became obedient unto death." It was an obedience from his birth to his death, for it was unto death. His obedience was in his death as well as i[I his life, aad he waa equally vicarious in both. (3) His abasement involved a shameful death, "even the death of the cross." It was a death reserved for malefactors aod slaves. There was pain nnd shame and curse. Yet "he endured the cross, despisino- the shame" 0 (Heh. xii. 2). Mark, then, at once, the transcendent love and the transcendent humility of Jesus Christ I What an example to set before the G'hristians of Philippi I "Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."-'!'. C. Vere. 9-11.-0hrist's reward. There is a relation between work and reward signified in our Lord's own announcement: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke xiv. 11). I. CHRIST'S EXALTATION. "Wherefore also God highly exalted him." This exal- tation is associated with his resurrection, his ascension, and his sitting at God's right hand. It was the reward of his obedience unto death, as the Surety-Head of his people. It was a part of his exaltation that God " gave unto him the Name which is above every name "-not Jesus, nor the Son of God-but rank and dignity, majesty and authority. II. 'l'HE PURPOSE OF THE EXALTATION. "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Thus is declared the honour paid to Jesus. 1. Worship. He is the Object of adoration to all intelligences in heaven, in earth, and under the earth. Christianity is the worship of Jesus Christ. 2. Open confession of his lordship. "The knee is but a dumb acknowledgment, but a vocal confession-that doth utter our mind plainly." 'fhe lordship thus acknowledged by every tongue has a vast import, both for the Church and for the world. Jesus Christ "died and revived, that he might become Lord both of the living and of the dead" (Rom. :xiv. 9). Thus the whole obedience of Christian life is grasped by that lordship, which at the same time controls all the events of human life for the good of the Church. IIL THE END OF ms EXALTATION. "To the glory of God the Father,'' whose Son he is; their honour and glory being inseparable.-T. C.
Vers.12, 13.-Christian salvation a working out what God WOTks in. The apostle, after commending the Philippians for their obedience to God in his absence, counsels them to continue in that course, working out their salvation for themselves. "',Vork out your own salvation with fear and trembling." I. CoNSIDER THE HATTER TO BE WORKED OUT. "Your own salvation." L Salva- tion is an essentially individual thing between each man and his God. It is the supreme concernment of every man. Green shows it was the glory of Puritanism that "religion in its deepest and innermost sense had to do, not with Churches, but with the individual soul. It is as a single soul that each Christian claims his part in the mystery of redemption." 2. Though salvation is God's work, it is yet consistent with Scripture and fact that it should be man's wOTk lilcewise. The salvation to be worked out is supposed to be already possessed in its principle or germ; for the apostle addresses this counsel, not to unconverted sinners, but to "saints in Christ Jesus." The breadth of the word "salvation" is to be carefully estimated. Sometimes it is used in Scripture, as we have already seen, as equivalent to justification or pardon; sometimes as equivalent to sanctification; sometimes as equivalent to the final deliverance at death or judgment. Thus it may bo regarded as either past, present, or future. It is in the second sense that the apostle uses the expression, for he has special regard here t-0 the development of the Christian life in belie,·crs. II. 'l'BE PROCESS OF WORKING OUT TlfIS SALVATION. "Work out your own salva- tion." 1. Th-is implies that Christian life is not a mystic and indolent quietism which moves neither hand nOT foot, b11t a state of conscious activity and strugyle. There am theories of sanctification in our day which teach the doctrine of the soul's passivity, as if it lay in the arms of Jesus without effort or almost conscious thought. Such an idea would nceu. a recasting of the whole phraseology of Scripture to justify il. (Jhristian life iii nlways represented in Scripture as a life of wa.tchiug, of strng:c;lc, of 74 THE EPISTLE TO TIIE PllILIPPIANS. [ CIJ. U. 1--.10,