Philippians 2:1–5

The apostle felt their kindness deeply. But he was so fully taken up with Christ's desires for His people that the only true joy they could give him was to show Christ in their dealings with one another. So their own ministry to him, read for its spiritual meaning, becomes the ground of his appeal. It runs like this: "if there is any encouragement in Christ," as I have found through your gift; "any comfort from love," as you have caused me to experience; "any participation in the Spirit," as you have shown there is; "any affection and sympathy," as you have expressed in your tender care for me — then "complete my joy."

When we are suffering, above all suffering for Christ's sake, what a thing it is to have encouragement! And when that encouragement is in Christ, how sure and blessed it is! You remember when Paul was in prison in Jerusalem… That night, after all that trouble, the Lord Himself came and stood by him — not an angel. He did not come to remind him of his failure, but to say, "Be of good cheer, Paul!" That is indeed encouragement in Christ… That little word "if" does not raise a question or a doubt. It has the meaning of "Since." We will find four grand motives for the exhortation Paul is about to give; this is the first.

The old manuscripts used capital letters throughout, so we cannot be sure whether "spirit" here should have a capital or not. It may mean the fellowship between the spirits of the saints, or the fellowship we have in the Spirit of God. Possibly both are included. Every true saint of God has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. By God's Spirit every saint is linked to Christ, and linked to each other. The Spirit of God is such a bond between saints that none can ever break it. All our divisions and sects and parties cannot break that bond of "fellowship of the Spirit." Instead, He is like that middle bar of the tabernacle. It stayed out of sight, running through the boards from one end to the other, and it was the strongest bond holding them together.

The word translated "tender-heartedness" is really "bowels." It means the "home of tender feelings." That word does not carry this meaning for most of us. We use the word "heart" instead, as in "heartless." The word translated "compassions" is the showing of these tender-hearted feelings. Both words are plural. Together they give us the inward spring and the outward display of the Lord's tender love and care for us.

They had sent the apostle what he needed, and he says there is consolation in Christ. It is not merely the things he received, but the comfort of Christ and fellowship of the Spirit. It was the working of the spirit of grace in Jesus, showing itself in this fellowship. He says, If you want me to be perfectly happy, go on well among yourselves. There were some little jealousies at work, the kind of thing that springs up among Christians. But he takes the chance to own all the grace that was in them, and then says, "Complete my joy."

While we recognise the immediate application of this first verse, let us not miss its wider bearing. Christ is the source of consolation; love is what produces comfort; the Spirit of God, shared by all true believers, is the spring of fellowship. These facts hold in every age, and for us all.

"Fill full my joy!" Was the apostle's joy, then, not full? There is probably no book in the Bible so filled with joy as Philippians. The apostle seems to be flowing over with joy; what is it, then, that keeps his joy from being full? We get the answer in a series of four conditions of soul. First: "when you mind the same thing." Then, and not till then, will the apostle's joy be full. Notice how many times we find this word "mind". I think ten times in this letter. How often our mind runs in the wrong direction. While we look at our own things, or seek our own things, we will never mind the same thing.

How gently and graciously the apostle speaks! The Philippians had thought of him in prison. He had heard of disputing among them. Euodia and Syntyche were not of the same mind. But he cannot rebuke them sharply when he had just received their kindness. "Fulfil my joy" — if you want to make me perfectly happy, you will think alike, "having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." It is a rebuke, but a very gentle one. The spirit in which he writes is very beautiful.

First of all they were to be likeminded. It is clearly a great thing when believers all think alike. But we must also weigh the spirit behind their thinking. If that spirit is wrong, thinking alike will not keep quarrels away. So he adds, "having the same love." Only love can produce the next thing he speaks of, "being of one accord," or, more literally, "joined in soul." That in turn leads to all minding one thing.

We know more about being "joined in soul" through having the same hate. We have seen the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians — all bitter enemies — sharing the same hate against Christ, and so joined in soul. I think it was Mr Darby who said, "Devotedness to Jesus is the strongest bond between human hearts." Oh, Lord Jesus, give Your poor saints more of this devotedness to You! Devotedness formed by love to Jesus. Devotedness caused by the love of Jesus. This is the devotedness that brings the "same love". So may we be joined in soul to each other.

How could they be more likeminded? If the mind were set upon one thing, they would all have the same mind. God has one object for His saints, and that object is Christ. For Paul, every aim and every duty came second to Him. As he says in the next chapter, "one thing I do." So here he wanted to produce this one, common mind in the Philippian believers.

Many scriptures press home the Lord's desire that we should be of one mind, or likeminded. Of course this does not mean that everyone must think alike on every subject. But suppose we all let that self-forgetting mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus. What perfect harmony would result! Shall we put it to the test?

This is the normal effect of the power of the Spirit, where He is ungrieved in us. He produces this unity among Christians, where self can have no place.

Now we come to two other appeals that also hit most of us very hard: "Not each having the eye on the interests of themselves, but each on the interests of others also." The Authorised Version reads: "Look not every man on his own things," and so on. The word translated "look" does have that meaning. But it is not the ordinary word for "look." It comes from a word meaning a mark on which to fix the eye. In chapter 3 of this letter we get the same word translated "mark" (v. 14).

In the Greek Testament there is no word for "interests" in either place. There is only the article "the," in the plural. We have to fill in what the Spirit means us to understand, and that may have a very wide application. The Authorised Version uses "things." Mr. Darby uses "qualities," or, in a note, "advantages." I take "interests" to mean the things that interest us.

The next statement in verse 4 does mean that. It could be rendered, "Look not every man on his own qualities, but every man also on the qualities of others." If we fixed our eyes on the spiritual qualities of a person — Christ shining out in that vessel — it would then become fairly easy to esteem another as better than oneself.

Empty pride lies at the root of a large part of the strife and division that is distracting Christians, even those who are otherwise spiritually minded. The opposite of empty pride is that lowliness of mind that leads us to esteem others better than ourselves. Lowliness of mind also leads to that largeness of mind that verse 4 points to. If I am self-centred, aiming only at my own interests and glory, I consider only my own things. If instead I am Christ-centred, aiming at His interests and glory, I look also on the things of others. And if the things of others are really more for Christ's glory than my things are, I shall look more on the things of others than on my own.

We all know that we tend to value the qualities we have ourselves and to look down on the qualities of others. That is our nature left unjudged. Where the power of love is at work, it works in quite the opposite direction. We would be aware of how weak and unworthy we are, and how little use we make of what God gives us. And we would value what we see in another that we do not have ourselves.

Verse 4 takes us a step further. It asks for a very real concern for the well-being of others — a happy mark of Christianity in a world that is so selfish. We cannot suppose, however, that all Christians really practise this virtue.

The Apostle does not speak merely of the "lowly word," which a person can use even to magnify self. He speaks of the lowly mind, which forgets self altogether and thinks only of others and their good.

Man's motto is, "Mind yourself." His selfishness shows the uncleanness of his nature. Jesus was not like this, for "He did not please Himself." He went about doing good. His heart was set on blessing others… So the teaching of the Holy Spirit is, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

We will certainly reach the 'one mind' of verse 2 if the lowly mind of verse 3 takes shape in us all. But we would still find it hard if that lowly mind were only an abstract idea to us. We want it to be a living reality before our eyes, and we have it in Christ Jesus. If there is to be only one mind, whose mind is that one mind to be? — 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus' (v. 5).

'Let this mind be in you' or, Have this for your mind — your principle of thought and feeling — 'which (was, and is,) also in Christ Jesus'. There is no verb in the second half of the verse, but English needs one. We usually use the word 'was'. Yet nothing in the Greek limits the meaning to past or present. Even now, exalted to the highest glory, He is 'this same Jesus' (Acts 1:11)… And what was 'this mind'? Was it not an utter and absolute self-forgetfulness? Here is the cure for all our quarrels and divisions, our misunderstandings and difficulties with one another.

In chapter 2 you do not get Christ in glory as the One the believer runs after. You get Christ coming down, not Christ gone up. He is the One I am to be like in the grace of the walk He showed. And that walk is always going down — from the form of God down to death… Paul is taking up the truth of lowliness, but the moment he begins he must bring out Christ.

He has been urging them to humility and self-denial. Now he sets before them, and before us, the pattern of what we are called to copy — though not the measure of it. The pattern: as children of the Father we are to aim at nothing short of His perfection, and since we share the Spirit of Christ His ways should be ours too. Not the measure: the very first step of His humility was one that only His equal by nature could have taken, if such a person existed.

We know how we feel when someone says an unkind word to us. We know how we feel when someone denies us our rights, tramples on us, or will not treat us fairly. We know how upset our spirits get at such times, do we not? But it was never so with the Son of God's love. The apostle says, let His mind be in you. Do not let the sun go down on your anger; do not quarrel among yourselves; do not let your angry feelings rise.

The Apostle goes on to urge lowliness in love, by setting the way of the Lord Himself before their eyes. Since Christ appeared, this is the true "rule of life" for the believer. It is not even the whole written Word by itself, but that Word seen alive in Christ. And the Holy Spirit makes Christ a spring of power to the soul that stays occupied with Him.