Php 1:2-3 I. Think of the beauty of the circumstance that Paul thanked God for the blessing of kind, loving, helpful men. Man serves God by aiding God's servants.
II. The more enlarged and susceptible the heart, the more easily can service be rendered to it.
III. Learn how good a thing it is to serve the great, and inferentially how sublime a thing it is to live and die in the service of the Greatest.
IV. Each of us should leave a memory that shall be cherished and blessed.
V. The Apostle stands forth to us as an illustrious man, while the Philippians are not known to us by more than their general name. The hidden workers are not on that account to deem themselves useless.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 176.
Php 1:3 The text speaks to us of the feeling which ought to exist between a minister and his congregation, more especially how he ought to be able to speak of them and what he ought to make his special prayer for them whenever, in the providence of God, he is for a time separated from them.
I. St. Paul was able to thank God, in his compulsory detention at Rome, for all that he remembered of his beloved Church at Philippi. Whenever he prayed, he was able to make his prayer for them with joy. He could think of them as earnestly and resolutely set upon practising and helping the Gospel; they did not shrink even from suffering for it. If St. Paul had been writing to us, could he have thus expressed himself? Could he have said with regard to the great bulk of our congregations that in their several stations, at their various ages, according to their different gifts and talents, they were truly loving and living the Gospel?
II. One thing St. Paul was able to say alike for himself and for them: that there was the strongest possible tie between them of mutual love. Surely, where a minister and his congregation love each other fervently, there must be something of. Christ in that feeling and in that place. St. Paul loved and was loved by these Philippians, and he showed and returned it by his prayers for them. He recognised and valued their affection; he felt that their love for him sprang out of love to Christ and showed itself in an active and diffusive charity. But he knew also that in this world it is not safe to rest on that which is; while we stay here, we must always be moving onwards: and what he desired for them was that their love might abound yet more and more in a deeper knowledge and a more experienced judgment. This great gift of judgment or, more exactly, of perception, comes only from being much with God, from being often in His presence, hidden privily, as the Psalmist expresses it, in His pavilion from the strife of tongues, from the conflicts of selfishness, from the din of earth.
C. J. Vaughan, Lectures on Philippians, p. 1.
References: Php 1:3-5 .-J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 422. Php 1:3-11 .-J. J. Goadby, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 152; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 48.
Php 1:4-5 I. Prayer may be varied according to the different spiritual moods of the suppliant. The mood need not impair the sincerity.
II. Christianity is the most influential of all heart-uniting forces. Men who are one in Christ are united in the highest ranges of their nature. Paul is in Rome, his friends at Philippi; but in the great heart of the Apostle Rome and Philippi are but different names of the same place. The union of the Church is guaranteed by the principles on which it is founded; the moral is the immortal.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 177.
Php 1:5 I. In the text we see age and youth together. (1) The old will contribute the wisdom of experience; the young will quicken the animation of hope.
II. In the text, though age and youth are together, yet age takes precedence of youth. It is Paul and Timotheus, not Timotheus and Paul.
III. In the text, though age takes precedence of youth, yet both age and youth are engaged in common service. See how one great relationship determines all minor conditions and attitudes; looked at as before Christ, the one Lord, they were both servants.
Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 215.
Reference: Php 1:5 .-Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 216.
Php 1:6 The Apostle lays down a great principle respecting the Divine method of working, viz., to begin is to finish, and that principle, wide enough to encompass the universe, will also comprehend every detail of Christian service.
I. God works by a plan; His plan is to prepare mankind for the final day.
II. God is not fickle in the prosecution of His purposes; He begins, not that He may conduct an experiment, but that He may perform a design.
III. God has so revealed Himself in the education of the individual and in the training of society as to justify the most emphatic expression of confidence on the part of His Church.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 178.
References: Php 1:6 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 872; Homilist, 3rd scries, vol. ii., p. 149; R. Davey, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 10; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 213; vol. vii., p. 217; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 108; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 289; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. vi., p. 245.
Php 1:7 A Man in Rome carries the Philippian Church in his heart.
I. He who carries the world elsewhere than in his heart will soon wish to cast off his burden.
II. He who carries the good in his heart will never be desolate.
III. He whose heart is engaged with the tender offices of affection is the profoundest interpreter and the most efficient servant of mankind.
IV. He who enshrines his benefactors in his heart has broken the dominion of selfishness.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 179.
Php 1:8 The Tender Heart of Jesus Christ.
I. What is a tender heart? What is included in it? What is the chief characteristic of such a heart? A tender heart must always be a sensitive heart; where there is life there is sensitiveness; a tender heart is one ready to receive and retain the very softest impression; a tender heart is one that is endowed with a more than ordinary power to love; it is also a heart that is easily pained. A man of tender heart will be sure to live a life in harmony with it.
II. It was absolutely necessary that our Lord Jesus should be characterised by tenderness of heart. He had a nature that assimilated to itself the very griefs and sorrows of others. Christ's heart was intensely sensitive, and therefore subject itself to pain. It was the exquisitely tender nature of Christ that made the thought of being alone an anguish. Christ's heart, being tender, shunned giving pain. A truly tender heart will be agonised at the thought of having perhaps unintentionally wounded another's spirit. Then a tender heart not only is susceptible to pain, and not only shuns giving pain to others, but it will always feel the pangs that others endure. Over and over again this sentence concerning Christ occurs in the New Testament: "moved with compassion."
III. The tenderness of Christ's heart was shown by tender actions. The tender-heartedness of Christ comes out in every action; it is not shown merely in what He does: it is heard in what He says, for "out of the abundance of the. heart the mouth speaketh." We have not a High-priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. Let us therefore remember that our Saviour is the tender-hearted Christ, and let us not grieve Him by our sins, but let us reflect to the world the beauty of His love.
Archibald Brown, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 1099.
The Source of Christian Love.
We see here-
I. The Witness of Paul's tender regard for the Philippians: "God is my Witness." This expression should be reserved for periods of peculiar solemnity. Paul on the verge of martyrdom, not expecting to see these brethren again till he should meet them at the great white throne, takes the name of God, not in vain, but in reverent truth, into his lips, and confirms his testimony by his oath. It is healthful to the soul to be constantly reminded of another onlooker. God is not mocked. To go about the business and intercourse of life under the sense of God's presence would cast out all the malice and envy from the heart, would banish all falsehood from the lips. He requireth truth in the inward parts. As the mists of night are driven away by the rising sun, the face of God chases away malice and envy, so that they cannot harbour in the heart.
II. The source of his love for the brethren. He longed after them in the compassion of Jesus Christ. From that fountain his own pity flowed. Partakers of Christ as far as their finite nature will permit, Christians partake also of His affections towards the Church on one side of the world or the other.
III. The measure and manner of the Apostle's fond desires after these Philippian Christians: "I long after you all." Probably they were not all alike attractive either in person or character. If he had regarded them from a merely human and earthly view-point, he would have held to some and despised others; but he had risen to heavenly places in Christ, and therefore his tenderness shone on them all. A lamp lighted on the top of a pillar casts light on some objects and a shadow on others, but the sun spreads day over all. The love that is grafted into Christ is universal, like His own. There is no respect of persons with God, and none with the godly, as far as they act in accordance with their character.
W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 112.
Php 1:9 Hindrances to Spiritual Growth.
I. The first and greatest hindrance to our abounding more and more is this: inability to see what it is that we ought to improve, where it is that we are defective, and so long as we are content simply to look at ourselves and our doing by the light of our preconceived ideas it is easy and natural for us to be content with ourselves as we are. Our Divine Master has set before us a perfect example of what we ought to be, and He has promised to give us help and grace to enable us to tread in His steps if only we will try to do so, because, try as we will, the copy will fall very far short of the original. The very first step, then, towards improvement is to study the life of our blessed Lord, to learn the principles by which His life was governed. Here, then, is the highest standard by which to measure ourselves. What is the motive which governs our life? Is it a desire perfectly to fulfil the will of God, or is it self in one of the many forms in which self is manifested?
II. There is another point on which we need to examine ourselves: whether we are seeking to abound more and more. Holy Scripture assures us that we are not sufficient of ourselves to obey the precepts laid down by our Lord. It is only through Christ strengthening us that we can keep free from sin. We must fulfil the conditions through which we have the promises of gaining what we need; and the very first condition to which these promises are attached is that we should have faith in what Christ has wrought in our behalf. Faith is at first weak, but by continual exercise it develops and grows until it overshadows our whole existence. The more real and true and sincere our faith is, the greater will be the harvest of good works in which we shall abound more and more; whilst, again, the more faithfully and zealously we bring forth such good works, the brighter and deeper and clearer will be our faith: the one will react upon the other; each will minister to the other's growth.
Dean Gregory, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 321.
Christian Love Abounding.
The reference in our text is not primarily to love towards the Apostle himself, as some have supposed, nor yet love towards God in Christ-although this is the spring from which all true Christian love flows-but to love towards others, especially to them who are of the household of faith.
I. Let us consider the characteristics of this Christian love, which has proved in the world and in many a Church and home the mightiest spiritual force on earth. (1) One of the first things which distinguish it from other kinds of love is its absolute unselfishness. Selfishness, whether in the nation or the individual, leads to sin, and is the chief antagonist of the love which seeketh not her own, and doth not behave herself unseemly, which is inculcated in our text. (2) Again, the love spoken of here is opposed to all that is impure and unspiritual. Instead of devoting itself only to those who are attractive or winsome, it goes down to the degraded; it surrounds them with a halo of beauty, as being those for whom Christ Jesus died, and it is not satisfied until it can lift them upward and heavenward, and make them more worthy of being loved than they are. (3) Again, this love is distinctively Christian. It is not ours by nature, for none of us loves the unattractive from instinct; but it is generated in us when the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. It is, in fact, a continual manifestation of Christ's love to the world, which led Him to die for us "while we were yet sinners."
II. Consider two or three facts which make it necessary that such love should abound. (1) Such abounding love is necessary if we would do Christian work for others steadfastly and earnestly. (2) Besides being a stimulus to service, abounding love is necessary to us when we have to bear the infirmities of others.
A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 181.
Php 1:9 I. Here we see, first, what St. Paul takes for granted as the underlying substance, as the raw material, of Divine life in the soul of man. Whenever in his writings knowledge and love are put in competition with each other, the precedence is assigned to love. For, as compared with knowledge, love is intrinsically a stronger thing, and it is worth more practically. To be knit to God by love is better, religiously speaking, than to speculate about Him, however rightly, as an abstract Being. To enwrap other men in the flame of enthusiasm for private or for public virtue is better than to analyse in the solitude of a study rival systems of ethical, or social, or political truth. Each has its place, but love comes first.
II. But St. Paul would have this love abound in knowledge. The knowledge of which he is thinking is doubtless primarily religious knowledge. The higher knowledge-ἐπύγνωσις is the word, not mere γνῶσις-is what he prays for as the outgrowth of learning. There is a period in the growth of love when such knowledge is imperatively required. In its earlier stages the loving soul lives only in the light and warmth of its object; it sees him, as it were, in a blaze of glory; it rejoices to be before him, to be beneath him, to be close to him; it asks no questions; it has no heart for scrutiny; it only loves. But, from the nature of the case, this period comes to an end, not because love becomes cold, but because it becomes exacting. If the great Apostle had been among us now, he would not have ceased to offer this prayer. How much love, how much moral power, is wasted among us Englishmen only through ignorance. Look at the jealousy of science among us religious people-I mean jealousy of scientific fact; there are plenty of reasons for keeping clear of mere scientific hypotheses when science is waiting in God's good time to echo the words of religion. Look at the jealousy of beauty, which is lashing the well-meaning fanaticism of the country against disinterested efforts to improve the efficiency and tone of public worship. We need to pray this prayer more heartily than ever: that our love may increase in knowledge.
H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 321.
References: Php 1:9 .-Pearson, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 317; Homilist, vol. iv., p. 13; Preacher's Monthly, vol. vi., p. 222. Php 1:9 , Php 1:10 .-T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 208.
Php 1:9-11 In one word, the Apostle prayed that the Philippians might grow.
I. True love is intelligent. We are to love God with all our mind.
II. The Apostle prays for an enlargement and quickening of the discriminating faculty: that the Philippians might distinguish between things that differ, and that so distinguishing they might choose the right.
III. The Apostle, beginning at the centre, finds his way to the circumference; beginning with the spiritual, he culminates in the practical. The doctrines acknowledged in this prayer are (1) that Christian life is progressive; (2) that God is ready to cooperate with His people for their moral enrichment; (3) that the entire Christian manhood is to bear fruit-being filled.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 181.
References: Php 1:10 .-H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 206; E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life, p. 159; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. viii., p. 81; J. Aldis, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 129; D. G. Watt, Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 196; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. v., p. 31; F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 67.
Php 1:12-14 Circumstances the most untoward may in reality be advancing the Divine kingdom among men.
I. God's providence is not to be interpreted in fragments.
II. The moral is higher than the personal; Paul is in prison, but the Gospel is free.
III. The bonds of one man may give inspiration to the liberty of another.
IV. The spread of the Gospel depends upon no one man.
V. Even the afflicted Christian has a mission.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 182.
References: Php 1:12-20 .-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 221. Php 1:12-26 .-J. J. Goadby, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 216. Php 1:13 , Php 1:14 .-Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 216.
Philipians Php 1:15-18 I. Diverse developments of human disposition.
II. The possibility of doing a good deed through a bad motive.
III. The impossibility of entirely concealing motive.
IV. The actions of self-seekers turned into the good man's source of joy.
V. Man is never so diabolised as when making a good cause the means of grieving and tormenting the Church.
VI. The mere fact that a man preaches Christ is not a proof of his personal salvation.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 182.
Reference: Php 1:15-18 .-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 108.
Php 1:18 Christ Preached in any Way a Cause of Joy.
We see here a great law of Christ's providence over His Church. He furthers His own ends, not by affirmations only, but by negations: by faith and by unbelief; by truth and by heresy; by unity and by schism. It is a transcendent and intricate mystery, far beyond our intelligence. All things conspire to His purpose, and His will ruleth over all, not, it may be, to the purpose we imagine for Him, nor to our idea of His will, but to His own not as yet revealed. Would St. Paul have rejoiced, had he lived in our day, that, although perfect unity in truth and love were impossible, yet every way Christ is preached? Would the publication of truth even in contention, strife, rivalry, and pretence have given him cause of joy? Would he have said, Rather so than not at all; let Christ's name become gainsaid rather than buried in silence? I think he would-
I. Because the name of Christ reveals the love of God. The mere knowledge that God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,-the mere publication and proclaiming of this great fact, without Church or sacraments, without creeds or Scriptures, is a supernatural gift of truth revealing the love of God. And this is an inestimable advance beyond the state of man without this knowledge. Any light is better than darkness, any food than famine, even crumbs of bread which come down from heaven than the husks of this fallen earth.
II. The preaching of Christ even in the most imperfect form is a witness against the sin of the world. And what are these two great truths, the love of God and the sin of the world, but the two poles on which all our salvation turns? The mere sound of the name "Saviour," "Redeemer," "Ransom," and "Sacrifice," is a testimony against the natural conscience. The powers of truth are not bound; they, like the presence of God and the nature of man, are universal. Wheresoever they alight, as seeds wafted by the winds, or by the sweep of tides, or by the flight of birds, though not sown in order nor by the ministry of man, they germinate.
III. The preaching of Christ brings men under the law of responsibility; it reveals the four last things: death, judgment, hell, and heaven; it testifies to the commandments of God, and the law of charity, and the need of holiness. And all these things, addressed to the conscience of man, produce their own response of fear, hope, obedience. What is the ripe civilisation, the fair peace, and harmonious friendship of states and kingdoms, the alliances and relations of national systems, the temperate sway of princes, the liberty of subject people, the purity of domestic obedience, but a second crop of fruits shaken from the faith of Christ, as from the fig-tree in its later season?
All that has been said rests on two undeniable truths: (1) first, that all truth has life in it to those whose heart is right with God; (2) that the duty of believing the whole and perfect truth is absolutely binding on pain of sin to all who know it.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 60.
References: Php 1:18 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 370; T. Wallace, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 20c
Php 1:19 I. Mark the confidence of the declaration, "I know." Righteousness is a prophetic power.
II. Mark the ground of this confidence. The Apostle's joy does not arise from the fact that certain persons preached, but from the higher fact that Christ was preached.
III. The extension of the truth is the best guarantee of personal happiness.
IV. The Gospel has everything to hope from being allowed to reveal its own credentials.
V. The greatest man in the Church may be served by the supplication of the good.
Php 1:20 I. We all see in some points what St. Paul must have meant by this expression. It was a thought frequently present to him. If he lives, if his earthly life is protracted through toils so constant and sufferings so intense, this shows the supporting hand of the risen, the immortal, Saviour. There must be some marvellous power out of and above him, or he must long ago have sunk under such pressure; there must be One above, whose grace is sufficient for him: sufficient to keep him meek under provocation, courageous under intimidation, and steadfast in the face of danger. Christ is thus magnified (not made great, but shown to be great) in his body by life. And if death comes, then Christ, who makes him willing to die for Him, Christ, who gives him grace, courage, and constancy to die for Him, shall be magnified in him still, magnified in his body, as by life, so by death.
II. Such was the meaning of the words before us for St. Paul himself. Have they any meaning for us? It is in the power of a Christian, so the words import, to magnify Christ; that is, to show the greatness of Christ in his body. Temperance, purity, activity-by these we may magnify Him. And there are yet two ways besides these more common ones. (1) One of these is suffering. Christ is dishonoured by fretfulness, by repining, by dwelling upon past happiness, by a dejection which refuses to be comforted; He is magnified by a manly and Christian composure, by a resignation gradually brightening into cheerfulness, by a courageous hope, and by a steadfast expectation. (2) And then at last death has to be borne. It is a secret thing, a thing which no man knows save by once for all passing through it himself. When a man can really find peace on his deathbed from a tortured body and an agitated mind in the long-tried support and comfort of a Saviour who died for him and rose again, he pays a tribute to His greatness, and to His truth, and to His character at once the noblest and the best. "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death."
C. J. Vaughan, Lectures on Philippians, p. 41.
References: Php 1:20 .-A. J. Bamford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 102.
Php 1:20-21 I. "Expectation" and "hope"-these are words which connect the heart with the future.
II. No power can so light up the future and throw over it the hues of immortal beauty as childlike trust in God.
III. The man who is living without expectation and hope is living only half a life, but the man who is living on false expectations and false hopes is wasting life.
IV. It is right that the body should be turned to moral account.
V. The possibility of being ready either for earthly or heavenly life.
VI. Identification with Christ is the secret of such readiness.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 207.
Php 1:21 I. "To me to live is Christ." The connection in which these words stand seems to give us their primary meaning. The business of my life is Christ; my energy, my activity, my occupation, my interest, is all Christ. St. Paul regarded everything that he had to do, and he regarded everything that befell him, only in relation to, in its bearing upon, Christ. The words describe a condition widely different from that of most of us. Before St. Paul could say that his outward life was Christ, he must have been able to say it of his inward life. Before Christ can be to any one his object, his business, his work, in life, He must first be his trust and his hope, his known and tried refuge from guilt, from fear, from restlessness, from sin. A man must have Christ for the life of his soul before he can have Christ for the life of his life. Small as is the regard paid to Christ in our life, is there not less of regard for Him in our souls?
II. To St. Paul-and in this respect St. Paul was but an example for the humblest Christian-to St. Paul, inwardly first and then outwardly, in soul first and then in action, to live was Christ. And therefore, therefore only, was he able to add in truth and soberness, And to me to die is gain. Painful in itself and to all of us, painful in his case even beyond ours-for he when he wrote expected life to be closed-and it was closed a few years later-by a death of martyrdom-yet the death consummated and endured was a gain to him even in comparison with a Christian's life. Here to live was Christ; but even beyond that there was a blessedness into which only death could usher him. To have died is gain. If we would die the Christian's death, we must live the Christian's life; if we would find it a gain to have died, we must have found it to us Christ to live.
C. J. Vaughan, Lectures on Philippians, p. 54.
I. "To me to live is Christ." A bold figure, showing, for one thing, the rapid action of the Apostle's mind; a haste to express the main idea; an impatience, as it were, of the immediate and explanatory expressions. For another thing, it shows the mighty magnitude of the object in his esteem. He regarded all the grand truths and interests of religion as centring in Him, comprehended in Him, insomuch that His very name might stand equivalent to them all. How absurd, if He were not infinitely higher, greater, than a man, a prophet. Think how it would have sounded if, for instance, Elijah, the zealous and heroic advocate of the Old Testament law, when he at one time desired to die rather than live, had recovered to the consideration of his important mission and said, "To me to live is Moses."
II. "To me to live is Christ." His chief and immediate reference was to the important service which his prolonged life and apostleship would render to the Christian cause, especially to the Christian converts to whom he was writing; but he would include the happiness which he would the while enjoy himself, the communion with Christ to which he and all the apostles so often refer with great emphasis of delight, the hope, the assured prospect, of all that was in futurity for himself and for the world. Yet, with this consummation of animating interests in his soul, the happiest man probably on the whole face of the earth, he deliberately judged that to depart and be with Christ would as to himself be far better. The Apostle was of the highest order of Christians. But to every real Christian to die is gain. The sensible loss of all the evils of this present state will of itself be an immense gain. How mighty the duty, how transcendent the interest, of directing our utmost energy to the object that death may be gain.
J. Foster, Lectures, vol. ii., p. 252.
Php 1:21 I. This canon rules the thought; the intellectual life is His. All the thinking a man goes through, all the philosophy he may excogitate, must come under this law of Christ-life. Be it well understood, however, that this is not to impair intellectual freedom. Gold dust is scattered through all the intellectual world, and he who seeks will find. But here is the point: something is found already which will never be lost; something is revealed never to be withdrawn. Christianity is a positive something which to every one that receives it takes firm abiding-place at the centre of his life, and puts itself of necessity and immediately into regulating, vitalising relation with all his intellectual findings. No one point of knowledge, great or small, can be the same to him whose life is in Christ which it would be if that were not true.
II. Take life as sentiment, and again this canon will cover it to a Christian. "To me to live is Christ." How shall we keep the poetry in our life? How shall we dignify the struggle for daily bread? How shall we live in this world as in God's garden still, although many a thorn and many a thistle grow in it, and the workers are weary, and the mourners weep? How? I know but one way. There is a name which you can keep in your heart and talk of or whisper in your journey through the days, and that will do it. "For me life is Christ."
III. Again, take life as force, active moral force-and the text covers it all: "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
IV. Finally, take life as hope, aspiration, destiny; as an unquenchable impulse towards the future; as an instinctive yearning towards immortality. Surely here with emphasis we may say, "For us to live is Christ." We live in Him, and because He lives we shall live also. He liveth, and was dead, and is alive for evermore. "Fear not"; He has the keys of death and Hades now, and death is to His followers but an hour of sleep, and the grave but the place of warrior's rest, until the morning trumpet shall sound to gather the hosts for battle no more, but for triumphal entrance into the regal city, whose Builder and Maker is God.
A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 153.
I. Look at the motive and mainspring of St. Paul's life. For him to live was Christ. Selfishness grew weak; selfishness dropped off as the viper that he shook from his hand at Melita; it died out; it was starved out; it had nothing to subsist on. That is the way to kill selfishness: starve it out. Health, honour, fame, everything that could encourage it, he abandoned. There was a complete self-renunciation in that man's career; there was a complete, unreserved consecration to Christ. With Paul, selfishness being dead, the greatest torment of life was taken away. Paul grew happy in conquering himself; Paul was kept happy in serving Jesus.
II. Consider, too, how this motive of devotion to Christ ennobled him. A man is measured by his motives. A lofty aim makes a lofty career in a dungeon or a hovel; a low aim makes a man grovel in a palace or a senate-house. Any man that sets before himself a motive lower than Christ, a motive no higher than self-indulgence and self-seeking, dooms himself at starting. He cannot know life's highest joy; he cannot realise life's noblest purpose; he cannot taste life's sweetest blessings; he cannot please God; life becomes a mockery, and very soon a weariness too heavy to be borne. St. Paul's life was too elevating, too much in fellowship with Christ, for him ever to grow weary of it. Life is glorious, it is exhilarating, sublime, transcendent, when it shines with Christ as a summer morning shines with sunlight; but a life that never hath Christ in it had better never have been.
T. L. Cuyler, Christian World Pulpit, vol ii., p. 1.
The Ideal of the Christian Life.
Living in Christ and for Christ is the only life of satisfaction and enjoyment. "All others," says Gregory Nazianzen, "are like well-painted ships; but he who sets sail for the harbour of blessedness needs a well-compacted ship."
I. The text is one of those striking forms of transcendental expression in which the writings of the Apostle Paul abound. It is in the nature of all high emotion that it is dissatisfied with all cold and formal utterance; it does not so much seek as demand to use words of accumulative force. How different are men's estimates of Christ. To some He is a life-power; to some He is merely a dumb, marble, ideal beauty.
II. What is your life? It is even that which is your strongest love. It has been often said-and I believe it heartily-that we do not live indeed until we love in real earnest; and the greater, the nobler, our love, the greater and the nobler will be the life born from it. And hence there are many persons who have lived long in the world, but they have never begun to live indeed. We do not know what we are capable of till something crosses our path and says, "Live for me."
III. It will be found at last that all life ever known on earth was poor compared to those exalted states in which the blessed ones who have lived for God have moved. If the work of life is to be estimated by the grandeur of its ideals, then what conceptions have ever crossed the most inspired spirits compared to those which have been stirred by the life of Christ?
IV. For me to live is (1) faith in Christ; (2) meditation on Christ; (3) action for Christ; (4) hope in Christ. There is no prospect of time He does not illuminate; there is no possibility of eternal blessedness of which He is not the centre. In the heart of all future Christian experience, in the glory of all future advanced societies and kingdoms, in all the eye of the loftiest poet can see, the heart of the profoundest believer can reach out to-in all "to live is Christ."
E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 134.
References: Php 1:21 .-J. Clifford, The Dawn of Manhood, p. 169; Isaac, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 395; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 1; A. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, p. 360; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 146; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 7; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India, p. 135; Church of England Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 41; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. vi., p. 26; Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 254; J. W. Burn, Ibid., vol. xxiv., p. 165; Laidlaw, Ibid., vol. xxxii., p. 235; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 267; vol. ii., p. 423; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 13; vol. x., p. 127.
Php 1:21-24 The Fruit of Labour.
Such words can never lose their power. They come down to us from a purer air; yet the voice is human, and is audible to all who feel. They sum up the constant tenor of a life which, like all great lives, is able at once to shame us and to inspire, and also to teach a lesson which may be applied to the most various conditions of human existence.
I. Let us try to think of the fact which the words imply. Think of this, and then think of the petty rivalries, the mean pleasures, the waste of power, the frivolous talk, the ungenerous feeling, the mean policy, the mere idle vacancy, which beset our common life; and, however little you may hope to pass at once from this to that, you cannot but feel the weight of the rebuke. Can we realise, have we ever sought to realise, the certainty of our own death? How then shall we compare our lives to his who looked with open face beyond the grave, desiring to depart, and yet, for the sake of others, was content to live?
II. Note the general lesson which may be drawn from the text. The Christian ideal of blessedness has two aspects, which both meet in Christ: one inward and upward, looking towards communion with God, and one outward and around, looking towards our brethren and mankind, especially towards the weaker brethren, those little ones for whom Christ died. To act in the present, to live for others, to redeem the time, to use all means for bettering the physical and social, as well as the moral and spiritual, condition of mankind-these, it need hardly be said, are precepts in full accordance with Christianity. But the thought of another life, for which this is the seedtime and preparation, in which some obstacles that check the flow of goodness here will be removed, and whatever we have sown of righteousness will bear fruit a thousandfold-this, instead of being out of harmony with these duties, is the greatest of all incentives to them.
L. Campbell, Some Aspects of the Christian Ideal, p. 162.
Reference: Php 1:21-24 .-J. Clifford, The Dawn of Manhood, p. 185.
Php 1:21-26 There is a triple movement of thought and feeling in these words.
I. There is the strong absorbing devotion which a man has to Christ. Here we get the grand noble simplicity and unity or continuity of life and death with a devout man thinking about himself. To me, he says-and the position of the word in the sentence shows the emphasis which is to be put upon it-To me-not merely in my judgment, but in my case, so far as I personally am concerned-to me the whole mystery and perplexity comes down into two clauses with four words in each: "To live is Christ; to die is gain." The outward life is what he is talking about, obviously from the antithesis; and in the latter clause what he says is not that the act of dying is gain, but (as the form of words in the Greek seems to show) that to be dead is gain. Like everybody else, he shrank from the act. No man ever said that the act and article of dissolution was anything but a pain and a horror and a terror; it was not that that he said was an advance, but it was the thing beyond. To die, that is loss; but to be dead, that is gain. (1) Look at the noble theory of life, the grand simplicity and breadth, that there is in these words. (2) Contrast the blessed simplicity, the freedom, the power, that there is in such a life as that, with the misery that comes into all lives that have a lower aim and a less profound source.
II. Note the hesitation that arises In Paul's mind from the contemplation of life as a field for work. The text suggests the idea of a man hedged up between two walls and not knowing how to turn.
III. Notice the calm beautiful solution of the question-in an equipoise of hesitation, something pulling two ways, and so the rest of equal forces acting-notice the calm solution, the peaceful acquiescence, "I know I shall abide and continue with you all." Then the innate delicacy of the man comes out in the way in which he phrases his perception of the necessity there is for his stopping. He sinks self and represents himself as sharing his brethren's gladness. The true attitude is neither desire, nor shrinking, nor hesitation, but a calm taking what God wills about the matter.
A. Maclaren, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 33.
Php 1:22-25 I. In the text St. Paul appears to weigh his life against departing and being with Christ. We must not suppose him to be speaking of his own case only, as an exceptional case, one of those grievously afflicted lives which make men desire death merely as a termination of their earthly sufferings; but we must rather understand him as declaring that to depart and be with Christ is absolutely far better than life here, better for all, a higher state of being, an existence of greater blessing. And it is evident upon what ground. St. Paul declares this preference: the departing is not a mere departing, but it is a departing to be with Christ. The magnification of Christ was the one great end of the Apostle's life: to realise Christ's love, to conform himself to Christ's image, to exhibit to mankind, not by word only, but by life and example, a picture of the life of Christ-this was the thing for which the Apostle strove; and undoubtedly the light which ever shone upon his faith was this: the entire belief that one day he should be with Christ and see Him as He is. If in this life he had only a dim, faint view of Christ, and yet found even that unspeakably brighter and better than anything else which he could see in this world, what wonder if he desired that closer communion with his Lord which he believed would be granted to him when he had put aside the burden of the flesh?
II. We are all placed here in God's world, endowed with various powers and different talents; here we are to remain for some few years, and then all to pass away. Fifty years-what is it in the history of the world? and yet in even fifty years how many of us will still remain in this life? The question then forces itself upon us as reasonable creatures, What are we put here for, and why should we desire to remain? The answer is simple: We are placed here to work out our own salvation and for the benefit each of the other. It need not distress any one to find that St. Paul's language is out of his reach; he had much better honestly confess that it is so, than pretend that it is not; but if a man desire this life, at least let him desire it for some good end. Let him take a deep, sober view of his mission in the world, for every one is sent for an important end; every one of us has his work and his Master, who will demand an account of it. We are all successors of St. Paul in this respect, and that which formed to him the principal chain of life ought to occupy a similar position in our minds to that which it did in his.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 2nd series, p. 245.
Php 1:22-26 I. The personal weighed with the public, or the difficulties of the veteran philanthropist.
II. Man's sublimest reason for not wishing immediate translation to glory is that he may be of spiritual service to the world.
III. The next best condition to that of being with Christ in heaven is to be working for Christ's people on earth.
IV. There is only one world in which you can serve man evangelically; do not be in indecent haste to escape the opportunity.
V. God never leaves the earth entirely destitute of great men.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 208.
Php 1:23 The Believer's Better Portion.
I. Paganism had cold comfort for its children. It is the religion of the Lord Jesus which can cheer and satisfy the soul. Our Divine Redeemer having "overcome death" and opened unto us the kingdom of heaven, the reign of the terrible destroyer, death, is broken, and his power over our mortal bodies is only for a brief season.
II. Well may we envy the portion of those who, "having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labours." So long as we are engaged in this warfare, we are exposed to the snares of the destroyer, and great must be the peace of having laid aside this mystery of probation.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 449.
The Blessedness of Death.
Why should departure out of this life be an object of desire to a Christian?
I. First, because it is a full release from this evil world. There is something very expressive in the word we here render by "depart." It means the being set free after the breaking up of some long restraint, or the unyoking of the oxen wearied with the plough, or the weighing again of our anchors for a homeward voyage. On every side its associations are full of peace and rest. What can better express the passage of Christ's servants from this tumultuous and weary world? So long as we are in this warfare, we must be open to the shafts of evil, and who would not desire a shelter where no arrows can reach us any more? What must be the peace of having put off this mystery of probation, when the struggle and the strife shall be over, and breathless, panting hope, dashed by ten thousand fears, shall be changed into a certainty of peace, into a foretaste of our crown! This one thought alone is enough to make death blessed. Well may evangelists say, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," and souls already martyred, like St. Paul, desire to depart. Even to us it may be permitted to feel our hearts beat thick with hopeful and longing fear when we wait for the voice that shall say to the least of penitents, "Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away, for lo! the winter is past; the rain is over and gone." Come to Me from Lebanon; look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, unto the everlasting hills and to the eternal years.
II. Thus far we have spoken of the desire to depart, which springs from a longing to be set free from sorrow and an evil world, from the temptations and burdens of mortality which weigh upon the soul. But these are the nether, and not the upper, springs of such desires. St. Paul longed for the spiritual body, raised in power and incorruption at the day of Christ, and meanwhile for that personal perfection in measure and foretaste which is prepared for those who die in the Lord and await His coming. Surely of all earthly sorrows sin is the sharpest. The heaviest of all burdens is the bondage of a will which makes God's service a weary task, and our homage of love a cold observance.
III. And this leads to another reason why to depart is blessed. It unites us for ever to the new creation of God. What is this new creation but the new heavens and the new earth, in which are gathered the whole order and lineage of the second Adam, all saints, from Abel the just, of all ages and times, in the twilight and the dayspring, in the morning and the noontide of grace, all made perfect, whether on earth or in rest, by the omnipotence of love? This is our true home, where all our reason, all our desires, all our sympathies, and all our love have their perfect sphere and their full repose.
IV. "To be with Christ." This is the true foundation of heavenly joy. To be with Him; to see His face; to follow Him whithersoever He goeth; to be conscious of His eye; to hear, it may be, His words of love; to see the gathered fruit of His Passion in the glory of His elect-what, if not this, is heaven? It is only our dull love of this world, or our blindness of heart, or, alas! our consciousness of penetrating guilt, which makes this desire of saints a thought of fear to us. But for this, how blessed to go to dwell with Him for ever!
I. The two desires. (1) To depart and be with Christ. This desire is composed of two parts: a vestibule, somewhat dark and forbidding, through which the pilgrim must pass, and a temple, unspeakably glorious, to which it leads the pilgrim as his eternal home. (2) To abide in the flesh. It is a natural and lawful desire. God has placed us here; He has visited us here; He has given us something to enjoy and something to do here. He expects us to value what He has bestowed. Jesus, in His prayer to the Father for those whom He has redeemed, puts in a specific caveat: "I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world." What Christ did not desire for Christians, they should not desire for themselves. Paul, even when he was ripe for glory, positively desired to abide in the flesh; they are the healthiest Christians who in this matter tread in his track.
II. A Christian balanced evenly between these two desires. The gain which it promised to himself made the prospect of departure welcome; the opportunity of doing good to others reconciled him to longer life on earth. These two desires go to constitute the spiritual man; these are the right and left sides of the new creature in Christ.
III. Practical lessons. (1) This one text is sufficient to destroy the whole value of Romish prayer to departed saints. (2) The chief use of a Christian in the world is to do good. (3) You cannot be effectively useful to those who are in need on earth unless you hold by faith and hope to Christ on high. (4) Living hope of going to be with Christ is the only anodyne which has power to neutralise the pain of parting with those who are dear to us in the body.
W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits, p. 212.
St. Paul in Rome.
I. It was not weariness of life, not the longing to escape from that close network which he had so sedulously woven round himself, that made the thought of death, not only painless, but welcome, to St. Paul; it was only the prospect of meeting Christ, of seeing Him as He is, of spending the future in His immediate presence and in unbroken converse with Him. To St. Paul this meeting appeared to be the instantaneous sequel of death, even while out of the body and before the great day. Such a condition of rest, and yet of conscious spiritual energy, is that which human reason and analogy suggest to us as far as they can suggest anything on a subject so mysterious. It is evident that the rest to St. Paul is not a complete torpor of the soul's consciousness. He is not looking forward to a dreamless slumber; he is thinking of such a meeting and communion as he can realise and profoundly enjoy.
II. Very remarkable it is to note the strength of this desire in the one Apostle who had seen the least of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Had he known the most intimate communion with Jesus in the past, he could not have anticipated with more fervent longing the joy of meeting Christ hereafter.
III. Notice how St. Paul's words tell against the efficacy of prayers to departed saints. If a saint can work more effectually in heaven for others than here, then St. Paul was mistaken, and his departure would have been a clear gain to the converts and the Church at large. The value of life, then, in the eyes of the true Christian, lies in the opportunity it gives of serving others. It is worth while to abide in the flesh; it is our duty to control even so pure a desire as to wish to depart and be with Christ for the sake of those to whose higher needs and true happiness God enables us to minister.
R. Duckworth, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiv., p. 242.
The Attractions of Heaven.
I. The place heaven has its attractions. It is paradise regained. Beauty smiles there; plenty laughs there; the blessing of God is enthroned there.
II. There are attractions in the heavenly state. It is a sorrowless, and curseless, and deathless state.
III. "Having a desire to depart," that is, to depart to the realisation of our highest hopes. Is our treasure, like that of Paul, in heaven?
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, 3rd series, p. 67.
Php 1:27 It is plain that every precept of holy living might be brought under this comprehensive charge. Let us narrow the compass of the exhortation. Let us say, Live inwardly and live outwardly as citizens of that kingdom which the Gospel has revealed.
I. How large a part of life is lived wholly within public life, social life, family life; these do not exhaust the whole being even in those who are most busy, most sociable, or most domestic. Within and beside all these there is for all of us a life yet more real, yet more important; and the danger of all these other kinds of life is lest they should obscure or paralyse or stifle this. It is for our soul's sake, for our eternal welfare's sake, that we must watch and pray against this danger. As in some senses we all have a secret life, which we cannot part with nor make public even if we would, so it is our great business to attend to this secret life, to regulate and cultivate it, in such a way that it may become, as it is here expressed, worthy of the Gospel. We ought to be living our citizenship inwardly towards Christ, our Lord and King. The state of our mind towards Him personally ought to be that which suits and is consistent with our relation to Him as His subjects.
II. And then that which is within will shine through into that which is without also. He whose inner life is that of one whom Christ has saved will be living outwardly also as a citizen of the kingdom not of this world; his aims and motives will be higher than those of men who know not God; he will not be a worldly man; he will not be a vain man; he will declare plainly by his acts that he is one who seeks a country.
C. J. Vaughan, Lectures on Philippians, p. 73.
References: Php 1:27 .-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 640; F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 209; J. R. Woodford, Ibid., vol. xxi., p. 161; W. J. Woods, Ibid., vol. xxxvi., p. 280; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 345; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 145; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iii., p. 353; Church Sermons, vol. ii., p. 113. Php 1:27 , Php 1:28 .-Homilist, vol. v., p. 189; A. Maclaren, The Secret of Power, p. 237.
Php 1:27-30 This is a call-
I. To holiness. There is but one ideal life in the Church. In all our growing and striving Christ Himself is to us, and His grace is, all-sufficient.
II. To unanimity. Monotony is not what is meant by unanimity. We are one in our love and service of Christ.
III. To courage. Timidity is an impediment on the path of moral progress; it arises from distrust of God. "Straight on," is God's command, and He will frighten the lions from before your feet.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 210.
References: Php 1:27-30 .-J. J. Goadby, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 293; J. P. Gledstone, Ibid., vol. xix., p. 59.
Php 1:29 The Sacrifice of the Redeemed.
I. Christ's sacrifice is no far-away fact, to be shown and gazed upon; it draws us also unto itself. For consider what exactly it was. Where does its vicarious efficacy for us lie? Surely in this: that Christ made His offering out of our very flesh. He laid hold of no foreign thing to offer; He looked not elsewhere for a gift. He looked at this world we live in; He took of its substance for His gift; He laid hold of its present nature, and offered that. Forasmuch as the children partook of flesh and blood, Christ partook of the same. As He found it, so He took it; just it, and no other; this, just this, is that in which He would accomplish His priestly work. But these are the very conditions in which we to this day live. That flesh which He took we still wear; still it is full charged with ache and torment; still it wastes and sickens. We then hold in our hands the very gift which Christ, our Master, offered. It was just these human sorrows that He turned into sacraments of allegiance. Are we blinded to our opportunities by the fact that they fall upon us by natural laws, or that they seem entirely accidental, or that they are brought upon us unjustly by wicked hands?
II. But consider the offering of Christ. What can possibly be more unlike a pleasing sacrifice to God than His death? What sign of its being a High-priest's offering broke through the shadow of this world's darkness? It differed in no degree whatever from any common disaster that happens to us. It came upon Him by simple natural means; it looked to the outsider as a most cruel and unfortunate and bloody accident. He offered then, and saved by offering, just that human life which still is ours today; and if so, His sacrifice is not only a vicarious act, but a revelation of the true use to which we may put this very world in which we stand, a revelation of the manner by which even it, with all its confusions, and disappointments, and sickness, and weariness, and anguish, and death, may be justified, may be hallowed, may be transformed into the fuel of the one sacrifice which alone can reconcile the world to God. We are drawn into the circle in which Christ's eternal energies work; the love of Christ lays hands upon us and constrains us; we, as we are uplifted by the prayer of His Passion, we, too, recover our priesthood; we may lift the offering of this our flesh to God, since that day when Christ died in the likeness of our flesh and sanctified it to become an offering to God. We may do it now, though we are severed from that great day by eighteen hundred long and weary years, for still today Christ, the ever-living Priest, pleads within that holy place, into which He has passed before us, that holy blood, once poured out in love for us, which makes Him still bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh; and still today, as the Father looks upon that blood, there breaks from His eyes ever and again the splendour of an unappeasable and exhaustless love, which hastens from afar to greet our poor and pitiful gift of ourselves to Him, kissing us and rejoicing, as God, the mighty Forgiver, can alone rejoice, that this His Son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.
1. Paul and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ While Paul is accustomed, in the inscription of his epistles, to employ titles of distinction, with the view of procuring credit for himself and his ministry, there was no need of lengthened commendations in writing to the Philippians, who had known him by experience as a true Apostle of Christ, and still acknowledged him as such beyond all controversy. For they had persevered in the calling of God steadfastly, and in an even tenor. (24)
Bishops He names the pastors separately, for the sake of honor. We may, however, infer from this, that the name of bishop is common to all the ministers of the Word, inasmuch as he assigns several bishops to one Church. The titles, therefore, of bishop and pastor, are synonymous. And this is one of the passages which Jerome quotes for proving this in his epistle to Evagrius, (25) and in his exposition of the Epistle to Titus. (26) Afterwards (27) there crept in the custom of applying the name of bishop exclusively to the person whom the presbyters in each church appointed over their company. (28) It originated, however, in a human custom, and rests on no Scripture authority. I acknowledge, indeed, that, as the minds and manners of men are, there cannot be order maintained among the ministers of the word, without one presiding over the others. I speak of particular bodies, (29) not of whole provinces, much less of the whole world. Now, although we must not contend for words, it were at the same time better for us in speaking to follow the Holy Spirit, the author of tongues, than to change for the worse forms of speech which are dictated to us by Him. For from the corrupted signification of the word this evil has resulted, that, as if all the presbyters (30) were not colleagues, called to the same office, one of them, under the pretext of a new appellation, usurped dominion over the others.
Deacons. This term may be taken in two ways — either as meaning administrators, and curators of the poor, or for elders, who were appointed for the regulation of morals. As, however, it is more generally made use of by Paul in the former sense, I understand it rather as meaning stewards, who superintended the distributing and receiving of alms. On the other points consult the preceding commentaries.
(24) “Sans se desbaucher;” — “Without corrupting themselves.”
(25) “Evagrius, a native of Antioch, and a presbyter apparently of the Church of Antioch. He traveled into the west of Europe, and was acquainted with Jerome, who describes him as a man acris ac ferventis ingenii , (of a keen and warm temper.)” — Smith’s Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology. — Ed.
(26) The reader will find both of the passages referred to quoted at full length in the Institutes, vol. iii. pp. 75, 76. — Ed.
(27) “Depuis les temps de l’Apostre;” — “After the times of the Apostle.”
(28) “Ordonnoyent conducteur de leur congregation;” — “Appointed leader of their congregation.”
(29) “De chacun corps d’Eglise en particulier;” — “Of each body of the Church in particular.”
(30) “Tous prestres et pasteurs;” — “All priests and pastors.”
3. I give thanks. He begins with thanksgiving (31) on two accounts — first, that he may by this token shew his love to the Philippians; and secondly, that, by commending them as to the past, he may exhort them, also, to perseverance in time to come. He adduces, also, another evidence of his love — the anxiety which he exercised in supplications. It is to be observed, however, that, whenever he makes mention of things that are joyful, he immediately breaks forth into thanksgiving — a practice with which we ought also to be familiar. We must, also, take notice, what things they are for which he gives thanks to God, — the fellowship of the Philippians in the gospel of Christ; for it follows from this, that it ought to be ascribed to the grace of God. When he says, upon every remembrance of you, he means, “As often as I remember you.”
(31) “Vne protestation, qu’il est ioyeux de leur bien;” — “A protestation, that he is delighted on account of their welfare.”
4. Always in every prayer. Connect the words in this manner: “Always presenting prayer for you all in every prayer of mine. ” For as he had said before, that the remembrance of them was an occasion of joy to him, so he now subjoins, that they come into his mind as often as he prays. He afterwards adds, that it is with joy that he presents prayer in their behalf. Joy refers to the past; prayer to the future. For he rejoiced in their auspicious beginnings, and was desirous of their perfection. Thus it becomes us always to rejoice in the blessings received from God in such a manner, as to remember to ask from him those things that we are still in need of.
5. For your fellowship. He now, passing over the other clause, states the ground of his joy — that they had come into the fellowship of the gospel, that is, had become partakers of the gospel, which, as is well known, is accomplished by means of faith; for the gospel appears as nothing to us, in respect of any enjoyment of it, until we have received it by faith. At the same time the term fellowship may be viewed as referring to the common society of the saints, as though he had said that they had been associated with all the children of God in the faith of the gospel. When he says, from the first day, he commends their promptitude in having shewn themselves teachable immediately upon the doctrine being set before them. The phrase until now denotes their perseverance. Now we know how rare an excellence it is, to follow God immediately upon his calling us, and also to persevere steadfastly unto the end. For many are slow and backward to obey, while there are still more that fall short through fickleness and inconstancy. (32)
(32) “Qui se reuoltent ou defaillent en chemin par legerete;” — “Who revolt or fall back in the way through fickleness.”
6. Persuaded of this very thing. An additional ground of joy is furnished in his confidence in them for the time to come. (33) But some one will say, why should men dare to assure themselves for to-morrow amidst so great an infirmity of nature, amidst so many impediments, ruggednesses, and precipices? (34) Paul, assuredly, did not derive this confidence from the steadfastness or excellence of men, but simply from the fact, that God had manifested his love to the Philippians. And undoubtedly this is the true manner of acknowledging God’s benefits — when we derive from them occasion of hoping well as to the future. (35) For as they are tokens at once of his goodness, and of his fatherly benevolence towards us, what ingratitude were it to derive from this no confirmation of hope and good courage! In addition to this, God is not like men, so as to be wearied out or exhausted by conferring kindness. (36) Let, therefore, believers exercise themselves in constant meditation upon the favors which God confers, that they may encourage and confirm hope as to the time to come, and always ponder in their mind this syllogism: God does not forsake the work which his own hands have begun, as the Prophet bears witness, (Psa 138:8; Isa 64:8;) we are the work of his hands; therefore he will complete what he has begun in us. When I say that we are the work of his hands, I do not refer to mere creation, but to the calling by which we are adopted into the number of his sons. For it is a token to us of our election, that the Lord has called us effectually to himself by his Spirit.
It is asked, however, whether any one can be certain as to the salvation of others, for Paul here is not speaking of himself but of the Philippians. I answer, that the assurance which an individual has respecting his own salvation, is very different from what he has as to that of another. For the Spirit of God is a witness to me of my calling, as he is to each of the elect. As to others, we have no testimony, except from the outward efficacy of the Spirit; that is, in so far as the grace of God shews itself in them, so that we come to know it. There is, therefore, a great difference, because the assurance of faith remains inwardly shut up, and does not extend itself to others. But wherever we see any such tokens of Divine election as can be perceived by us, we ought immediately to be stirred up to entertain good hope, both in order that we may not be envious (37) towards our neighbors, and withhold from them an equitable and kind judgment of charity; and also, that we may be grateful to God. (38) This, however, is a general rule both as to ourselves and as to others — that, distrusting our own strength, we depend entirely upon God alone.
Until the day of Jesus Christ The chief thing, indeed, to be understood here is — until the termination of the conflict. Now the conflict is terminated by death. As, however, the Spirit is accustomed to speak in this manner in reference to the last coming of Christ, it were better to extend the advancement of the grace of Christ to the resurrection of the flesh. For although those who have been freed from the mortal body do no longer contend with the lusts of the flesh, and are, as the expression is, beyond the reach of a single dart, (39) yet there will be no absurdity in speaking of them as in the way of advancement, (40) inasmuch as they have not yet reached the point at which they aspire, — they do not yet enjoy the felicity and glory which they have hoped for; and in fine, the day has not yet shone which is to discover the treasures which lie hid in hope. And in truth, when hope is treated of, our eyes must always be directed forward to a blessed resurrection, as the grand object in view.
(33) “Qu’il se confioit d’eux qu’ils perseuereroyent de reste de leur vie;” — “That he had confidence in them that they would persevere during the remainder of their life.”
(34) “Entre tant d’empeschemens, mauuais passages et fascheuses rencontres, voire mesme des dangers de tomber tout a plat en perdition;” — “Amidst so many impediments, hard passes, and disagreeable collisions, nay, even so many hazards of falling headlong into perdition.”
(35) See CALVIN on the Corinthians, vol. 2, p. 121.
(36) “Il ne se lasse point en bien faisant, et son thresor ne diminue point;” — “He does not weary himself in doing good, and does not diminish his treasure.”
(37) “Enuieux et desdaigneux;” — “Envious and disdainful.”
(38) “Pour recognoistre le bien que Dieu leur a fait, et n’estre point ingrats enuers luy;” — “That we may acknowledge the kindness which God has shewn them, and may not be ungrateful to him.”
(39) “Extra teli jactum “ — Virgil makes use of a corresponding phrase — “intra jactum teli;” — “Within the reach of a dart.” Virg. Æn. 11:608. — Ed.
(40) “En voye de proufiter, ou auancer;” — “In the way of making progress, or advancement.”
7. As it is reasonable. For we are envious (42) valuators of the gifts of God if we do not reckon as children of God those in whom there shine forth those true tokens of piety, which are the marks by which the Spirit of adoption manifests himself. Paul accordingly says, that equity itself dictates to him, (43) that he should hope well of the Philippians in all time to come, inasmuch as he sees them to be associated with himself in participation of grace. It is not without due consideration that I have given a different rendering of this passage from that of Erasmus, as the judicious reader will easily perceive. For he states what opinion he has of the Philippians, which was the ground of his hoping well respecting them. He says, then, that they are partakers with him of the same grace in his bonds, and in the defense of the gospel.
To have them in his heart is to reckon them as such in the inmost affection of his heart. For the Philippians had always assisted Paul according to their ability, so as to connect themselves with him as associates for maintaining the cause of the gospel, so far as was in their power. Thus, although they were absent in body, yet, on account of the pious disposition which they shewed by every service in their power, he recognises them as in bonds along with him. “I have you, therefore, in my heart; ” this is, sincerely and without any pretense, assuredly, and with no slight or doubtful opinion — as what? as partakers of grace — in what? in my bonds, by which the gospel is defended. As he acknowledged them to be such, it was reasonable that he should hope well respecting them.
Of my grace and in the bonds. It were a ludicrous thing in the view of the world to reckon a prison to be a benefit from God, but if we estimate the matter aright, it is no common honor that God confers upon us, when we suffer persecution for the sake of his truth. For it was not in vain that it was said,
Blessed shall ye be, when men shall afflict and harass you with all kinds of reproaches for my name’s sake. (Mat 5:11)
Let us therefore bear in remembrance also, that we must with readiness and alacrity embrace the fellowship of the cross of Christ as a special favor from God. In addition to bonds he subjoins the defense and confirmation of the gospel, that he may express so much the better the honourableness of the service which God has enjoined upon us in placing us in opposition to his enemies, so as to bear testimony to his gospel. For it is as though he had entrusted us with the defense of his gospel. And truly it was when armed with this consideration, that the martyrs were prepared to contemn all the rage of the wicked, and to rise superior to every kind of torture. And would that this were present to the mind of all that are called to make a confession of their faith, that they have been chosen by Christ to be as advocates to plead his cause! For were they sustained by such consolation they would be more courageous than to be so easily turned aside into a perfidious revolt. (44)
Here, however, some one will inquire, whether the confirmation of the gospel depends on the steadfastness of men. I answer, that the truth of God is in itself too firm to require that it should have support from any other quarter; for though we should all of us be found liars, God, nevertheless, remains true. (Rom 3:4.) There is, however, no absurdity in saying, that weak consciences are confirmed in it by such helps. That kind of confirmation, therefore, of which Paul makes mention, has a relation to men, as we learn from our own experience that the slaughter of so many martyrs has been attended at least with this advantage, that they have been as it were so many seals, by which the gospel has been sealed in our hearts. Hence that saying of Tertullian, that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” — which I have imitated in a certain poem: “But that sacred blood, (45) the maintainer of God’s honor, will be like seed for producing offspring.” (46)
(42) “Maigres et desdaigneux;” — “Miserable and disdainful.”
(43) “Raison mesme et equite luy disent;” — “Even reason and equity tell him.”
(44) “Ils seroyent si constans et fermes, qu’ils ne pourroyent estre aiseement induits a se reuolter laschement et desloyaument;” — “They would be so steadfast and firm, that they could not be easily induced to revolt in a cowardly and disloyal manner.”
(45) Sanctus at ille cruor, divini assertor honoris,
Gignendam ad sobolem seminis instar erit
(46) “A l’imitation duquel au chant de victoire composé par moy en Latin en l’honneur de Jesus Christ, 1541, et lequel depuis a este reduit en rime Francois, i’ay dit : —
‘Or le sang precieux par martyre espandu
Pour auoir a son Dieu tesmoignage rendu,
A l’Eglise de Dieu seruira de semence
Dont enfans sorteront remplis d’intelligence.’“
“In imitation of which, in the song of victory composed by me in Latin in honor of Jesus Christ, in 1541, and which has since that time been rendered into French rhyme, I have said: —
‘But the precious blood shed by martyrs
That it might be as a testimony rendered to its God,
Will in the Church of God serve as seed
From which children shall come forth, filled with understanding.’“
8. For God is my witness. He now declares more explicitly his affection for them, and, with the view of giving proof of it, he makes use of an oath, and that on good grounds, because we know how dear in the sight of God is the edification of his Church. It was, too, more especially of advantage, that Paul’s affection should be thoroughly made known to the Philippians. For it tends in no small degree to secure credit for the doctrine, when the people are persuaded that they are beloved by the teacher. He calls God as a witness to the truth, inasmuch as he alone is the Truth, and as a witness of his affection, inasmuch as he alone is the searcher of hearts. In the word rendered long after, a particular term is made use of instead of a general, and it is a token of affection, inasmuch as we long after those things which are dear to us.
In the bowels He places the bowels of Christ in opposition to carnal affection, to intimate that his affection is holy and pious. For the man that loves according to the flesh has respect to his own advantage, and may from time to time change his mind according to the variety of circumstances and seasons. In the meantime he instructs us by what rule the affections of believers ought to be regulated, so that, renouncing their own will, they may allow Christ to sit at the helm. And, unquestionably, true love can flow from no other source than from the bowels of Christ, and this, like a goad, ought to affect us not a little — that Christ in a manner opens his bowels, that by them he may cherish mutual affection between us. (47)
(47) Beza, when commenting on the expression, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, observes, “Alibi solet dicere, In Christo. Ut autem significet ex quo fonte promanet affectus iste, et quo etiam feratur, additum visceribus nomen magnum pondus addit sententiæ, ut intimus amor significetur. Solent enim Hebraei רחמים, rachamim, id est, viscera omnes teneros ac veluti maternos affectus vocare;” — “He is accustomed in other cases to say, In Christ. But to intimate from what fountain that affection flows, and in what direction also it tends, the addition of the term bowels adds great weight to the statement, so as to express intimate affection. For the Hebrews are accustomed to employ the term רחמים rachamim, that is, bowels, to denote all tender and as it were motherly affections.” — Ed.
9. This I pray that your love He returns to the prayer, which he had simply touched upon in one word in passing. He states, accordingly, the sum of those things which he asked from God in their behalf, that they also may learn to pray after his example, and may aspire at proficiency in those gifts. The view taken by some, as though the love of the Philippians denoted the Philippians themselves, as illiterate persons are accustomed very commonly to say, “Your reverence,” — “Your paternity,” is absurd. For no instance of such an expression occurs in the writings of Paul, nor had such fooleries come into use. Besides, the statement would be less complete, and, independently of this, the simple and natural meaning of the words suits admirably well. For the true attainments of Christians are when they make progress in knowledge, and understanding, and afterwards in love. Accordingly the particle in, according to the idiom of the Hebrew tongue, is taken here to mean with, as I have also rendered it, unless perhaps one should prefer to explain it as meaning by, so as to denote the instrument or formal cause. For, the greater proficiency we make in knowledge, so much the more ought our love to increase. The meaning in that case would be, “That your love may increase according to the measure of knowledge.” All knowledge, means what is full and complete — not a knowledge of all things. (48)
(48) “The word rendered judgment is capable of being rendered sense (πάσὟ αἰσθήσει) in all sense. ‘I pray that you may have your spiritual senses in excerise — that you may have a judicious distinguishing sense.’ For what? Why, ‘that ye may approve things that are excellent,’ — so it follows, or, as the words there may be read, to ‘distinguish things that differ.’“ — Howe’s Works, (Lond. 1822,) vol. 5, p. 145. — Ed.
10That ye may approve the things that are Here we have a definition of Christian wisdom — to know what is advantageous or expedient — not to torture the mind with empty subtleties and speculations. For the Lord does not wish that his believing people should employ themselves fruitlessly in learning what is of no profit: From this you may gather in what estimation the Sorbonnic theology ought to be held, in which you may spend your whole life, and yet not derive more of edification from it in connection with the hope of a heavenly life, or more of spiritual advantage, than from the demonstrations of Euclid. Unquestionably, although it taught nothing false, it well deserves to be execrable, on the ground that it is a pernicious profanation of spiritual doctrine. For Scripture is useful, as Paul says, in 2Ti 3:16, but there you will find nothing but cold subtleties of words.
That ye may be sincere. This is the advantage which we derive from knowledge — not that every one may artfully consult his own interests, but that we may live in pure conscience in the sight of God.
It is added — and without offense The Greek word ἀπροσκοποι is ambiguous. Chrysostom explains it in an active sense — that as he had desired that they should be pure and upright in the sight of God, so he now desires that they should lead an honorable life in the sight of men, that they may not injure their neighbors by any evil examples. This exposition I do not reject: the passive signification, however, is better suited to the context, in my opinion. For he desires wisdom for them, with this view — that they may with unwavering step go forward in their calling until the day of Christ, as on the other hand it happens through ignorance, (49) that we frequently slip our foot, stumble, and turn aside. And how many stumbling blocks Satan from time to time throws in our way, with the view of either stopping our course altogether, or impeding it, every one of us knows from his own experience.
(49) “Par ignorance et faute de prudence;” — “Through ignorance and want of prudence.”
11Filled with the fruits of righteousness. This now belongs to the outward life, for a good conscience produces its fruits by means of works. Hence he desires that they may be fruitful in good works for the glory of God. Such fruits, he says, are by Christ, because they flow from the grace of Christ. For the beginning of our well-doing is, when we are sanctified by his Spirit, for he rested upon him, that we might all receive of his fullness. (Joh 1:16.) And as Paul here derives a similitude from trees, we are wild olive-trees, (Rom 11:24,) and unproductive, until we are ingrafted into Christ, who by his living root makes us fruitbearing trees, in accordance with that saying, (Joh 15:1,) I am the vine, ye are the branches. He at the same time shews the end — that we may promote the glory of God. For no life is so excellent in appearance as not to be corrupted and become offensive in the view of God, if it is not directed towards this object.
Paul’s speaking here of works under the term righteousness, is not at all inconsistent with the gratuitous righteousness of faith. For it does not immediately follow that there is righteousness wherever there are the fruits of righteousness, inasmuch as there is no righteousness in the sight of God, unless there be a full and complete obedience to the law, which is not found in any one of the saints, though, nevertheless, they bring forth, according to the measure, the good and pleasant (50) fruits of righteousness, and for this reason, that, as God begins righteousness in us, through the regeneration of the Spirit, so what is wanting is amply supplied through the remission of sins, in such a way that all righteousness, nevertheless, depends upon faith.
(50) “Bons et aimables;” — “Good and amiable.”
12But I wish you to know We all know from our own experience, how much the flesh is wont to be offended by the abasement of the cross. We allow, indeed, Christ crucified to be preached to us; but when he appears in connection with his cross, then, as though we were thunderstruck at the novelty of it, (51) we either avoid him or hold him in abhorrence, and that not merely in our own persons, but also in the persons of those who deliver to us the gospel. It may have happened to the Philippians, that they were in some degree discouraged in consequence of the persecution of their Apostle. We may also very readily believe, that those bad workmen (52) who eagerly watched every occasion, however small, of doing injury, did not refrain from triumphing over the calamity of this holy man, and by this means making his gospel contemptible. If, however, they were not successful in this attempt, they might very readily calumniate him by representing him as hated by the whole world; and at the same time leading the Philippians to dread, lest, by an unfortunate association with him, (53) they should needlessly incur great dislike among all; for such are the usual artifices of Satan. The Apostle provides against this danger, when he states that the gospel had been promoted by means of his bonds. The design, accordingly, of this detail is, to encourage the Philippians, that they may not feel deterred (54) by the persecution endured by him.
(51) “Estans estonnez comme d’vne chose nouuelle et non ouye;” — “Being astonished as at a thing new and unheard of.”
(52) “Et faux apostres;” — “And false apostles.”
(53) “En prenant ceste dangereuse accointance de S. Paul;” — “By contracting this dangerous acquaintance with St. Paul.”
(54) “Afin qu’ils ne soyent point destournex;” — “That they may not be turned aside.”
13So that my bonds He employs the expression — in Christ, to mean, in the affairs, or in the cause of Christ, for he intimates that his bonds had become illustrious, so as to promote the honor of Christ. (55) The rendering given by some — through Christ, seems forced. I have also employed the word illustria (illustrious) in preference to manifesta , (manifest,) — as having ennobled the gospel by their fame. (56) “Satan, indeed, has attempted it, and the wicked have thought that it would turn out so, that the gospel would be destroyed; but God has frustrated both the attempts of the former and the expectations of the latter, (57) and that in two ways, for while the gospel was previously obscure and unknown, it has come to be well known, and not only so, but has even been rendered honorable in the Praetorium , no less than in the rest of the city.” By the praetorium I understand the hall and palace of Nero, which Fabius (58) and writers of that age call Augustale , (the Augustal.) For as the name praetor was at first a general term, and denoted all magistrates who held the chief sway, (hence it came that the dictator was called the sovereign praetor, (59)) it, consequently, became customary to employ the term praetorium in war to mean the tent, either of the consul, (60) or of the person who presided, (61) while in the city it denoted the palace of Caesar, (62) from the time that the Cesars took possession of the monarchy. (63) Independently of this, the bench of praetor is also called the praetorium (64)
(55) “Ses liens ont este rendus celebres, et ont excellement serui a auancer la gloire de Christ;” — “His bonds had become celebrated, and had admirably contributed to advance the glory of Christ.”
(56) “Pource qu’il entend que le bruit qui auoit este de ses liens, auoit donné grand bruit a l’Euangile;” — “Because he means that the fame, which had arisen from his bonds, had given great fame to the gospel.”
(57) “Dieu a aneanti les efforts malicieux de Satan, et a frustré les meschans de leur attente;” — “God has made void the malicious efforts of Satan, and has disappointed the wicked of their expectation.”
(58) Our author has most probably in view an expression which occurs in the writings of Quinctilian, (Instit. Orator., lib. 8, 2, 8,) — “tabernaculum ducis Augustale;” — (“a general’s tent is called the Augustal.”) In the best editions of Quinctilian, however, the reading of Augurale , as synonymous with auguraculum , or auguratorium ; — (an apartment for the augur’s taking omens.) — Ed.
(59) The dictator is called by Livey, “praetor maximus ; ” — “the highest praetor. ” — (Liv. 7:3.) — Ed.
(60) “La tente ou du consul, ou de celuy qui estoit chef de l’armee, quelque nom qu’on luy donast;” — “The tent of the consul, or of the person who was head of the army, whatever name was applied to him.”
(61) “Praeibat ” — There is manifestly an allusion here to the etymology of praetor, as being derived from praeire, to go before, or preside. — Ed.
(62) “At Rome it “(the term praetorium )” signified the public hall where causes were tried by the praetor; but more usually it denoted the camp or quarters of the praetorian cohorts without the city..... The name of praetorium was, in the provinces, given to the palace of the governors, both because they administered justice, and had their guards stationed in their residence. Hence it is inferred that, although the Apostle was at Rome when he wrote this, and although the circumstances to which he refers occurred in that city, yet, writing to persons residing in the provinces, he uses the word praetorium in the provincial sense, and means by it the emperor’s palace. ” — Illustrated Commentary. — Ed.
(63) “Depuis que les empereurs usurperent la monarchie;” — “From the time that the emperors usurped the monarchy.”
(64) “Pretoire signifioit aussi le lieu ou le preteur tenoit la cour, et exerçoit sa iurisdiction;” — “The praetorium signified also the place where the praetor held his court, and exercised jurisdiction.”
14Many of the brethren. By this instance we are taught that the tortures of the saints, endured by them in behalf of the gospel, are a ground of confidence (65) to us. It were indeed a dreadful spectacle, and such as might tend rather to dishearten us, did we see nothing but the cruelty and rage of the persecutors. When, however, we see at the same time the hand of the Lord, which makes his people unconquerable, (66) under the infirmity of the Cross, and causes them to triumph, relying upon this, (67) we ought to venture farther than we had been accustomed, having now a pledge of our victory in the persons of our brethren. The knowledge of this ought to overcome our fears, that we may speak boldly in the midst of dangers.
(65) “Confiance et asseurance;” — “Confidence and assurance.”
(66) “Courageux et inuincibles;” — “Courageous and unconquerable.”
(67) “Estans assuerez sur ceste main et puissance du Seigneur;” — “Confidently relying upon this hand and power of the Lord.”
15Some indeed. Here is another fruit of Paul’s bonds, that not only were the brethren stirred up to confidence by his example — some by maintaining their position, others by becoming more eager to teach — but even those who wished him evil were on another account stirred up to publish the gospel.
16Some, I say, from contention. Here we have a lengthened detail, in which he explains more fully the foregoing statement; for he repeats that there are two classes of men that are stirred up by his bonds to preach Christ — the one influenced by contention, that is, by depraved affection — the other by pious zeal, as being desirous to maintain along with him the defense of the gospel. The former, he says, do not preach Christ purely, because it was not a right zeal. (68) For the term does not apply to doctrine, because it is possible that the man who teaches most purely, may, nevertheless, not be of a sincere mind. (69) Now, that this impurity was in the mind, and did not shew itself in doctrine, may be inferred from the context. Paul assuredly would have felt no pleasure in seeing the gospel corrupted; yet he declares that he rejoices in the preaching of those persons, while it was not simple or sincere.
It is asked, however, how such preaching could be injurious to him? I answer, that many occasions are unknown to us, inasmuch as we are not acquainted with the circumstances of the times. It is asked farther, “Since the gospel cannot be preached but by those that understand it, what motive induced those persons to persecute the doctrine of which they approved?” I answer, that ambition is blind, nay, it is a furious beast. Hence it is not to be wondered if false brethren snatch a weapon from the gospel for harassing good and pious pastors. (70) Paul, assuredly, says nothing here (71) of which I have not myself had experience. For there are living at this very day those who have preached the gospel with no other design, than that they might gratify the rage of the wicked by persecuting pious pastors. As to Paul’s enemies, it is of importance to observe, if they were Jews, how mad their hatred was, so as even to forget on what account they hated him. For while they made it their aim to destroy him, they exerted themselves to promote the gospel, on account of which they were hostile to him; but they imagined, no doubt, that the cause of Christ would stand or fall (72) in the person of one individual. If, however, there were envious persons, (73) who were thus hurried away by ambition, we ought to acknowledge the wonderful goodness of God, who, notwithstanding, gave such a prosperous issue to their depraved affections.
(68) “Pource que leur zele n’estoit pas pur;” — “Because their zeal was not pure.”
(69) “Il se pent bien faire, que celuy qui enseignera vne doctrine pure et saine, aura toutesfois vne mauvaise affection;” — “It may quite well happen, that the man who teaches pure and sound doctrine, will have, nevertheless, an evil disposition.”
(70) “Certes le sainct Apostre ne dit rien yci;” — “Certainly the holy Apostle says nothing here.”
(71) “Il ne se faut esbahir si les faux-freres prenent occasion de l’evangile, et s’ils s’en forgent des bastons pour tormenter les bons et fideles pasteurs;” — “It ought not to appear surprising, if false brethren take occasion from the gospel, and contrive weapons for themselves for torturing good and faithful pastors.”
(72) “Mais voyla: il leur sembloit que la doctrine consistoit ou tomboit bas;” — “But mark! it seemed to them that doctrine stood or fell.”
(73) “Que si c’estoit d’autres que Juifs, ascauoir quelques enuieux de Sainct Paul;” — “But if there were other than Jews — some that were envious of St. Paul.”
17That for the defense. Those who truly loved Christ reckoned that it would be a disgrace to them if they did not associate themselves with Paul as his companions, when maintaining the cause of the gospel; and we must act in such a manner, as to give a helping hand, as far as possible, to the servants of Christ when in difficulty. (74) Observe, again, this expression — for the defense of the gospel For since Christ confers upon us so great an honor, what excuse shall we have, if we shall be traitors to his cause, (75) or what may we expect, if we betray it by our silence, but that he shall in return desert our cause, who is our sole Advocate, or Patron, with the Father? (76) (1Jo 2:1.)
(74) “Estans en quelque necessite;” — “When they are in any emergency.”
(75) “Praevaricatores ” The term is employed by classical writers in the sense of betraying the cause of one’s client, and by neglect or collusion assisting his opponent. See Quinct. 9:2. — Ed.
(76) “Si nous nous entendons auec la partie aduerse d’iceluy;” — “If we should connect ourselves with the party opposed to him.”
18But in every way. As the wicked disposition of those of whom he has spoken might detract from the acceptableness of the doctrine, (77) he says that this ought to be reckoned of great importance, that they nevertheless promoted the cause of the gospel, whatever their disposition might be. For God sometimes accomplishes an admirable work by means of wicked and depraved instruments. Accordingly, he says that he rejoices in a happy result of this nature; because this one thing contented him — if he saw the kingdom of Christ increasing — just as we, on hearing that that impure dog Carolus (78) was scattering the seeds of pure doctrine at Avignon and elsewhere, we gave thanks to God because he had made use of that most profligate and worthless villain for his glory: and at this day we rejoice that the progress of the gospel is advanced by many who, nevertheless, had another design in view. But though Paul rejoiced in the advancement of the gospel, yet, had the matter been in his hand, he would never have ordained such persons as ministers. We ought, therefore, to rejoice if God accomplishes anything that is good by means of wicked persons; but they ought not on that account to be either placed by us in the ministry, or looked upon as Christ’s lawful ministers.
(77) “Pouuoit diminuer l’authorite de la doctrine;” — “Might diminish the authority of the doctrine.”
(78) Our Author appears to refer here to Peter Carolus, of whom the reader will find particular mention made by Beza in his Life of CALVIN. — CALVIN’S Tracts, vol. 1, pp. 30, 31. — Ed.
19For I know that As some published the gospel with the view of rendering Paul odious, in order that they might kindle up against him the more the rage of his enemies, he tells them beforehand that their wicked attempts will do him no harm, because the Lord will turn them to a contrary design. “Though they plot my destruction, yet I trust that all their attempts will have no other effect but that Christ will be glorified in me — which is a thing most salutary to me.” For it is evident from what follows, that he is not speaking of the safety of the body. But whence this confidence on the part of Paul? It is from what he teaches elsewhere, (Rom 8:28,) — that all things contribute to the advantage of God’s true worshippers, even though the whole world, with the devil, its prince, should conspire together for their ruin.
Through your prayer That he may stir them up to pray more ardently, he declares that he is confident that the Lord will give them an answer to their prayers. Nor does he use dissimulation: for he who depends for help on the prayers of the saints relies on the promise of God. In the mean time, nothing is detracted from the unmerited goodness of God, on which depend our prayers, and what is obtained by means of them.
And the supply. Let us not suppose, that because he joins these two things in one connection, they are consequently alike. The statement must, therefore, be explained in this manner: — “I know that all this will turn out to my advantage, through the administration of the Spirit, you also helping by prayer,” — so that the supply of the Spirit is the efficient cause, while prayer is a subordinate help. We must also observe the propriety of the Greek term, for ἐπιχορηγία is employed to mean the furnishing of what is wanting, (79) just as the Spirit of God pours into us everything of which we are destitute.
He calls him, too, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, to intimate, that if we are Christians, he is common to all of us, inasmuch as he was poured upon him with all fullness, that, according to the measure of his grace, he might give out, so far as is expedient, to each of his members.
(79) “The word ἐπιχορηγία which we translate supply, signifies also furnishing whatever is necessary.” — Dr. A. Clarke. — Ed.
20According to my expectation. Should any one object, “From what do you derive that knowledge?” he answers, “From hope.” For as it is certain that God does not by any means design to frustrate our hope, hope itself ought not to be wavering. Let then the pious reader carefully observe this adverb secundum , (according to,) that he may be fully assured in his own mind, that it is impossible but that the Lord will fulfill our expectation, inasmuch as it is founded on his own word. Now, he has promised that he will never be wanting to us even in the midst of all tortures, if we are at any time called to make confession of his name. Let, therefore, all the pious entertain hope after Paul’s example, and they will not be put to shame.
With all confidence We see that, in cherishing hope, he does not give indulgence to carnal desires, but places his hope in subjection to the promise of God. “Christ, ” says he, “will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death ” By making express mention, however, of the body, he intimates that, amongst the conflicts of the present life, he is in no degree doubtful as to the issue, for we are assured as to this by God. If, accordingly, giving ourselves up to the good pleasure of God, and having in our life the same object in view as Paul had, we expect, in whatever way it may be, a prosperous issue, we shall no longer have occasion to fear lest any adversity should befall us; for if we live and die to him, we are his in life and in death. (Rom 14:8.) He expresses the way in which Christ will be magnified — by full assurance. Hence it follows, that through our fault he is cast down and lowered, so far as it is in our power to do so, when we give way through fear. Do not those then feel ashamed who reckon it a light offense to tremble, (80) when called to make confession of the truth? But how much ashamed ought those to feel, who are so shamelessly impudent as to have the hardihood even to excuse renunciation?
He adds, as always, that they may confirm their faith from past experience of the grace of God. Thus, in Rom 5:4, he says, Experience begets hope.
(80) “De varier et chanceler;” — “To shift and waver.”
21For to me to live. Interpreters have hitherto, in my opinion, given a wrong rendering and exposition to this passage; for they make this distinction, that Christ was life to Paul, and death was gain. I, on the other hand, make Christ the subject of discourse in both clauses, so that he is declared to be gain in him both in life and in death; for it is customary with the Greeks to leave the word πρός to be understood. Besides that this meaning is less forced, it also corresponds better with the foregoing statement, and contains more complete doctrine. He declares that it is indifferent to him, and is all one, whether he lives or dies, because, having Christ, he reckons both to be gain. And assuredly it is Christ alone that makes us happy both in death and in life; otherwise, if death is miserable, life is in no degree happier; so that it is difficult to determine whether it is more advantageous to live or to die out of Christ. On the other hand, let Christ be with us, and he will bless our life as well as our death, so that both will be happy and desirable for us.
22But if to live in the flesh. As persons in despair feel in perplexity as to whether they ought to prolong their life any farther in miseries, or to terminate their troubles by death, so Paul, on the other hand, says that he is, in a spirit of contentment, so well prepared for death or for life, because the condition of believers, both in the one case and in the other, is blessed, so that he is at a loss which to choose. If it is worth while; that is, “If I have reason to believe that there will be greater advantage from my life than from my death, I do not see which of them I ought to prefer.” To live in the flesh, is an expression which he has made use of in contempt, from comparing it with a better life.
23For I am in a strait Paul did not desire to live with any other object in view that that of promoting the glory of Christ, and doing good to the brethren. Hence he does not reckon that he has any other advantage from living than the welfare of the brethren. But so far as concerns himself personally, it were, he acknowledges, better for him to die soon, because he would be with Christ. By his choice, however, he shews what ardent love glowed in his breast. There is nothing said here as to earthly advantages, but as to spiritual benefit, which is on good grounds supremely desirable in the view of the pious. Paul, however, as if forgetful of himself, does not merely hold himself undetermined, lest he should be swayed by a regard to his own benefit rather than that of the Philippians, but at length concludes that a regard to them preponderates in his mind. And assuredly this is in reality to live and die to Christ, when, with indifference as to ourselves, we allow ourselves to be carried and borne away withersoever Christ calls us.
Having a desire to be set free and to be with Christ These two things must be read in connection. For death of itself will never be desired, because such a desire is at variance with natural feeling, but is desired for some particular reason, or with a view to some other end. Persons in despair have recourse to it from having become weary of life; believers, on the other hand, willingly hasten forward to it, because it is a deliverance from the bondage of sin, and an introduction into the kingdom of heaven. What Paul now says is this; “I desire to die, because I will, by this means, come into immediate connection with Christ.” In the mean time, believers do not cease to regard death with horror, but when they turn their eyes to that life which follows death, they easily overcome all dread by means of that consolation. Unquestionably, every one that believes in Christ ought to be so courageous as to lift up his head on mention being made of death, delighted to have intimation of his redemption. (Luk 21:28.) From this we see how many are Christians only in name, since the greater part, on hearing mention made of death, are not merely alarmed, but are rendered almost lifeless through fear, as though they had never heard a single word respecting Christ. O the worth and value of a good conscience! Now faith is the foundation of a good conscience; nay more, it is itself goodness of conscience.
To be set free This form of expression is to be observed. Profane persons speak of death as the destruction of man, as if he altogether perished. Paul here reminds us, that death is the separation of the soul from the body. And this he expresses more fully immediately afterwards, explaining as to what condition awaits believers after death — that of dwelling with Christ We are with Christ even in this life, inasmuch as the kingdom of God is within us, (Luk 17:21,) and Christ dwells in us by faith, (Eph 3:17,) and has promised that he will be with us even unto the end of the world, (Mat 28:20,) but that presence we enjoy only in hope. Hence as to our feeling, we are said to be at present at a distance from him. See 2Co 5:6. This passage is of use for setting aside the mad fancy of those who dream that souls sleep when separated from the body, for Paul openly declares that we enjoy Christ’s presence on being set free from the body.
25And having this confidence. Some, reckoning it an inconsistent thing that the Apostle (82) should acknowledge himself to have been disappointed of his expectation, are of opinion that he was afterwards freed from bonds, and went over many countries of the world. Their fears, however, as to this are groundless, for the saints are accustomed to regulate their expectations according to the word of God, so as not to promise themselves more than God has promised. Thus, when they have a sure token of God’s will, they in that case place their reliance also upon a sure persuasion, which admits of no hesitation. Of this nature is a persuasion respecting a perpetual remission of sins, respecting the aid of the Spirit for the grace of final perseverance, (as it is called,) and respecting the resurrection of the flesh. Of this nature, also, was the assurance of the Prophets respecting their prophecies. As to other things, they expect nothing except conditionally, and hence they subject all events to the providence of God, who, they allow, sees more distinctly than they. To remain, means here, to stay for a little while: to continue, means, to remain for a long time.
(82) “Vn tel sainct Apostre;” — “So holy an Apostle.”
26That your glorying. The expression which he employs, ἐν ἐμόι, I have rendered de me (as to me,) because the preposition is made use of twice, but in different senses. No one assuredly will deny that I have faithfully brought out Paul’s mind. The rendering given by some — per Christum , (through Christ,) I do not approve of. For in Christ is employed in place of Secundum Christum , (According to Christ,) or Christiane , (Christianly,) to intimate that it was a holy kind of glorying. For otherwise we are commanded to glory in God alone. (1Co 1:31.) Hence malevolent persons might meet Paul with the objection, How is it allowable for the Philippians to glory as to thee? He anticipates this calumny by saying that they will do this according to Christ — glorying in a servant of Christ, with a view to the glory of his Lord, and that with an eye to the doctrine rather than to the individual, and in opposition to the false apostles, just as David, by comparing himself with hypocrites, boasts of his righteousness. (Psa 7:8.)
27Only in a manner worthy of the gospel. We make use of this form of expression, when we are inclined to pass on to a new subject. Thus it is as though he had said, “But as for me, the Lord will provide, but as for you, etc., whatever may take place as to me, let it be your care, nevertheless, to go forward in the right course.” When he speaks of a pure and honorable conversation as being worthy of the gospel, he intimates, on the other hand, that those who live otherwise do injustice to the gospel.
That whether I come As the Greek phrase made use of by Paul is elliptical, I have made use of videam , (I see,) instead of videns (seeing.) If this does not appear satisfactory, you may supply the principal verb Intelligam , (I may learn,) in this sense: “Whether, when I shall come and see you, or whether I shall, when absent, hear respecting your condition, I may learn in both ways, both by being present and by receiving intelligence, that ye stand in one spirit. ” We need not, however, feel anxiety as to particular terms, when the meaning is evident.
Stand in one spirit This, certainly, is one of the main excellences of the Church, and hence this is one means of preserving it in a sound state, inasmuch as it is torn to pieces by dissensions. But although Paul was desirous by means of this antidote to provide against novel and strange doctrines, yet he requires a twofold unity — of spirit and soul. The first is, that we have like views; the second, that we be united in heart. For when these two terms are connected together, spiritus (spirit) denotes the understanding, while anima (soul) denotes the will. Farther, agreement of views comes first in order; and then from it springs union of inclination.
Striving together for the faith This is the strongest bond of concord, when we have to fight together under the same banner, for this has often been the occasion of reconciling even the greatest enemies. Hence, in order that he may confirm the more the unity that existed among the Philippians, he calls them to notice that they are fellow-soldiers, who, having a common enemy and a common warfare, ought to have their minds united together in a holy agreement. The expression which Paul has made use of in the Greek (συναθλοῦντες τὣ πίστει) is ambiguous. The old interpreter renders it Collaborantes fidei , (laboring together with the faith.) (83) Erasmus renders it Adiuvantes fidem , (Helping the faith,) as if meaning, that they gave help to the faith to the utmost of their power. As, however, the dative in Greek is made use of instead of the ablative of instrumentality, (that language having no ablative,) I have no doubt that the Apostle’s meaning is this: “Let the faith of the gospel unite you together, more especially as that is a common armory against one and the same enemy.” In this way the particle σύν, which others refer to faith, I take as referring to the Philippians, and with greater propriety, if I am not mistaken. In the first place, every one is aware how effectual an inducement it is to concord, when we have to maintain a conflict together; and farther, we know that in the spiritual warfare we are armed with the shield of faith, (Eph 6:16,) for repelling the enemy; nay, more, faith is both our panoply and our victory. Hence he added this clause, that he might shew what is the end of a pious connection. The wicked, too, conspire together for evil, but their agreement is accursed: let us, therefore, contend with one mind under the banner of faith.
(83) In accordance with the Vulgate, Wiclif (1380) renders as follows: “traueilynge to gidre to the feith of the gospel.” — Ed.
28And in nothing terrified. The second thing which he recommends to the Philippians is fortitude of mind, (84) that they may not be thrown into confusion by the rage of their adversaries. At that time the most cruel persecutions raged almost everywhere, because Satan strove with all his might to impede the commencement of the gospel, and was the more enraged in proportion as Christ put forth powerfully the grace of his Spirit. He exhorts, therefore, the Philippians to stand forward undaunted, and not be thrown into alarm.
Which is to them a manifest proof. This is the proper meaning of the Greek word, and there was no consideration that made it necessary for others to render it cause. For the wicked, when they wage war against the Lord, do already by a trial-fight, as it were, give a token of their ruin, and the more fiercely they insult over the pious, the more do they prepare themselves for ruin. The Scripture, assuredly, nowhere teaches, that the afflictions which the saints endure from the wicked are the cause of their salvation, but Paul in another instance, too, speaks of them as a manifest token or proof, (2Th 1:5,) and instead of ἔνδειξιν, which we have here, he in that passage makes use of the term ἔνδειγμα (85) This, therefore, is a choice consolation, that when we are assailed and harassed by our enemies, we have an evidence of our salvation. (86) For persecutions are in a manner seals of adoption to the children of God, if they endure them with fortitude and patience: the wicked give a token of their condemnation, because they stumble against a stone by which they shall be bruised to pieces. (Mat 21:44.)
And that from God. This is restricted to the last clause, that a taste of the grace of God may allay the bitterness of the cross. No one will naturally perceive the cross a token or evidence of salvation, for they are things that are contrary in appearance. Hence Paul calls the attention of the Philippians to another consideration — that God by his blessing turns into an occasion of welfare things that might otherwise seem to render us miserable. He proves it from this, that the endurance of the cross is the gift of God. Now it is certain, that all the gifts of God are salutary to us. To you, says he,it is given, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. Hence even the sufferings themselves are evidences of the grace of God; and, since it is so, you have from this source a token of salvation. Oh, if this persuasion were effectually inwrought in our minds — that persecutions (87) are to be reckoned among God’s benefits, what progress would be made in the doctrine of piety! (88) And yet, what is more certain, than that it is the highest honor that is conferred upon us by Divine grace, that we suffer for his name either reproach, or imprisonment, or miseries, or tortures, or even death, for in that case he adorns us with his marks of distinction. (89) But more will be found that will rather bid God retire with gifts of that nature, than embrace with alacrity the cross when it is presented to them. Alas, then, for our stupidity! (90)
(84) “La force et constance de courage;” —”Strength and constancy of courage.”
(85) “Là où il vse d’vn mot qui descend d’vn mesme verbe que celuy dont il vse yci;” —”Where he makes use of a word which comes from the same verb as that which he employs here.”
(86) “Cela nous est vne demonstrance et tesmoignage de nostre salut;” —”This is to us a clear proof and token of our salvation.”
(87) “Les afflictions et persecutions;” — “Afflictions and persecutions.”
(88) “Combien aurions — nous proufité en la doctrine de vraye religion;” —”How much progress we would make in the doctrine of true religion.”
(89) “Il nous vest de sa liuree;” — “He arrays us in his livery.”
(90) “Maudite donc soit nostre stupidite;” — “Accursed, then, be our stupidity.”
29. To believe. He wisely conjoins faith with the cross by an inseparable connection, that the Philippians may know that they have been called to the faith of Christ on this condition — that they endure persecutions on his account, as though he had said that their adoption can no more be separated from the cross, than Christ can be torn asunder from himself. Here Paul clearly testifies, that faith, as well as constancy in enduring persecutions, (91) is an unmerited gift of God. And certainly the knowledge of God is a wisdom that is too high for our attaining it by our own acuteness, and our weakness shews itself in daily instances in our own experience, when God withdraws his hand for a little while. That he may intimate the more distinctly that both are unmerited, he says expressly — for Christ’s sake, or at least that they are given to us on the ground of Christ’s grace; by which he excludes every idea of merit.
This passage is also at variance with the doctrine of the schoolmen, in maintaining that gifts of grace latterly conferred are rewards of our merit, on the ground of our having made a right use of those which had been previously bestowed. I do not deny, indeed, that God rewards the right use of his gifts of grace by bestowing grace more largely upon us, provided only you do not place merit, as they do, in opposition to his unmerited liberality and the merit of Christ.
(91) “Les afflictions et persecutions;” — “Afflictions and persecutions.”
30Having the same conflict. He confirms, also, by his own example what he had said, and this adds no little authority to his doctrine. By the same means, too, he shews them, that there is no reason why they should feel troubled on account of his bonds, when they behold the issue of the conflict.
The epistle opens with the customary salutation or greeting (Php 1:1-2). Timothy is named with Paul, not that he is a co-writer, but a co-worker in Philippi, and hence known to the church. He is however, Paul’s companion in Rome at this time. Note the important expression “in Christ Jesus,” which was explained in Ephesians. Note the advanced development of the church “bishops and deacons” or “overseers and working-helpers.”
Then comes the thanksgiving (Php 1:3-8). Note the Christian fellowship expressed in Php 1:5, the Philippian church being particularly active in cooperating with Paul. The thought is carried forward into Php 1:7, Php 1:6 being a parenthesis. Their long consistency in Christian services leads Paul to feel convinced that they were planted on the rock which could not be shaken. They would certainly see the glory of Christ (Php 1:6).
Returning to the thought of his love for them, note his fourfold prayer on their behalf: (1) that their love (for one another) might abound; (2) that they might approve the excellent things, or rather “try the things that differ” (RV); (3) that they might be sincere and not stumbling-blocks to others; and (4) that they might be filled with the fruit of righteousness.
A further division begins at Php 1:12, where the apostle speaks of his position and circumstances in Rome in language justifying the title of the lesson. His sufferings as a prisoner have proven beneficial to the Gospel, in that it is known “in all the palace” and outside, that he has committed no crime but is there because of the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world (Php 1:13). This knowledge is spreading in two ways (Php 1:14-17). The contentious preachers are troubling him personally, but nevertheless the Gospel is spreading through their contention (Php 1:18) and he rejoices. These will be a blessing to him in the end, through the fulness of the Holy Spirit in answer to their prayers. Of this he will not be disappointed, he feels sure (Php 1:20).
A fifth division suggests itself at Php 1:21, where passing from his present experiences to his future hope, he glides naturally into a vein of exhortation. His consciousness and experiences of living are so full of Christ, and hence so full of blessing, that dying to be with Christ would only increase his blessing (Php 1:21; Php 1:23). If he lives, however, being acquitted at his trial, he will have more fruit in earthly labor for Christ (Php 1:22). It is difficult which to choose, but he is confident the Lord’s will is for him to remain with them longer (Php 1:24-27). However, whether he returned to them or not let their conduct be ordered right. Let them be steadfast, united and courageous (Php 1:27-28). To their enemies this will be an evidence of the perdition that awaits them, but to themselves an evidence of their salvation. A great boon has been granted them to suffer for Christ, as he, Paul, had suffered and was now suffering.
QUESTIONS
1. Why is Timothy named with Paul in the salutation?
