The Pulpit Commentary — Philippians — Section 59

Vore. 27-30.-Exhortation to unity: (1) motives/or it. I. LovE yon THOSE wn0 HAVE LAD0UflED FOi\ us IN THE 00BPEJ,. Mnny can feel this love who are not yet capable of rising to a sense of love towards God. 'l'his lower affection may lead to the higher love of which it is a reflection, II. 'l'llE DIBCOMFITUIIE OF THOSE wno ARE HOSTILE TO THE GOSPET,. This need not be opposed to love. The gospel is set for the fall of many as well as for their rising again. It is good for the wicked to be brought low, for only in thus falling is there nny hope of their being finally saved, III, A FEELING OF PRIDE THAT WE ARE CONNECTED WITH THE ORF.AT ONES 01" THE CHURCH. The communion of suffering is ever part of the communion of saints. St. Paul is not here appealing to the highest motives, but to motives which are common to our human nature, and which may properly be used on the side of faith. Everything which is truly human is from God and is to be enlisted in his scrvice.- V. W.H. Ver. 1.-.An ancient letter. We not only miss the drift of many parts of the Bil:ile, but we also lose much of the interest they might excite in ns, when we fail to obser,-e the circumstances under which they were written. In the Epistle to the Philippians, for example, we have a letter addressed by a remarkable man under very touching conditions to a community of people in whom he felt deep interest. The primary, historical purpose of the writing is determined by these facts. I. THE WRITER. St. Paul. 'l'hough Timothy is also mentioned in the salutation, be could have had little or nothing to do with the contents, because the apostle speaL; throughout personally and individually. His authority not being questioned at Pbilipui, St. Paul has no need to assert his apostleship, and in genuine humility he writes of himself equally with his young companion, Timothy, as a servant of Jesus Christ. 1. The greatest Christi.an humbles himself as a bondservant before Christ. 2. The most independent mind .in the Church when true to the gospel bows in obedience to the mind of Christ. 3. It is the function of Christian ministers not to seek their own advantages and not to be men-pleasers, but to serve Christ. II. THE PEOPLE ADDRESSED. 1. The letter is sent to the whole Church at Philippi- " all the saints," as well as the officers. The Bible is for all Christians. St. Pan! knew nothing of esoteric doctrines. 2. Differences of official position are recognized-saints, bishops, deacons. Order, discipline, instruction, and administration required such organization from the first., and require them in some form now. 3. Christians are called saints, because (1) they are consecrated men, and (2) inward holiness is begun in them, Unless a man is better in character for being a Christian his profession is a. mockery. 4. Christians are "in Christ." Personal relation to Christ, the ingrafting ()f the olive branch, is the primary requisite of the Christian life. IIJ, THE CIRCUMSTAN0ES OF THE WRITER AND RECEIVERS OF THE LETTER, 1. The writer is a prisoner awaiting trial on a capital charge. The martyr's lofty self-sacrifice and solemn joy chnracterize the Epistle. 2. The people addressee!. are feeble, poor, and persecuted. Yet their beautiful character immortalizes them. There is no Church that we could point to with more satisfaction as the model of primitive Christianity. Thus an obscure and humble community of Christians may be an example to the great Churches. IV. THE CHARACTER OF THE LETTER, 1. It is uncontroversial. St. Paul was often forced into controversy. But bis choicest thoughts come out in calmer moments. Z. It is personal. Nowhere else doe~ the apostle reveal so fully bis own private convic- tions and spiritual experiences. It is difficult to do this humbly, truly, and whole- somely. But when well doue it is of rare interest. Hence the value of the priva.te letters of great and good men. 3. It is unusually full of tender feeling. St. Pa.ul was 110 mere intellectual teacher, and no hard-souled man of energy. His greatest ideas were saturated with emotion. In this Epistle he reveals the tenderness, sympclthy, and joy of the deepest Christian experience. 4:. It is a grand wit~ess to _the power of the gospel (I) in thll transformation of the fiery persecutor Saul mto this tender-hearte,l Apostle Paul; (2) in infusing all-absorbing dovotion to Christ; (3) in kindli_ng brotherly love behveen Christians; and (4) in sustaining the soul under the her1v1est troubles with a rosignation that faith rnises to joyous coufidence.-W. F. A.  54 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [oa. 1. 1-30.