Paul, conscious of the power of the life in which he lived, and strengthened from its source, was far from being insensible to the difficulties and trials by which the saints are, on every side, surrounded. He had himself been pressed beyond his power, but the strain put upon the vessel only brought out the surpassingness of the power which perfected itself in the vessel s weakness; the life of Jesus was manifested in his body. As the sufferings of Christ abounded towards him, so, through Christ, abounded his encouragement also. The encouragement he received from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ had this beautiful meaning for Paul’s spirit, that he should be able to encourage those who are in any tribulation whatever, through the encouragement which he had of God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was learned, by him, in yet other characters in the school of experience, as the God of all encouragement and the Father of compassions.
What “precious” knowledge is this for “one’s own blessing,” and indispensable for service amongst His suffering people! With what exquisite skill and delicacy he ministers such encouragement, we have had proofs in the previous chapter; how he delights to tell them of his thankfulness to God for his whole remembrance of them; of his unwearied supplication for them all with joy, and that the occasion of it was their fellowship with the gospel from the first day. They had shared in its afflictions and triumphs, he desires now that they may share in its conflicts also (in the same conflict with the faith of the gospel ).
Having thus associated them with the portion the gospel has in this world, he next associates them with himself: “Ye have me in your hearts, and that both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the glad tidings ye are all participators in my grace.” What could be more encouraging to the saints than praise like this. from the “apostle of Jesus Christ”?
He had confidence respecting them that He who had begun the good work in them would complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day: he had confidence, too, that it was better for them that he should remain, that their boasting might abound in Jesus Christ through him, by his presence again with them, so he knew that he should abide with them. They had the same conflict which they saw in him and now heard of in him.
There were many links in the chain that bound together the apostle and the Philippians, but we have not all the links yet. There were comforts in Christ of which they were the channel. We. must remember that their interest in him had. somewhat slackened; it was but for a moment; they had revived their thinking of him (Phil. 4:1010But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. (Philippians 4:10), New Trans.). Yet surely they did think of him, he would not allow the thought that they had forgotten him; it must be that they had lacked opportunity of communication.
He rejoices greatly, but it was in the Lord, the comforts were in Christ; his heart owns the source; where but in Him could he enjoy them?
God Himself had accepted the things sent to His servant, they were agreeable to Him, an odor of sweet savor, an acceptable sacrifice. See how, in thinking of them, he connects them with God, with Christ and with himself.
But these comforts in Christ were the consolations of love—what God is in His nature—and had yet another character: they were fruits of the fellowship of the Spirit. In speaking of their affections and compassions he is thinking rather of the saints in themselves. What heart but God’s could have perceived all this in the revival of their thinking of Paul? in whose heart God’s love was flowing by the Holy Ghost, who gave proofs of His indwelling when He thus filled the heart and mind with thoughts which do not belong to man.
By this comfort and consolation and fellowship, his heart, we can see, was enlarged, his mouth opened unto the Philippians, but his joy not yet filled up; that would be realized when they thought the same things, had the same love, were joined in soul, thinking one thing (New Trans.).
Elsewhere he speaks of the unity of the Spirit, and in a more abstract way; here it was rather the realization of practical union. The standard is very high; it would be felt in the conscience to be above the measure of human thinking; that is just what Paul feels, and he meets it by saying, “Let this mind [what Christ thought, or the thinking of Christ] be in you.” Subsisting in the form of God [effulgence of His glory and exact expression of His being,] ever “thinking the same thing,” with Him, “thinking one thing,” one with Him in nature and glory, Christ emptied Himself when in the form of God. Found in figure as a man He humbled Himself, and became obedient even unto the death of the cross.
Emptied, “humbled,” “obedient,” these were the forms in which the thinkings of Christ present Him to us, bringing before us the grace of Him who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.
Each beautiful word, and oh, how beautiful! as thus applied to Him, wakes up the dormant affection of His own, while sounding in the awakened conscience the judgment of the first man.
But the Philippians had already the mind of Christ according to 1 Cor. 2. The thoughts of that mind connected with the place He had taken—His pathway here—are the theme of the apostle in this place. How often we find that these thoughts are neglected by our light selfish hearts, which are only deceived when we think of enjoying the fruits of His atoning work apart from communion with Him in the further knowledge of Himself as revealed in the word.
We talk of our salvation, our joy, and our happiness; of the freedom wherewith He hath made us free, more than of Him who is the Source of all the blessing; and, in a certain sense, we talk and think rightly, too, for it is our salvation, the joy, too, in it is given us, and that freedom has made us free indeed. But to stop there, in the place where power and love divine have set us free, is not to think rightly; but to lose the strength even of the joy of deliverance, and to come short of that boasting in Christ Jesus which the heart of the apostle was proposing for them. For this is connected with deeper and ever-deepening knowledge of the divine Person.
That He had overcome the world, revealed the Father, and finished the work which He had given Him to do, they knew already; but the mind that was in Christ Jesus upon coming into the world, the thoughts of that mind revealing His relations as man to God, had not been the subject of the apostle s special unfolding; yet it is impossible to think of any subject more interesting to the hearts of His people, of anything more separative in its nature. The unveiled face in heaven is not more attractive than the marred face on earth.
Have you ever compared the “mind” in which Jesus commenced and ended His wondrous course through this world, with the works with which He closed it? the mind as expressed in “emptied” “humbled,” “obedient”; the works in, “overcome the world,” revealed the Father, “finished the work.”
If you have, will you say which are the most perfect, the thoughts or the works? but this is what none can answer. They have each and alike their beginning and accomplishment in. Himself. Besides, how compare that which is of infinite moral beauty with something else which is of exactly the same character? Where all is light and no darkness at all, it would be like comparing sunbeam with sunbeam; yet even there some inequalities might be found; but here, none.
In the passages we have been looking at we cannot help seeing that the deed is but the necessary outflow and accomplishment of the thought according to all its perfection. Had He not been the emptied One, how could He have taken the body prepared for Him, in which, crucified through weakness, He could finish the work, having revealed the Father? If He had not humbled Himself in the world, of which Satan was the god, how could He have over-thrown him? And if not obedient, instead of overcoming the world He would have been overcome by it. In John 8 He tells us that He was altogether that which He said. (See New Trans.).
Thus was He infinitely and equally reflected in what He thought, said, and did.
The apostle is not merely saying, I want you to know about this mind which was in Christ, presenting it as he did objectively; but, let this mind be in you, subjectively, as they say. In this lay the secret of power. All the grace of the Lord Jesus is unfolded in the revelation of “this mind,” and there is no teacher like grace, carrying with it salvation as well as instruction, as Titus 2:1111For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11) teaches.
But whatever the essential blessedness and attractiveness of this mind, and they were indeed infinite, they were in One found in figure as a man. It was a Man’s heart which was the scene of all these holy exercises and affections, in which He was perfectly before God as well as for Him, a most wondrous thing in this world; a Man fully and absolutely for God in every thought of His heart, all closing on earth in one supreme thought and gift. He gave Himself (for us) an offering and sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savor. It will be remarked, too, that His enemies, the instruments of His humiliation and death, have no place in the passage before us (Phil. 2). Neither saint nor sinner occupy our attention here; it is a Man before God in all His thoughts. And then the mind of God about that wondrous Man, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, in infinite contrast with the first man, disobedient even unto death—the wages of sin.
And now the Philippians are to have God’s mind about this obedient Man, His whole being s exclusive object. He had been crucified through weakness, therefore it is said what God (the name of power) did, in highly exalting Him.
In “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,” are further and deeper thoughts; thus we learn that the power of God and the glory of the Father, were necessarily engaged in the exaltation of Jesus. This was His personal name, the name by which He was known in humiliation. Yet the name was a mystery in itself, for it means Jehovah the Savior. This name had been announced even before His birth by an angel. Who amongst His own had known its glorious meaning?
But we are not occupied here with man’s mind; God’s mind about Him is the great and only thought here. Jesus is the name in heaven. God has granted Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, and earthly, and infernal beings. This is God’s present answer to the rejecters of His holy Servant Jesus. So, when His authority and Messiahship were disowned, the apostle tells them that “God has made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” The kings of the earth were there, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ; indeed they did imagine a vain thing when they stood against His Anointed, for what is the present result? God has invested Him in glory with these very titles, Lord and Christ, and granted Him the great name that is above every name, that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to God the Father’s glory. This is God’s present answer to rejecters of Jesus.
It will be understood that the glory spoken of here is the glory given by God to the anointed Man Christ Jesus; the glory looked for in John 17 was not one of divine names and titles; nor is it simply Man before God, but the Son before the Father asking for glory with Him, as He says, “Along with thyself, with the glory which I had along with thee before the world was.” He had a right to it all in the title of His Person; but claims it on the ground of His having glorified the Father, and in view of for ever glorifying Him.
In Philippians the glory was in relation to the creature, every knee bowing, every tongue confessing; in John 17 it is in relation to the Father alone: “Glorify thou me with thine own self.”
The Scriptures present us with yet other forms of His glory, as in Psa. 2: Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
But to return to our chapter, we may see now the unspeakable importance of the exhortation: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” No such words had ever been spoken to man; they would have been incomprehensible in a religion made for man in the flesh. It needed first that the “Life” should have been manifested, and consciously possessed, by those to whom they were addressed, for they are the expression of that life on earth. To angels they would be wholly inapplicable: glorious beings though they are, but how carry this mind which was in Christ! They had kept their first estate, excel in strength and do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. In all this they are the condemnation of man, who did not keep his first estate, whose condition was marked by weakness and disobedience to His commandments, and refusal to hearken to his word.
But Satan’s apparent triumph in his fall has been an occasion for the revelation of ways and counsels of grace, into which these glorious beings desire to look (1 Pet. 1:1212Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12)), and by which they learn the all-various wisdom of God. Indeed we did not keep our first estate, and angels kept theirs. But see what God has done for the saints according to His own eternal purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before angels were. Angels are wondrous beings, but they have not the place we have. We have to do with God in a way angels have not. He has given us the glorious estate of the second Man risen and set over all creatures, Head of the new creation. Moreover grace and counsel in Christ are not dependent upon creature responsibility.
Again, angels excel in strength, but it is angel strength in which they do excel. Of man it is said without strength; the weakness of saints, however, is but the inlet to the power of Christ, His strength perfecting itself in their weakness. If angels do His commandment, still it is in the obedience of angels, a blessed thing! But the obedience of saints is the obedience of Christ Himself—sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:22Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1 Peter 1:2)).
They are not ashamed of the holy angels now, for their gain—in the possession of the estate, strength, and obedience of the second Man, a place never occupied by creature before—immeasurably surpasses their loss in nature s fall.
What a mighty sanction for a life of obedience was God’s exaltation of the obedient, emptied One—the name which is above every name which He gave Him!
With regard to motives and encouragements Paul has nothing now to add. The obedience of Jesus had been perfected in holiness, and God had marked His delight in it, in exalting the obedient Man to a place far above all creatures. In the spirit of this obedience, which they had seen perfected in Christ, they had to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, (this working is too serious to admit of lightness; and the more diligently, that Paul was not with them, were they to work out their own salvation; or, as Peter expresses it, “grow up to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:22As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1 Peter 2:2), New Trans.). This meaning of salvation has been spoken of already. It is God, he says, who works in you, (internal operation of power) both the willing and the working according to His own good pleasure. In the first chapter he had expressed his confidence that He who had begun a good work in them would complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day.
They were to be “harmless and simple, irreproachable children of God in the midst of a perverted generation; among whom they appeared [as it is said of the heavenly bodies] as lights in the world.” Holding forth the word of life so as to be a boast for me in Christ’s day, that “I have not run in vain nor labored in vain.” Man’s day yielded no measure for Paul’s exercises of heart or conscience; for me, he told the Corinthians, it is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of man’s day. No; it was Jesus Christ’s day which alone would reveal the true character of the running and laboring and thinking of Paul. Blessed and solemn thought! It was the judgment of Jesus Christ’s day that lifted him above the judgment of man’s day.
He had spoken of the Philippians being his boast in the day of Christ. What would they feel when they read the following lines which tell of his devotedness to them, even unto the death; that, if poured out on the sacrifice of their faith (their offering was the fruit of their faith, a sacrifice to God), if my life be taken, he says, I shall consider it as a libation poured out on the sacrifice of your faith. Their service, faith, and work, and that of the apostle were one.
Was I right in saying he had nothing to add, in view of ministering motives for unity, when, in this passage, he ministers to them the fruits of Christ’s Spirit working in him?
Never before had the creature, man, spoken as this man speaks here. So pure and holy were the affections with which he regarded them, now in connection with Jesus Christ’s day, and now with his own death; fruit of a faith and love which were common to both. They were to rejoice in common. How great will be their rejoicing together in Christ’s day!
May we live more in that day! Of Timothy and Epaphroditus one can say nothing higher than that they sympathized perfectly with Paul in these affections and interests. How blessed and precious are the sympathies which are the fruits of the inworking of the Spirit of Christ!