however nobly the Philippians mani fested the Christian graces, they were still fa r from perfect. They were beset by the same infirmities that assail us. The church then was not a place for perfect people, nor is it now. But the letters of the New Testament are writ ten in such a way that the imperfec tions of those early Christians become the means which God uses to present the ideal for them and for us. And that ideal challenges, rather than mocks, our endeavor, because with its revelation God supplies the grace for achievement. 3. C hrist , I ts S ubume I nspiration (w . 5-11) We shall do well to loose the sandals from our feet as we approach the next six verses, for we stand on holy ground. The late Dr. W. Hersey Davis has described Philippians 2:5-11 as “the sublimest passage in Paul about the person of Christ.” Its grandeur is more readily visible to the heart than to the head. It is not too difficult to analyze the steps leading to this lofty height, but one may miss the sub limity of the total picture if he looks too closely at them. The Matterhorn comes repeatedly to mind, rising, snow-clad, in solitary grandeur above the peaks surrounding it. (1) His preincarnate state (v. 6). —Verse 6 is a contemplation of Christ before He came “out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe.” The vistas of eternity unfold in the word translated “existing,” which denotes Christ’s existence prior to His en trance into time. John says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 ASV). From eter nity the Son was coexistent with the Father, enjoying an equality with Him both in the dignity of that position and in the very “form” or essential nature of deity itself. One is not sur prised that some of the expressions in this passage have occasioned con troversy among the theologians who have, under the guidance of God’s Spirit, wrought out the Christology (continued on page 34) 19
of joy because the thirst of his holy ambition for them can never be quite satisfied. He is like John, who wrote to Gaius, “Greater joy have I none than this, to hear of my children walk ing in the truth” (III John 4 ASV). In a series of sharp contrasts three verses describe precisely w h a t it would take on their part to fill Paul’s cup of joy to overflowing: unity, hu mility, and charity. The unity which Paul sought for them was to come about as they looked at life from the same point of view. They were to have the same “mind,” or attitude. Four times (once in a compound, “lowliness of mind” ) does this word “mind” occur in these verses under study. The idea is not so much that of one’s intellectual grasp as of one’s disposition or atti tude. The differences which so often mar our fellowship are attributable more to an unwillingness to see the problem itself. Pride enters in to com plicate matters because a man “loses face” when he surrenders his position before others. Hence the need for hu mility. True understanding is like wa ter in that it seeks the lowest level. A proud man has few teachers. It takes a humble heart to know the mind of God, but that is what Paul covets for the Philippians. Love must have its part also in the accord which Paul seeks. Its presence is indicated in verse 2 and its work described in the first part of verse 3 and again in verse 4. Party pride, empty boasting, and seeking one’s own interests to the exclusion of others, are all too common symptoms of the dread disease of selfishness. On the defensive, self strikes back in je a lc s strife or scurries to cover under pom pous boasts; on the offensive, it sur veys the field only in terms of its own advantage. Love is God’s specific anti dote for this malady. “Love envieth no t; love vaunteth not itself, . . . seeketh not its own” (I Cor. 13:4-5 ASV). By the little word “also” (Phil- 2:4) Paul indicates that a man may rightly look to his own interests but not at the expense of others. We gather from such an appeal that
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