[let] nothing [be] in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
regarding not each his own [qualities], but each those of others also.
Verse 4 follows the call to count others better than yourself. It asks a plain question: what is your eye fixed on, and does that view have room for anyone else?
The verb Paul uses is stronger than a casual glance. One writer traces it to the idea of a target set up to aim at.
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).
The word behind "things" is left open in the original, and translators have filled it in differently.
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.
Read as "qualities," the verse shows how to obey the command just before it: count others better than yourself.
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.
Paul does not ban all care for our own things. He adds the things of others to the view. What we live for decides how wide that view is.
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.
One habit in us quietly reverses the verse: we prize whatever we happen to be good at.
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.
Writers are honest that this care is not common, even among Christians.
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 call goes deeper than modest words about ourselves.
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.
Christ has already lived that mind out in front of us.
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."
- Aim. "Look" is not a glance but a target word — the same word translated "mark" in chapter 3. Ask what your eye is fixed on.
- Also. Paul does not cancel your own things; he adds the things of others to the same view.
- Qualities. Read "things" as qualities or advantages. Look for Christ shining in another person, and counting them better than yourself stops being a strain.
- Centre. A self-centred aim sees only self. A Christ-centred aim gives the largeness of mind that takes in others.
- Pattern. The lowly mind forgets self and thinks only of the good of others. Christ lived it: He did not please Himself.