Only conduct yourselves worthily of the glad tidings of the Christ, in order that whether coming and seeing you, or absent, I may hear of what concerns you, that ye stand firm in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings;
Paul has just weighed up life and death and settled that he will stay for the sake of the Philippians. Now he turns from himself to them with one appeal about the way they live.
The verse opens with a small word that ties everything before it to everything after. The verb behind "manner of life" is not a general word for behaviour. It is a word about citizenship, and his readers in Philippi knew exactly what that meant.
Though it is a new subject, the word "Only", with which verse 27 begins, links it up with what goes before. "Only" — whatever happens, this is the one thing that really matters. Whether present with you or absent, "only" behave worthily of the Gospel of Christ. The literal meaning of the word translated "behave" is "live as citizens." … We must remember that Philippi was a Roman Colony, and its citizens were Roman citizens. And the citizens were very proud of this privilege, and sought to walk worthy of it. I think the apostle had this in mind as he wrote. In chapter 3:20 he uses the same word, but as a noun: "our citizenship is in heaven." … The Philippian saints would understand at once. They would know that he was not urging them to live worthily as citizens of Rome, or Philippi, but as citizens of Heaven.
The standard is not just "live like a Christian." It is a walk measured by the gospel itself. That makes the readers partners in the gospel's cause, not only people the message reached.
It was not merely their calling in Christ, their being Christians, that was before him, but a walk as it became the gospel of Christ. It is not at all as those the gospel reached, but as sharing in it, their hearts bound up and identified with all the trials and hardships the gospel was going through as it spread across the world. … Let me press this. Sadly, when people know the gospel well, there is a real tendency — if that is all — to settle down and think they have nothing more to do with it. It was not so with the Philippians. They had so much the more to do because Christ had done all for their souls.
Paul wants a walk that holds firm under opposition and does not depend on whether he is watching.
Steadfast unity among the saints, standing for the grace of Christ against opposition, is such an important part of worthy conduct. It demands that we put aside selfish interests, think of others, and show forbearance and patience. What is more, this should go on just as fully when the apostle was away as when he was present. This is a searching word for our consciences.
The order of the two verbs matters. The second comes from the sports field, not the debating chamber.
Standing fast, you notice, comes before the striving. And the word translated striving is one from which we get our word, athletics. So it seems to point not so much to a striving by word or argument to defend the truth of the Gospel. It points instead to striving in the shape of real labour on the Gospel's behalf.
Commentators differ over whether the Philippians strive for the faith or with it. On the second reading, the gospel is not something to defend but a partner to fight alongside.
They were "striving together with the faith of the Gospel." They contended along with the faith of the Gospel in the world — not "for" the faith, but "with" it, as a partner with it in its conflicts.
The unity Paul asks for shows up under pressure. The wording below renders the Greek word for word; where it says "one soul," the ESV has "one mind."
"Standing firm in one spirit." Do not give ground an inch! "with one soul together contending for the faith of the Gospel." … The thought, I believe, is of a team — a football team, or a regiment of soldiers who "together contend" in a desperate struggle. They must have one spirit and one soul: and though there may be many persons, they work together as one.
An enemy stands behind this conflict, and standing firm may cost something.
The great effort of Satan is to rob the saints of the truth. To "stand fast" in striving together for the faith may involve suffering. But let us not be frightened into thinking that any suffering we may be called to pass through is the destruction of all our hopes.
- Only. One thing really matters, whatever else happens: a life worthy of the gospel.
- Citizens. The word means "live as citizens." Philippi prized its Roman standing; Paul points to a heavenly one.
- Worthy. The measure is not "am I a Christian?" but "does my life match the message?" Christ has done everything for them, so they have all the more to do.
- Standing. Standing fast comes before striving. Do it in one spirit — many people, one formation, giving no ground.
- Striving. Then comes the labour: not arguing about the gospel but working alongside it, as a partner in its conflict. Present or absent, the walk is the same.
and not frightened in anything by the opposers, which is to them a demonstration of destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
because to you has been given, as regards Christ, not only the believing on him but the suffering for him also,
Paul writes to friends who face opponents, and he tells them not to be frightened. Here is his reason: their believing and their suffering both come from the same hand. How can something painful be a gift?
Paul's verb is not a neutral word for handing something over. One writer traces it back to its root:
The word used here for "given" is the one from which we get "grace." It means, in particular, a grant of free favour. We find this same word in 1 Corinthians 2:12: "that we might understand the things freely given us by God." There one Greek word gives us the phrase "freely given," and that is a good translation. I wonder if suffering was one of the things included in that verse in Corinthians?
Paul names the believing as a gift before he names the suffering. So where did the Philippians' faith come from, and why did they differ from those who opposed them?
They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. But where did this saving difference come from, between them and the opponents who spoke against them? The same message of reconciliation reached them both. To believe in Christ was, he plainly assures them, a special grace given to them by the God of their salvation. That grace went further than their own acceptance of the saving truth of the gospel. God gave them, in addition, the distinctive honour of suffering for the Lord.
We sort the two halves of the verse into gain and loss. Paul does not.
But our verse tells us that "it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake." It puts the believing, the gain, the spiritual riches on the same level as the suffering. We must stress three words — "suffer FOR HIS SAKE." Those words light up the suffering with a glory, a brightness not of this earth, a light "above the brightness of the sun."
The verse says "for the sake of Christ" near the start and "for His sake" at the end. One writer refuses to treat the repetition as filler:
God does not grant the gift of suffering on His behalf until we have first received the gift of "believing on Him." Both the believing and the suffering are free gifts of His grace. Why, then, do we get "on behalf of Christ," and then, in the same verse and about the same suffering, "on behalf of Him"? I think it is because "Love that makes sorrow so sweet." What a difference between "suffering" and "suffering on behalf of Christ"! The Spirit would impress this on us, for it takes the sting out of the suffering.
Commentators draw a line between two kinds of Christian suffering, and place this verse on one side of it.
To suffer for Christ is a privilege, a special gift of God. But no one can be a Christian without suffering with Christ. How could the Spirit of Christ produce in us a mind different from the mind that was in Christ as He passed through this poor world?
Trouble invites a wrong reading. A believer under pressure may conclude God is displeased.
Unbelief might read this suffering wrongly and treat it as a severe chastening. That casts the heart down instead of letting it take comfort before God. But suffering for Christ's sake is a gift of His love, as much a gift as believing in Christ for the salvation of the soul.
A gift is not something we work up by effort, and not a burden laid on us.
But remember: our suffering with Christ is not a yoke of bondage, but a matter of privilege; not an iron rule, but a gracious gift; not forced servitude, but willing devotion... The more I love Jesus, the closer I shall walk with Him. The closer I walk with Him, the more faithfully I shall imitate Him. And the more faithfully I imitate Him, the more I shall suffer with Him.
If suffering is an honour, what does it mean when we have none of it?
In days gone by the saints rejoiced "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." Can it be that most of us suffer so little for His name because He counts most of us unworthy of this gift? Let us count our brothers and sisters who suffer for His name worthy of all honour. And let us not forget to hold them up in our prayers, as the Scriptures say: "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them."
- Granted — Paul's verb grows from the word for grace. It means a free favour, freely given.
- Believing — faith is the first gift. It explains why these hearers differed from the opponents who heard the same message.
- Suffering — the second gift stands level with the first, and "for His sake" makes it a gift rather than a loss.
- For Him, not just with Him — every Christian shares Christ's mind and so suffers with Him. Suffering for Him is a special privilege.
- Not punishment — unbelief reads it as chastening. It is a gift of His love, and those who carry it deserve our honour and our prayers.
having the same conflict which ye have seen in me, and now hear of in me.
Paul closes the chapter by tying his readers into his own story: they had watched him suffer in their own city, and now they hear he is still in the same fight. If God gives both faith and suffering, what does that make of the opposition believers meet?
The apostle does not describe two separate troubles running in parallel. He treats the trouble in Philippi and the trouble in Rome as one.
They were not to let their opponents terrify them. Instead they were to count it an honour to be allowed to suffer for the sake of the good news. The apostle can add that what they suffered in Philippi belonged to the same conflict he was fighting in Rome. They in Philippi and he in Rome were all in the same conflict, and all shared in the same grace.
The Philippians had watched Paul suffer, and now they were hearing news of the same thing. Their own opponents were no reason for fear.
We never need fear open enemies. The very fact that they are enemies is a sign of their own destruction when God rises up. And when He rises up it will mean salvation for His people. While we wait for Him to act, our part is conflict and suffering for His sake. The Philippians had seen this in Paul, as Acts 16 records, and now they heard that the same thing was happening to him in Rome.
This conflict is tied to the word "given" in the sentence just before it. Paul's choice of word settles how we should take it.
The word used here for "given" is the one we get "grace" from. It means "a grant of free favour." The same word turns up in 1 Corinthians 2:12: "the things freely given us by God." There this one Greek word becomes "freely given" — and that is a good translation. I wonder if suffering was one of the things included in that verse in Corinthians?
Not all suffering is meant here. There is a firm line between what Christ bore alone and what He shares with His people.
When Scripture speaks of our sharing in Christ's sufferings, it means His sufferings for righteousness — what He suffered at the hands of people. Christ suffered for sin, so that we might not have to suffer for it. He endured the wrath of God, so that we might not have to endure it. This is the ground of our peace. But when it comes to suffering from people, we always find the same thing. The more faithful we are in following the footsteps of Christ, the more we will suffer this way. Yet this is a gift, a privilege, a favour, a dignity.
Calling their conflict the same as his own is high praise. It sets them beside Paul, and beside his Lord.
"Engaged in the same conflict." No man could praise other men more highly than God's apostle praises these people here. They were single-minded; they had received the grace of God and truly followed Jesus Christ. Paul himself stood, by special grace, closest to his Lord: he shared His reproach and carefully copied His ways. So he can give them no greater honour than to call them his fellows in the work and sufferings of Christ.
The conflict comes with faithfulness. So if we feel none of it, that is worth a question.
Each of us may do well to ask: "Why do I suffer so little for Him?" I am sure of this. If we were more true and faithful to Christ, we would know more of what it means to receive, for Christ's sake, not only faith in Him but also suffering for Him. And we would also know more joy in our lives, and more of the glory before us.
- Granted — the word behind "given" means a free favour. The conflict is a grant, not an accident.
- Granted twice — first faith in Christ, then suffering for Him. Both come from the same hand.
- Granted to share — Philippi and Rome were one conflict and one grace. No believer meets the opposition alone.
- Granted in Christ's company — this is suffering at the hands of people. Suffering for sin Christ bore alone, so that we never would.
- Granted as honour — Paul can pay no higher compliment than calling them fellows in the same struggle. If we never feel it, that is a question, not a relief.