Concerned Rejoicing: Philippians 4

In Summary: Paul wraps up his rejoicing letter by speaking of a few concerns alongside his celebratory remarks. There is a minor feud in the church between Eudoia and Syntyche, and there is perhaps a concern about where the focus of the church is drifting to, and he seeks to focus them back on true, honorable, right, pure, lovely things.

Additionally, Paul expresses his gratitude for the support he has received from the Philippians. Let us not kid ourselves about what he means, either, as he speaks of their “revived concern.” We are seeing his appreciation for their provision for his material needs. Paul, as an itinerant teacher, made his living (fed himself) sometimes by finding other work (tent, anyone?) and sometimes by the support of those he taught. The Philippians had enabled Paul to focus on the teaching, and he is grateful for that.

In Focus: One cannot meander through Philippians 4 without taking a moment to focus on Philippians 4:13. This verse, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (NASB), “πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με,” if you prefer Greek. This verse has been the most out-of-context cited verse in recent years, though “Judge not, let ye be judged” is gaining on it quickly.

Understanding this verse requires not only looking at the individual words, but looking into the context. First, the words: these are pretty straightforward. We’re not in a hard verse to translate—the word order is a little different because that’s how Greek works. “All (things) I can do through the (One) that strengthens me.” When you work through this and see personal agency, as you should, then phrasing becomes “the One who strengthens me.” Since the term “one” is a masculine pronoun, you would use “Him” instead, because it’s clearer. “All” becomes “All things” because it’s an adjective used as a noun, and that’s common. It’s not referring to “all people,” either, because it’s neuter and so is used to refer to “things.”

Our clarity, then, comes from context. Paul is not talking about becoming a great writer or actor, nor is he discussing athletic competition or even church growth. Throughout this passage, Paul is speaking of dealing with trials and material shortages, of facing famines and feasts. He can both have too little, and make it, and have too much and not get arrogant—all through Christ, because He knows that only Jesus brings Paul to anything of value.

In Practice: What do we do with this, then?

First, we stop misusing Philippians 4:13. You can give God the glory for your successes and His benefits without misapplying Scripture. Stop it.

Second, we apply this to our lives by trusting Christ for all things. How often do we violate the Word of God and our Spirit-driven, Scripture-informed consciences for the sake of stuff? Too often. Rather, we should take the same stand as Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms: let the trouble come, but here I stand.

This applies to both our dealings with the world and our dealings within the church. I think it’s even money where it matters the most: inside the church, we need to get right before God, even if we have to give up our creature comforts. Outside, we must recognize that trouble is coming on us from a wicked world.

Either way, we must get to the point that we don’t see a perfect ACT or a great pass as the all things we can do through Christ. It’s the surviving taunts and rejections, dealing with poverty or even fame, that we are up against.

In Nerdiness: Syzygus? Loyal yokefellow? True Companion? Who is this person mentioned in Philippians 4:3? Unlike the feuding sisters Euodia and Syntyche, we’re uncertain if this is a name, a title, or just a call-out to anyone who fits the description. (I’ve looked and don’t think there’s a case to be made that Eudoia and Syntyche are anything but personal names.)

So, what’s the debate? Some translations render this as a personal name. Others footnote the name and render the term, like “true companion.” It appears that Paul is asking for an individual’s help in defusing the issues between Eudoia and Syntyche. It would help, of course, if we knew what the feud was about in the first place! That might enable us to know what type of help Paul was looking for.

Yet having been in churches all my life, I have a suggestion. First, my resources are about evenly split about the possibility that the term “syzygus” could refer to the church as a single unit. This is questionable based on the Greek grammar surrounding the term (a singular verb), but let’s take that possibility and then extrapolate a possibility. On, then, to the argument from experience:

Many church feuds begin between people who are growing believers who address issues differently. A modern example is the strain between the kitchen committee who tries to keep everything organized and the various church groups that use the kitchen…and then don’t put things back exactly. Both are trying to mind the resources of the church, and use them, but they disagree about how. Or the people who want to know what’s happening, so they want bulletins…and the people who think it’s a waste of money because they throw out dozens of bulletins a week.

These two sides, usually starting with two individuals, then entrench and find supporters within the church body. While I am clearly reading this backwards on to this passage, this is my suggestion, given that human nature doesn’t change much. Eudoia and Syntyche had a minor disagreement. Both are believers, both are valuable parts of the church (this is absolutely clear in the text). Paul then appeals that the church not sort out whose side they are on, but to instead defuse the disagreement.

The same way one defuses a spat between the choir director who wants the choir to wear robes and the maintenance committee who accidentally put heat lamps over the choir loft—by listening, praying, and finding more important things to focus on. That’s my suggestion, for whatever it’s worth.

Rejoicing in Righteousness: Philippians 3

In Summary: Paul moves forward with the Philippians, encouraging them to rejoice. Philippians 3:1 makes it clear that he has told them to rejoice before, and that he is glad to do so. He also notes the defensive nature of rejoicing, a though worth considering. After all, what problems come from the grumbling heart! What dangers lurk in discontentment, and how greatly they are defeated by rejoicing!

He also addresses the biggest danger to the church, not only at Philippi but in all the history of Christianity: those who make the grace of God out to be nothing, replacing it with the strength of man. This is the point of his autobiography in 3:4-8, as Paul gives all the reasons why man-made religion should have been enough for him, followed by his declaration that these efforts are rubbish. Clarifying this in the following verses, we are reminded that our righteousness is imputed by God because of faith, and that we then seek to lay hold of living out the righteousness of God.

Paul contrasts for the Philippians the attitude of Christ Jesus, which he expanded on in Philippians 2, and the attitude of the flesh in Philippians 3:18-19. One mind is set on earthly things, while the citizens of heaven rejoice in righteousness.

In Focus: This righteousness, though, is not their own righteousness. Note verse 21 and the emphasis on the coming transformation. Further, we see that Jesus will do this by exerting His power, not that we will exert our own.

In this chapter, we would do well to focus on how the need for the imputed righteousness of Christ interacts with the believer’s responsibility to walk according to the pattern of obedience. The first question? What’s imputed mean? Impute means to ascribe or attribute, often involved in what someone has not done or does not have. Imputed righteousness is the idea that the righteousness of Jesus is attributed to Christians, though it is unearned.

Second, we need to see that God did not save through Jesus statues for His shelf. We were not redeemed and placed in storage, but were made citizens of the heavenly kingdom. I have yet to find a reference in Scripture that describes believers as static displays. Citizens have rights and responsibilities; walking involves effort and progress. There is no stop and sit Christian in Scripture.

In Practice: Practically speaking, then, we need to take on a few behaviors as part of our Christian life:

First, rejoice. If it was worth the Philippians’ time, I do not doubt it is worth our time. Rejoice about what? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us! Christ Jesus, though equal with God, humbled Himself, died for us, and has been, is, and will be exalted with a name above all names! There is plenty in the work of Jesus for us to rejoice in! Let us do so.

Second, rejoice openly. This is not about acting silly-stupid and claiming you are honoring God. It is about living a life that reflects something greater than the troubles and provisions of this world. Rejoice openly!

Third, rejoice openly in righteousness. We serve a Risen Saviour, and He is righteousness in reality. We should openly and joyfully live out the righteousness that He showed. It should not be a dreadful thing to walk after the pattern of Christ. Rejoice openly that you walk away from immorality and deceit rather than weep that you abandon them. Joyfully escape from legalistic religion into following the upward call of Christ Jesus!

In Nerdiness: Here in America, we do not always quite grasp the citizenship contexts of Scripture, because most of the people we encounter are citizens. Even those who are not citizens are extended many of the rights of citizenship: there is no separate Constitution for the non-citizen that denies the right to jury trial or permits extended incarceration without conviction. (I know that, practically speaking, there are concerns about how well this actually happens. I’m speaking of the overall theory of law in this country.) Only a few things are denied the non-citizen: voting and jury service. (I find it interesting that a non-citizen is entitled to a jury trial, but not required/permitted to serve on a jury.)

Yet Roman law was quite different. Many people living in the Empire were not citizens, and for the non-citizen there were few clear paths to citizenship. Further, citizens held more rights and had greater responsibilities than non-citizens. As we consider Paul’s use of citizenship imagery for the Christian, examining the Roman system is helpful.

For example, one could try and try to earn Roman citizenship and be denied, while another could receive citizenship simply by the grant of the Emperor. Once attained, though, citizenship was considered quite valuable. Rome took protection of her citizens seriously.

Paul wanted the church to understand that they had something even greater than citizenship in Rome, they had citizenship in heaven. This would have, though, made them ineligible to be citizens of Rome in the long run. Dual-citizenship was possible only until there is a conflict between the two countries, and a choice will have to be made. The same choice will need to be made by many of us.

Unified in Humility: Philippians 2

In Summary: Paul opens Philippians 2 with conditional statements. “If there is…then….” All of his “ifs” are assumptions that are assumed to be true. It’s the equivalent of saying that I’ll only do something if it’s a day that ends in “Y.” Since all days end in “Y” (Sunday, Monday, so on…) then you can count on me fulfilling that.

Paul’s purpose, then, is to motivate the Philippians through these statements. The rhetorical effect is to leave the decision up to the readers—you don’t have to be unified in spirit, intent on one purpose. You have an option, if there’s no encouragement in Christ or consolation of love, then you can do whatever you like. If you are not yet certain about the conditions, though, Paul provides evidence for them. This evidence is the remainder of the chapter.

First is the passage about having the same attitude as Christ Jesus. Other translations use “the same mind,” but the overall idea is equivalent. Have your attitude and decision-making based on these ideas. We’ll come back to those.

Second are the passages detailing the travel plans of Timothy and Epaphroditus. Paul uses these not only to inform the Philippians of events, like Epaphroditus’ illness, but also to show ordinary men who are walking in light of the opening “ifs” of the chapter.

In Focus: One cannot look at this passage without giving Philippians 2:5-11 a closer look. This is a moment where Paul gets caught up in his worship as he writes, and many commentators consider this passage as derived from a hymn or song of the church. Whether that is accurate is a zone for more study than we are doing here, but this is possible. It would reflect a high view of Christology in the early church and also a wise writing by Paul to evoke commonly held words. It would also inform our usage of music in the church, as we would understand using common hymns and referring to them in teaching moments.

Overall, this passage summarizes Christology, or the understanding of who Jesus is and what He did. He was God, equal with God, fully God, and chose to empty Himself to become also fully human and suffer. Empty Himself of what? is a major question that theologians have wrestled with for years. Some take it to mean He left behind all of His Godhood, but I side with those who see this as a self-imposed limitation on such divine attributes as omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. He chose to be in one place at one time, rather than every where at every time.

Further, we see that there is no one who will not, someday, acknowledge Christ as Lord. This is in direct opposition to Cesarean goals of the time, that someday all would acknowledge Caesar as Lord. Caesar did not hope for the dead, but all the living. Christ will be acknowledged by the living and the dead. This also should inform part of our understanding of eternity: there is no place where Christ is not known and worshiped in eternity, no escape from glorifying God.

In Practice: Adding practical steps to this is easy, because Paul already did so. Look forward at verses 12-16 and see what our response should be.

First, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Not because it can be lost but because we can tarnish the reputation of Him who saved us. Anyone who takes obedience lightly does not understand the depth of suffering of Christ on the Cross. Philippians 2:7-8 addresses the humility involved.

Second, we work together because together is how God has put us. The church of today is too often driven by how people want it to be, and what people want to be with each other. Scripture supports no such nonsense. Instead, the church should be about working together to demonstrate how God is at work in us. The light that the world needs shines brightly from the assembled people of God—if they do without grumpiness in all things.

Third, we hold fast to the word of life. We can lose our grip on understanding if we are not actively holding on. I think there is more to be considered here, that many times we are concerned about intentionally reaching out when Scripture points us to see that we should be intentionally holding fast the Word—and then the outreach is natural and automatic.

Finally, we see the need for unified humility. It’s not about you, or me, or the fame and fortune of our particular branch of Christianity. It’s about Jesus, who is exalted above all.

In Nerdiness: The Timothy and Epaphroditus section shows us something else of value for the setting in the early church. Paul hopes to send Timothy so that Paul can know what’s happening in Philippi. In other words, Timothy is going and then coming back. Epaphroditus is headed back to Philippi so that the church knows what is going on with Paul.

We see a two-fold messenger system here. The church is in place, doing the work they ought to do (hopefully) and sending out encouragers and support-carriers to apostles like Paul and perhaps evangelizing and doing mission work along the way. Meanwhile, the apostles, and possibly other missionary types, have their own associates who travel, teach, and report back on progress.

We see, then, that there was communication and interaction. This is helpful for understanding the interconnectivity of the church, and should inform our own interconnectivity as believers today.

Any Circumstances: Philippians 1

In Summary: Philippians begins, as most New Testament Epistles do, by introducing the authors. In this case, it is Paul and Timothy, introducing themselves as bond-servants of Christ Jesus.

Then we see the destination: the saints of Philippi. Specifically, the saints in Christ Jesus. Notice that repetition. It’s important. Why? Paul and Timothy serve Christ Jesus. The church is in Christ Jesus. Paul uses Christ Jesus to refer to the Lord 2 more times in the opening section, referring to His day and His affection.

This frontloads the theme of Philippians. Unity in Christ Jesus, working together for His glory. Paul and Timothy, mostly Paul we assume, work through how their circumstances have taught them to handle their part of the work, and how the church has been helpful in supporting it all.

In Focus: Paul brings forth a few people who have tried not to be helpful. We are not given their names, but as Paul recounts the success of his imprisonment, these detractors are brought up. Even while imprisoned, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached others through Paul’s work, including the very guards holding him for trial.

As this has gone on, apparently some men were working to edge out Paul’s fame in the church. I have yet to grasp why they would want to be the ones stoned and left for dead, or shipwrecked, or anything else Paul went through, but this was the case.

Paul, though, will have nothing of lamenting the preaching of these self-aggrandizing preachers. He sees that his circumstances are bringing forth exactly what he wants: more preaching of the Gospel. If the Gospel is preached, then it’s good. After all, good news is good news—I don’t care if Bill O’Reilly or Rachel Maddow tell me the Braves won or the Hogs beat Bama, it’s good news.

How much greater is the good news of Jesus, that we have the gift of God in eternal life rather than the wages of sin! May we always be grateful that the Good News is proclaiming, that we are free, set free indeed by the Son of God!

In Practice: We do need to note, though, that Paul does not celebrate either the ego-serving preachers or their desire for personal aggrandizement. He does not license their behavior: he celebrates the spread of the Gospel. This distinction is not merely a subtle nuance, it is the very heart of the matter.

Looking throughout this chapter of Philippians, Paul is celebrating the work of spreading the truth, including a call for knowledge and discernment (Philippians 1:9), and a special mention of the local church leaders (Philippians 1:1). He speaks of righteousness, boldness, and progress in the Gospel.

And then concludes the chapter by highlighting that he sees great benefit in remaining and aiding the Philippians. If he were glad for ego-filled preachers, he would leave the Philippians to them—but he does not.

Instead, he celebrates the message but still warns the church away from the bad teachers. They are not, as yet, false teachers. Instead, they are teachers with false motives. Paul is never happy with false teaching, but he accepts what they teach while warning of their heart.

In this we see a couple of important things:

First, we see that we must note the motivations of teachers in the church. Contrary to many modern thoughts, understanding and evaluating motive matters. Paul does not criticize the teaching, he criticizes the motivation. Be on your guard against people who do fair things with a foul intent.

And their own self-aggrandizement is foul intent.

Second, we see that we must make progress in the Gospel. Paul envisions that the church must learn to stand on her own, by understanding the Word of God more and more. Any false teachers, or teachers with false motives, should find it harder and harder to creep into the church.

Because the church is growing in knowledge, discernment, and continues to strive together for the sake of the Gospel.

In Nerdiness: An alternate view on the teachers of Philippians 1 is that they were the Judaizers that show up in other letters. I doubt this, because Paul highlights that they are teaching Christ. The Judaizers did not teach Christ. They taught works.

Notice also Philippians 1:27-29 and how suffering is granted to the church. We see suffering as something to be avoided. Yet here we see that opponents are to be expected, and that suffering is to be embraced through faith.

How do we choose to live?