Look not every man on his own things

We live in a selfish age. The ‘me first’ culture dominates the godless world around us. Yet this letter shows that authentic Christian living both (1) has Christ as its centre and passion, and (2) places the needs of others ahead of our own, 2. 3. Thus, Paul’s concern for the spiritual welfare of the Philippians outweighs even his longing to be in Christ’s immediate presence which would be ‘far better’.

The apostle faces uncertainty as to the outcome of his imprisonment. Whatever happens, however, it is important that the Philippians’ lives match their profession - that they conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel: by boldness, 1. 26; by being a colony of heaven, v. 27, just as the city of Philippi gloried in being a colony of Rome. Paul is concerned about their corporate experience, not simply individual progress. He appeals for complete unity both in defence and attack. Focus on the gospel always strengthens and unites the church.

The beginning of chapter 2 presents an impassioned appeal to unity and steadfastness. The ground of the appeal in verse 1 consists of the wonderful blessings which saints have received from Christ, the Father, and the Spirit, cp. 2 Cor. 13. 14, and the tender affections enjoyed between Paul and his converts. The mind, or thinking, of the believer is seen to be critically important: ‘likeminded’; ‘lowliness of mind’; ‘let this mind be in you’, Phil. 2. 3-5. We need to think and act as Christ did.

The mindset that looks not on its own interests but, sacrificially, thinks first about the needs of others is seen in the sublime example of the Christ Himself. Subsisting in the ‘form of God’, such was His concern for the needs of others that He made Himself nothing, assuming the form of a servant. In the pathway of absolute obedience, further humiliation is seen in His enduring the death of the cross. Such selflessness has resulted in His exaltation and the award of ‘the name which is above every name’, v. 9 RV. All rational beings will one day acknowledge Him throughout the regions celestial, terrestrial, and infernal, and in so doing glorify God.

‘It is the way the Master went;
should not the servant tread it still?’

H. BONAR.