we desire to be Christians
indeed.
That which characterised these persons who professed the name of Christ
was, that their hearts were set upon earthly things. Thus the cross had not
its practical power-it would have been a contradiction. Their end therefore
was destruction. The true Christian was not such; his conversation was in
heaven and not on the earth; his moral life was spent in heaven, his true
relationships were there. From thence he expected Christ as a Saviour, that
is to say, to deliver him from the earth, from this earthly system far from
God here below For salvation is always viewed in this epistle as the final
result of the conflict, the result due to the almighty power of the Lord.
Then, when Christ shall come to take the assembly to Himself-Christians,
truly heavenly, shall be like Him in His heavenly glory, a likeness which
is the object of their pursuit at all times (compare 1 John 3:2). Christ
will accomplish it in them, conforming their bodies of humiliation to His
glorious body according to the power whereby He is able to subdue all
things to Himself. Then the apostle and all Christians will have attained
the end, the resurrection from among the dead.
Such is the tenor of this chapter. Christ, seen in glory, is the spring of
energy to christian life, to win Christ, so that all else is loss; as
Christ making Himself of no reputation is the spring of christian
graciousness of walk: the two parts of christian life which we are too apt
to sacrifice one to another or at least to pursue one forgetful of the
other. In both Paul singularly shines. In the following chapter we have
superiority to circumstances. This also is Paul's experience and state; for
it will be remarked that it is the personal experience of Paul which runs
all through his (humanly speaking) faultless experience-not perfection.
Likeness to Christ in glory is the only standard of that. As to this third
chapter, many have inquired whether the thing aimed at was a spiritual
assimilation to Christ here, or a complete assimilation to Him in the
glory. This is rather to forget the import of what the apostle says,
namely, that the sight and the desire of the heavenly glory, the desire of
possessing Christ Himself thus glorified, was that which formed the heart
here below. An object here below to be attained in oneself could not be
found, since Christ is on high; it would be to separate the heart from the
object which forms it to its own likeness. But although we never reach the
mark here below, since it is a glorified Christ and resurrection from among
the dead, yet its pursuit assimilates us more and more to Him. The object
in the glory forms the life which answers to it here below. Were a light at
the end of a long straight alley, I never have the light itself till I am
arrived there; but I have ever increasing light in proportion as I go
forward; I know it better; I am more in the light myself. Thus it is with a
glorified Christ, and such is christian life (compare 2 Cor. 3).
Chapter 4
The Philippians were therefore to stand fast in the Lord. This is difficult
when the general tone is lowered; painful also, for one's walk becomes much
more solitary, and the hearts of others are straitened. But the Spirit has
very plainly given us the example, the principle, the character, and the
strength of this walk. With the eye on Christ all is easy; and communion
with Him gives light and certainty; and is worth all the rest which perhaps
we lose.
The apostle nevertheless spoke gently of those persons. They were not like
the false judaising teachers who corrupted the sources of life, and stopped
up the path of communion with God in love. They had lost this life of
communion, or had never had more than the appearance of it. He wept for
them.
I think that the apostle sent his letter by Epaphroditus, who probably also
wrote it from the apostle's dictation; as was done with regard to all the
epistles, except that to the Galatians, which, as he tells us, he wrote
with his own hand. When therefore he says (chap. 4:3), "true [or faithful]
yokefellow," he speaks as I think, of Epaphroditus, and addresses him.
But he notices also two sisters even, who were not of one mind in resisting
the enemy. In every way he desired unity of heart and mind. He entreats
Epaphroditus (if indeed it be he) as the Lord's servant to help those
faithful women who had laboured in concert with Paul to spread the gospel.
Euodias and Syntyche were perhaps of the number-the connection of thought
makes it probable. Their activity, having gone beyond the measure of their
spiritual life, betrayed them into an exercise of self-will which set them
at variance. Nevertheless they were not forgotten, together with Clement
and others, who were fellow-labourers with the apostle himself, whose names
were in the book of life. For love for the Lord remembers all that His
grace does; and this grace has a place for each of His own.
The apostle returns to the practical exhortations addressed to the
faithful, with regard to their ordinary life, that they might walk
according to their heavenly calling. "Rejoice in the Lord." If he even
weeps over many who call themselves Christians, he rejoices always in the
Lord; in Him is that which nothing can alter. This is not an indifference
to sorrow which hinders weeping, but it is a spring of joy which enlarges
when there is distress, because of its immutability, and which becomes even
more pure in the heart the more it becomes the only one; and it is in
itself the only spring that is infinitely pure. When it is our only spring,
we thereby love others. If we love them besides Him, we lose something of
Him. When through exercise of heart we are weaned from all other springs,
His joy remains in all its purity, and our concern for others partakes of
this same purity. Nothing moreover troubles this joy, because Christ never
changes. The better we know Him, the better are we able to enjoy that which
is ever enlarging through knowing Him. But he exhorts Christians to
rejoice: it is a testimony to the worth of Christ, it is their true
portion. Four years in prison chained to a soldier had not hindered his
doing it, nor being able to exhort others more at ease than he.
Now this same thing will make them moderate and meek; their passions will
not be excited by other things if Christ is enjoyed. Moreover He is at
hand. A little while, and all for which men strive will give place to Him
whose presence bridles the will (or rather puts it aside) and fills the
heart. We are not to be moved by things here below until He shall come.
When He comes, we shall be fully occupied with other things.
Not only are the will and the passions to be bridled and silenced, but
anxieties also. We are in relationship with God; in all things He is our
refuge; and events do not disturb Him. He knows the end from the beginning.
He knows everything, He knows it beforehand; events shake neither His
throne, nor His heart; they always accomplish His purposes. But to us He is
love; we are through grace the objects of His tender care. He listens to us
and bows down His ear to hear us. In all things therefore, instead of
disquieting ourselves and weighing everything in our own hearts, we ought
to present our requests to God with prayer, with supplication, with a heart
that makes itself known (for we are human beings) but with the knowledge of
the heart of God (for He loves us perfectly); so that, even while making
our petition to Him, we can already give thanks, because we are sure of the
answer of His grace, be it what it may; and it is our requests that we are
to present to Him. Nor is it a cold commandment to find out His will and
then come: we are to go with our requests. Hence it does not say, you will
have what you ask; but God's peace will keep your hearts. This is trust;
and His peace, the peace of God Himself, shall keep our hearts. It does not
say that our hearts shall keep the peace of God; but, having cast our
burden on Him whose peace nothing can disturb, His peace keeps our hearts.
Our trouble is before Him, and the constant peace of the God of love, who
takes charge of everything and knows all beforehand, quiets our disburdened
hearts, and imparts to us the peace which is in Himself and which is above
all understanding (or at least keeps our hearts by it), even as He Himself
is above all the circumstances that can disquiet us, and above the poor
human heart that is troubled by them. Oh, what grace! that even our
anxieties are a means of our being filled with this marvellous peace, if we
know how to bring them to God, and true He is. May we learn indeed how to
maintain this intercourse with God and its reality, in order that we may
converse with Him and understand His ways with believers!
Moreover, the Christian, although walking (as we have seen) in the midst of
evil and of trial, is to occupy himself with all that is good, and is able
to do it when thus at peace, to live in this atmosphere, so that it shall
pervade his heart, that he shall be habitually where God is to be found.
This is an all-important command. We may be occupied with evil in order to
condemn it; we may be right, but this is not communion with God in that
which is good. But if occupied through His grace with that which is good,
with that which comes from Himself, the God of peace is with us. In trouble
we shall have the peace of God; in our ordinary life, if it be of this
nature, we shall have the God of peace. Paul was the practical example of
this; with regard to their walk, by following him in that which they had
learnt and heard from him and seen in him, they should find that God was
with them.
Nevertheless, although such was his experience, he rejoiced greatly that
their loving care of him had flourished again. He could indeed take refuge
in God; but it was sweet to him in the Lord to have this testimony on their
part. It is evident that he had been in need; but it was the occasion of
more entire trust in God. We can easily gather this from his language; but,
he delicately adds, he would not, by saying that their care of him had now
at last flourished again, imply that they had forgotten him. The care for
him was in their hearts; but they had not had the opportunity of giving
expression to their love. Neither did he speak in regard of want; he had
learnt-for it is practical experience and its blessed result we find
here-to be content under all circumstances, and thus to depend on no one.
He knew how to be abased: he knew how to abound; in every way he was
instructed both to be full and to be hungry, to be in abundance and to
suffer want. He could do all things through Him who strengthened him. Sweet
and precious experience! not only because it gives ability to meet all
circumstances, which is of great price, but because the Lord is known, the
constant, faithful, mighty friend of the heart. It is not 'I can do all
things,' but "I can do all through him who strengtheneth me." It is a
strength which continually flows from a relationship with Christ, a
connection with Him maintained in the heart. Neither is it only 'One can do
all things.' This is true; but Paul had learnt it practically. He knew what
he could be assured of and reckon on-what ground he stood on. Christ had
always been faithful to him, had brought him through so many difficulties
and through so many seasons of prosperity, that he had learnt to trust in
Him, and not in circumstances. And Christ was the same ever. Still the
Philippians had done well, and it was not forgotten. From the first God had
bestowed this grace upon them, and they had supplied the apostle's need,
even when he was not with them. He remembered it with affection, not that
he desired a gift, but fruit to their own account. "But," he says, "I have
all," his heart turning back to the simple expression of his love He was in
abundance, having received by Epaphroditus that which they had sent him, an
acceptable sacrifice of sweet odour, well-pleasing to God.
His heart rested in God; his assurance with regard to the Philippians
expresses it. My God, he says, shall richly supply all your need. He does
not express a wish that God may do so. He had learnt what his God was by
his own experience. My God, he says, He whom I have learnt to know in all
the circumstances through which I have passed, shall fill you with all good
things. And here he returns to His character as he had known Him. God would
do it according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. There he had learnt
to know Him at the beginning; and such he had known Him all along his
varied path, so full of trials here and of joys from above. Accordingly he
thus concludes: "Now unto our God and Father"-for such He was to the
Philippians also-"be glory for ever and ever." He applies his own
experience of that which God was to him, and his experience of the
faithfulness of Christ, to the Philippians. This satisfied his love, and
gave him rest with regard to them. It is a comfort when we think of the
assembly of God.
He sends the greeting of the brethren who were with him, and of the saints
in general, especially those of Caesar's household; for even there God had
found some who through grace had listened to His voice of love.
He ends with the salutation which was a token in all his epistles that they
were from himself.
The present state of the assembly, of the children of God, dispersed anew,
and often as sheep without a shepherd, is a very different condition of
ruin from that in which the apostle wrote; but this only adds more value to
the experience of the apostle which God has been pleased to give us; the
experience of a heart which trusted in God alone, and which applies this
experience to the condition of those who are deprived of the natural
resources that belonged to the organised body, to the body of Christ as God
had formed it on earth. As a whole, the epistle shews proper christian
experience, that is, superiority, as walking in the Spirit, to everything
through which we have to pass. It is remarkable to see that sin is not
mentioned in it, nor flesh, save to say he had no confidence in it.
He had at this time a thorn in the flesh himself, but the proper experience
of the Christian is walking in the Spirit above and out of the reach of all
that may bring the flesh into activity.
The reader will remark that chapter 3 sets the glory before the Christian
and gives the energy of christian life; chapter 2, the self-emptying and
abasement of Christ, and founds thereon the graciousness of the christian
life, and thoughtfulness of others: while the last chapter gives a blessed
superiority to all circumstances.
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