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The Epistle of Paul 
 
 TO THE PHILIPPIANS 
 
 EXPANDED IN A PARAPHRASE AND EXPLAINED 
 IN NOTES 
 
 WITH 
 
 MAP AND INTRODUCTION 
 
 AMERICAN REVISED VERSION 
 
 AND APPENDIX INCLUDING 
 
 POLYCARP'S LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS 
 
 s /BY 
 
 James F. Holcomb, D.D. 
 
 North India Presbyterian Mission. 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY 
 NEW YORK 
 
The text used is taken from the American Standard Edition 
 of the Revised Bible 
 
 Copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, New York 
 
To 
 
 Alpheus H. Holloway, D. D. 
 
 OF Salisbury, Maryland, 
 Companion of my boyhood and College days, 
 
 this contribution to the understanding of 
 
 Paul's Letter to the Philippians, 
 
 is affectionately inscribed. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 PHILIPPI. 
 
 Pliilippi, situated eight miles inland from Neapo- 
 lis, at the head of the ^^ga?an Sea, and visited by Paul 
 on his second missionary journey, is interesting as 
 ,being the first city in Europe to which the Gospel 
 was carried by an apostle. It is, moreover, a place 
 of peculiar interest on accoimt of Luke's detailed 
 and vivid account, in the sixteenth chapter of the Book 
 of the Acts, of what occurred there in connection with 
 the work of Paul and his associates. 
 
 Renan's description of the road from Neapolis to 
 Pliilippi may give us a somewhat overdrawn picture, 
 but doubtless it contains a considerable measure of 
 reality. Referring to Paul and his company as they 
 started from the port towards the famous inland city, 
 he says. "They ascended the paved and cut slope in 
 the rocks which overlook Neapolis, crossed the little 
 chain of mountains which forms the coast, and 
 entered the beautiful plain in the centre of which 
 stands detached upon a projecting promontory of 
 the mountain, the city of Pliilippi. Everything indi- 
 cated habits honest, serious, and amenable. One felt 
 himself to be in a centre analogous to that in which 
 the poetry of Virgil was created. The evergreen 
 plain was favorable for the various culture of vege- 
 tables and flowers. Splendid fountains springing 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from the foot of the mountain of shining marble 
 which crowned the city, spread, when properly direc- 
 ted, shade and freshness. The thickets of poplars, 
 willows, of fig trees and cherry trees, and wild vines, 
 exhaled the sweetest odors, and scented the brooks 
 which abounded on all sides. Moreover, the meadows, 
 which were overrun or covered with large roses, ex- 
 hibited troops of heavy white-eyed buffaloes, with 
 enormous horns, their heads just out of the water; 
 whilst the bees and the swarms of black and blue 
 butterflies flitted from flower to flower. Pangieus, 
 with its majestic summits covered with snow till the 
 middle of July, lay stretched out as if it would touch 
 the city across the morass. Beautiful ranges of moun- 
 tains bounded the horizon on all the other sides, dis- 
 covering only an opening through which the sky dis- 
 appeared, and showing in the clear distance the basin 
 of Str;^anon." 
 
 There is also much of historic interest connected 
 with Philippi as a locality, and especially in the 
 events which there transpired in the centuries imme- 
 diately preceding the Christian Era. The springs 
 which gushed forth from the mountain that over- 
 looked it gave to the ancient town the name Crenides 
 (the little fountains). This town, which originally 
 belonged to Thrace, was seized and fortified by Philip 
 of ]\Iacedon in the latter part of the fourth century, 
 B. C. It was then named by him Philippi, and be- 
 came a Macedonian city. In Philip's time the valley 
 in Avhich a part of the new town was built became a 
 busy mining camp, for one of the neighboring moun- 
 tains had become famous for its rich reefs of gold 
 and silver. The newly found wealth which ]\Iount 
 Pangieus contained was turned to great account by 
 King Philip in extending his dominion. ''This gold 
 of Crenides," says a French w^riter, "spread itself 
 over Greece, preceding the phalanx like an advance 
 guard, and opening more gates that the battering- 
 rams and catapults. 
 
 r vi 1 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Perseus was the last of the ^Macedonian Kings, his 
 territory havins^ come under the dominion of Home in 
 168 B. C. 
 
 The situation of Philippi was such as to make it 
 inevitably a place of distinction. The pass in the 
 mountains near by naturally attracted the attention of 
 road builders under different governments, until at 
 length that great Roman thoroughfare — the Via 
 Egnatia — was made, which ran from Xeapolis on the 
 ^ga?an Sea to Dyrrachium on the Adriatic, and 
 passed through Philippi. 
 
 The position of Philippi on the Egnatian Road 
 accounts for that great double battle being fought 
 there in B. C. 42, which decided the destiny of Rome 
 by the overthrow of the Republican oligarchy and the 
 establishment of the empire in its stead. There the 
 armies of Octavius (subsequently Augustus) and 
 jMarcus Antonius were arrayed against those of 
 Brutus and Cassius. Cassius with his troops was 
 encamped on ]\Iount Panga?us south of the town, while 
 Brutus with his forces held the slopes on the north, 
 these positions having been chosen for the purpose 
 of guarding both sides of the pass on the Egnatian 
 Road. Cassius was first overpowered, and after hold- 
 ing his ground two days longer Brutus was also de- 
 feated. Each of these conquered generals was at his 
 own mandate put to death on the battle field by a 
 fellow soldier, preferring death to the ignominy 
 to Avhich, had they chosen to live, they would have 
 been subjected. 
 
 The issue of this great struggle as far as Philippi 
 was concerned Avas its advancement, for Augustus 
 elevated it to Colonial dignity, under the title Colonia 
 Augusta Julia Victrix Philippensis, the name Julia 
 in this title showing that the colony was founded to 
 commemorate the victory of the cause of Julius Caesar 
 at Philippi. 
 
 A Roman Colony was, as far as an outpost of the 
 empire could be, a miniature Rome. None but those 
 
 \ vii 1 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 who were the possessors of Roman citizenship could 
 belong to it. Those who were chosen to form a new 
 colony were sent forth by imperial authority. They 
 marched to their destination in military form, they 
 continued to speak the Latin tongue, and Roman coin 
 was the currency they used. The chief magistrates 
 of the colony received their appointment direct from 
 the imperial capital, and in the exercise of both civil 
 and military authority were independent of the pro- 
 vincial governors in whose territories they resided. 
 Luke is careful to speak of the magistrates of Philippi 
 as prjetors or commandants, which shows hoAV famil- 
 iar he was with the exact title which they assumed; 
 and the sergeants mentioned by him were doubtless 
 lictors who attended the magistrates, bearing fasces 
 or bundles of rods, and this shows again how the mag- 
 istrates of this colony were endeavoring to make the 
 most of their position. AYe are thus made to see with 
 remarkable vividness what kind of officials they were 
 into whose hands Paul and Silas fell at Philippi. and 
 what kind of authority it was of which these officers 
 made use. We see also from Luke's narrative how 
 high 'was tlie claim to preeminence which the city of 
 Philippi put forth in asserting its right to be styled 
 "the first of the district." If, as may have been the 
 case, Luke was himself a resident of Philippi, may we 
 not discover in his description of this place the pride 
 which he took in his own city? 
 
 It will be instructive to turn now to those verses 
 (6-10) in the sixteenth of Acts to see how Paul was 
 led- to go to Philippi. It had not been his plan at all 
 to go there. Had he been able to carry out his o^\ti 
 purpose, he would have gone from Antioch straight 
 to Ephesus, the metropolis of the Great Roman prov- 
 ince of Asia. That was the natural direction for him 
 to take in continuing his journey from Antioch. He 
 would be following a great trade route, ^vhich would 
 lead him to the most important city in all Asia IMinor, 
 a city in which he was subsecpiently led to spend three 
 
 [ viii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 years — a longer period than he spent anywhere else 
 in the ^^ilole course of his missionary life. But the 
 time — God's time — had not yet come for him to go to 
 Ephesus. Other places had in the meantime to be 
 visited, and plans aft'eeting in the most far-reach- 
 manner the whole after life of the apostle had first 
 to be formed. Accordingly when Paul and Silas, 
 accompanied by Timothy, had turned their faces 
 towards Ephesus, and had got within the limits of the 
 great province which they expected to traverse from 
 east to west, lo, they were met w^ith an absolute 
 prohibition of the Holy Spirit to speak the word in 
 Asia. It is to be noted that they were not forbidden 
 to travel in Asia. But what Avould it avail to go on 
 to Ephesus, if on their arrival there they might not 
 preach the Gospel? They therefore turned north- 
 ward towards Bithynia ; and when they had arrived 
 over against IMysia, and were close upon the boundary 
 of the province w^hich they intended to enter, the 
 Spirit of Jesus, we read, suffered them not to go into 
 Bithynia. They then turned towards the ^Egtean Sea 
 and we read, that neglecting ]\Iysia, because it was 
 a part of the province of Asia, in the whole of which 
 territory they had been forbidden to preach, they 
 came down to the coast at Troas. And why Avere they 
 there ? The meaning of the divine prohibitions which 
 had encountered them on the w^ay from Antioch were 
 all made clear, when at Troas they met Luke the phy- 
 sician, a Macedonian, and a Greek scholar, who was 
 probably led to Christ at that time. It was necessary 
 according to the plan of God, that Paul should find 
 at Troas this man, who Avas ever after to be so service- 
 able to him, and hence the apostle had not been 
 allowed to tarry on his way to that place. AYe know 
 that Luke joined the company of Paul and Silas and 
 Timothy at Troas, and went with them to Philippi, 
 for in the Book of the Acts, which he afterwards 
 Avrote, we find the word "we" occurring for the first 
 time in the 16th chapter, 11th verse. AYas he the man 
 
 r ix 1 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 -of ^lacedonia, whom Paul saw in tlie vision, probably 
 in the night following the day when he met Luke? 
 We are indebted for this snggestion to Professor Eam- 
 say, whose book. "St. Panl the Traveller and the 
 Roman Citizen, ' ' throws so mnch light on the life and 
 work of the great apostle. ' ' Come over into Macedonia, 
 and help ns, " was the earnest invitation given to Paul 
 and his companions by the man of Macedonia, whom 
 the apostle saw in the vision. Whether Luke was a 
 resident of Philippi or not, he evidently desired that 
 Paul and his friends should go first to that important 
 city. It seems probable that Luke remained in Phil- 
 ippi after Paul and Silas and Timothy had left for 
 Thessalonica, and it does not appear that Luke joined 
 their company again for a considerable time. It is 
 not until the 20th chapter, 6th verse, of the Acts, that 
 we find Luke using the word ''we" again. And it 
 is worthy of notice that this was at the time when 
 Paul and his companions were leaving Philippi after 
 the apostle 's second visit to that place. 
 
 That frequent communications with the Philippian 
 Church were maintained by Paul, there can be no 
 doubt. How great his love for them, and his devotion 
 to them, was, we see from the precious epistle which 
 he sent to them by the hand of Epaphroditus during 
 his first captivity at Rome. 
 
 Did the apostle ever visit them again, as in this let- 
 ter he expressed a strong expectation of being able to 
 do? It is not unlikely that he was permitted to see 
 his purpose fulfilled after his first trial, and his re- 
 lease from imprisonment which was the result of it. 
 
 The dominant thought of the "afternoon epistles" 
 of Paul, as Professor Findlay calls the epistles of the 
 captivity, is that of the believer's relation to his 
 Saviour, his union with his Lord, his being in Christ 
 as a member of his body, and Christ's living in him. 
 To bring into its rightful prominence this thought, 
 has been one of the chief purposes of the writer in 
 preparing this commentary on the Epistle to the Phil- 
 ippians. 
 
 [ X ] 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 PAUL IN ROME. 
 
 To speak of Paul as having been kept in a dungeon 
 during his first captivity in Rome, as is frequently 
 done, is erroneous: for Luke says (Acts 28:16), 
 "When we entered into Rome, Paul was suffered to 
 abide by himself with the soldier that guarded him." 
 Or, if we incorporate the marginal reading into the 
 text, then the latter part of the verse will read thus, 
 "the centurion delivered the prisoners to the Chief 
 of the camp, but Paul was suffered to abide by himself 
 with the soldier that guarded him. ' ' It would appear 
 from this that special consideration was shown to Paul. 
 Burrus, a humane man, was at that. time the Prefect 
 of the camp, and the leniency shown to Paul by him 
 may have been in some measure due to a statement of 
 Julius in regard to the incidents of the voyage from 
 Ca^sarea, in which the apostle bore so prominent a part, 
 and besides Festus may have written favorably con- 
 cerning him. Further, Luke narrates that after three 
 days Paul called together those that Avere the chief of 
 the Jews in Rome and explained to them why he was a 
 prisoner in the hands of the Romans : and that they 
 having expressed a desire to hear what he thought con- 
 cerning the sect, as they called it, which had arisen 
 among the Jews, and having set a day for hearing 
 what he might have to say concerning it, "came to him 
 into his lodging in great number. ' ' Manifestly, there- 
 fore, Paul 's lodging was a prison only in the sense that 
 he dwelt in it under a guard. 
 
 Again we read (Acts 28:30) concerning this first 
 captivity of the apostle that "he abode two whole 
 years in his own hired dwelling." Furthermore this 
 hired dwelling, whether it was the lodging previously 
 spoken of, or not, must have been of sufficient 
 size to admit of the apostle's living in it with a 
 good degree of comfort, and, it may be, of his having 
 with him those of his fellow-laborers who from time to 
 time came to Rome and tarried for a season ; for Luke 
 
 XI 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 also states that he "received all that went in unto him, 
 preaching' the kingdom of God, and teaching the 
 things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. ' ' 
 
 Neither the precise location of Paul's hired house, 
 nor even the vicinity in which it stood, can with cer- 
 tainty be pointed out, but it seems highly probable 
 that it was situated somewhere Avithin or adjacent to 
 the prietorian camp ; for in his letter to the Philip- 
 pians the apostle says, "My bonds became manifest 
 in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard." 
 Paul was guarded day and night by a Roman soldier 
 of the praetorian guard to whom he was bound 
 by a coupling-chain. As the guard was* frequently 
 changed, Paul had during the .period of his first im- 
 prisonment at Eome a Avide opportunity of making 
 Christ and his salvation known in the praetorian camp. 
 
 During a recent visit in Rome we daily saw 
 Castro Pretorio displayed on the street cars of one 
 of the electric lines. These cars run to the canton- 
 ment where now stand the barracks occupied by the 
 Italian troops, infantry and artillery, stationed in 
 Rome. It is the old praetorian camp of Paul's time, 
 and more than once we rode out to this interesting 
 spot. It is just outside the Colline Gate, northeast 
 of the city, and is surrounded by a high wall, which 
 looks as if it might have stood for centuries in a con- 
 dition not greatly unlike that in which it is-noAV seen. 
 
 There are extant in Rome authentic remains of Iavo 
 houses in AAdiich in all probability Paul found hospi- 
 tality and enjoyed Christian fellowship; in Avhich 
 also, it is thought, meetings for Christian Avorship 
 and for the unfolding of the Gospel AA^re held by him. 
 When going to these houses he Avould of course be 
 accompanied by the Roman soldier AA'ho at the time 
 Avas guarding him, and to AAdiom he Avas chained. 
 
 One of these houses Avas that of Pudens, AAiiich 
 stands half Avay up the Yicus Patricius (Via del 
 Bambin Gesii) on the southern slope of the Yirinal. 
 
 The other belonged to Aquila and Prisca (Pris- 
 
 [ xii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cilia), and is situated on the spur of the Aventine, 
 which overlooks the Circus ]\Iaximus, in what was in 
 Paul's time the Jewish quarter of the city. 
 
 Both of these houses have been designated from 
 very early times and are still designated by churches 
 bearing the names of the owners. Professor Lanciani, 
 of Rome, states that the Avails of the identical house 
 of Aquila and Prisca were discovered in 1776, close 
 to the modern church of S. Prisca, but that no atten- 
 ti(m was paid to the discovery, notwithstanding its 
 unrivalled importance. 
 
 It is interesting to know that at the present time, 
 the Eev. Dr. Gray, the Scotch Presbyterian minister 
 in Rome, is conducting excavations for the purpose 
 of identifying the precise site of this house, funds 
 for the purpose having been placed in his hands by 
 friends interested in this ancient memorial. 
 
 xin 
 
LUKE'S ACCOUNT (Acts XVI: 11-40) OF THE VISIT 
 
 OF PAUL AND SILAS 
 
 AND THEIR COMPANIONS TO PHILIPPI. 
 
 11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made 
 a straight course tc» Samothrace, and the day fol- 
 lowing to Neapolis ; 12 and from thence to Phil- 
 ippic which is a city of Macedonia, the first of 
 the district, a Roman colony: and we were in 
 this city tarrying certain days. 13 And on the 
 sabbath day we went forth without the gate by 
 a river side, where we supposed there was a 
 place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake 
 unto the women that were come together. 14 
 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of 
 purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that wor- 
 shipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord 
 opened to give heed unto the things which were 
 spoken by Paul. 15 And when she was baptized, 
 and her household, she besought us, saying, If 
 ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, 
 come into my house, and abide there. And she 
 constrained us. 
 
 [ xiv ] 
 
LUKE h> ACCOUNT OF THE VISIT TO PHIUIPPI. 
 
 16 And it came to pass, as we were going to 
 the place of prayer, that a certain maid having a 
 spirit of divination met us, who brought her 
 masters much gain by soothsaying. 17 The same 
 following after Paul and us cried out, saying. 
 These men are servants of the Most High God, 
 who proclaim unto you the way of salvation. 18 
 And this she did for many days. But Paul, 
 being sore troubled, turned and said to the spirit, 
 I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to 
 come out of her. And it came out that very 
 hour. 
 
 19 But when her masters saw that the hope of 
 their gain was gone, they laid hold on Paul and 
 Silas, and dragged them into the market])lace 
 before the rulers, 20 and when they had brought 
 them unto the magistrates, they said. These men, 
 being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21 
 and set forth customs which it is not lawful for 
 us to receive, or to observe, being Romans. 22 
 And the multitude rose up together against 
 them: and the magistrates rent their garments 
 off them, and commanded to beat them with 
 rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes 
 upon them, they cast them into prison, charging 
 the jailor to keep them safely: 24 who, having 
 received such a charge, cast them into the inner 
 prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 
 25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were 
 praying and singing hymns unto God, and the 
 
 [ XV ] 
 
LUKE S ACCOUNT OF THE VISIT TO PHILIPPE 
 
 prisoners were listeniug to them; 26 and sud- 
 denly there was a great earthquake, so that the 
 foundations of the prison-house were shaken: 
 and immediately all the doors were opened ; and 
 every one's bands were loosed. 27 And the 
 jailor, being roused out of sleep and seeing the 
 prison doors open, drew his sword and was about 
 to kill liimself, supposing that the prisoners had 
 escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, 
 saying, Do thyself no harm : for we are all here, 
 29 And he called for lights and sprang in, and, 
 trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and 
 Silas, 30 and brought them out and said. Sirs, 
 what must I do to be saved ? 31 And they said. 
 Believe on tlie Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be 
 saved, thou and thy house. 32 And they spake 
 the word of the Lord unto him, with all that were 
 in his house. 33 And he took them the same 
 hour of the night, and washed their stripes ; and 
 was baptized, he and all his, immediately. 34 
 And he brought them up into his house, and set 
 food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all 
 his house, having believed in God. 
 
 35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent 
 the Serjeants, saying. Let those men go. 36 And 
 the jailor reported the words to Paul, saying. 
 The magistrates have sent to let you go : now 
 therefore come forth, and go in peace. 37 But 
 Paul said unto them, They have beaten us pub- 
 licly, uncondemned, men that are Romans, and 
 
 [ xvi ] 
 
LUKE S ACCOUNT OF THE VISIT TO PHILIPPI. 
 
 liave cast ns into ])rison ; aud do they now cast us 
 ont privily? nay verily; but let them come them- 
 selves and bring us out. 38 And the Serjeants 
 reported these words unto the magistrates : and 
 they feared when tTiey heard that they were 
 Romans; 39 and they came and besought them; 
 and when they had brought them out, they asked 
 them to go away from the city. 40 And they 
 went out of the prison, and entered into the 
 house of Lyclia: and when they had seen the 
 brethren, they comforted them, and departed. 
 
 [ xvii ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, 
 -'-to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at 
 Philippi, with the bishops and deacons : 2 Grace 
 to you and peace from God our Father and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 3 I thank my God upon all my remembrance 
 of you, 4 always in every supplication of mine 
 on behalf of you all making my supplication 
 with joy, 5 for your fellowship in furtherance 
 of the gospel from the first day until now; 6 
 being confident of this very thing, that he who 
 began a good work in you will perfect it until 
 the day of Jesus Christ: 7 even as it is right 
 for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, 
 because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, 
 both in my bonds and in the defence and con- 
 firmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with 
 me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how I 
 long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ 
 
 [ xviii ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPLVNS. 
 
 Jesus. 9 And this 1 pray, that your love may 
 abound yet more and more in knowledge and all 
 discernment; 10 so that ye may approve the 
 things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere 
 and void of offence unto the day of Christ; 11 
 being tilled with the fruits of righteousness, 
 which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory 
 and praise of God. 
 
 12 Xow I would have you know, brethren, 
 that the things irliicli happened unto me have 
 fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel; 
 13 So that my bonds became manifest in Christ 
 throughout the whole priptorian guard, and to all 
 the rest; 14 and that most of the brethren in 
 the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are 
 more abundantly bold to speak the word of God 
 without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ 
 even of envy and strife ; and some also of good 
 will : 16 the one do it of love, knowing that I 
 am set for the defence of the gospel: 17 but 
 the other proclaim Christ of faction, not sin- 
 cerely, thinking to raise up affliction for me in 
 my bonds. 18 AMiat then? only that in every 
 way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is 
 proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will 
 rejoice. 19 For I know that this shall turn out 
 to my salvation, through your supplication and 
 the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 20 
 according to my earnest expectation and hope, 
 that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that 
 
 [ xix ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPLVNS. 
 
 with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ 
 shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, 
 or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and 
 to die is gain. 22 But if to live in the flesh, — if 
 this shall bring fruit from my work, then what 
 I shall choose I know not. 23 But I am in a 
 strait betwixt the two, having the desire to de- 
 part and be with Christ ; for it is very far better : 
 24 yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for 
 your sake. 25 And having this confidence, I 
 know that I shall abide, yea, and abide with you 
 all, for your progress and joy in the faith; 26 
 that your glorying may abound in Christ eTesus. 
 in me through my presence with you again. 27 
 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the 
 gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see 
 you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that 
 ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving 
 for the faith of the gospel ; 28 and in nothing 
 affrighted by the adversaries : which is for them 
 an evident token of perdition, but of your sal- 
 vation, and that from God; 29 because to you 
 it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not 
 only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his 
 behalf: 30 having the same conflict which ye 
 saw in me, and now hear to be in me. 
 
 2 If there is therefore any exhortation in 
 Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fel- 
 lowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and 
 
 [ XX ] 
 
THE EJnSTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIFPIANS. 
 
 compassions, 2 make full my joy, that ye be of 
 the same mind, having the same love, being of 
 one accord, of one mind; 3 doing nothing 
 through faction or through vain glory, but in 
 lowliness of mind each counting other better than 
 himself; 4 not looking each of you to his own 
 things, but each of you also to the things of 
 others. 5 Have this mind in you, which was also 
 in Christ Jesus : 6 who, existing in the form of 
 God, counted not the being on an equality with 
 God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied him- 
 self, taking the form of a servant, being made in 
 the likeness of men; 8 and being found in 
 fashion as a man, he humbled himself, l)ecoming 
 obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the 
 cross. 9 Wherefore also God highly exalted 
 him, and gave unto him the name which is above 
 every name; 10 that in the name of Jesus 
 every knee should bow, of things in heaven and 
 things on earth and things under the earth, 11 
 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
 •Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
 
 12 So then, my beloved, even as ye have 
 always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but 
 now much more in my absence, work out your 
 own salvation with fear and trembling ; 13 for 
 it is God that worketh in you both to will and to 
 work, for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things 
 without murmurings and questionings ; 15 that 
 ye may become blameless and harmless, children 
 
 [ xxi J 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked 
 and perverse generation, among whom ye are 
 seen as lights in the world, 16 holding forth 
 the word of life; that I may have whereof to 
 glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in 
 vain neither labor in vain. 17 Yea, and if I am 
 offered upon the sacrifice and service of your 
 faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all: 18 and 
 in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice 
 with me. 
 
 19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Tim- 
 othy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good 
 comfort, when I know your state. 20 For I have, 
 no man likeminded, who will care truly for your 
 state. 21 For they all seek their own, not the 
 things of eJesus Christ. 22 But ye know the 
 proof of him, that, as a child servefk a father, so 
 he served with me in furtherance of the gospel. 
 23 Him therefore I hope to send forthwith, so 
 soon as I shall see how it will go with me : 24 
 but I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall 
 come shortly. 25 But I counted it necessary to 
 send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fel- 
 low-worker and fellow-soldier, and your messen- 
 ger and minister to my need; 26 since he 
 longed after you all, and was sore troubled, be- 
 cause ye had heard that he was sick: 27 for 
 indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God 
 had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on 
 me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sor- 
 
 [ xxii ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPLVNS. 
 
 row. 28 I have sent him therefore the more 
 cliligently, that, when ye see him again, ye may 
 rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29 
 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy; 
 and hold such in honor: 30 because for the 
 work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazard- 
 ing his life to supply that which was lacking in 
 your service toward me. 
 
 O Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. 
 ^To write the same things to you, to me indeed 
 is not irksome, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware 
 of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware 
 of the concision : 3 for we are the circumcision, 
 who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in 
 Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh : 
 4 though I myself might have confidence even 
 in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have 
 confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 5 circum- 
 cised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the 
 tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as 
 touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 as touching 
 zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the 
 righteousness which is in the law, found blame- 
 less. 7 Howbeit what things were gain to me, 
 these have I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea ver- 
 ily, and I count all things to be loss for the excel- 
 lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : 
 for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and 
 do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, 
 
 [ xxiii ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPL^NS. 
 
 9 and be found in liinij not having a righteous- 
 ness of mine own, even that which is of the law, 
 but that which is through faith in Christ, tlie 
 righteousness which is from God by faith: 10 
 that I may know him, and the power of his resur- 
 rection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, be- 
 coming conformed unto his death ; 11 if by any 
 means I may attain unto the resurrection from 
 the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained, 
 or am already made perfect: but I press on, if 
 so be that I may lay hold on that for which also 
 I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. 13 Breth- 
 ren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: 
 but one thing I do, forgetting the things which 
 are behind, and stretching forward to the things 
 which are before, 14 I press on toward the 
 goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as 
 are perfect, be thus minded : and if in anything 
 ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God 
 reveal unto you: 16 only, whereunto we have 
 attained, by that same rule let us walk. 
 
 17 Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, 
 and mark them that so walk even as ye have us 
 for an ensample. 18 For many walk, of whom 
 I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, 
 that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 
 19 whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, 
 and whose glory is in their shame, who mind 
 earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in 
 
 [ xxiv ] 
 
THE EPISTLE UF PAUL TO THE PHlLIPPlANfe. 
 
 heaven ; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ : 21 who shall fashion anew 
 the body of our humiliation, tliat it may he con- 
 formed to the body of his glory, according to the 
 working whereby he is able even to subject all 
 things unto himself. 
 
 A Wherefore, my brethren beloved and longed 
 ^for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the 
 Lord, my beloved. 
 
 2 I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to 
 be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yea, I be- 
 seech thee also, true yokefellow, help these 
 women, for they labored with me in the gospel, 
 with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow- 
 workers, whose names are in the book of life. 
 
 4 Rejoice in the Lord always : again I will say, 
 Rejoice. 5 Let your forbearance be known 
 unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 In 
 nothing be anxious ; but in everything by prayer 
 and supplication with thanksgiving let your re- 
 quests be made known unto God. 7 And the 
 peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
 shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are 
 true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatso- 
 ever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
 whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things 
 are of good report; if there be any virtue, and 
 
 [ XXV ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 
 The things which ye both learned and received 
 and heard and saw in me, these things do : and 
 the God of peace shall be with you. 
 
 10 Bnt I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now 
 at length ye have revived your thought for me ; 
 wherein ye did indeed take thought, but ye 
 lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in 
 respect of want : for I have learned, in whatso- 
 ever state I am, therein to be content. 12 I 
 know how to be abased, and I know also how to 
 abound: in everything and in all things have I 
 learned the secret both to be filled and to be hun- 
 gry, both to abound and to be in want. 13 I can 
 do all things in him that strengtheneth me. 14 
 Howbeit ye did well that ye had fellowship with 
 my affliction. 15 And ye yourselves also know, 
 ye Philippians. that in the beginning of the gos- 
 pel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church 
 had fellowship with me in the matter of giving 
 and receiving but ye only ; 16 for even in Tlies^ 
 salonica ye sent once and again unto my need. 
 17 Not that I seek for the gift; but I seek for 
 the fruit that increaseth to your account. 18 
 But I have all things, and abound: I am filled, 
 having received from Epaphroditus the things 
 that came from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a 
 sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. 19 
 And my God shall supply every need of yours 
 according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 
 
 [ xxvi ] 
 
THE EPJSTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 20 Now luito our God and Father he the glory 
 for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The 
 brethren that are with me salute you. 22 All 
 the saints salute you, especially they that are of 
 Caesar's household. 
 
 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with 
 your spirit. 
 
 [ xxvii ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS 
 EXPANDED IN A PARAPHRASE. 
 
 Paul and Timothy, bondservauts of Christ Jesus, 
 to all the saints in Christ Jesus — all those who belong 
 to the bod}^ of Christ, and are therefore holy in God's 
 sight — Avhich are at Philippi, with the overseers and 
 deacons : grace to you and peace from God our Father 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Always in every supplication of mine for you all, 
 making as I do the supplication with joy, I thank 
 my God for all my recollection of you ; for instance, 
 I thank God for the recollection of that Sabbath, 
 just after our arrival in Philippi. when I met some of 
 you for the first time at the place of prayer by the 
 river-side : I thank God for the recollection of Lydia 's 
 attention to the Word as I spoke, and the subsequent 
 baptism of herself and her household: I thank God 
 for the conversion and baptism of the jailor and his 
 family, and their great joy on becoming a household 
 of God: I thank God for the hospitality so kindly 
 extended by Lydia to me and Silas and Timothy and 
 Luke ; and for the very compassionate treatment 
 afterwards received by me and Silas at the hands of 
 the converted jailor; I thank God for the assistance 
 of Clement and others in heralding the glad tidings, 
 and for the very energetic cooperation with me and 
 Clement and other fellow-workers on the part of 
 Euodia and vSyntyche, and for all that all of you 
 
 [ xxviii ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 and others also have since done in furtherance of the 
 Gospel ; yes, for this blessed fellowship I thank (jod. 
 Your unfailing- sympathy and your hearty and sub- 
 stantial support as I have gone on with the work of 
 world-Avide evangelization have caused to be im- 
 planted in my heart the firm persuasion of this thing- 
 as a verity, that the good work in which you have 
 been engaged in fellowship with me hitherto is of 
 God, and that he who liegan this good work in you 
 will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ, by which 
 I mean the day of his return to this world. Even as 
 it is right for me to entertain this opinion of you all, 
 so I express it, because I have you in my heart, all 
 of you as being* partakers with me of grace, both in 
 my bonds and in the defence and advancement of the 
 Gospel. You have by the help of God been fellow- 
 sufferers with me, as well as fellow-laborers, during all 
 the time that has elapsed since I have known you in 
 the Lord. Though I have gone so far as to say that 1 
 have you in my heart, what I have said is true, for 
 God is my witness how I long after you all in the 
 tender mercies of Christ Jesus. But when I spoke 
 of having you in my heart, I should rather have said 
 that in the heart of Christ I long for you.^ And 
 when I make supplication for you, as I have said, this 
 I pray, that your love for Christ, and for his image 
 wherever it is seen, and your love for his cause, and 
 all that represents him on earth, may abound yet 
 more and more, in connection with a wider and 
 deeper knowledge, and a broader and clearer discern- 
 ment — a w^ider knowledge of God's plans and pur- 
 poses, a deeper actjuaintance with the principles of 
 the Gospel, and a broader and clearer discernment of 
 
 ' Thus (lid Paul exhibit the perfect union which existed 
 between himself and Christ. His heart and Christ's heart 
 were ever beating in unison with each other. As Dr. Lightfoot 
 observes, ' ' Paul had no yearnings ajiart from his Lord. His 
 heart throbbed with the heart of Christ." "T live," said the 
 apostle, ' * yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. ' ' 
 
 [ xxix ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 right means and worthy objects, right means to be 
 used in furtherance of the Gospel, and right objects 
 upon which to expend l)oth sympathy and effort. A 
 broad and clear discernment, I say, is necessary, in 
 order that you may prove the things that differ, and 
 approve the things that are excellent. Love abound- 
 ing more and more in knowledge and all discernment 
 is, I feel, essential to your character, if you would 
 be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ, 
 and if you would be filled with the fruit of righteous- 
 ness, which is b}' Jesus Christ, and only through 
 union with him, and consequent partaking of his 
 righteousness, resulting in righteousness of life, unto 
 the glory and praise of God. 
 
 Now I would have you know, brethren, that the 
 things which happened unto me here in Rome as pris- 
 oner in the Lord (Eph. 4:1), have turned out rather 
 unto the progress of the Gospel, that is, have rather 
 helped than hindered the advancement of the Gospel. 
 AVhat has resulted from my imprisonment is this, 
 that throughout the whole imperial guard — the entire 
 pnttorian cantonment — and among all the rest of 
 those who have become acquainted with my circum- 
 stances, my bonds have become manifest in Christ. 
 All have come to understand that I am a prisoner of 
 Christ Jesus on behalf of the Gentiles (Eph. 3:1). 
 And they have learned even more than this in regard 
 to me, namely, that I am not only a prisoner of the 
 Lord, but a prisoner in the Lord. They have come to 
 know not only that the Lord is with me, but that 
 Christ, in whom I am, and who is in me, is also im- 
 prisoned here. And most of the brethren, gaining 
 confidence through my bonds in the Lord, are abound- 
 ing in courage and fearlessness in speaking the Word 
 of God.2 
 
 - Notice here Paul 's brotherly feeling towards all who bore 
 the name of Christ. He does not exclude from his fraternal 
 regard that minority in the Christian community at Rome, 
 
 XXX ] 
 
PARAPHRAfc?E. 
 
 But as to the work which is jioin^i- forward here — 
 the work of making- Christ and his salvation known — 
 I am bound to say that the canse of Christ is suffer- 
 ing greatly from the way in which the Gospel is pre- 
 sented. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy 
 and strife. They are envious of my success in evan- 
 gelizing the Gentiles. They seek as partisans to 
 destroy my work and my influence. And some there 
 are who preach Christ of good will. They fully 
 recognize my special apostleship. Knowing that for 
 the defence of the Gospel I have been placed of 
 God in the position Avhicli I am privileged to hold, 
 they are devoted to me and to the cause for Avhich I 
 am suffering. The other party, though calling tl^^^m- 
 selves Christians, proclaim Christ in a factious spirit, 
 denying that I have been divinely commissioned to do 
 the Avork which I am doing, declaring that I am really 
 a subverter of the cause of God, and seeking to stir up 
 the most virulent conflict between Jewish and Gentile 
 Christians. They do not sincerely seek to advance the 
 kingdom of Christ, having no good motive in preach- 
 ing Christ, but rather being intent only upon raising 
 up affliction for me in my bonds. They seek to make 
 capital out of my present condition. They would 
 aggravate my deprivation, that so they might obtain a 
 triumph over me. 
 
 AVhat then is the outcome of all this? There is 
 only this result, that in every way, whether in pre- 
 tence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and therein 
 
 who sought to exclude him as a Christian teacher, not to say 
 as an apostle of Christ; who were ignorant, misguided, preju- 
 diced Judaizers, and whom he cannot helj) characterizing else- 
 where in his letter as dogs, evil-workers, and the concision (mere 
 mutih^tors of the flesh), as he warns his Gentile l)rethren 
 against them. They are still counte/1 by him here as brethren, 
 though grievously erring ones, and really not deserving to be 
 named as such. Rather, however, than exclude them altogether 
 from the Christian fraternity, he is willing to imply that they, 
 too, might be regar<led in some sense as l^rethren, by s]»eaking 
 of those who were true as most of the brethren. 
 
 ( xxxi ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.^ For I know that this 
 violent opposition to me personally shall tnrn out to 
 my salvation through yonr supplication which will 
 obtain for me the needed supply of the Spirit of Jesus 
 Christ,^ according to my earnest expectation and 
 hope, that whatever happens I shall in nowise be put 
 to shame, but as invariably heretofore, so in the pres- 
 ent emergency also, with all boldness of speech on 
 my part Christ shall be magnified in my body whether 
 my life is spared or whether I am put to death. For 
 I have no other purpose in living than to glorify the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and if he chooses to bring my life 
 soon to an end, that will only be gain to me. Since 
 the; summing up of all the joy of my existence is 
 Christ, what can death bring to me but the highest 
 happiness? But if to live longer in the Hesh be my 
 appointed lot, and if this means for me, as it assur- 
 edly does, fruit of work — more work, and conse- 
 quently more fruit — then what I should choose, were 
 choice left to me, I know not. As I think of it, and 
 ask myself the question, What would you choose? I 
 
 ^ It was better that Christ should be proclaimed as the 
 Heaven-sent Saviour, though proclaimed only in pretence, than 
 that his Messiahship should be impugned. Though Paul was 
 denounced, yet his Master and Eedeemer was not spoken 
 against. The apostle could sincerely rejoice in this. At the 
 same time the free and unrestrained Gospel, as Paul i3reached 
 it, was being proclaimed by others in Rome; and this preach- 
 ing of the Gospel in truth and love would counteract the teach- 
 ing of those who Avhile they declared Christ to be the Saviour 
 sent of God, insisted that the Gentiles who accepted him should 
 be circumcised. Further, the preaching of the Judaizers would 
 not have the effect upon the apostle which his enemies desired, 
 for their aim would be frustrated through God 's grace bestowed 
 upon him in answer to his own prayers and the prayers of 
 others on his behalf. 
 
 ■* The apostle wrote this concerning himself in the same con- 
 fidence with which he said to his beloved Philippian brethren 
 concerning themselves near the close of this letter, ''And my 
 God shall supply every need of yoiu's according to his riches in 
 glory in Christ Jesus. ' ' 
 
 i 
 
 [ xxxii ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 find it impossible to come to a decision. But I am 
 in i\ strait betwixt the two things — c(mtinuing to live 
 here, or entering npon that state which is the goal 
 of all my hopes — for I have the irrepressible yearning 
 to depart and be with Christ, and the desire to be 
 with him whom my soul loves is in itself overpower- 
 ing, because it is so very far better to be with Christ 
 than to remain here, if only my own highest welfare 
 and deepest happiness are concerned; yet when I con- 
 sider the alternative condition of abiding here a 
 little longer where I can be useful in ministering to 
 the needs of the members of Christ's body still in this 
 world, I cannot choose to go away. Inexpressibly pre- 
 ferable in itself would it be to depart, but it is good 
 to stay here for Christ's body's sake. Yes, because 
 yet to abide in the tiesh is more needful for your 
 sakes, I am content here to abide. There is work for 
 me to do, there is fruit of work for me to get, and the 
 opportunity which only this life affords for work for 
 Christ must be improved. And because I am per- 
 suaded that Christ still has work here for me to do, 
 I cannot but feel confident of this, that I shall con- 
 tinue with you all, and especially for these two 
 objects, to aid the progress of your faith, and to in- 
 crease your joy in believing. This ulterior purpose 
 will also be served by my continuing with you, that 
 your glorying and rejoicing in Christ Jesus in me 
 may aliound through my presence with you again. If 
 the o])position to me Avhieh is now so strong should 
 result in my life being cut short, and in your being 
 deprived of my presence again, this might occasion 
 glorying over my defeat on the part of my adversa- 
 ries, which may God graciously prevent. 
 
 But let me now as your helper in the Lord give you 
 this one word of exhortation : whatever may be in 
 store for me, and whatever your circumstances may 
 be, behave as citizens of Heaven in a manner worthy 
 of the Gospel of Christ, never forgetting what such 
 citizenship means, what honor it confers, and what 
 
 [ xxxiii I 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 privileges and immunities it ensures ; so that whether 
 I am permitted to go and see you, I may in that case 
 as the result of my own observation be greatly 
 cheered, or Avhether I be absent I may then hear this of 
 you, that united in spirit you stand firm in the spirit- 
 ual combat, and that with one soul you are striving 
 like unto athletes in unison with the faith of the Gos- 
 pel ; and that you are not at all affrighted by the ad- 
 versaries; which fearlessness on your pRvt is sure to 
 be in the view of your enemies an omen of their 
 defeat, yea, a manifest token to them of their perdi- 
 tion, but of your salvation, and that token they will 
 recognize as coming from (xod ; for this high privilege 
 hath been granted to you by God, ^ in the behalf of 
 Christ, as honoring and gioryifying him, not only to 
 1)elieve on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Yes, 
 it is your inestimable privilege to be enlisted in the 
 same conflict which you witnessed in me when I was 
 a sufferer for Christ's sake in Philippi, and which 
 you are now hearing of in me as Christ's prisoner 
 here in Rome. 
 
 You have seen how at the beginning of my letter 
 I saluted all the saints that are at Philippi as saints 
 in Christ Jesus. You understand how intimately 
 you are related to Christ individually as believers in 
 him, and how closely you are connected with one 
 another in him. If there is therefore on account of 
 your oneness in Christ any ground for an exhortation, 
 if there is on this account any incentive to love one 
 another, if because of closest relationship to one 
 another in Christ there is any fellowship of spirit, 
 and if for this reason there are found in your hearts 
 any tender mercies and compassions, then let me urge 
 yo'u to fill to the full my cup of joy, by being of the 
 same mind in respect to the things of highest interest, 
 by having the same entire devotion to Christ and the 
 same tender aft'ection for one another, by being as 
 Christians united and harmonious, by being so truly 
 of one accord that that which will l)e uppermost in 
 
 [ xxxiv ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 I 
 
 every mind will not l)e tliouglit for self, but concern 
 for the common welfare. Yea. let there l)e among you 
 as Christians the same lofty and ennobling thoughts, 
 let your love for one another tlow forth as from one 
 heart, let there be among you sweet and holy concord, 
 let your common inheritance in Christ cause you to 
 feel an all-absorbing interest in one another. Let 
 nothing- be done by you in a partisan or ostentatious 
 spirit, but everything Avith that humbleness of mind 
 which will show that you esteem others more highly 
 than yourselves: let each of you have an eye not to 
 his own interests exclusively, but also to the interests 
 of others ; let there be indeed such a mind, such 
 a disposition, in you as was also in Christ Jesus, 
 although he was the Son of the Highest: yea, seek to 
 have in you that mind which was in him, who existing 
 before his manifestation in the flesh and from all 
 eternity in the form of God, regarded not his being 
 on an equality with God a thing to be tightly grasped 
 as though it could not in any manner be let go, but 
 emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, 
 being manifested in the likeness of men : and being 
 found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, be- 
 coming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the 
 cross. On which very account God highly exalted him, 
 and gave unto him the name which is above every 
 name ; that in the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bend, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and 
 things of the nether world,"' and that every tongue 
 should confess that Jesus Christ is supreme Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father. 
 
 So then, my beloved, having before you the example 
 of Christ's humiliation, and seeing how he who first 
 emptied himself and then huml)led himself for your 
 sakes has been exalted, even as ye have always shown 
 
 ' That is, ill recognition of the supreme majesty and media- 
 torial autliority of the inf-arnnte Saviour the whole universe 
 should (1(1 him homaji'e. 
 
 XXXV 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 an obedient disposition whenever I have held up be- 
 fore yon the pattern of Christ and exhorted yon to 
 imitate him, so now not only as inflnenced by my pres- 
 ence among yon, not only as yon wonld do if I were 
 with yon speaking to yon words of enconragement 
 and cheer, bnt mnch more in my absence, seeing that 
 the greater necessity for personal exertion is laid 
 npon yon becanse of my inability to help yon by my 
 presence, work out each and all of yon your own sal- 
 vation with fear and trembling; act independently 
 of all human aid, as yon may well do, since in any 
 case it is God who worketh in you both to will and to 
 work, for his good pleasure, that is for the accom- 
 plishment of his own most gracious purpose. Do all 
 things without murmurings and questionings, so that, 
 unlike the Israelites, of whom Moses in his song ^ says. 
 They have dealt cornipthj with him, tliey are not his 
 children, it is their blemish; they are a perverse 
 and crooked generation, ye may be blameless and 
 harmless, children of God without blemish in the 
 midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among 
 whom while holding forth the Word of life ye shine 
 as luminaries in the world. Inasmuch as ye are the 
 fruit of my work in Philippi, I urge you to apply 
 yourselves diligently to the work of perfecting your 
 own salvation, and by a spotless example and through 
 the manifestation of the Word of truth to seek to 
 enlighten and turn to God those around you who are 
 still in ignorance and darkness, in order that as your 
 spiritual father I may have whereof to glory in the 
 day of Christ that I did not before your eyes run the 
 Christian race in vain, neither labor in vain. Yes, 
 when I was among you, you saw how strenuously I 
 was running the Christian course, and you remember 
 how unceasingly I toiled en your behalf. I left 
 nothing undone which would promote your spiritual 
 welfare, and now with death threatening me I do not 
 
 See Deut. 32 : 5. 
 
 [ xxxvi 
 
PAlrXl'llHASE. 
 
 feel the least disposition to elinii' to my life, since by 
 laying- my neck npon the block I may the more 
 effectively testify concern in, ii' the Gospel of the g'race 
 of God. 
 
 Shonld my life be taken from me, it will be joy- 
 fnlly given, and it will be my special joy to feel that 
 you are associated with me in entire devotion to 
 Christ and his cause. You, in devoting yourselves to 
 Christ and his service, have been acting as a holy 
 priesthood, offering up si)iritual sacrifices acceptable 
 to God through Jesus Christ, and if I am called to lay 
 down my life for Christ as his apostle specially 
 deputed to minister to you Gentiles the manifold 
 grace of God, I shall esteem it the highest privilege so 
 to do. Yea, if my life blood is pourecl out as a libation 
 upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I shall joy 
 and felicitate myself therein; and in like manner do 
 ye. I pray you, rejoice and congratulate me on the 
 high honor l)estowed upon me. 
 
 It is impossible for me to go to Philippi at present, 
 l)ut I hope in the Lord Jesus, apart from whom no 
 good can be accomplished, to send Timothy shortly 
 unto you, not only that I may then tell you through 
 him more about myself, and may hearten you by letting 
 you know more of the Lord's gracious dealings with 
 me, but that I also may be of good comfort when I 
 know your state. I shall send Timothy, hard as it may 
 be for me to let him go, for at present I have with me 
 no one of like mind and spirit with him, no one who is 
 interested in you as he is, and no one who would 
 represent me as he will, in fact, there is no one else 
 left here now who would be genuinely concerned for 
 your spiritual interests, for Tychicus, and Onesimus, 
 and Aristarchus, and Mark, and Justus, and Epaph- 
 ras, and Luke " are all absent from Rome. There are 
 
 ' All these seven brethren were with the apostle in Rome 
 when he Avrote his letter to the Colossians. See Colossians 4: 
 7-U. 
 
 r xxxvii 1 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 indeed other Christian brethren here, but they are not 
 fit to be sent to yon as my messengers, no not one of 
 them, for sadly I have to say it, they are one and all 
 seeking- their own things, not the things of Jesus 
 Christ. But as for Timothy ye know his tried char- 
 acter, how that as a child with a father, so he served 
 with me in furtherance of the Gospel. Him therefore 
 I hope to send speedily, so soon as I shall know how 
 it will go with me. But though not at all sure what 
 the end will be as regards myself, I trust in the Lord 
 that I myself also shall come shortly. But not Avilling 
 to. delay giving you any comfort which I could give 
 at once, I considered it necessary to send to you 
 Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and 
 fellow-soldier, and moreover one who came to me as 
 your messenger and as a minister to my need; and I 
 was the more ready to despatch him to you quickly, 
 since he was longing to see you all, and was greatly 
 distressed, because ye had heard that he was sick : for 
 indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had 
 mercy on him; and not on him only, but also on me, 
 that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow. I have 
 sent him therefore the more eagerly, that, when ye see 
 him again in restored health ye may rejoice, and that 
 hearing of your joy over him I may be the less sorroAv- 
 ful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy ; 
 and hold such servants of God in honor: because it 
 was on account of the work of Christ that he came 
 nigh unto death, having risked his life to supply that 
 which was lacking in your service toward me. 
 
 Finally, my brethren, while saying to you farewell, 
 I exhort you to be full of joy in the Lord.^ To write 
 
 ^ After penning or causing to be penned this word of fare- 
 well, the apostle seems to have been interrupted, and -when the 
 writing or dictation was resumed, instead of concluding his 
 letter as he had apparently intended to do, with an acknow- 
 ledgement of the gifts received from Philippi, with salutations 
 from himself and others, and his apostolic benediction, he 
 evidently felt compelled by circumstances which seem just then 
 
 [ xxxviii ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 to you the same things, which I have before said to 
 you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is 
 salutary. I do not count it a trouble to me, if it is 
 ])eneficial to you. Beware of the dogs, beware of the 
 evil workers, beware of the concision : for we are the 
 true circumcision, the circumcised in heart, who are 
 rendering religious service not in the spirit of bond- 
 age and fear, but by the help of the Spirit of CTod 
 given unto us, enabling us to cry, Abba, Father; and 
 we i>iory in Christ Jesus ; and have no confidence in 
 the tiesh, in which dwelleth no good thing: though 
 I myself being the Jew that I am, might be one who 
 had confidence also in the flesh, in the flesh as well as 
 in Christ, like the Judaizers : if any other person 
 thinks he may trust in the flesh, I have yet more reason 
 to do so : I am an eighth-day one in circumcision, 
 from the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 a Hebrew of HebrcAvs ; so much as regards my inter- 
 est in the Abrahamic covenant, and in reference to 
 my lineage : now as to my personal career : in respect 
 to observance of the law, I was a Pharisee: as touch- 
 ing zeal, I devoted myself to persecuting the Church ; 
 as regards righteousness, which I thought to obtain 
 by endeavoring to keep perfectly all the precepts of 
 God's law, that righteousness which I considered 
 myself to have earned, and therefore looked upon as 
 my own, as to that kind of righteousness, I was found 
 blameless. Xo one could laj^ to my charge either 
 errors of omission or faults of commission, so perfect 
 
 to have occurred either at Eome or Philippi, and which had 
 troubled him greatly, to record or to have recorded the severe 
 words of warning against the Judaizers which immediately 
 follow, and which finally led him to lengthen his epistle so 
 considerably, and to say so much in regard to himself, and to 
 say perhaps more than he had intended to say in regard to the 
 gifts which Epaphroditus had brought to him. How else can 
 we so well explain the connection or rather disconnection of the 
 two sentences which form the first verse of the third chapter 
 of this epistle? 
 
 [ xxxix 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 did I seem to be in the sight of men. Howbeit what 
 things were once considered gains or profits for me, 
 these have I in my reckonings counted as loss for the 
 sake of Christ. Yea, verily, I even count all things 
 to be loss on account of the excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered 
 the loss of all those things, and do count them but 
 refuse (mere offal), in order that I may gain Christ, 
 and may be found in him. a member of his body, not 
 having a righteousness of mine own. even that which 
 is of the law, such righteousness being wholly un- 
 attainable, since no one is able perfectly to keep the 
 Commandments of God; no, not having as a ground 
 of hope a righteousness which God could not accept, 
 but having that righteousness which is obtained 
 through faith in Christ, that righteousness which is 
 from God, a gift to him that believeth: yea, I count 
 all things to be loss on account of the surpassing 
 worth of knowing him Avhom I have believed, and 
 of knowing the power of his resurrection, and of 
 knowing the fellowship of his sufferings, by becom- 
 ing, if I may be, conformed unto his death ; if by any 
 means I may attain unto the resurrection from the 
 dead, the resurrection of those that are Christ's at 
 his coming. I desire to be clearly understood in what 
 I have said. I have spoken in regard to my longings 
 and my hopes. I would not have you think that I 
 consider myself to be already all that I desire to be, 
 or to have obtained all that I desire to obtain. No, 
 not that I have already obtained that which I seek 
 for, or that I am already made perfect. But what am 
 I as a Christian noAv doing, and what are my inmost 
 thoughts about myself? I will tell you. I am run- 
 ning the race set before me. I have not yet reached 
 the goal, therefore the prize which I am striving for 
 is not yet in my hands. No, I have not yet reached 
 the goal, but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold 
 on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ 
 Jesus. Brethren, believe me. I do not consider myself 
 
 . [ xl ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 yet to have laid hold of the prize : but one thing I am 
 intent upon, forgetting the things which are ])ehind, 
 and stretching forward to the things which arc ])efore, 
 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high, 
 the upward, calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
 
 I It is necessary to pause here in order to ascertain 
 the real character of some of those whom the apostle 
 was addressing, else we shall fail to perceive his mean- 
 ing in the words which follow. Besides the Judaizers 
 who gave the apostle so much trouble, there were the 
 Antinomians who caused him equal anxiety. The 
 Judaizing Christians of Paul's day were f(mnd at one 
 extreme of unchristian thinking and acting, Avhile the 
 Gentile Antinomian Christians were found at the 
 other extreme. These denied that the moral law was 
 binding on Christians, affirming that faith alone "was 
 necessary to salvation. Accepting Paul's doctrine of 
 salvation by grace without the works of the law, some 
 of them went to the extreme of saying, ' ' Since we are 
 saved by the free and unmerited favor of God, and 
 God is glorified by the bestowment of his grace, and 
 glorified the more by the largest measure of its 
 bestowment, let us sin that grace may abound." There 
 had been such characters among the Christians in 
 Kome, as we see from Paul's Epistle to the Romans 
 (Ch. 6:1, 15), and from the words of Peter and Jude 
 (2 Peter 2:1, 2, and Jude 4), we conclude that Rome 
 was not the only place where they were found. There 
 may have been some in the Christian community at 
 Philippi who were inclined to take refuge in Paul's 
 rejection of Judaism in order to find a justification 
 for such loose living as was characteristic of heathen- 
 ism. At all events there were there those who needed 
 the clearest Gospel teaching and the plainest warning 
 even from such an one as Paul to prevent them from 
 adopting the most erroneous views, and from plung- 
 ing headlong into the most pernicious practices. It 
 would seem that the apostle had in mind a class of 
 persons who made a boast of being perfect as Chris- 
 
 r xii 1 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 tians through reliance upon the grace of Christ, while 
 living lives which grievously dishonored the name 
 they bore, when he sought to impress upon the Phil- 
 ippians the fact that he did not consider himself to be 
 perfect, by saying to them emphatically that with 
 all the energy of soul which by God's help he could 
 put forth, he was pressing on in the Christian race. 
 
 Perhaps in the words of the Epistle which we are 
 now to take up, the Philippians would discover a 
 delicate touch of reproachful irony, and certainly 
 they would not fail to perceive the plain hint which 
 the apostle gave that some among them were seeking 
 to be conformed to this world, rather than to be trans- 
 formed by the renewing of their mind, that they 
 might prove what is the good and acceptable and per- 
 fect will of God — even that they should become like 
 Christ the beloved Son in whom the Father is well, 
 pleased.] 
 
 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus 
 minded. And if in anj^thing ye are otherwise minded, 
 if ye find that while adhering to my teaching, 
 ye are unlike me in earnest endeavor to secure sal- 
 vation and become Christ-like, even this your mistake, 
 which if not remedied will surely result in your entire 
 destruction, will God, if you truly desire to be guided 
 and guarded by him, reveal unto you. Only, I as one 
 of you, and as one yet struggling for the prize, must 
 not fail to say this — whereunto we (I say not ye) have 
 attained, let us walk by that same rule — the rule of 
 progress. Let us in the first place and by all means 
 be certified that we have really made a start in follow- 
 ing Christ. And if we have indeed started in the 
 way with him, let us walk straight on in the same path. 
 
 Brethren, I am sincerely desirous of your highest 
 welfare, as ye well know. By example as well as by 
 precept I desire to help you onward in the heavenly 
 way. I therefore make bold to say to you, who are 
 not ignorant of what my life has been, Vie with each 
 other in being imitators of me, and carefully observe 
 
 [ xlii ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 them that so walk even as ye have, not me only, but 
 1'imothy, Epaphroditus and others as examples. Ob- 
 serve, I say, Christ's true disciples, for many who call 
 themselves Christians walk not rightly, whom I told 
 you of often, and tell you of now even with tears, 
 those enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end, as 
 clearly foreshadowed as anything can be, is perdition, 
 whose real God is their Heshly appetite, and whose 
 glory is in their shame, who are wholly absorbed in 
 earthly thiiigs. By the grace of God such are not 
 our lives. For, so far from being like them are we, 
 that we are enabled truly to say of ourselves that 
 this earth is not our country nor our home ; we are 
 but strangers and sojourners here; our real citizen- 
 ship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the 
 Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. Verily he will soon 
 appear here again, and Avhen he comes he wdll come 
 TO judge the earth. But not as Judge do we wait 
 for him, but as Saviour, who will come to complete 
 his work in us; who then will remodel the body of our 
 humiliation — this earthly tabernacle in which we are 
 subject to temptation and sorrow and sutfering — and 
 to this end shall it be fashioned ancAv, that it may be 
 conformed to the body of his glory — his risen and 
 glorified body — according to the working of the 
 mighty power which is his, enabling him even to sub- 
 ject all things unto himself. 
 
 Wherefore, my brethren, beloved and longed for, 
 ]ny joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, even so 
 as by precept and example I seek to persuade vou to 
 do. 
 
 I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the 
 same mind in the Lord — to let go their minor differ- 
 ences and to be at peace with each other, seeing them- 
 selves to be one in the Lord, and to possess in common 
 so glorious an inheritance in Christ. And I have an 
 exhortation for him also, who is so highly esteemed 
 by you, and is again among you after a sojourn here 
 which served to endear him more than ever to me. 
 
 [ xliii 1 
 
PARAPHRASE, 
 
 Yea, I beseech thee also, Epaphroditus, and I knoAV 
 that thou wilt do what I now request, true yokefellow 
 as thou art, help these women, Euodia and Syntyche 
 to a reconciliation, and assist them in every way in 
 serving Christ, for I remember how effectively they 
 strove along with me in making known the Gospel 
 of Christ, with Clement also, and the rest of my 
 fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 
 
 Be full of joy in the Lord always : again I will say. 
 Be full of joy. Let your forbearance, your concilia- 
 tory, forgiving spirit be known unto all men. Let 
 there be no self-assertion nor contention of anj^ kind 
 among you. Let this thought influence you as it 
 ought, that the Lord is at hand. Do not have any 
 anxieties, let nothing harass you: but in everything by 
 prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your 
 requests be made known unto GJod. Pour out your 
 hearts unto God. Be thankful unto him and bless his 
 name. And then as a sure result the peace of God — 
 the peace which God gives — overtopping all that is 
 highest in human conception, shall as a sentinel keep 
 guard over your hearts and your thoughts in Christ 
 Jesus. In Christ Jesus, I say, for it is only by real- 
 izing our oneness with Christ, and the consequent 
 truth that Christ lives and reigns in us, that we can 
 know how it is that the peace of God exercises such 
 guardianship over our hearts and our thoughts. 
 
 Finally, lirethren, whatsoever things are true and 
 genuine, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever 
 things are just and upright, whatsoever things are 
 pure and spotless, whatsoever things are lovely and 
 endearing, whatsoever things are gracious and. win- 
 ning, if there be any real excellence, and if there be 
 anything worthy of praise, take thought for these 
 things, yea, ponder them carefully. The things which 
 ye both learned of me and accepted, which ye not only 
 heard of in me, but saw in me, those things put into 
 practice. And the God of peace shall be with you. 
 
 I indeed rejoice greatly in the Lord that now at 
 
 [ xliv ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 length you have put fresh life into your thought fur 
 me. That all along in your thoughts you did indeed 
 have a care for me, I doubt not, but as to sending 
 relief to me, you had no opportunity. But why have 
 I expressed myself thus as to your thought on my 
 behalf, and your lack of opportunity.^ It is not that 
 I speak in respect to my need. No, not at all ; I have 
 not known want. What I have had has been enough 
 for me. What I have not had has given me no con- 
 cern. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, 
 therein to l)e content. I know how to be abased and 
 not be distressed. And I know also how to abound 
 without being injured, without becoming through the 
 enjoyment of an abundance of bodily comfort dis- 
 qualified for the cheerful endurance again of an 
 entirely changed condition, which might indeed be 
 regarded as a state of deprivation and suffering, but 
 which God's grace enables me to look upon as that 
 state which under the circumstances can be no other 
 than the very best state for me at the time, because 
 God has in his wisdom so ordered it. In everything 
 and in all things — in each particular and in all the 
 circumstances of God's arrangement for the supply 
 of my temporal need — have I learned the secret both 
 in regard to being filled and to being hungry, both in 
 regard to aboTUiding, and to being in want, in regard 
 to enjoying either in the one case or in the other the 
 same eriuanimity. The secret is a contented mind. 
 Not in my own strength, and not separate from Christ, 
 but in him who strengtheneth me, I can do all things. 
 I can heartily enjoy as much as any one an abun- 
 dance of the good things of this world, and I can as 
 heartily engage in my daily work in the midst of 
 ]>rivation and want, as well as when surrounded with 
 tn-ery comfort which this world can supply. I could 
 have got on well enough without any of the things 
 which you so thoughtfully provided for me, if the 
 Lord had not put it into your hearts to care for me 
 as you have so kindly done. Howbeit yon did well 
 
 [ xlv 1 
 
PAKAPiIKA^-£. 
 
 that just at this time and in this way you had fellow- 
 ship with my affliction. ]\Iost clearly I recognize the 
 good providence of God in your thought for me, and 
 my heart is full of thankfulness for what you did for 
 my relief. I well remember, and can never forget it 
 and you yourselves also know, for you can call to 
 mind, ye Philippians, that after I had left Macedonia 
 at the time when I was beginning to preach the Gos- 
 pel there, no church had fellowship with me in the 
 matter of giving and taking aid but ye only. Though 
 for good reasons I would not accept aid from others 
 (See 2 Cor. 11: 7-12), I did take it from you, and I 
 remember thankfully how you helped me repeatedly. 
 For even before I left IMacedonia when I was in Thes- 
 salonica, ye sent relief to me once and again. In Thes- 
 salonica I was indeed hard pressed ( See 1 Thess. 2 : 
 9), and your gifts to me then were most timely. But 
 why do I mention these things ? Is it that I have now 
 any desire to make drafts on your liberality? By no 
 means understand me thus. It is not that I am seek- 
 ing for the aid which you are so ready to bestow. I 
 do indeed desire nothing for myself, but I desire some- 
 thing for your benefit, and that something is this — 
 the fruit that increaseth to your credit. No, I neither 
 need nor desire anything for myself, but I do desire 
 for you the recompense Avhich God bestOAVs, the credit 
 which will be given to you, and which will increase 
 to your benefit with each fresh proof of your love 
 for me. I indeed have all things noAV and abound, 
 I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the 
 things which came from you — an odor of fragrance, 
 a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. And 
 know ye that my God shall supply every need of 
 yours according to his wealth in glory in Christ Jesus. 
 You have supplied all my wants, and my God on my 
 behalf will recompense you by supplying all your 
 wants. Thus our fellowship with one another's needs 
 brings us into fellowship with God. And how blessed 
 this is, when we rememlier that it is through and in 
 
 [ xlvi ] 
 
PARAPHRASE. 
 
 Christ Jesus ! Because I am your brother in Christ 
 you are kind to me. And on account of what you 
 have done for me because you and I are members one 
 of another in the body of Christ, God will reward you. 
 Now unto our common God and Father be the jsrlory 
 unto the ages of the ages. So may it be. 
 
 Salute for me every saint in Christ Jesus who is in 
 Philippi. The brethren who are with me salute you. 
 All the saints here in Rome salute you, especially they 
 that are of CcTsar's household. 
 
 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ he with your 
 spirit. 
 
 [ xlvii 
 
NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 
 TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 I. 1. Paul — The title of apostle is omitted in this 
 epistle as in the epistles to the Thessalonians, and to 
 Philemon. Paul's apostleship was fully recognised by 
 the Philippian and Thessalonian Churches : it would 
 therefore have been superfluous for him to have made any 
 reference to the relation which he sustained to them 
 officially. Though he was honored by them as a divinely 
 commissioned apostle, yet he was nearer and dearer to 
 them as a brother in the Lord. It was as natural as 
 it was appropriate for Paul in writing to the Macedonian 
 Churches to omit all reference to his apostleship, because 
 of the warmly affectionate and mutually trustful relations 
 which existed between them. In striking contrast to the 
 tone of Paul's letters to 1>he Macedonian Churches is the 
 style of his epistle to the Galatians. By them his 
 apostolic authority was called in question, and as a 
 consequence of this his doctrine was depreciated. He 
 therefore addressed them as an apostle, and took pains 
 not only to assert most strongly, but to prove in- 
 disputably, that he was an apostle of God. 
 
 But why did Paul in writing to two of his spiritual 
 sons — Timothy and Philemon — adopt in the one case the 
 style of authority, and in the other simply that of a 
 friend and brother '? It is easy to understand why Paul 
 did this, if we look at the contents of these letters. 
 
 [ 1 ] 
 
CH. I. V, 1.] NOTES. 
 
 Though in addressing Timothy he speaks of him as his 
 ** true child in faith," thus making him to feel that 
 he was writing to him as a father, yet as his main object 
 in addressing him was to counsel and direct him in his 
 work as the overseer of the Church in Ephesus, he 
 thought it fitting that he should write not only in 
 a paternal spirit, but also with apostolic authority, 
 in order that his words might have with his spiritual son 
 the greatest possible weight. Therefore in his first 
 epistle to Timothy be began thus, " Paul, an apostle of 
 Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our 
 Saviour." And similar to this is the beginning of his 
 second letter to his beloved son, " Paul, an apostle of 
 Christ Jesus through the will of God." But Paul wrote 
 to Philemon with a different object, entirely unconnected 
 with his apostleship. Therefore to have written to him 
 in an ofiicial capacity, would not only have been alto- 
 gether out of harmony with the tender ties which bound 
 together the aged saint and his ever grateful spiritual 
 son, but would have deprived him of the weightiest 
 appeal on behalf of Onesimus which he had it in his 
 power to use. 
 
 and Timothy, — In all except two of the nine epistles 
 of Paul to the Churches Timothy appears with more or 
 less prominence. And out of the four epistles of Paul to 
 individuals two were written to Timothy, the second of 
 these two being the last of all the letters of Paul which 
 have come down to us. At the beginning of his first 
 letter to Timothy Paul addresses him as " My true child 
 in faith," and at the beginning of his second letter he 
 calls him ** My beloved child." In the epistle to 
 Philemon Paul speaks of Timothy as " our brother," and 
 in the first epistle to the Corinthians the apostle calls 
 him his " beloved and faithful child in the Lord." 
 
 The names of Paul and Timothy are coupled together 
 also in the salutations with which the apostle commences 
 his second letter to the Corinthians arid his letters to the 
 Colossians and to Philemon. Timothy's name is also 
 associated with the names of Paul and Silvanus in the 
 apostle's letters to the Thessalonians. 
 
 [ 2 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 1. 
 
 In bis second epistle to the Corinthians, and in his 
 epistle to the Colossians, the apostle after uniting 
 Timothy's name with his own in the opening salutations, 
 continues to associate his fellow-worker with himself by 
 the use of the pronouns " we " and " our." This is the case 
 also in the letters addressed to the Thessalonians, in 
 which the a^postle in his introductions unites the names of 
 Silvanus and Timothy with his own. But in all that 
 follows the salutations in the epistles to the Philippians 
 and Philemon, Paul writes in his own name alone. The 
 reason for this is found in the letters themselves, which 
 being in the one case largely, and in the other entirely, 
 of a personal character, are altogether unique among the 
 epistles of Paul. 
 
 Timothy probably belonged to Lystra in Lycaonia, and 
 it is likely that Paul met him there on his first mission- 
 ary journey through Southern Galatia. That he then 
 became a disciple seems probable from the fact that he 
 is spoken of as such on the occasion of Paul's second 
 visit to L^'stra. He is further described as " the son of a 
 Jewess that believed." It is also mentioned that his 
 father was a Greek. That he bore a good character both 
 in Lystra and in Iconium is another thing which is 
 stated in the same connection concerning him. x\cts 
 xvi. 1, 2. The probability that he had been a disciple 
 from the time of Paul's first visit to Lystra is confirmed 
 by the statement (Acts xvi. 3) that " Him would Paul 
 have to go forth with him." From the second letter 
 which Paul wrote to him we learn of " the unfeigned 
 faith " which dwelt not only in his mother Eunice, but 
 in his grandmother Lois. Paul in his first letter to 
 Timothy speaks of prophecies which had led the way to 
 him. The fulfilment of the hopes which all these things 
 had raised in Paul's heart concerning him had made 
 Timothy yevy precious to the apostle as a brother and 
 fellow-servant in the Lord. He went with Paul to Philippi, 
 and was his most constant fellow-laboiler ever after. 
 Paul cherished for aM his brethren in Christ the sincerest 
 affection, but in his great heart his son Timothy held 
 the warmest place. 
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 1.] NOTES. 
 
 servants — Bondmen or slaves. This is Paul's favor- 
 ite way of speaking of himself and his fellow- workers. 
 Thus he gave expression to the truth of his and their 
 entire devotion to the service of their Lord. To call 
 himself Christ's bondman was the same as saying, 
 " Whose I am, and whom I serve." To Christ's servant, 
 " His will is the one law, his work the one service, his 
 example the one pattern, his approval the continuous 
 aim, and his final acceptance the one great hope." — 
 Eadie. 
 
 of Christ Jesus — the name Christ Jesus was not a 
 mere name to Paul. To him Jesus was the Messiah, in 
 whom all the hopes of the Old Testament people of God 
 were centred. Therefore to be in truth what Paul and his 
 fellow-workers called themselves — bondmen of Messiah 
 Jesus — expressed for them the highest privilege which 
 they could enjoy on earth. 
 
 to all the saints — In God's sight all true believers are 
 saints. It was characteristic of Paul to consider all to 
 be the children of God who professed to be followers of 
 Christ, and as the children of God, born from above, 
 they were to be esteemed as holy. 
 
 in Christ Jesus — In these words Paul expresses the 
 highest truth in regard to the relation which those 
 sustain to Christ who are his bondmen, and saints of God. 
 To be in Christ Jesus means more than simply to belong 
 to him. It is to be most closely related to him, even as 
 the vine branch is to the vine stock, to be so united to 
 him as to be a part of him, even as the vine branch is a 
 part of the vine. It is to be one with him, and inseparable 
 from him. The state of being in Christ is therefore of 
 necessity a sanctified state. Being one with him by 
 being in him, we must be holy as he is holy. 
 
 "Ye," wrote Paul to the members of the Corinthian 
 Church, " are the body of Christ, and severally members 
 thereof." I Cor. xii. 27. To understand what this 
 means, it is necessary to study carefully Paul's own 
 exposition of this truth in I Corinthians xii. 12. Here 
 Paul says, " As the body " (the human body) is one, and 
 hath many members (the head, the feet, the hands, the. 
 
 [ i ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 1. 
 
 ears, the eyes, etc.), and all the members of the body, 
 being many, are one body; so also is Christ." What 
 Christ? Not Jesus Christ, for if this Christ is under- 
 stood to be Jesus Christ, then Paul's comparison is 
 meaningless. The Christ here meant is not, therefore, 
 Jesus Christ, but tliat Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the 
 Head, and of which, the Church of Jesus Christ, compris- 
 ing many members, is the Body. Believers in Christ 
 cannot be said to be the Body of Christ or of Jesus 
 Christ, except as Christ or Jesus Christ is understood to be 
 the Head of that Body which Paul in I Cor. xii. 12 calls 
 Christ. Into what intimacy of union with Christ they w^ho 
 believe in him and are his are brought, is seen from this 
 fact that the Divine Saviour and his redeemed people form 
 one Body, to which Paul gives the name of Christ. 
 Should it not therefore be possible for Christ to be 
 seen in all those who call themselves Christians ? To 
 behold the Christian ought to be the same as beholding 
 Christ, for to be in Christ, and to be a saint in consequence 
 of being in Christ, is the real significance of being a true 
 Christian. In Christ's sight the believer in him does not 
 stand alone. Before God he stands only in Christ, and 
 thus he should stand before the world. Christ should 
 ever be recognised in all the members of his Body. 
 But that he may be recognised in his people they must 
 be Christ-like. "Holy unto the Lord" should be so 
 clearly stamped upon the life of every Christian that it 
 could not fail of being " known and read of all men." 
 The inferences which we have drawn from the truth that 
 the believer in Christ is in him, are equally and perhaps 
 more forcibly deducible from the complement of the same 
 truth so often expressed in Paul's epistles, namely, that 
 Christ is in the believer. 
 
 that are at Philijy})i, — To all the saints in Christ 
 Jesus that were at Philippi Paul sent his Christian 
 salutation. He thus greeted all those without any excep- 
 tion that at Philippi owned allegiance to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. He would not exclude one of them from the 
 community of God's saints. The same disposition and 
 desire to include in the holy family of God all who pro- 
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 1.] NOTES. 
 
 fessed to be Christians, rather than to exclude from this 
 select society a single one upon whom the name of 
 Christ had been named, is seen also in the salutation 
 with which the apostle begins his second epistle to the 
 Corinthians. Thus it runs, " Unto the church of God 
 which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the 
 whole of Achaia." 
 
 witJi the bishops — The word translated "bishops" 
 means simply overseers. It is thus translated by Bishop 
 Moule in his " Philippian Studies." It would be a 
 mistake therefore to read into it the office of the modern 
 diocesan. The bishops or overseers of that time were 
 officers of the local Churches. The Philippian Church 
 was strong enough to have a staff of such presbyters or 
 elders. Bishops or overseers and presbyters or elders 
 are the same ministers under different designations. 
 This is shown from Acts xx. 17, 28. In Acts xx. 17 
 mention is made of Paul's calling to him at Miletus the- 
 elders or presbyters of that local Church ; and in Acts 
 XX. 28 he thus addresses them — " Take heed unto your- 
 selves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath 
 made you bishops (or overseers), to feed the church of 
 the Lord which he purchased with his own blood." 
 
 and deacons : — These were officers of the Churches, 
 appointed or ordained to deal with the temporal needs of 
 the congregations, but their duties were not confined to 
 temporalities. The origin and institution of the diaconate 
 are described in Acts vi. 1-6. The deacons, like the 
 elders or overseers of the Churches should be spiritual 
 men, because their work even in administering temporal 
 affairs is spiritual work. The qualifications necessary to 
 the proper discharge of the duties of bishops or presby- 
 ters, and of deacons, are described in I Timothy iii. 1-13. 
 
 2. Grace to you and i^cacc — The grace or free favor of 
 God is the fountain and source of all blessing ; while 
 peace is the effect of its outflow. This is the usual form 
 of greeting in Paul's epistles. The exceptions are found 
 in his letters to Timothy and Titus. In the former the 
 form is. " Grace, mercy, peace ; " while in the latter it is 
 ." Grace and peace." 
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 2, 
 
 from God our Father and the Lord Jesses Christ. — 
 These words are found also in the salutations in the 
 epistles to the Komans, Corinthians, Ephesians and Phile- 
 mon. The variations in the other epistles of Paul are 
 as follows : — In Galatians : " From God the Father and 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." In Colossians : " From God our 
 Father." In I Thessalonians the entire salutation is, 
 " Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of 
 the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ : Grace to you and peace." In II Thessalonians : 
 " From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In 
 I and II Timothy : " From God the Father and Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." In Titus : From God the Father and 
 Christ Jesus our Saviour." 
 
 3, I thank my God — Paul's salutations are almost 
 invariably followed by thanksgivings. 
 
 By a change in the order in translating verses 3-5 
 the meaning of the Greek can, we think, be made clearer 
 than it is in our English versions. Adhering to the Greek 
 construction of this passage, we translate thus : Ahuays 
 in every suirphcation of mine for you all, making {as I do) 
 tile supiplication ivith joy, I thank my God for all my 
 remembrance of you, [especiaUy) for your felloivshiio in 
 furtherance of the Gosfel from the first day until now. 
 Unless we thus translate the passage, the full force of the 
 explanatory clause in the fourth verse cannot be express- 
 ed, as the definite article preceding the word supplication 
 at the end of the verse refers back to the same word at 
 the beginning of the verse. It should be noticed that 
 the preposition in the third verse, translated " upon" in 
 the Authorised and Eevised versions, is the same preposi- 
 tion that is translated " for" at the beginning of the fifth 
 verse. That the verb, translated " I thank," is followed 
 twice by the same preposition would seem to show that it 
 has in both places the same signification . This is DeWette's 
 view, and also that of Eadie, whose explanation of 
 the construction of the passage is, that Paul first ex- 
 presses his thanks for or on account of his whole 
 remembrance of the Philippian Christians, and that he, 
 after inserting a parenthetical clause, goes on to mention 
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 3.] NOTES. 
 
 the element in that recollection which caused his special 
 thanksgiving, namely, their fellowship with him in 
 furtherance of the Gospel. "The third verse," says 
 Dr. Eadie, " looking to the past, points out the ground 
 or occasion for the thanksgiving — his whole remem- 
 brance ; while verse four shows how it expressed itself 
 in prayer, verse five gives more fully its solid foundation, 
 and verse six, glancing into the future, shows how the 
 feeling (of thankfulness) was intensified by the apostle's 
 persuasion about them." 
 
 upon all my rememhYance of you, — 'We have above 
 expressed our opinion that the preposition here translated 
 " upon " should be translated for. Paul's whole 
 remembrance of the Christians at Philippi was pleasant, 
 and therefore a cause for special thanksgiving. How 
 blessed the fellowship which in every particular always 
 causes thankful recollection ! 
 
 4. ahvays in every sui^plication of mine on behalf of 
 you all — This shows how frequent Paul's supplication 
 for the Philippian Christians was, and how in every 
 supplication which he presented to God for them, he 
 expressed his thankfulness on account of them. 
 
 maMng my supplication ivith joy, — There is no word in 
 the Greek text corresponding to the pronoun "my" in 
 the English Eevised version, but there is the definite 
 article before the word "supplication," which should be 
 translated the. To remember the members of the 
 Philippian Church, and to make supplication for them at 
 the throne of grace, was ever a joy to the apostle. 
 
 5. for your felloioship in furtherance of the gospel — 
 Paul's remembrance of the Philippians would not have 
 been what it was, if they had not been interested in the 
 work which he was doing, and if their interest in it had 
 not been sufi&cient to lead them to give him active and 
 efficient assistance in carrying it forward. There is no 
 reality in our professed devotion to Christ and fellowship 
 with him and his people, if we are doing nothing and do 
 not care to do any thing in furtherance of the Gospel. 
 If we are in truth identified with Christ by virtue of 
 union with him as members of his Body, we shall also be 
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 5. 
 
 identified with him in devoted service for the completion 
 of his Body the Church, and for the edification of those 
 •who with us are members of that Body. 
 
 One of those who had greatly aided Paul at Philippi 
 was Epaphroditus, who at the time when this letter was 
 written was with Paul at Rome. See chapter ii. 25-30. 
 In chapter iv. 3 Paul calls him a " true yokefellow." 
 Another fellow-worker was Clement, mentioned in this 
 letter, chapter iv. 3. Euodia and Syntyche, incidentally 
 mentioned in chapter iv. 2, 3, had wrought energetically 
 with Paul and Clement and other fellow-workers there. 
 
 from the first day until now : — The co-operation of the 
 Philippians with Paul in furtherance of the Gospel began 
 on that first day when some of them met the apostle for 
 the first time at that memorable " place of prayer " out- 
 side the walls of Philippi " by a river side," and when 
 Lydia, after she had w^ith a heart which the Lord opened, 
 given heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul, 
 and had with her household been baptised, besought the 
 apostle and his companions, saying, " If ye have judged me 
 to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide." 
 
 6. being confident of this very thing, that he loho began 
 a good ivorh in you icill perfect it until the day of Jesus 
 Christ : — The good work here referred to seems to be 
 the work which God put it into the hearts of the 
 Philippians to do in co-operating wdth the apostle and his 
 fellow-laborers in efforts to further the Gospel through- 
 out all Macedonia and Achaia. Concerning the Thes- 
 salonians, who were like minded with the Philippians, 
 Paul said, " From you hath sounded forth the word of 
 the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every 
 place your faith to God-ward is gone forth ; so that we 
 need not to speak any thing." Thus did the Macedonian 
 Christians co-operate with the apostle in extending the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Though it is true that God's work of grace begun in 
 any heart is carried forward by him to completion, yet 
 that is a subject which does not seem to be primarily re- 
 ferred to in the passage before us, though this passage is 
 generally quoted in proof of that truth. 
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
CH. I. V, 6.] NOTES. 
 
 *' The day of Jesus Christ " here referred to is undoubt- 
 edly the day of his return to this world. The same day 
 is referred lo in the tenth verse of this chapter, and also 
 in the sixteenth verse of the second chapter. The 
 Christians of apostolic times kept this day in viev^, and 
 anticipated it as near at hand. And for believers of 
 every age, is it not practically near at hand ? Should 
 not our position, like that of the early Christians, be one 
 of waiting for Christ's return '? Those who can be truly 
 described as " waiting for the revelation of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ," are those who at the same time are seek' 
 ing so to serve and glorify Christ that they may at his 
 appearing be found to have " come behind in no gift." 
 
 7. even as it is right for me to he tlms minded on 
 behalf of you all, — The apostle felt fully justified in 
 entertaining the opinion of the Philippians which he 
 expressed in the sixth verse, because he had been con- 
 vinced that they were partakers with him of grace — the 
 grace that accompanies, or belongs to, salvation. He had 
 the same feeling concerning all of them, because in 
 every case there existed the same solid ground of 
 confidence. 
 
 An ellipsis must here be supplied, in order to make 
 clear the connection between this clause and the one 
 which follows it ; and it may be supplied thus : " even as 
 it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all," 
 so I express my conviction concerning you, 
 
 because I have you in my heart, — The Christians at 
 Philippi had become so endeared to Paul that they were 
 numbered among his heart treasures. Between them 
 and the apostle there existed a mutual endearment. As 
 Paul had them in his heart, so they had him in their 
 hearts. The Greek text indeed may be construed so as 
 to convey either of these meanings, for the words can be 
 translated either, " I have you in my heart," or " you have 
 me in your heart," though the order of the words, as well 
 as the context, points to the translation in our English 
 versions as most probably the correct one. The trans* 
 lators of the Authorised version as well as the Eevisers of 
 that version in both the English and American editions, 
 
 [ 10 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 7. 
 
 however, thought it well to put down the alternative 
 translation of these words as a marginal reading. Can 
 it be a mere accident of composition that the text was so 
 constructed by the apostle as to be capable of conveying 
 both of these meanings ? 
 
 inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defence and 
 confirmation of the gospel, — The basis of the conviction 
 which Paul entertained concerning the Philippian 
 Christians was the hearty service which they had render- 
 ed in seeking to extend to others the blessings which they 
 had received. The love of Christ had constrained them 
 to work for Christ. They had been thoroughly identified 
 with the apostle both in the furtherance of the Gospel 
 and in suffering on its behalf. Their service, moreover, 
 as the apostle specially testifies, had been most efficient, 
 for by them the Gospel had received both the staunchest 
 defence and the most indubitable confirmation. 
 
 And what shall be said of those Christians in our day 
 who are not like the Philippians ? Are they worthy to 
 bear the Christian name, who do little or nothing to 
 extend to others the blessings of the Gospel, through 
 whose testimony the Gospel receives no worthy defence, 
 and by whose lives its truth obtains no sure confirm- 
 ation ? 
 
 ye all are i:)aYtahers witJi me of grace. — The secret in 
 regard to the bond of union which existed between 
 Paul and the Church at Philippi was that they were all 
 partakers together of the grace of God. " Apart from me 
 ye can do nothing," said Jesus to his disciples ; and this 
 is abundantly proved in the case of those who profess 
 to belong to Christ, but give no evidence of being 
 partakers of his grace. Those who are partakers of 
 Christ are partakers of the grace that is in him. Every 
 true disciple of Christ ought to be strong in his grace. 
 Therefore Paul said to Timothy, " Thou therefore, my 
 child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ 
 Jesus." The grace tbat is in Christ Jesus is in him for 
 us who are in him. What Paul said to the Philippians 
 (ch. iv. 13) about himself, they too were able to say 
 for themselves, " I can do all things in him that 
 
 [ u ] 
 
CH. I. V. 7.] NOTES. 
 
 strengtheneth me," for the grace of God had roade them 
 strong as workers and as sufferers for Christ. 
 
 8. For God is my luitness, lioio I long after you all 
 — The apostle's interest in his fellow-believers at Philippi 
 was so sincere that he could appeal to the Searcher of 
 hearts to substantiate the truth of his declaration that he 
 felt the intensest longing for their spiritual welfare and 
 usefulness. 
 
 in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. — These words 
 take us into the very depths of the truth that Christ and 
 his people are one and inseparable. Such indeed is this 
 oneness, that Christ's yearnings may be said to be theirs, 
 and their yearnings the yearnings of Christ. As Dr. 
 Lightfoot well remarks, " Paul had no yearnings apart 
 from his Lord. His heart throbbed with the heart of 
 Christ." Paul does not here employ a mere metaphor, 
 any more than he does in Galatians ii. 20, when he says, 
 *' I have been crucified with Christ ; and it is no longer I 
 that live, but Christ liveth in me." In regard to the 
 experience of Paul, Bishop Moule says, " The ^lan of 
 the Cross is also, for him, the Lord who is exalted to the 
 throne of heaven, and is also so related to the writer (of 
 the epistle to the Philippians) that Paul is "in Christ 
 Jesus," with a proximity and union which enters into 
 every thing. '' In Him " are included the very actions 
 of the disciple's mind and the experiences of his heart. 
 He is the Lord who lives in the inmost being of His 
 servant, and who yet is also expected to return from the 
 heavens, to transfigure the servant's very body into 
 glory." 
 
 9. And this I jjray, — Having before spoken of the 
 supplication which he was accustomed to make on their 
 behalf, he now mentions the contents of his prayers for 
 them, that they by being made acquainted with the 
 character of his petitions, may know how solicitous he is 
 for their advancement in the divine life, especially in the 
 direction of their being endowed with increased fitness 
 for the very highest Christian service. 
 
 that your love may ahomid yet more and more — The 
 love here intended is love for Christ, and love for all 
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 9. 
 
 that represents him on earth — love for all \Yho bear his 
 likeness, and love for his cause which embraces world- 
 wide evangelisation, and consequently demands heart- 
 felt sympathies as extensive as the needs of the whole 
 human race. The scope for abounding Christian love, 
 which this lost world affords, is therefore wellnigh in- 
 finite. We understand then how it was that the apostle 
 prayed for the Philippian Christians, that their love 
 might abound yet more and more. 
 
 in kuoiuledge and all discerninoit ; — The loving mind 
 needs to be well-informed and clear-sighted. If it is 
 ignorant and w^rongly influenced, it will blunder and 
 become entangled in all sorts of errors. As to the kind 
 of knowledge and discernment which was essential to 
 good judgment and practical usefulness in the case of 
 the Philippian Christians, and which is alike necessary 
 for ourselves, we may learn much from the prayer of 
 Paul for the Colossians (see Col. i. 9-11). Here we 
 find that that knowledge which is of paramount im- 
 portance to Christ's servant is the knowledge of his will. 
 Paul said the same thing to the Ephesian Christians (see 
 Eph. V. 17). " Wherefore be ye not foolish, but under- 
 stand w^hat the will of the Lord is." *' That ye may be 
 filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual 
 wisdom and understanding," was the apostle's petition 
 for the Colossian brethren. It was not enough for them 
 to have some understanding of God's will. Nothing 
 would suffice for them but this, that their knowledge of 
 the Lord's will should be full. Therefore the apostle 
 prayed that they might be filled with this knowledge. To 
 enable the Colossian Christians to attain to the know- 
 ledge of the Lord's will in its fulness, ordinary wisdom 
 and understanding would not avail. Therefore he prayed 
 that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will 
 in all S'lnriUial wisdom and understanding. Spiritual 
 wisdom and spiritual understanding are as different from 
 worldly wisdom and merely intellectual understanding as 
 light is from darkness. What the Greeks understood 
 by the word " sophia," translated wisdom, was mental 
 excellence, which is indeed an excellent thing, but at the 
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 9.] NOTES. 
 
 same time it is an excellence which is of little utility in 
 the Christian life and in Christian work unless it is 
 allied with spiritual understanding. And so we see why 
 the two things — wisdom and understanding — are linked 
 together as they are in the Scriptures. Not mere mental 
 excellence, nor mere intellectuality, however brilliant, is 
 sufficient to enable any one to discover the spiritual 
 signiftcance of the divine Word. For this a spiritual mind 
 and heart are essential. Spiritual wisdom and under- 
 standing are acquirements and endowments which become 
 ours only as we are taught and enriched by the Spirit of 
 God. God through his Word reveals his will to his 
 servants ; on whom, to qualify them for receiving the 
 knowledge of his will, he has first bestowed the " meek- 
 ness of wisdom." 
 
 10. So that ye may approve the things that are excel- 
 lent ; or as the marginal reading is, so that ye may 
 distinguish the things that differ ; — Approval of the things 
 that are excellent implies disapproval of the things which 
 in God's estimation are not to be accounted excellent, 
 however good they may to the people of the world 
 appear to be. Only those who possess the spiritual 
 faculty can distinguish the things that differ, can judge 
 between what is truly excellent and what is radically 
 evil. And even for those who have spiritual wisdom and 
 understanding, experience is of great value ; for the 
 author of the epistle to the Hebrews speaks of those " who 
 by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern 
 good and evil." Growth in spiritual wisdom and under- 
 standing is doubtless the result of having the senses 
 exercised in such discernment. " Love without guidance," 
 remarks Dr. Eadie, " might form unworthy attachments, 
 and retard the very interests for the promotion of which 
 it had eagerly set itself. It must understand the Gospel 
 in its purity, and learn to detect unwarranted additions. 
 It must have tact to distinguish between the real and the 
 seeming, between the claims of an evangelist and the 
 specious pretensions of a Judaizer. And thus if that 
 love which (in the case of the Philippians) had shown 
 itself in fellowship in furtherance of the Gospel, grew in 
 
 [ H ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V, 10. 
 
 knowledge and power of perception, they would be 
 pure ; their affection ruled by intelligence would have but 
 one desire, to defend and confirm the Gospel, in 
 participation of the apostle's own grace ; and they would 
 give no offence, either by a zeal which in its excess forgot 
 the means in the end, or cherished suspicions of such as 
 did not come up to its own warmth, or could not sympa- 
 thise with its favorite modes of operation or expression." 
 
 that yc may he sincere and void of offence unto the day 
 of Christ ; — To be sincere is to be pure, like that which 
 when it is viewed in the sunshine is found clear and 
 spotless. To be sincere, if we may here learn a lesson 
 also from the derivation of this English word, is to be 
 sine cere, without wax, like drops of honey, which, as 
 they trickle from the comb, are wholly free from 
 impurity. Those who are void of offence are those who 
 have in them nothing which ought to offend. The w^ords, 
 "unto the day of Christ," teach us that we should ever 
 try to be such as we would like to be when we shall 
 appear before the all-seeing Eye at the Judgment. 
 
 11. being filled loith the fruits of righteousness , — Trees 
 of the Lord's planting and nourishing should bear only 
 such fruits, and they should bear them abundantly and 
 constantly. See Ps. i. 3 and Ps. xcii. 12-14. 
 
 ichich are through Jesus Christ, — Christ and his people 
 being one, united as are the vine-stock and its branches, it 
 is through Christ that fruit is brought forth. " He that 
 abideth in me, the same beareth much fruit : for apart 
 from me ye can do nothing." Dr. Lightfoot remarks, 
 " The apostle means (by righteousness) righteousness in 
 Christ, as contrasted with ' righteousness by law' : compare 
 iii. 9. Only so far as the life of the believer is absorbed 
 in the life of Christ, does the righteousness of Christ 
 become his own. Thus righteousness by faith is inti- 
 mately bound up with the life in Christ ; it must in its 
 very nature be fruitful ; it is indeed the condition of 
 bearing fruit." 
 
 unto the glory and j^raise of God. — " Blessed be the God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath ])lessed us 
 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (or 
 
 [ 15 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 11.] NOTES. 
 
 I'elationshijJs) in Christ : even as he chose us in him 
 before the foundation of the world, that we should be 
 holy and without blemish before him in love : . . . . to 
 the praise of the glory of his grace." Eph. i. 3-6. 
 
 The best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture, and so 
 the prayer of Paul for the Colossian Christians (Col. u 
 9-11) shows us what Paul desired for the saints in 
 Philippi : for to be filled with the knowledge of God's will 
 in all spiritual wisdom and understanding produces the 
 same results as love abounding more and more in 
 knowledge and all discernment : and so the Philippian 
 followers of Christ, like the Colossian, would be enabled 
 to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, would 
 bear fruit in every good work, would go on increasing in 
 the knowledge of God, and so would be strengthened with 
 all power, according to God's glorious might, ur*^o all 
 patience and, if need be, unto joyful long-suffering for 
 Christ. 
 
 12. Noio I iDOuld have you hioio, brethren, — Probably 
 the Philippians had expressed through Epaphroditus 
 their desire to have information about what had happened 
 to Paul at Eome, and in regard to the outcome of these 
 occurrences. 
 
 that the things ivhich happened tmto me — The apostle 
 doubtless refers to the privations of his imprisonment — - 
 all that was included in what in the next verse he speaks 
 of as "my bonds." 
 
 have fallen out rather unto the progress of the Gospel; — 
 Paul's confinement and the restrictions which it imposed 
 upon him, had not retarded, but on the contrary had 
 helped forward the Gospel. As it was with Paul in his 
 Boman prison, so it was with John Bunyan in the Bed* 
 ford jail. Bunyan's greatest usefulness grew out of his 
 imprisonment. And we have as one of the fruits of 
 Paul's imprisonment this priceless epistle to the Philip- 
 pians. Well may we say with the Psalmist, " Surely 
 the wrath of man shall praise thee." "All things work 
 together for good to them that love God," Paul had said 
 to the Roman Christians when from Corinth he wrote 
 to them, and afterwards in the imperial city itself both 
 
 C 16 ] 
 
NOTES. [oh. I. V. 12. 
 
 he and they saw this truth marvellously conlirmed. 
 " All these things are against me," said Jacob in 
 his distress, but in God's own time he was made to see 
 how wrongly he had interpreted God's dealings with him. 
 
 13. &o that viy bonds became manifest in Christ — 
 \Yhat became manifest to all was that Paul was in bonds 
 for Christ's sake, and not only this, but that Christ was 
 imprisoned with him, because Christ was in him and he 
 was in Christ. Paul w^as ever setting forth the truth of 
 the Christian's oneness with Christ, and those who 
 visited him in his coniinement, as well as the soldiers 
 who guarded him, as one by one they were chained to 
 him, were so indoctrinated by him that they were 
 impressed with the fact that what he taught them w^as no 
 wild fancy, but a living reality. All came to understand 
 that Paul was suffering hardship for the Gospel, and for 
 no other reason. Ostensibly, as witnessed by his chain, 
 he was a malefactor, as he said to Timothy in writing to 
 him. But to all who became acquainted with him, it was 
 manifest that he was not an evil-doer. And so far from 
 being cast down by the indignity which was put upon 
 him, he even gloried in it, because the very hardship 
 which he was enduring only served to bring him into 
 closer companionship with Christ. His happiness was 
 so real that it could not be concealed, and the secret of it 
 he could not keep to himself. His bonds were most 
 blessed JDonds, because they w^ere bonds in Christ. The 
 consequence was that others came to see this, and Paul's 
 Saviour became theirs also. 
 
 througJiout tJie icliole i)Ycetorian guard, — The imperial 
 guard at Eome consisted at first of 10,000 selected 
 troops, and was afterwards increased to 16,000. The 
 Emperor Augustus organised it, and his successor 
 Til:>erius established it in the fortified camp where it was 
 at the time of Paul's imprisonment. This body of troops 
 was Paul's immediate parish during the two years that 
 he spent there, and his wide opportunity of evangelising 
 was improved to the utmost as one after another of the 
 soldiers of the guard was placed over him. This im- 
 prisonment was far from being rigorous, as he was 
 
 [ 17 ] B 
 
CH. I. V. 13.] NOTES. 
 
 permitted to live in bis own hired dwelling within the- 
 military camp, and to receive all that went in unto him. 
 There his time was spent in preaching the kingdom of 
 God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. This he did with all boldness, none forbidding 
 him. 
 
 and to all the rest ; — Through the soldiers who came 
 in contact with him, and especially through those of them 
 who by his ministry became Christians, and also through 
 the Christian residents of Eome who visited him, he- 
 became well known throughout the entire city ; and that 
 which was everywhere shown concerning him was 
 precisely that which he desired to have manifested (for 
 by it the Gospel of salvation through Christ was publish- 
 ed), namely, that he was a prisoner in Christ ; a prisoner 
 indeed, but seen to be most highly honored in having the 
 privilege of suffering in union with One who endured the 
 cross for him. 
 
 14. and that most of the brethren in the Lord, — It is 
 worth while in passing, to notice how Paul speaks by 
 implication concerning the minority of the Christian 
 community in Eome. That minority consisted of the 
 Judaizers, who were seeking to hinder and destroy bis- 
 work, by denying that he was an apostle, and so virtually 
 excluding him as a Christian teacher. He still reckoned 
 them as brethren, though grievously erring ones, and not 
 worthy to be counted as such. Eather, however, than 
 exclude them altogether from the Christian fraternity, he- 
 prefers to imply that they too may be regarded in some 
 sense as brethren, by speaking of those who were true 
 as the greater number of the brethren; though after- 
 wards in this letter (iii. 2) he does not hesitate to 
 characterise these same persons as dogs, evil-workers, 
 and the concision, as he, without mentioning them more 
 particularly, warns his Gentile brethren against them. 
 Here we behold most distinctly a beautiful picture of 
 Paul's brotherly feeling towards all who bore the name 
 of Christ. 
 
 bei7ig confident through my bonds, — The words " in the 
 Lord" seem to belong to this clause, rather than to the 
 
 [ 18 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 14, 
 
 preceding one. If this be the case, the sentence should 
 read thus : " Being confident through my bonds in the 
 Lord." Paul in the preceding verse had just said that 
 his bonds had become manifest as bonds in Christ, in 
 other words, it had been made clear that he was a prisoner 
 in the Lord. (See Eph. iv. 1.) It was this character of 
 Paul's bondage, this condition of the prisoner in the 
 Roman camp, that caused so many of the Roman 
 Christians to wax confident. That the apostle was full 
 of joy and strength was, they saw, due to the fact that 
 Christ was in him strengthening him, cheering him, and 
 so working in him mightily. Paul's doctrine of the 
 " mystical union " was proved before their eyes to be no 
 mere myh. 
 
 are more abundantly bold to speak the ivord of God 
 without fear. — Seeing the courage of Paul, and knowing 
 the cause of it, they too became courageous. They w^ere 
 exceedingly stimulated by w4iat they saw him to be, and 
 they spoke the Word of God fearlessly. " The sight of the 
 apostle inspired them with his own heroism. It might 
 have been feared that his bonds w^ould make his friends 
 more wary, lest they should incur a similar fate ; but so 
 far from such an ignoble result, there was a positive 
 revival of courage and zeal among them ; their labors 
 multiplied in number, and increased in boldness, and 
 thus the apostle's circumstances had resulted rather to 
 the furtherance of the Gospel." — Eadie. 
 
 15. Some indeed loreach Christ even of envy and 
 strife ; — These were the Judaizing teachers, who were 
 envious of Paul's success in evangelising among the 
 Gentiles, and who manifested a bitter spirit of partisan- 
 ship. Their efforts were put forth in favor of circum- 
 cision, and consequently against Paul as a subverter of 
 divinely instituted rites and customs. 
 
 and some also of good luill : — This good will had special 
 reference to Paul. It recognised that he was a divinely 
 appointed apostle, and that those who had been ])rought 
 to Christ by him were seals of his apostleship. It mani- 
 fested the fullest sympathy for him in his toils and in his 
 trials. Those who w^ere his friends and fellow-workers 
 
 [ 19 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 15.] NOTES. 
 
 were, as we have seen, largely in the majority. (See 
 verse 14.) 
 
 16. the one do it of love, knowing that I am set for 
 the defence of the gospel ; — The apostle goes on to men- 
 tion the motives with which the two parties preached 
 Christ, and the relations towards him in which they stood 
 respectively. The one party were prompted by love. 
 Love to Christ, and love to all men, was with them the 
 ruling motive. And with reference to the apostle, they 
 had truth on their side, being fully persuaded that he 
 had been divinely appointed to do the work which 
 ill spite of all difficulties and in the face of the virulent 
 opposition which had risen up against him he was 
 doing so successfully. These dealt truly with the 
 Gospel, because they were " speaking truth in love." 
 (See Eph. iv. 15.) 
 
 17. but the other proclaim Christ of faction, — The 
 marginal reading sets forth the character of this party 
 with unhesitating distinctness, characteristic of Paul. 
 This reading is, *' hut they that are factious proclaim 
 Christ." The primarj^ object of these preachers was 
 to raise up a party against the apostle, and by doing 
 this to strengthen their opposition to him. While the 
 one party were worthy heralds of the truth, the other, 
 acting from partisanship, were only empty proclaimers 
 of the Gospel. Their message was vitiated by their 
 motive, and so there was an element of contradiction 
 between the truth which they uttered in preaching 
 Christ, and the incentives which actuated them in their 
 work. In II Cor. xi. 13, these preachers who tried to 
 undo the work of Paul, are thus described : " Such men 
 are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning them- 
 selves into apostles of Christ." 
 
 not sinccrelu, — Their preaching of Christ was charac- 
 terised by impureness of principle and sordidness of pur- 
 pose. Their teaching was to the end that those who 
 accepted Christ and were at the same time circumcised, 
 could make a fair show in the flesh, and escape persecution 
 for the cross of Christ ; for the antagonism of the Jews 
 against Christians was largely due to the fact that the 
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 17. 
 
 Gospel as preached by Paul meant the abolition of those 
 Mosaic rites which under the new dispensation had been 
 superseded. 
 
 thinking to raise 2ip affliction for me in my bonds. — " To 
 make my chains gall me," is a phrase by which Dr. 
 Lightfoot forcibly expresses the apostle's meaning. How 
 unworthy of the professed followers of Christ was such 
 conduct ! Says Dr. Eadie, " They did God's work in the 
 devil's spirit." Chrysostom, concerning their malevolent 
 activity, exclaims, " O, the cruelty ! O, the devilish 
 energy !" " The race of such workers did not become 
 extinct with the expiration of the apostolic era, for Calvin 
 bad occasion to write feelingly thus : " Paul assuredly 
 says nothing here, which I mj'self have not experienced. 
 For there are men living now who have preached the 
 Gospel with no other design, than to gratify the rage of 
 the wicked by persecuting pious pastors." Has the gener- 
 ation of such ecclesiastical agents yet altogether ceased ? 
 
 18. Wliat then ? — The apostle raises this question in 
 order that by answering it he may show how his opposers 
 had been foiled in their attempts to make void his claim 
 to a special apostleship, and how during the long con- 
 tinuance of the deprivation to which he had by his im- 
 prisonment been subjected, and how in spite of all the 
 obstacles which it had encountered, God's work had 
 greatly prospered. 
 
 only that in every icay, ichether in 2)i'etence or in truth, 
 Christ is proclaimed; — Whatever means the Judaizers had 
 used in opposing Paul, and from whatever motives they 
 had wrought, there had resulted from all their factious 
 endeavors only this, that Christ had been and continued 
 to be proclaimed as the Heaven-sent Saviour. In the 
 promulgation of the Gospel by the Judaizers, Christ had 
 never been spoken against. The true Messiahship of 
 Jesus of Nazareth had never been impugned. Nor, in 
 spite of all that had been said against Paul himself had 
 his traducers succeeded in inflicting any permanent injury 
 upon his character or his claims as an apostle. 
 
 and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. — Well might 
 the apostle in this letter to the Philippiaiis exhort them 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 18.] NOTES. 
 
 thus : " Eejoice in the Lord always : again I will say, 
 Eejoice." Wonderful indeed w^as it that the work of 
 the devil, and his emissaries the Judaizers, should cause 
 such joy to God's persecuted servant. 
 
 19. For I knoio that this shall turn out to my salva- 
 tion, — The end was not yet ; but the apostle had good 
 reason to be assured that God would in the future, as in the 
 past, care for his own cause and protect his bondservant. 
 
 through your stcpplication and the supphj of the Spirit 
 of Jesus Christ, — -The apostle felt no disposition to remain 
 a merely passive instrument through whom God might 
 work out his own gracious designs. On the contrary he 
 felt deeply the necessity of doing himself what in this 
 very Epistle (ii. 12. 13) he exhorted the Philippians 
 to do for themselves, namely, the necessity of working 
 out his own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing 
 at the same time that it was God w4io worked in him 
 both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Circum- 
 stances will not of themselves turn out to any one's 
 salvation. But God will make any and all circumstances 
 work together for our good, if we ourselves work 
 together with God. 
 
 Paul valued most highly the prayers of his fellow- 
 Christians on his behalf. The prayers of the Philippian 
 Church and of other Churches, at this crisis of his career 
 must have been an unspeakable solace and support to 
 him, while they for him, as well as he for himself, sought 
 at the throne of grace what he most needed — the constant 
 and bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 
 
 20. according to my earnest expectation and hope, — The 
 one Greek word here translated " earnest expectation" is 
 found only in one other place in the New Testament, viz., 
 in Eomans viii. 19, where the same writer speaks of the 
 earnest expectation of the creation as waiting for the 
 revealing of the sons of God. It therefore expresses the 
 sense of eager longing. The apostle eagerly longed to 
 see the issue of his present trial ; and in this state of mind 
 his hope could be no other than a confident hope, a hope 
 w^hich he himself described in his letter to the Eomans 
 (ch. V. 5), as a hope that " putteth not to shame." 
 
 [ 22 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 20. 
 
 that in nothincj shall I be imt to shame, — That when 
 the test, whatever it may be, by which my faith and hope 
 are to be proved, shall be applied, I may not be found 
 false to the name I bear, or to the Gospel which I have 
 preached to others. 
 
 but that ivltJi all boldness, as alioaijs, so voiu also Christ 
 shall he magnified in mi/ body, — The Christian boldness 
 of speech and action which the apostle hoped he would, 
 be enabled to manifest in the crucial experience which 
 he anticipated, could be only that boldness, coupled with 
 ■quiet confidence, with which Christ by his grace would 
 endue him, for he trusted that Christ would be magnified 
 in him. It seems clear that the apostle looked forward 
 to bodily suffering as a possibility, or perhaps more likely 
 as a probability ; and so he made special mention of his 
 body — that part of him, which equally with his spirit, 
 possessed membership in Christ, and was a temple of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 The apostle in writing to the Corinthians (I Cor. vi. 
 19, 20) had specially emphasised the truth that God 
 •ought to be glorified in the body of the believer in Christ. 
 In this passage in the Eevised Version the words, "and 
 in your spirit, which are God's," are omitted, as not be- 
 longing to the text. As therefore the passage ends with 
 the words, "Therefore glorify God in your body," emphasis 
 is placed upon the body. 
 
 whether by life, or by death. — To the Eomans Paul had 
 ■said, *' Whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; or 
 whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live 
 therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." It was therefore in 
 accordance with his own teaching, that he expressed the 
 confident hope with reference to himself that whether he 
 lived or died, God would be glorified in him. 
 
 2L For to me to live is Christ, — The complete identi- 
 fication of the believer in Christ with his Lord is the 
 truth which Paul realised, and expressed in these words. 
 ^\^e may learn what is here meant, by a reference to Gal. 
 ii. 20, where the apostle says, " I have been crucified with 
 'Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in 
 me." 
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
€H. I. V. 21.] NOTES. 
 
 Often when we are going about among the villages in 
 India, the children who see us coming, cry out, " Isa 
 Masih ! " (Jesus Christ !) This is because the name of 
 our Saviour is so often mentioned in our preaching. 
 They have learned so little about iis that they do not even 
 know our names, but when they see us, at once the 
 Name which they have so often heard from us comes 
 to their lips, and they shout, " Isa Masih ! Isa Masih ! " 
 Would not those who were acquainted with the apostle 
 Paul, who understood his character, who were eye- 
 witnesses of the life which he lived, who listened to the 
 words which he spoke, or heard him pray, be likely to be 
 reminded of Christ himself when they saw him ? How 
 could it be otherwise, when he was so Christ-like, and 
 when he could say, " To me to live is Christ ? " 
 
 A boy in our mission school at iVllahabad when asked 
 by his teacher to give the meaning of these words in the 
 Bible lesson — " Enoch walked with God," answered, " It 
 means to walk as Mr. Wray walks/' Mr. Wray was one 
 of our missionaries at that time, one who could not speak 
 Hindustani very fluently, but he lived the life of Christ, 
 and so preached the Gospel most effectively. He was 
 known and read of all as a God-like, Christ-like man. 
 
 Dr. Eadie, in his excellent commentary on Philippians, 
 asks, "May not the words of Paul, 'To me to hve is 
 Christ,' be thus expanded — the preaching of Christ the 
 business of my life ; the presence of Christ the cheer of 
 my life ; the image of Christ the crown of my life ; the 
 spirit of Christ the life of my life ; the love of Christ the 
 power of my life ; the will of Christ the law of my life ; 
 and the glory of Christ the end of my life ? Christ was 
 the absorbing element of his life. If he travelled, it 
 was on Christ's errand ; if he suffered, it was in Christ's 
 service ; when he spoke, his theme was Christ ; and when 
 he wrote, Christ filled his letters." Such indeed was the 
 life of Paul. His life was a commentary upon his words — 
 " To me to live is Christ." 
 
 and to die is gain. — As far as life vras concerned, it 
 would be gain for Paul to die. He would not cease to 
 live when he died, for the life which is hid with Christ in 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. r. 21. 
 
 God can never end. "I came," said Jesus, " that they 
 (my sheep) may have life, and may have it abundantly " 
 (or, *' may have abundance of it"). The abundance of 
 Ufe is enjoyed in heaven as it cannot be in this world. 
 " In thy presence is fulness of joy; in thy right hand 
 there are pleasures for evermore." Ps. xvi. 11. To come 
 into possession of this abundance of life makes it infinite 
 gain for the believer in Christ to die. As far as knowl- 
 edge was concerned, it would also be gain for Paul to die. 
 It was he who said, " Now we see in a mirror, darkly 
 (or, in a riddle) ; but then face to face : now I know in 
 part ; but then shall I know even as also I have been 
 known (known fully) :" I Cor. xiii. 12. It would be gain 
 for Paul to die, because his conflict with the devil and sin 
 would then be at an end. In this world while serving 
 Christ and battling with the powers of evil, Christ was in 
 Paul the hope of glory (Col. i. 27), and he was in Christ 
 an heir of glory (Eom. viii. 17). It would be gain for him 
 to die, because then his hope of glory would be realised 
 in fruition, and he would then come into the possession 
 of his inheritance as an heir of God and a joint-heir 
 with Christ. How blessed would he be, when Christ's 
 prayer for him would be answered by his introduction 
 into that glory which was Christ's before the foundation 
 of the world, and when he would be made to realise 
 that it was all his as much as it was Christ's, because 
 he was Christ's and Christ was his, and that it would 
 be his own eternal possession, because Christ and he 
 would remain for ever one and inseparable ! 
 
 22. But if to live in the flesh, — if this shall bring fruit 
 from my tcork, — This is the translation of the American 
 Eevisers. In the English Eevision, the translation is, 
 " But if to live in the iiesh, — if this is the fruit of my 
 work." The Authorised Version is, " But if I live in the 
 flesh, this is the fruit of my labor." These different 
 readings are attempts to bring out the meaning of the 
 Greek in a translation ; but the sense of the original 
 cannot be clearly expressed without the employment of 
 a paraphrase. The literal rendering of the latter clause, 
 which consists of four Greek words, would be, "This to 
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 22.] NOTES. 
 
 me is fruit of work." But this needs explanation. The 
 whole clause may be paraphrased thus, ' But if to live 
 longer in the flesh be my lot, this for me will mean fruit 
 of work, more work for Christ, and consequently more 
 fruit.' An extension of life would give further oppor- 
 tunity to serve Christ, and this service would not be 
 without results to the glory of God, nor without reward to 
 his servant. 
 
 tlien what I shall choose I know not. — As suggested by 
 the American revisers, this might be put in the form of 
 question and answer, thus — then what shall I choose ? 
 I know not. 
 
 23. But I am in a strait hetioid the tico, having the 
 desire to depart and be with Christ ; for it is very far 
 better. — On the one side the apostle viewed the advantage 
 of living longer in this world, for the sake of the oppor- 
 tunity he would have of doing more here for Christ and 
 his blood-bought Church ; and on the other hand the 
 attraction of being with Christ in glory presented itself. 
 To die would be "to leave the imperfect society of earth 
 for the nobler fellowship of the skies ; to pass from service 
 involving self-denial, tears, and suffering, to the crown 
 which cannot fade ; to rise above the process of discipline, 
 involving constant watchfulness and prayer, to a perfect 
 assimilation to his Divine Master." — Eadie. To depart 
 and be with Christ would be very far better, because it 
 would be the siimmum bonum of existence. In II Cor. iv. 
 17, the apostle when contrasting the fleeting character of 
 temporal things with the realities of eternity, labors to 
 express the thought with which the inspiration of the 
 Holy Spirit filled his contemplative imagination. ** Our 
 light affliction," says he, "which is for the moment, 
 worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal 
 weight of glory." And in the same connection he adds 
 this expression of certitude concerning the things not yet 
 seen, but to be revealed, " We know that if the earthly 
 house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building 
 from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the 
 heavens." Is it any wonder that Paul longed to depart 
 ^nd be with Christ '? 
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 24. 
 
 24. yet to abide in the fJesli is more needful for your 
 sa'ke. — Personal considerations were not to be weighed 
 against usefulness in the service of others. Though as 
 far as he himself was concerned, it would be better by 
 far to depart and be with Christ in glory, }et because 
 •Christ was also on earth in those members of his Body 
 w^hich were yet in the flesh, for their sakes and for 
 'Christ's sake he was not only willing, he even preferred 
 to abide here for a longer season. It was a privilege 
 w^iich only this life afforded to minister to the spiritual 
 needs of those for whom Christ died, and as the apostle 
 wrote this letter his heart went out to his dearly loved 
 brethren in Christ in Philippi, and he longed to be of 
 further service to them before he died. 
 
 25. And having tJiis confidencf^, I 'knoir that I shall 
 abide, yea, and abide witJi you all, for your ijrofjress and 
 joy in the faith ; — The confidence which the apostle 
 speaks of possessing, was the persuasion which he had 
 that his abiding longer in the flesh would be profitable to 
 his brethren. When Paul said, " J know that I shall 
 abide, yea, and abide with you all," he did not perhaps 
 mean that he spoke with prophetic certitude, but that he 
 possessed a strong personal conviction as to the course 
 which events would take. It was not simply that he 
 might enjoy fellowship with his brethren that Paul 
 desired to abide longer with them, but that he might be 
 useful to them in promoting their advancement in the 
 divine life, and their joy in the Christian faith. To know 
 what Paul desired on behalf of his brethren, w^e have 
 only to look at his pravers for them. See Eom. xv. 13 ; 
 Eph. i. 16-20 ; Col. i."^ 9-11. Nothing more distinctly 
 indicates progress in the Christian life than joyousness 
 in believing and resting in Christ. How often in the 
 Psalms we find the petition offered that Jehovah would 
 make his face to shine upon his servant. And w^hen in 
 answer to prayer God's favor is thus bestowed, ought 
 not his servant's face to shine in response to the favor 
 which shines upon him from above ? When Paul pointed 
 out to the Galatians what the fruit of the Spirit is, in his 
 •enumeration of particulars he puts down love at the 
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 25.] NOTES. 
 
 head of the list, and next mentions joy. In that wonder- 
 fully comprehensive supplication for the Roman Chris- 
 tians, recorded in his letter to them (ch. xv. 13), the 
 apostle prayed that the God of hope would fill them with 
 ail joy and peace in believing, and this was to the end 
 that they might abound in hope, in the power of the 
 Holy Spirit. And in this epistle to the Philippians, the 
 key-note, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, is joy. At the 
 beginning of his letter the apostle told the Philippians 
 that the supplication whjch he was constantly making 
 for them was made loith joy. In the third paragraph 
 (ch. i. 18), he wrote, ** I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice'' 
 In the fourth paragraph (ch. ii. 2), he said to them, 
 " Fulfil ye my joy J' A little further on (ch. ii. 17, 18),. 
 he said, " I joy and rejoice with you all : and in the same 
 manner do ye also joy and rejoice with me." In the next 
 paragraph he speaks of sending to them Epaphroditus, 
 that when they see him again, they may rejoice, and he. 
 tells them to receive him in the Lord with all joy. In 
 the middle of the epistle (ch. iii. 1), he wrote, " My 
 brethren, rejoice in the Lord," and shortly after, he 
 prefaced an exhortation to them with the words, '* My 
 brethren beloved and longed for, my joy and crown." 
 Again before he closed his letter, he exhorted them thus, 
 " Bejoice in the Lord always ; again I will say Bejoice. 
 And yet once more before he reached the end of his- 
 epistle he said to them, " I rejoice in the Lord greatly." 
 When we remember that this letter was dictated by one 
 whose hand was bound with a chain in a prison, albeit 
 that prison was his own hired dwelling in the Eoman 
 camp, truly wonderful it is for the tone of joy that is- 
 heard all through it. 
 
 26. that your glorying mail abound in Christ Jesus in 
 me through my presence tcith you again. — None would 
 rejoice more than the Philippian Christians on account 
 of Paul's being set at liberty. The proper sphere of 
 their glorying, should the apostle be restored to them, is,, 
 however pointed out. They should not glory in him 
 except as they gloried in Christ Jesus in him. Then 
 their glorying might abound. " He that glorieth, let him 
 
 [ 28 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 26. 
 
 glory in the Lord," wrote Paul to the Corinthians. I Cor. 
 i. 31. That the Philippian Church was privileged to 
 enjoy again the presence of the apostle seems certain 
 from I Tim. i. 3, if as is probable the letters to Timothy 
 are of a later date than the epistle to the Philippians, 
 being written during the period of the apostle's second 
 captivit5^ The Dean of Gloucester in the New Testament 
 Commentary for English Headers, says, " Some time after 
 the tirst imprisonment at Rome, and consequently beyond 
 the period included by St. Luke in the Acts, St. Paul 
 must have left Timothy behind at Ephesus, while he 
 pursued his journey towards Macedonia." Again, Dr. 
 •T. H. Bernard, in his Commentary on the Pastoral 
 Epistles in the Cambridge Greek Testament Series, says, 
 " The Pastoral Epistles do not fit into the life of St. Paul 
 as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. They presuppose 
 a period, of activity subsequent to the imprisonment in 
 Rome mentioned by St. Luke. They indicate certain 
 events in his life which are not mentioned and for which 
 no room can be found in the Acts. I Timothy and Titus 
 tell us of missionary enterprise of w^hich we have no 
 record in that book, so that they imply his release from 
 his (tirst) captivity." 
 
 27. Only — " The adverb ' only ' at the beginning of this 
 verse gives oneness to the advice which follow^s, placing 
 it by itself in solitary prominence." Its force may be 
 thus brought out : Whatever may befall me, whether I 
 live or die, this one thing alone look to, I pray you. 
 
 let your manner of life he worthy of the (jospcl of 
 Christ : — The marginal reading of the Revised Version is, 
 "Behave as citizens w^orthily." It behooved them all as 
 citizens of the City of God, and born from above, to 
 manifest such conduct as w^ould be consonant wnth their 
 high calling as children of God, and with the spirit of 
 the Gospel of God which they professed to obey. The 
 metaphor employed by the apostle in the use of the verb 
 translated 'behave as citizens' would strike the Philip- 
 pians with great force, since Philippi enjoyed the distinc- 
 tion of being a Roman colony, and Roman citizenship 
 was something in w^hich those who wej'e privileged to 
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 27.] NOTES. 
 
 possess it greatly prided themselves. The use of this- 
 word by Paul would give added emphasis to his exhorta- 
 tion, from the fact that he himself, a Eoman citizen, was 
 writing to them from the imperial capital. The apostle- 
 desired them to feel that the possession of heavenly 
 citizenship by them w^as an infinitely greater honor than 
 any earthly privilege ot rank could possibly be, and he 
 w^ished them to show their appreciation of it by living as- 
 those whose citizenship is in heaven should do. 
 
 that, loliether I come and see you or he absent, I may 
 hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, icitli 
 one soul striving for the faith of the gospel; — Here the 
 figurative reference is to the combats which were 
 witnessed in the Roman amphitheatre. The Christian 
 life is represented as a conflict, and the apostle exhorts- 
 the Philippian Christians to hold their ground against all 
 adversaries. He addresses them not as individuals, but 
 as a community having a common interest to defend, and 
 he exhorts them to show a united front to their opposers..' 
 Since their vital union in Christ bound them together in 
 closest bonds, the apostle could well urge them to stand 
 firm in one spirit, and to strive with one soul against 
 their common enemies. He desired to see them, or hear 
 of them, if he should not have the privilege of seeing them, 
 as an unbroken phalanx arrayed on the side of the 
 Gospel, not only contending for the faith of the Gospel, 
 but also in entire unison icitli the faith of the Gospel. 
 An exhortation thus worded would doubtless have in a 
 high degree the effect, \vhich Paul desired, of putting the 
 Philippian Church upon its mettle, as it would help them 
 to realise the position which they should take up and 
 maintain. The apostle exhorted the Ephesians in like 
 manner, but using metaphors of a different kind, which 
 would doubtless be as effective in their case, as those 
 were which he employed in writing to the Philippians. 
 SeeEph. vi. ]0— 17. 
 
 28. And in nothing affrighted by the adversaries: — The 
 definite article here used pointed to the adversaries of the 
 church in Philippi not only as real, but as w^ell-knowm 
 personages. These enemies, wdiether Je^vs or Pagans, 
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. I. V. 28. 
 
 or both, must have been of a very mah'gnant type, for 
 their onsets were well calculated to terrify the less cour- 
 ageous members of the Christian community. Hence 
 the apostle expressed the hope that they would all be 
 found standing their ground without flinching in the least 
 in the presence of their foes, however ferocious they 
 might appear. 
 
 whicli is for them an evident token of i)erdition, — Which 
 fearlessness on your part is and will be a clear indication 
 to them of their impending destruction. It would seem 
 from the apostle's language that he had heard of fearless- 
 ness on their part already displayed, with its accompany- 
 ing effect as spoken of by him. 
 
 but of your salvation, — By the fearlessness of Christ's 
 people in the face of persecution, a two-fold indication 
 would be given to their adversaries, namely, of their own 
 perdition on the one hand, and of the salvation of Christ's 
 followers on the other. 
 
 and that from Hod ; — It would be shown clearly by the 
 fearlessness of God's people that God was with them, yea 
 moreover, in them of a truth. As Bishop Moule well re- 
 marks, the apostle does not say that the fearless conduct 
 of the Philippians would logically prove the truth of the 
 Gospel to themselves or others. It would, however, be 
 a practical indication of the ruin of the foes, and of the 
 triumph of the friends and defenders of the truth. The 
 more the Church acted in the spirit of calm, united 
 decision, the more the final issue of the conflict would be 
 realised. 
 
 29. because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of 
 Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his 
 behalf : — Suffering for Christ was to be regarded not as a 
 hardship inflicted, but as a high privilege bestowed, upon 
 them. Faith in Christ is a priceless gift of God (Eph. ii. 8), 
 and along with this is to be classed the honor of being 
 allowed to sufl'er on Christ's behalf. It was a mark of 
 special favor towards "a chosen vessel," when Christ 
 said to Ananias concerning Saul of Tarsus, " I will show 
 him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake." 
 And there is abundant reason to believe that the apostle 
 
 [ 31 ] 
 
CH. I. V. 29.] NOTES. 
 
 Paul ever esteemed it a great and precious privilege to 
 sutt'er with and for his Lord. 
 
 30. having the same conflict whicJi ye saio in me, and 
 noio hear to he in me. — Paul would have them understand 
 that they were now enlisted in the same contest in which 
 they saw him engaged in Philippi on the occasion of his 
 lirst visit to that city (see the account of it in Acts xvi. 
 19-40), and in which he w^as then contending at Rome, as 
 this letter, and the hearer of it, (Epaphroditus) would 
 inform them. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, — 
 The words ** in Christ" have the same meaning here as 
 elsewhere in the epistles of Paul. They import the union 
 which exists between Christ and those who are his — the 
 mystical union, as it is called, for want of a better defini- 
 tion. The compact Greek phrase, translated "exhortation 
 in Christ," needs to be expanded in English, in order that" 
 its meaning may be clearly elucidated. It may be done 
 thus, — in connection with the clause in which it stands : 
 If on account of your oneness in Christ there is any ground 
 on w^hich to base an exhortation. Dr. Lightfoot gives 
 the meaning in these words : ''If your experiences in 
 Christ appeal to you with any force." 
 
 if any consolation of lore, — Dr. Lightfoot takes the 
 meaning of the Greek word translated " comfort" in the 
 Authorised Version, and " consolation" in the Revised 
 Versions, to be rather " incentive or encouragement," and 
 there seems to be good reason for preferring the secondary 
 to the primary meaning of the Greek word in this place ; 
 for in I. Thess. ii. 11. the two Greek verbs correspondiog 
 to the nouns translated " exhortation" and "consolation" 
 in the American Revised Version, are found in conjunc- 
 tion, and are there translated " exhorting" and "encour- 
 aging." 
 
 It may be here remarked that if " exhortation" and 
 **■ encouragement" are correct renderings in Philippians 
 ii. 1, as we think they are, then the translation of the 
 same words in I Cor. xiv. 3 should be " exhortation and 
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V, 1. 
 
 encouragement," instead of "comfort and consolation" 
 in the English Revised Version, and the word "encourage- 
 ment" should take the place of the word "consolation" 
 in the same clause in the American Revised Version, in 
 which we have alread}^ the word " exhortation" instead 
 of " comfort." 
 
 The meaning of the second clause of the verse on 
 which we are commenting may then be expanded thus : 
 ' If your oneness in Christ furnishes any incentive or 
 encouragement to love one another.' Dr. Lightfoot gives 
 the meaning in these words : "If love exerts any 
 persuasive power upon you." 
 
 if any felloivsJiii) of the Spirit,— li here the definite 
 article preceded the word sjnrit, as is usually the case 
 when the Holy Spirit is intended, that would indicate 
 that the Spirit of God was meant in this place, but in the 
 absence of the definite article it is open to the translator 
 to write siJirit rather than Sjnrit ; and sinrit rather than 
 the Siyirit seems to accord better with the sense of the 
 passage. 
 
 if any tender mercies and comjxcssions , — The sense of 
 this clause seems to be, 'If your oneness in Christ produces 
 any tender affections and compassionate yearnings.' 
 
 Thus by the use of Four Ifs or Hypotheses the apostle 
 presented to the Philippians Four Facts or Reahties in 
 Christian Experience, namely : 
 
 (1) Their Oneness in Christ. 
 
 (2) The Incentive or Encouragemet of Love, found 
 
 in this Oneness. 
 
 (3) Fellowship of spirit, caused by this Oneness. 
 
 (4) Tender Mercies and Compassions, resulting from 
 
 this Oneness. 
 
 2. make full my joy, — Having thus prepared the way 
 for an exhortation, the apostle appealed to the Philippians 
 in these words : "Fulfil ye my joy," as in the English 
 Revised Version, or "Make full my joy," according to the 
 American Revised Version. The apostle had already in 
 this letter made mention of the joy with which he 
 remembered the Philippian Church in his prayers. He 
 
 [ 33 ] C 
 
CH. II. V. 2.] NOTES. 
 
 now exhorts them to help him to an experience of 
 fulness of joy in them. 
 
 that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being 
 of one accord, of one mind ; — In what way they can make 
 his joy in them complete the apostle thus points out. 
 Oneness in Christ he tells them should cause them (1) to 
 think alike, to be likeminded, to have common sympa- 
 thies ; (2) to have the same love, a mutual love, to be 
 not only of one mind but of one heart ; (3) to be united 
 in soul, to be entirely harmonious in the spirit's deepest 
 feelings ; (4) to be actually of one mind, to think as 
 though their individual minds were but one, and so to be 
 absorbed in thoughts one for the other. 
 
 Thus the apostle presented Four Fruits which should 
 be exhibited in the lives of the Philippians as the pro- 
 duct of their Oneness in Christ. 
 
 (1) Likemindedness. 
 
 (2) Mutual Love. 
 
 (3) Unison of Soul. 
 
 (4) Oneness of Mind, causing Self-abnegation. 
 
 These four fruits, it should be observed, correspond 
 to the four facts or realities mentioned in the first verse. 
 
 The apostle having thus dextrously laid the foundation 
 for an exhortation in the presentation of four realities in 
 Christian experience ; and having mentioned the four 
 fruits which their four-fold experience should produce, 
 and thus cause his joy in them to be made full, proceeds 
 with a Four- fold Entreaty in the third, fourth and fifth 
 verses. 
 
 3-5. doing nothing through faction or through vain- 
 glory, but in loivliness of mind each counting other better 
 than himself ; not looking each of you to his oion things, 
 hut each of you also to the things of others. Have this 
 onind in you, lohich luas also in Christ Jesus : — It should 
 be noticed that the four points of Paul's exhortation cor- 
 respond to the four facts or realities of Christian experi- 
 ence set down in the first verse, and to the four-fold 
 fruitage to be expected from oneness in Christ, as set forth 
 in the second verse. The Four Lets of the third, fourth 
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 3-5. 
 
 and fifth verses correspond to the Four Ifs of the first 
 verse. They are as follows : — 
 
 (1) Let nothing be done through faction or through 
 vainglory. x\t the time when Paul wrote this letter he 
 was having in Rome a painful experience of the w-orking 
 of faction among professed Christians. See Ch. i. 17. In 
 his epistle to the Romans (Ch. ii. 8) Paul says that they 
 who are factious " obey not the truth, but obey unright- 
 eousness." There were such characters in Rome among 
 those who called themselves Christians. Those w4:io are 
 vainglorious are essentially selfish, and so are given to 
 " provoking one another," and to " envying one another." 
 See Gal. v. 26. 
 
 (2) Let each in lowliness of mind count other better 
 than himself. Those w^ho are " tenderly affectioned one to 
 another," will be found " in honor preferring one ano- 
 ther." See Rom. xii. 10. They wdll subject themselves 
 one to another in the fear of Christ. See Eph. v. 21. 
 
 (3) Let each of you look not to his own things, but 
 each of you also to the things of others. To the Romans 
 Paul wrote (Rom. xv. 1, 2j, " We that are strong ought 
 to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please our- 
 selves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that 
 which is good, unto edifying." " The Philippians w^ere 
 not to consult each his own interests, but to cherish 
 mutual sympathy, and engage in mutual co-operation. 
 They were not to disregard their own things on pre- 
 tence of caring for each other's — for unless they had 
 first cared for their own things, they w^ere not quali- 
 fied to care for the things of others. Undue curiosity 
 and impertinent meddlings are far from the apostle's 
 thought, but he requires a holy solicitude and warm fel- 
 low-feeling — not absolute self-abnegation, but a vivid sub- 
 stantial interest in the spiritual welfare of others. It is not 
 myself alone or in isolation, as if others did not exist, but 
 myself wdth them and they with me, in earnest brother- 
 hood and love. My object must not be simply to out- 
 strip them in religious attainment, but to bring them and 
 myself to a higher stage of Christian excellence. Though 
 love seeketh not her own, still she has her own." Eadie. 
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 3-5.] NOTES. 
 
 (4) Let this mind be in you, which \Yas also in 
 Christ Jesus. **Let this mind be in you" (Authorised 
 Version), or "Have this mind in you" (Eevised Versions), 
 refers back to the fourth specification — that ye be " of one 
 mind" — under the heading, " Make full my joy." The 
 verb in different forms is the same in both places. 
 
 The Four Facts or Eealities of Christian experience 
 mentioned by the apostle, and the Four-fold Fruitage 
 which he indicates as the right result of union with 
 Christ, we may now Imk together in Four Corollaries or 
 Inferences, as follows : — 
 
 (1) Oneness in Christ, producing likemindedness, 
 should cause in Christ's followers an entire cessation of 
 factious action and vainglory. 
 
 (2) The Incentive of love, or Encouragement to love 
 one another, found in this Oneness, should produce 
 mutual love among all who are Christ's, so that in low- 
 liness of mind each will count other better than himself.. 
 
 (3) The Fellowship of spirit caused by this Oneness 
 should create Unison of soul, so that no member of 
 Christ's Body will look only to his own things, but each 
 member will look also to the things of his fellow-members. 
 
 (4) The Tender Mercies and Compassions which 
 naturally grow out of this Oneness should produce oneness 
 of mind amoog the members of Christ, should cause them 
 to have in them that mind which was also in Christ 
 Jesus, resulting in them in such self-elfacement as was 
 manifested in Him. 
 
 6. ivho, existing in the form of God, — The word 
 translated " existing " has reference to pre-existence. 
 What is here referred to is the essential being of 
 Christ, corresponding to the idea embodied in the 
 name Jehovah—" I AM THAT I AM." Ex. iii. 14. 
 It is the existence defined by John at the beginning of his 
 Gospel — " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
 w^as with God, and the W^ord was God." It is further 
 described by John as self-existence in these words — " In 
 him was life." John i. 4. Again in his first epistle the 
 apostle John speaks of it thus : " That which was from 
 the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we 
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 6. 
 
 have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld and our 
 hands handled, concerning the Word of life (and the life 
 was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and 
 declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with 
 the Father, and was manifested unto us) : that which w^e 
 have seen and heard declare we unto you." I John i. 1-3. 
 The expression, " in the form of God," implies the 
 Divinity of Christ ; " not the external accidents, but the 
 essential attributes" of Deity. In conformity to this idea 
 the framers of the Nicene Creed declared Christ to be 
 " God of God." x\s the subsequent phrase " the form of 
 a servant," which is the antithesis of the phrase, " the 
 form of God," implies Christ's true humanity, so this 
 expression implies his true divinity. -■' " If ' the form of a 
 servant,' implied that Christ was not really man, or not 
 really a servant, ' the form of God,' would imply that he 
 was not really God. The several expressions must have 
 a similar interpretation. And if, therefore, Christ was 
 not really man, Christ was not really God ; and w^iat 
 then was he? Neither man, nor God, is a conclusion 
 for which no heretic is prepared. All admit that he was 
 God separately, or man separately, or God and man 
 conjointly. And therefore the expressions, * form of 
 God,' ' form of a servant,' must mean literally God, and 
 literally a servant ; otherwise Christ w^as neither divine 
 nor human, but a phantom of both, and therefore a 
 nothing." ■-■'" St. Paul speaks of the Mediator in three 
 different states ; a state of glory, when he was ' in the 
 form of God ;' a state of humiliation, when he assumed 
 • the form of a servant ;' a state of exaltation, when there 
 was given unto him the name which is above every name. 
 It is further evident that the state of glory preceded the 
 state of humiliation ; so that Christ must have pre-exist- 
 ed in the form of God, and not have begun to exist when 
 appearing on earth in the form of a servant. Indeed the 
 apostle is inculcating humility, and enforcing his exhor- 
 tation by the example of the Saviour." The same idea 
 
 • Note. — From Cauon Melvill's " Golden Lectureship " discourse 
 on Philippians ii. 8. 
 
 [ 37 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 6.] NOTES. 
 
 is expressed in II Cor. iv. 4, where the apostle speaks 
 of Christ as " the iraage of God," He is the true repre- 
 sentation of God. Christ himself could therefore say, 
 " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." 
 Likewise the author of the epistle to the Hebrews de- 
 scribes Christ as the Son of God, in whom God hath 
 spoken unto us, whom he appointed heir of all things, 
 through whom also he made the worlds, who is the 
 effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his sub- 
 stance. Heb. i. 1 — 3. 
 
 counted not the being on an equality luith God a thing 
 to he grasped, — " He did not look upon equality with 
 God as a prize which must not slip from his grasp." 
 Lightfoot. The phrase " the being on an equality with. 
 God," no less than the expression "existing in the form 
 of God," is intended to set forth the real Divinity of our 
 Lord, for the two expressions are parallel and synony- 
 mous. The Jews perfectly understood the claim to be 
 divine which Christ put forth, as is seen from their 
 complaint against him, that he " called God his own 
 Father, making himself equal with God." 
 
 7. hut emptied liimself, taking the form of a servant, 
 heing made in the likeness of men ; — Of what did Christ 
 empty himself ? Not of " the form of God," nor of "the 
 being on an equality with God," in the sense of his 
 essential divinity. The Jews would not have charged 
 Christ with blasphemy, if they had not clearly understood 
 that he claimed to be divine. He said unto them, " I 
 and the Father are one," and when on account of this 
 they took up stones to stone him, he said unto them, 
 " Many good works have I showed you from the Father ; 
 for which of these works do ye stone me ? The Jews 
 answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but 
 for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, 
 makest thyself God." -John x. 30-33. And yet it was 
 the form of God, of which Christ emptied himself, but 
 only in the sense that he allowed his divinity to be ob- 
 scured by the veil of his humanity. As the Son of man 
 " he had the same essential glory, the same real dignity 
 he ever had " as the Son of God; but in "taking the form 
 
 r 38 1 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 7. 
 
 of a servant" he emptied himself of the " GodUke 
 majesty and the visible glory" which he had from all 
 eternity "in the form of God." Dr. Lightfoot remarks 
 that he "emptied, stripped himself of the insignia of 
 majesty." 
 
 The difference between the forms of the verb here used, 
 the form "existing" in the sixth verse, and the forms 
 "taking" and "being made" in the seventh verse, 
 should be noticed, for the former is indicative of per- 
 manence, while the latter are expressive of change. 
 
 " The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
 to minister, and to give his life a rambon for many " 
 (Mat. XX. 28), and that he might do this, he took on 
 him the form of a slave. He emptied himself when he 
 thus stooped to serve. Christ took "the form of a ser- 
 vant" by " being made in the likeness of men." The ex- 
 pression " being made in. the likeness of men" is to be 
 carefully noted. It indicates, says Bishop Ellicott, that 
 Christ though a perfect man, was still not a mere man. 
 Though he "became flesh" most truly, so that his 
 humanity was as real as that of any other human being, 
 yet his divinity was ever being manifested as he " went 
 about doing good" among men. " The Word," says the 
 apostle John, " became flesh, and dwelt among us (and 
 we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the 
 Father), full of grace and truth." John i. 14. 
 
 ■■'- " We are told that Christ ' emptied himself,' so that 
 * though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor ' 
 (II Cor. viii. 9). It must be blasphemous to speak of 
 properties of Godhead as laid aside, or even suspended. 
 But Christ ' emptied himself ' of the glories and the 
 majesties to which he had claim, and which, as he sat on 
 the throne of the heavens, he possessed in unmeasured 
 abundance. Whatsoever he was as to nature and essence, 
 whilst appearing amongst the angels in the form of God, 
 that he continued to be still, when, in the form of a ser- 
 vant, he walked the scenes of human habitation. But 
 
 * Note. — From Canon MelvilFs " Golden Lectureship " discourse 
 on Philippians, ii. 8. 
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 7-] NOTES. 
 
 then the glories of the form of God, these for a while he 
 altogether abandoned. If indeed he had appeared upon 
 earth — as, according to the dignity of his nature, he had 
 a right to appear — in the majesty and glory of the 
 Highest, it might be hard to understand what riches had 
 been lost by divinity. The scene of display woald have 
 been changed. But the splendor of display being un- 
 shorn and undiminished, the armies of the sky might have 
 congregated round the Mediator, and have given in their 
 full tale of homage and admiration. But, oh, it was 
 poverty that the Creator should be moving on a province 
 of his own empire, and j^et not be recognised nor confess- 
 ed by his creatures. It was poverty that, when he walked 
 amongst men, scattering blessings as he trode, the anthem 
 of praise floated not around him, and the air was often 
 burdened with the curse and the blasphemy. It was 
 poverty that, as he passed to and fro through tribes 
 whom he had made, and whom he had come dowm to re- 
 deem, scarce a solitary voice called him blessed, scarce 
 a solitary hand was stretched out in friendship, and scarce 
 a solitary roof ever proffered him shelter. And when 
 you contrast this deep and desolate poverty with that ex- 
 uberant wealth which had been always his own, whilst 
 heaven continued the scene of his manifestations — the 
 wealth of the anthem-peal of ecstasy from a million rich 
 voices, and of the solemn bowing down of sparkling 
 multitudes, and of the glowing homage of immortal 
 hierarchies, whensoever he showed forth his power 
 or his purposes — ye cannot fail to perceive that, 
 in taking upon him flesh, the Eternal Son descended, 
 most literally, from abundance to want; and that, 
 though he continued just as mighty as before, just 
 as infinitely gifted with all the stores and resources of 
 essential divinity, the transition was so total, from the 
 reaping -in of glory from the whole field of the universe, 
 to the receiving, comparatively, nothing of his revenues 
 of honor, that we may assert, without reserve, and with- 
 out figure, that he who was rich, for our sakes became 
 poor. ' In the form of God,' he had acted as it were, 
 visibly, amid the enraptured plaudits of angel and arch- 
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 7. 
 
 angel, cherubim and seraphim. But now, in the form 
 of man, he must be withdrawn from the dehghted in- 
 spections of the occupants of heaven, and act, as power- 
 fuhy indeed as before, but mysteriously and invisibly, 
 behind a dark curtain of flesh, and on the dreary plat- 
 form of a sin-burdened territory. So that the antithesis, 
 * the form of God,' and ' found in fashion as a man,' 
 marks accurately the change to which the Mediator 
 submitted." 
 
 In order to perceive how salvation was wrought out 
 for us through a divine plan executed by the hand of a 
 Mediator, it is necessary to gain a clear understanding of 
 the constitution of this Heaven-sent Mediator. "A 
 mediator," the inspired apostle tells us, ** is not a medi- 
 ator of one" (Gal. iii. 20), the meaning of which is that 
 he must partake of the nature of each of the parties 
 between whom mediation is to be made ; so that it was 
 necessary for Christ the Son of God, appointed from all 
 eternity to be man's Redeemer, to become incarnate, 
 that he might be on a level with man, while still retain- 
 ing his equality with God. Therefore the apostle, in 
 announcing that there now is such a Mediator as was 
 required, lays emphasis upon the fact that he is man. 
 "There is," says he, "one God, one mediator also be- 
 tween God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who 
 gave himself a ransom for all." 
 
 8. and being found in fashion as a man, — Dr. Lightfoot 
 in commenting on this clause well observes that what is 
 emphasised in the words here used is different from what 
 is indicated in the expressions of the preceding verses. 
 In those verses the apostle dwells on the contrast 
 exhibited between what Christ ivas from the beginning 
 and what he became aftenuards ; while here the com- 
 parison is between lohat he is in himself, and ivJiat he 
 was in the estimation of men. The result of his " being 
 found in fashion as a man " was that which the prophet 
 Isaiah described : " He hath no form nor comeliness ; 
 and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should 
 desire him. He was despised, and rejected of men ; . . . . 
 as one from whom men hide their face he was despised ; 
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 and we esteemed him not." Is. liii. 2, 3. *" Though he 
 was, all the while, God, God as truly, as when, in the 
 might of manifested Omnipotence, he filled infinite space 
 with glorious masses of architecture, still he so restrain- 
 ed the hlazings of Divinity that he could not, in the same 
 sense, be known as God, but wanted the form whilst 
 retaining the essence. He divested himself, then, of the 
 form of God, and assumed, in its stead, the form or 
 fashion of a man. Heretofore, he had both been, and 
 appeared to be God. Now he was God, but appeared as 
 a man. The very being who had dazzled the heavenly 
 hosts in the form of God, walked the earth in the form 
 and fashion of a man. Such, we think, is a fair account 
 of the particular phraseology which St. Paul employs. 
 The apostle is speaking of Christ as more than man. 
 Had Christ been only man, how preposterous to say of 
 him, that he was * found in fashion as a man.' What 
 other fashion, what other outward appearance, can a 
 mere man present, but the fashion, the outward appear- 
 ance of a man ? But if Christ were God, and yet 
 appeared as man, there is perfect accuracy in the state- 
 ment that he was ' found in fashion as a man ; ' and 
 we can understand, readily enough, how he who never 
 ceased, and could not cease to be God, might, at one 
 time, manifest divinity in the form of God, and, at 
 another, shroud that divinity in the form of a servant." 
 
 he humbled himself, — This is a further act of conde- 
 scension and humihation on the part of Christ, following 
 his emptying himself by the assumption of human nature 
 in taking the form of a slave. As the order of the Greek 
 words shows, the emphasis here is, as Bishop Ellicott 
 points out, on the act, and not on the subject ; whereas in 
 the previous expression, '' emptied himself," the empha- 
 sis is on the subject. Although Christ is spoken of as 
 humbling himself after he had emptied himself, yet this 
 further step in his humihation is not to be regarded as the 
 greater one in his condescension; for, as Dr. Eadie re- 
 
 * Note. — From Canon Melvill's "Golden Lectureship" discourse 
 on Philippians, ii. 8. 
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 8. 
 
 marks, " The descent from the throne to the manger is 
 infinitely greater than the step from the m.anger to the 
 cross." "•' There %Yas an act of humiliation, such as mortal 
 thought cannot compass, in the coming down of Deity, 
 and his tahernacling in flesh. We may well exclaim, 
 Wonder, heavens, and be astonished, earth, when 
 we remember that he whom the universe cannot contain, 
 did, literally, condescend to circumscribe himself w^ithin 
 the form of a servant ; and that in no figure of speech, 
 but in absolute, though mysterious reality, ' the Word 
 became flesh,' and the Son of the Highest born of a 
 pure virgin. We shall never find terms in which to 
 embody even our own conceptions of this unmeasured 
 humiliation ; whilst these conceptions themselves leave 
 altogether unapproached the boundary lines of the won- 
 der. If I could climb to Deity, I might know what it was 
 for Deity to descend into dust. But forasmuch as God 
 is inaccessible to all my soarings, it can never come 
 within the compass of my imagination to tell up the 
 amount of condescension ; and it will alw^ays remain a 
 prodigy too large for any thing but faith, that the Creator 
 coalesced with the creature, and so constituted a Mediator. 
 This was the humiliation in the assumption of humanity. 
 Bat after humanity had been assumed, when Christ w^as 
 'found in fashion as a man,' he yet further humbled 
 himself ; so that, over and above the humiliation as God, 
 there was an humiliation as man. The Son of God 
 brought himself down to the level of humanity. But the 
 humiliation ended not here. There was yet a lower 
 depth to w^hich this first humiliation did not necessarily 
 carry him. 'Being found in fashion as a man, he hum- 
 bled himself.' " 
 
 becoming obedient — We divide the clause, " becoming 
 obedient even unto death," into two parts, because the 
 words, "becoming obedient," seem to indicate the man- 
 ner of Christ's humiliation as a man, while the words, 
 " even unto death," show the extent of this humiliation. 
 
 * Note. — From Canon Melvill's " Golden Lectureship " discourse 
 on Pliilippians, ii. 8. 
 
 [ 43 ] 
 
CH. II. r. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 The words, " becoming obedient," are then, we think, to 
 be understood as explanatory of the manner in which 
 Christ as man " humbled himself." We understand the 
 expressions, "born of a woman, born under the law," 
 that is, becoming human, and becoming subject to the 
 law, to mark separate and distinct stages of the humilia- 
 tion of the Son of God, for it was humbling for the Law- 
 maker, even after his assumption of human nature, to 
 place himself in the position of one from whom obedience 
 to the law was required. Hear him before his advent in 
 the Hesh saying to his Father in the Psalm (Ps. xl. 6-8), 
 *' Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in; mine 
 ears hast thou opened : burnt offering and sin offering 
 hast thou not required (as in themselves satisfactory). 
 Then said I, Lo, I am come ; in the roll of the book it is 
 written of =me (or, prescribed to me) : I delight to do thy 
 will, my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart." 
 Mark especially the words, " Mine ears hast thou opened, 
 (or, pierced for me)." The ears of the bond-servant were 
 pierced in token of his entire submission to the will of his 
 master, as we learn from Exodus xxi. 5, 6. "If the 
 servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife and 
 my children ; I will not go out free : then his master 
 shall bring him unto God (or, the judges) and shall bring 
 him to the door, or unto the door-post ; and his master 
 shall bore his ear through with an awl ; and he shall 
 serve him for ever." Christ became such a bond-servant, 
 as we learn from the Psalm, for he is there de- 
 scribed as having his ears (both of them) pierced by his 
 Father, in token of his entire submission to his will. 
 That he did this gladly, that he dehghted in this sub- 
 mission, and in doing all that this position demanded of 
 him, detracts nothing from the humiliation to which as 
 man he submitted himself. The author of the epistle to 
 the Hebrews speaks of Christ's learning obedience by the 
 things which he suffered prior to his being nailed to the 
 cross. " Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up 
 prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears 
 unto him that was able to save him from death, and 
 having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a 
 
 [ a 1 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 8. 
 
 Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he 
 suffered, and having been made perfect, he became unto 
 all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation." 
 Hebrews v. 7-9. From the beginning Christ knew himself 
 to be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
 world, so that day by day until he came to the cross he 
 was being taught in the school of suffering and was 
 learning obedience — "becoming obedient" more and 
 more, until he was made perfect. Even as a child Christ 
 was learning the lessons of obedience which the author 
 of the epistle to the Hebrews speaks of. When he was 
 found in the temple at Jerusalem, sitting in the midst of 
 the teachers of the law both hearing them and asking 
 them questions, and his mother said to him, " Son, why 
 hast thou thus dealt with us ? behold, thy father and I 
 sought thee sorrowing ? " he said in reply, " How is it that 
 ye sought me ? knew ye not that I must be in my Father's 
 house (or, busied in the things of my Father, that is, in 
 learning his will)?" To the Jews, wdao thirsted for his 
 blood, he said, " He that sent me is true : and the things 
 w^hich I heard from him, these speak I unto the world. 
 When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye 
 know that I am he (or, who I am), and that I do nothing 
 of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these 
 things. And he that sent me is w^ith me ; he hath not 
 left me alone ; for I do always the things that are pleasing 
 to him." These w^ords w^ere spoken to the Jews in 
 answer to their question, " W^ho art thou?" And the 
 same spirit of the obedient servant breathed all through 
 his last recorded intercessory prayer to his Father. See 
 John xvii. This was the Servant w^hom the Father ever 
 upheld; his chosen, in whom his soul dehghted ; upon 
 whom he put his Spirit ; who was meek and lowly in 
 heart ; who was himself teachable and Heaven-taught, so 
 that he could well say, Learn of me ; who did not cry, 
 nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the 
 street ; who did not break the bruised reed, nor quench 
 the dimly burning wick ; who was so strong in divine 
 strength that he could not fail nor be discouraged, till 
 he had set justice in the earth — the Servant spoken 
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 of by Isaiah the prophet long before he came to this 
 world in the flesh to show himself to be all that was 
 predicted of him. See Isaiah xhi. 1 — 4 ; Matt. xi. 29. It 
 was because Christ as our Mediator was absolutely sub- 
 ordinate to the Father, so that he was obedient to him in 
 all things, that he ever called himself " the Son of man," 
 rather than the Son of God. By taking to himself this 
 title, which while it indicated his thorough identification 
 with mankind, at the same time distinguished him from 
 all others of the human race, he declared himself to be the 
 humblest of servants, because he was in reality the most 
 submissive and the most obedient of all. " Even as the 
 Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." The 
 last lesson which Christ learned in the school of suffering, 
 and which prepared him for the cross, was the bitterest 
 of all, and it is to this especially that the author of the 
 epistle to the Hebrews refers in the passage above quoted.. 
 This lesson was learned in Gethsemane. How deeply 
 Christ was plunged in grief, as the time of his death 
 drew near, may be seen in his " agony and bloody sweat" 
 in the garden, as he thrice repeated the prayer, " Father, 
 if thou be willing, remove this cup from me." But deep 
 as was his grief, equally deep and complete was his 
 acquiescence in his Father's will, expressed in the words 
 which he added to his final petition, " Nevertheless not 
 my will, but thine be done." 
 
 even unto death, — HhQ^Q words tell us the extent of the 
 humiliation to which Christ condescended as a man. As 
 it is appointed unto all men once to die, so Christ as our 
 Mediator, our Substitute, our Passover, could enjoy no 
 exemption from the common lot of lost humanity. As 
 our Saviour, it was absolutely necessary that he should 
 die, for he could in no other wise become our life. He 
 himself said, " Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth 
 and die, it abideth by itself alone ; but if it die, it beareth 
 much fruit;" and he knew himself to be such seed-corn. 
 It would not have pleased the Father to bruise him — the 
 Son in whom he was well pleased — if it had not been 
 necessary for him to do so. It was dire necessity that 
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 8. 
 
 caused the utterance of those prophetic words concerning 
 the slaughter of God's own Messiah — Zech. xiii. 7, 
 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the 
 man that is my fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts : smite the 
 shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered ; and I will 
 turn my hand upon the little ones," that is, to gather 
 them into my fold. Not one of Christ's sheep could have 
 entered the heavenly fold, had he not given his life for 
 them. 
 
 But the truth must not be lost sight of, that in the 
 humiliation of Christ an a man, even unto death, he was 
 absolutely solitary and alone in his experience. By this 
 we do not mean merely that his suffering was greater 
 than that of any other man could be, because of the fact 
 that he was not mere man ; but that inasmuch as he 
 was "holy, f^juileless, undefiled, separated from sinners," 
 it was humility unspeakable for him to die at all. And 
 here again we get a glimpse of Christ w^hich will help 
 us to understand the infinite, inexpressible value of his 
 sacrifice for us. -'-"Who was this mysterious man of 
 \vhom it can be said that he humbled himself in dying ? 
 Who can that man be, in whom that w^as humility which, 
 in others, is necessity ? Has there ever been the individ- 
 ual amongst the natural descendants of Adam, however 
 rare his endowments or splendid his achievements, how- 
 ever illustrious by the might of heroism, or endeared by 
 the w^armth of philanthropy, of whom w^e could say that 
 it was humility in him to die ? It were as just to say 
 that it w^as humility in him to have had only five senses, 
 as that it was humility in him to die. The most exalted 
 piety, the nearest approaches to perfection of character, the 
 widest distances between himself and all others of the 
 race ; these, and a hundred the like reasons, would never 
 induce us to give harborage, for an instant, to the thought 
 that a man stood exempt from the lot of humanity, or 
 that it was left, in any sense, to his option whether or 
 no he w^ould die. And, therefore, if there be a strong 
 
 * Note. — From Canon Melvill's " Golden Lectureship " discourse 
 on Philippians, ii. 8. 
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 method of marking off a man from the crowd of the 
 human species, and of distinguishing him from all who 
 bear the same outward appearance, in some mightier 
 respects than those of a mental or moral superiority, is it 
 not the ascribing to him what we may call a lordship 
 over life, or the representing him as so literally at liberty 
 to live, that it shall be humility in him to die ? We hold 
 it for an incontrovertible truth, that, had St. Paul said 
 nothing of the pre-existent glory of our Mediator, there 
 would have been enough in the words, ' He humbled 
 himself, becoming obedient unto death,' to satisfy un- 
 prejudiced minds that a mere man, such as one of our- 
 selves, could be no just description of the Lord Christ 
 Jesus. If it were himiility in the man to die, there must 
 have been a power in the man of refusing to die. If, in 
 becoming ' obedient unto death ' the man ' humbled him- 
 self,' there can be no debate that his dying was a 
 voluntary act ; and that, had he chosen to decline sub- 
 mission to the rending asunder of soul and body, he 
 might have continued to this day, unworn by disease, 
 unbroken by age, the immortal man, the indestructible 
 flesh. We can gather nothing from such form of expres- 
 sion, but that it would have been quite possible for the 
 Mediator to have upheld, through long cycles, undecayed 
 his humanity, and to have preserved it staunch and un- 
 broken, whilst generation after generation rose, and 
 flourished and fell. He in whom it was humility to die, 
 must have been one who could have resisted, through a 
 succession of ages, the approaches of death, and thus 
 have still trodden our earth, the child of centuries past, the 
 heir of centuries to come. We plead for it as a most 
 simple and necessary deduction, and we deny altogether 
 that it is a harsh and overstrained inference, from the 
 fact that the man Christ Jesus humbled himself in dying, 
 that the man was more than man, and that a nature, 
 higher than human, yea, even divine, belonged to his 
 person. We can advance no other account of such an 
 act of humility." 
 
 yea, the death of the cross. — Christ's crucifixion marks 
 the lowest step in his humiliation, the deepest degree of 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
;^OTES. [CH. II. V. 8. 
 
 bis de,^^adation. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews 
 speaks of the shame to which Christ was subjected in 
 the endurance of the cross. " Who endured the cross," 
 says he, "despising shame/' Heb. xii. 2. He was not 
 only treated as the meanest of men in being thus put to 
 death, but by being placed upon the middle cross, be- 
 tween two thieves, was designated as the chief malefactor. 
 Thus most fully and literally was the prophecy of Isaiah 
 concerning him fulfilled, '• He was numbered with the 
 transgressors." Is. liii. 12. But great as was the 
 condescension of the Prince of life in consenting to lay 
 down his life at all, that which cost him the most unutter- 
 able sorrow, the unfathomable agony of Gethsemane, 
 was not the mere manner of his death, though that in 
 itself was heart-l)reaking enough, nor was it the amount 
 of physical pain which he underwent in being crucified ; 
 that must have been the least of the items which made 
 up the totality of his suffering : that which grieved him 
 at his heart the most, and caused him more than all 
 else to shrink from the death appointed him, was the 
 imputation to him, the Holy One of God, of sin, yea, of a 
 world's guilt. 
 
 '•The death of the cross," writes Dr. Eadie, " w^as one 
 of special torture and disgrace. [Tnder Eoman law% it 
 was infiicted only on slaves and the vilest class of male- 
 factors. A death of glory may excite ardor, but death on 
 a gibbet is revolting. Some forms of violent death are 
 sudden and almost painless, but the cross was the means 
 of intense and protracted torture — a thousand deaths in 
 one ; and then to be treated as a felon, to be hanged on a 
 tree by heathen hands and under a sentence of public 
 law, — the shame was worse than the agon3\ The sun 
 would not gaze upon the scene, and the sky covered itself 
 in sackcloth. Aaron ascended to the summit of ]\Iount 
 Hor, and calmly expired at God's bidding. Moses climbed 
 the hills of Moab, and, descending into some lonely inner 
 valley, put off in the divine presence his earthly taber- 
 nacle. But so far did God's own Son carry his obedience, 
 that he shrank not from scorn and anguish, for he was 
 reviled as a blasphemer and taunted as an impostor and 
 
 [ 49 ] D 
 
GH. II, V. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 traitor during the trial that led him to death ; ay, and 
 that death was the doom of a felon, and he was stripped 
 and nailed in nakedness to the cross, amidst hooting and 
 execrations, gibes and merriment, as if he had been the 
 veriest wretch and criminal in all Judea. And this victim 
 of sorrow and persecution, of the fury and sport of men, 
 seized and killed so wantonly and cruelly by them, nay, 
 killed by the cross, as if any other form of death would 
 have been insufhcient to mark their sense of his base- 
 ness — this man, so hanged upon a tree, w^as originally 
 * in the form of God,' and ' counted not the being on an 
 equality with God a thing to be grasped.' " 
 
 It is said that when Christ was dying, the darkness 
 which was over the whole land extended to Egypt, and 
 that an Egyptian sage, reflecting upon so remarkable a 
 phenomenon, exclaimed, " Either nature is dissolving, or 
 a god is perishing." 
 
 The apostle said to the Corinthians (IL Cor. viii. 9), 
 " Ye know the grace (gift) of our Lord Jesus Christ, that" 
 though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor ;" 
 and these words throw light upon what he wrote to the 
 Philippians upon the same subject, inasmuch as they 
 enable us better to understand what it was for him who 
 existed in the form of God, first to empty, and then 
 to humble himself ; for they are clearly intended to teach 
 us that we cannot know how impoverished and abased 
 Christ became on earth as the Son of man, until we 
 see how rich he was in heaven from all eternity as the 
 Son of God. 
 
 While "existing in the form of God," Christ was rich 
 in life. Therefore it was that concerning him in regard 
 to his pristine state, the apostle John could say with 
 emphasis, " In him was life." Even when on earth as 
 the Son of man, his life was his own, and at his own 
 disposal, as he himself said to the Jews, for he was 
 still the Son of God as well as the Son of man. " I lay 
 down my life," said he, " that I may take it again. No 
 one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself, 
 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it 
 again." Knowing that Christ was God as well as man, 
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. ri. V. 8. 
 
 'even when he hung upon the cross, Peter said to his 
 •cruciliers, that he whom they had killed was no other 
 than " the Prince of Ufe." 
 
 While " existing in the form of God," Christ was rich in 
 p02ver. His was the almightiness by w^hich the universe 
 was built, for " all things were made through him ; 
 and without him was not any thing made that hath been 
 made"; and even when on Calvary he was by the shed- 
 ding of his blood making ' purification of sins' for us, 
 he, the " Mighty God," was " upholding all things by the 
 '^'ord of his power." During his earthly ministry he was 
 ever manifesting divine power in redemptive acts, 
 though he never wrought a miracle for the purpose of 
 exempting himself from the common lot of dependent 
 creatures. 
 
 When " existing in the form of God," Christ was rich in 
 love Hear him saying in the book of Proverbs, " Jeho- 
 vah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before 
 
 his works of old When he marked out the foundations 
 
 of the earth, then I was by him, as a master workman ; 
 and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before 
 him." Prov. viii. 22-30. He endured the hiding of 
 his Father's face amidst the agony of the cross, but 
 he was never more acceptable to his Father than when 
 he was overshadowed by the aw^ful darkness which 
 caused him to cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ?" He could ever say, as once he did 
 say, " He that sent me is with me ; he hath not left me 
 alone ; for I do always the things that are pleasing 
 to him ;" and it was because as he expired upon the 
 cross he could say of his atoning w^ork, " It is finished,'* 
 that he could with filial trust also say, " Father, into thy 
 hands I commend my spirit." At his baptism, and 
 again on the mount of transfiguration, he heard his 
 Father's voice saying, " This is my beloved Son, in 
 whom I am w^ell pleased." 
 
 When " existing in the form of God," Christ was rich in 
 glory. All the glory of heaven was his. Hear him in 
 his last intercessory prayer for his disciples saying, 
 " Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given 
 
 [ 51 ] 
 
QH. II. V. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 me be with m^ where I am, that they may behold my 
 gloiy, which thou ha^t given me ; for thou lovedst me 
 before the foundation of the world." 
 
 When " existing in the form of God," Christ was rich in 
 holiness. He came from lieaven as " the Holy One of 
 God," and in his incarnate state was recognised as such 
 even by an unclean spirit. 
 
 When " existing in the form of God," Christ was rich in 
 all the attributes of Deity. 
 
 So rich was Christ when " existing in the form of God"; 
 yet he became poorer than the foxes which have their 
 holes, and the birds of the heaven which have their 
 nests ; for the Son of man had not where to lay his head ; 
 and in order that he might redeem us from the curse of 
 a righteous law he became even a curse for us. 
 
 9. Wherefore also God hirjhbj exalted him, — We see in 
 Christ's humiliation and subsequent exaltation the ful- 
 lest exemplification of that assurance of God's Word 
 which Christ more than once uttered, '• He that hum- 
 bleth himself shall be exalted." It was not only fitting 
 that Christ's exaltation should follow his humiliation ; 
 his elevation followed as a necessary consequence of his 
 abasement. Therefore it behooved also that the height 
 of his exaltation should correspond to the depth of his 
 humiliation. " Infinite condescension merits highest 
 glory. Nothing could be lower than the degradation of 
 the cross, nothing higher than the mediatorial crown." 
 Eadie. 
 
 and gave unto liivi the name ichich is above every 
 name ; — -Unto him as the Son of man was the name 
 given, for as Dr. Lightfoot points out, the verbs here 
 used are employed with reference to the subordinate 
 position which the Son of God assumed. In Eph. i. 
 17-21, the apostle says that the God of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Father of glory, when he raised Christ from 
 the dead, " made him to sit at his right hand in the 
 heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, 
 and power, and dominion, and every name that is 
 named, not only in this world, but also in that which 
 is to come : and he put all things in subjection under his 
 
 [ 52 ] 
 
, NOTES. [CH. II. V. 9. 
 
 feet, and jjave him to be head over all things to the 
 chui'ch, which is his bod5% the fulness of him that 
 iilleth all in all," that is, made him, as Head of the Chinch, 
 supreme in the whole universe. And the author of the 
 epistle to the Hebrews, mentioning the Son of God as the 
 person in whom prophetic revelation had culminated, 
 speaks of him as having been appointed heir of all things, 
 as the person through whom God made the worlds, as 
 being the effulgence of God's glory, and the very image 
 of his substance, and as upholding all things by the word 
 of his power ; and then he goes on to state that he, ** when 
 he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right 
 hand of the Majesty on high ; having become by so much 
 better than the angels, as he hath inherited a more 
 excellent name than they." 
 
 10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should boWy 
 of tilings in heaven and things on earth and things under 
 the earth, — From the connection in which the name 
 Jesus is here used, this name would appear to be " the 
 name vrhich is above every name." And from the juxta- 
 position in which the words, " a more excellent name," in 
 Heb. i. 4, and the words, " my Son," in the following verse, 
 occur, this distinguishing title would with equal likelihood 
 appear to be " the name which is above every name." 
 It is impossible therefore to say that this, or that, or any 
 other name, is with particularity thus referred to. Nor 
 is it necessary to understand that any particular name is 
 intended by the designation, "the name which is above 
 every name. ' A name, any name, is lowered or elevated, 
 degraded or exalted, by the character of the person who 
 bears it. By the living of noble lives, and by the per- 
 formance of heroic deeds, the commonest names are gilded 
 with grace, honor and dignity. The name Jesus was a 
 common one among the Jews before Christ's time and in 
 his day, and if Jesus of Na/areth had done nothing more 
 than other Jews who had borne this name had done to 
 make it distinguished, it would not have been lifted above 
 the common level. But the life and death of this Jesus 
 have given to this name an eminence such as no other 
 name can ever have. And so it is with the title " My 
 
 [ 53 ] 
 
CH. II. -17. 10.] NOTES, 
 
 Son," which distinguishes above all other sons Him to 
 whom God in a special manner applied it. So well pleas- 
 ed did God the Father become with his Son Jesus, the- 
 Christ, that he not only exalted him above the angels, 
 but an everlasting throne, the throne of the Highest, was 
 given to him. *' Th}^ throne, O God, is for ever and ever,"^ 
 said God the Father to his Son. The name Jesus and 
 the title Lord are now and will ever be synonymous. 
 When the prostrate persecutor Saul hearing a voice, not 
 of earth, speaking to him, inquired, " Who art thou, 
 Lord," the answer came, " I am Jesus." 
 
 When it is said, " that in the name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and 
 things under the earth," what is meant is that universal, 
 homage shall be paid to him. Such homage will be paid' 
 to Jesus on the day of judgment. " To this end Christ 
 died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the 
 
 dead and the living For we shall ah stand before 
 
 the judgment-seat of God. For it is written. As I live, 
 saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow." "The judg- 
 ment-seat of God" is the reading of thePievised Version, 
 but this does not change the meaning of the Scripture in 
 this place. It only makes clear that Christ is God, for no 
 other than God could be " Lord of both the dead and the 
 living." 
 
 Those who will bow the knee to Jesus on the day of 
 judgment will do so in sincere acknowledgment of his 
 divine authority and sovereignty. How important, there- 
 -fore, it is that all who will then appear before him should 
 begin on earth to bow the knee to him in sincerity!" 
 - What a travesty upon serious worship is that bow- 
 ing at the name of Jesus, which, consisting only of 
 ritualistic ceremony, is not in the least indicative of 
 submission of heart and of true allegiance to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ I 
 
 11. and that every tongue should confers that Jesus 
 Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. — -Wlien the 
 apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost said, " Let all the 
 house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath 
 made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye cru- 
 
 [ 54 1 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 11. 
 
 cified," he stated that by the resurrection of Jesus these 
 two facts had been made clear, namely, first; that Jesus 
 was no other than Jehovah, and secondly, that he was the 
 Messiah, of whom the prophets had spoken. And with 
 such convincing power did the Holy Spirit bring these 
 truths home to those who heard them, that " they were 
 pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and the rest of 
 the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do ?" Again, Paul, 
 in his epistle to the Romans, says, " If thou shalt confess 
 with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy 
 heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be 
 saved." Thus according to Paul also, the risen Jesus was 
 to be acknowledged as Jehovah the living God, and 
 trusted in as a Divine Deliverer, in order to the obtaining 
 of salvation. To the Corinthians also Paul said, " We 
 preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord (or Jeho- 
 vah), and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 
 Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of 
 darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
 So in this passage in Philippians, the meaning is, that 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Jehovah, 
 to the glory of God the Father. 
 
 As a confirmation of the correctness of this interpreta- 
 tion of the texts above cited, we have only to quote a 
 passage from the prophet Isaiah, as follows : " Who 
 hath showed this from ancient times ? who hath declared 
 it of old ? have not I, Jehovah ? And there is no God 
 else besides me, a just God and a Saviour ; there is none 
 besides me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends 
 of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else. By 
 myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my 
 mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto 
 me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Only 
 in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength ; 
 even to him shall men come; and all they that were 
 incensed against him shall be put to shame. In Jehovah 
 shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." 
 
 12. So then, my beloved, even as ye have alicays 
 obeyed, — The Philippian Church had from the commence- 
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 12.] NOTES. 
 
 ment of its history shown a beautiful spirit of obedience, 
 which was the reason why so strong a bond of affection 
 existed between them and the apostle. They had been 
 obedient to the will of God, as his will had been made clear 
 to them by the teaching of his servant Paul. The motive 
 to continued obedience they would perceive to be of the 
 strongest possible character, since the apostle had just 
 mentioned the obedience of Christ for them even unto 
 death, yea, the death of the cross, together with his con- 
 sequent exaltation, in which his people who suffer with 
 him will be participants with him. Eom. viii. 17, and 
 II Tim. ii. 12. Obedience is a distinguishing mark nf 
 the children of God, which was exemplified in a remark- 
 able degree in Abraham, the father of the faithful, and 
 the friend of God. 
 
 not as in my presence only, hut noio much more in my 
 absence, — The presence of Paul among them would 
 greatly stimulate them, but the presence of Christ, 
 with them should stimulate them most of all ; and the 
 absence of such aid as Paul's presence might afford, 
 ought to have the effect to lead them to rely more un- 
 reservedly upon Christ, for after all they were to follow 
 Paul only as he followed Christ. 
 
 While individual Christians and organised Churches 
 should value most highly all the subordinate helps which 
 God provides, yet when they have none but God to 
 help them, they should instead of being discouraged, be 
 rather encouraged to go forward and put forth even 
 greater exertions in all well-doing, rememberincj Christ's 
 words, " Lo, lam with you all the days." Paul's en- 
 forced absence, due to his imprisonment, would give 
 great weight to his exhortation to them to work out their 
 ovm salvation even as he was then working out his 
 own. 
 
 The pastor of a large London Church, on returning to 
 his people after an enforced absence, said, " If I were to 
 begin to tell you of all the lessons I hope I have learnt 
 in my absence from you, L should keep you here far into 
 the night. I have felt that this enforced absence from 
 you has been blessed to both of us. It has taught us to 
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
NOTKS. [CH. II. V. 12. 
 
 depend more entirely upon God. Ifc has taught me to 
 feel that my hand must he clasped in His hand, and 
 that my feet must be planted on the Kock. J received 
 when away a letter from a young man in my congre- 
 gation which touched me very much. He had been 
 passing through a period of great perplexity, and if I had 
 been at home he would have come to me for advice. 
 As it was he was forced to go to God alone, and he 
 wrote to tell me of the perfect blessing that had come 
 to him through this seeking of God. ' I thank Him 
 for your absence,' he said." 
 
 Is there not a lesson here for those who depend so 
 much on protracted meetings and conferences, and on 
 what they call evangelistic or revival meetings for help, 
 rather than upon direct help from God through the 
 study of his Word and through secret prayer ? Are not 
 the ordinary means of grace, the regular Sabbath ser- 
 vices of the sanctuary, the week-day prayer-meeting, and 
 family worship, too much disparaged by many ? Is not 
 that precious assurance of Christ — " Where two or three 
 are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them" — too little valued? When two thus 
 meet together, do the two always know that not two 
 only, but three are there? And when not even two can 
 thus meet, can no prayer-meeting be held ? Does not 
 Jesus say, '* But thou, when thou prayest, (or, if thou 
 wouldst pray) enter into thine inner chamber, and 
 having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, 
 and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense 
 thee?" 
 
 woi'k out your own sal cat ion ir ith fear and trembling ; — 
 Salvation is God's work, but it is not wrought in those 
 who would remain passive under God's hand, like 
 machines which are moved only as power from without 
 is applied to them. Human beings are free moral agents, 
 responsible for their actions, and God treats them as 
 such. When Jehovah said to the house of Israel, " As 
 the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand," be 
 went on to say to them these things also, " At what instant 
 I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a 
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 12. j NOTES. 
 
 kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy 
 it ; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken^ 
 turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I 
 thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall 
 speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
 build and to plant it ; if they do that which is evil in my 
 sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of 
 the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." It is 
 thus made evident that God's use of the parable of the 
 potter and the clay in the word which he gave to his 
 prophet to speak to the house of Israel, was intended to 
 show them that they had in their own hands the making 
 of their own destiny. See Jeremiah xviii. 5-12. Christ's 
 obedience even unto death, yea, the death of the cross, 
 procured a free, full and everlasting salvation for us, but 
 whether it becomes ours or not depends on whether 
 we are willing to obey Christ or not, for he became unto 
 all them that obey him the Author of this salvation. 
 Heb. V. 7-9. We shall neither be saved, nor will our 
 salvation after our acceptance of Christ as our Saviour be 
 perfected, unless we put forth, and continue to put forth, 
 our own efforts to obtain salvation, and to make our 
 calling and election sure. The spirit in which these 
 exertions should be put forth and maintained is set forth 
 in this exhortation of Paul to the Philippians. The 
 spirit of obedience begets distrust of self, and this is 
 coupled with an earnest purpose to do the will of God 
 in humble reliance upon his help. We see this well 
 exemplified in the Corinthian Christians. See II. 
 Cor. vii. 15. 
 
 13. for it is God icJio wovlceth in you — Without God's 
 working in us our working would be utterly vain and 
 futile ; therefore Paul gives as a reason for our working 
 out our own salvation, that it is God who worketh 
 in us. The verb here used is the one from which the 
 English word energy is derived. The meaning therefore 
 is that God's power is employed on our behalf and 
 produces results ; in other words, God works in us 
 effectively. This is the word used in Gal. ii. 8, where 
 Paul says, " He that wrought (or energised) for Peter 
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. v. 13^. 
 
 unto the apostleship of the ch*cumcision, wrought (or 
 energised) for me also unto the Gentiles." 
 
 botJi to will and to icor'k, — These words are added for 
 the purpose of showing that God's work is not merely 
 supplementary to man's, but is, on the contrary, initia- 
 tive, continuous, completive, that is, the w^hole work of 
 salvation is God's from the beginning to the end. The 
 very first impulse on man's part to will is of God, 
 and all the subsequent effective efforts of man in working 
 out his own salvation are due to the efficiency which God 
 himself inspires in man. 
 
 fo7- his (jood pleasure. — It is all '* according to the good 
 pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his 
 grace, which he freely bestow^ed on us in the Beloved." 
 Eph. i. 5, 6. 
 
 14. Do all tilings tcitliout murmurings and question- 
 ings ; — Paul's meaning (as the words which follow make 
 ciearj is, ' Be not like the Israelites in the wilderness, who 
 murmured and complained against God ? They should 
 never give way to discontent, on account of any of God's 
 dealings with them ; nor to unbelief, as if God were 
 not faithful and true. 
 
 15. that ye may become blameless and harndcss,—Oi 
 the two qualifying terms here used, the former evidently 
 refers to character in the estimation of others, while the 
 latter is employed in reference to intrinsic worth. The 
 apostle expressed the desire that they might approve 
 themselves as entirely void of blameworthiness, and 
 (what would be a still greater virtue) void also of all evil. 
 Thus in an eminent degree would their Christ-likeness. 
 appear. The same high standard of character to which 
 in the second chapter, verses 2-5, they are exhorted 
 to attain, is again set before them. 
 
 children of God without blemish in tlie midst of ct 
 crooked and perverse generation, — The full force of the 
 apostle's words in this and in the preceding clause 
 cannot be perceived without recalling w-hat in the 
 estimation of God the Israelites were, as their character 
 is described by Moses in his song in Deut. xxxii. 5 : 
 *' They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not 
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
•CH. II. V. 15.] NOTES. 
 
 his children, it is their blemish (or, a blot on them) ; they 
 are a perverse and crooked generation/' With the clearest 
 reference to all these particulars laid to the charge 
 of Israel by Moses, the apostle expresses his desire for 
 the Philippians, that they may be blameless and harmless 
 (literally without faults or defects, and unmixed or un- 
 adulterated), that they may be children of God, that 
 they may be without blemish, and, in the midst of a 
 •crooked and perverse generation, not themselves perverse 
 and crooked. 
 
 among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, — The 
 apostle wished them to be like the great lights in the 
 firmament, liindnaries enlightening the darkness which 
 but for them would enshroud their part of the world. 
 " They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
 firmament : and they that turn many to righteousness 
 ■as the stars for ever and ever. Dan. xii. 3. A lamp 
 placed on a stand shineth unto all that are in the house. 
 Even so Christians should let their light shine before men, 
 that they may see their good works, and glorify their 
 Father who is in heaven. Matt. v. 15,16. If any professed 
 Christians are not what Christ says his people are — 
 *'the light of the world," then do they not show them- 
 selves false to their profession '? 
 
 16. JiGlding forth the word of life ; — The way for 
 Christians to illuminate the spiritual darkness which is 
 around them is to hold forth in the midst of it the Word 
 of life. "Thou hast the words of eternal life," said 
 Peter to his Lord ; and taking these words he held them 
 forth to others, and they became in his use of them 
 *' spirit and life." How marvellously and with what glori- 
 ous results he held them forth on the day of Pentecost ! 
 What a luminary was Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed 
 preacher, as he was called, when the people of Antioch 
 before whom he held forth the Word of life felt constrained 
 to say of him, " Better would it be for the sun not to 
 shine than for Chrysostom not to teach !" The holding 
 forth of the Word of life, whether in the pulpit or out of 
 it, whether by the ordained preacher, or by any other of 
 Christ's servants, is the one instrumentality which God 
 
 [ 60 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 16. 
 
 has appointed to be used for the enlightenment of men,, 
 and the conversion of souls to Christ. " He that hath my 
 word," said God by the prophet Jeremiah, ** let him 
 speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the 
 wheat? saith Jehovah. Is not my word like fire? saith 
 Jehovah ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in 
 pieces?" Paul exhorted Timothy thus: "Preach the 
 word ; be urgent in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, 
 exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." When 
 on account of the persecution which arose about Stephen 
 all the disciples who were in Jerusalem were scattered 
 al)road throughout the regions of Judiea and Samaria, what 
 did they? "They went about preaching the word." 
 Though it is not specifically stated, it is nevertheless 
 highly probable that the occasion when the risen Christ 
 appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, was that 
 one when on a mountain in Galilee he said to the assembled 
 disciples, "All authority hath been given unto me in 
 heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disci- 
 ples of all the nations." Not alone the eleven apostles, 
 but all the brethren were commissioned to preach the 
 Gospel, and thus hold forth the Word of life. There 
 exists, no doubt, the need for organised Christian missions, 
 but above this need is the special one— that of a " univer- 
 sal Christian mission," that is, a mission comprising all 
 of Christ's disciples. In his last recorded intercessory 
 prayer for his disciples, Christ prayed not for a select few 
 alone, but for all his people, saying, " Sanctify them in 
 the truth : thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into 
 the world, even so sent 1 them into the world." Previous- 
 ly in this prayer he had said, "I have given them thy 
 word." With this word they were to go and enlighten and 
 lead to Christ their fellow-men still sitting in darkness. 
 They were to bear witness to the truth. The followers of 
 Christ do not appreciate their privilege as individuals, or 
 recognise th6ir personal obligation to their Saviour, if 
 they allow themselves to be lost sight of in the 
 general work of the Church, or if they relegate to their 
 ministers the work of evangelising their fellow-men, 
 as if it were theirs alone. Bishop Westcott well says, " If 
 
 [«i ] 
 
'CH. II. V. 16.] NOTES. 
 
 only every Christian would have the courage to confess 
 what he has found in his faith, simply and soberly, with- 
 out affectation and without reserve ; if, that is, our 
 apostles were multiplied a thousand fold ; we should not 
 wait so sadly, sodoubtingly, as we do, for the last triumph 
 of Christ : we should rejoice to hasten his coming, 
 v>'hen he shall return in glory, the same Jesus who died 
 and rose from the dead : we should, in a sense which we 
 have not yet felt, know him and the power of his re- 
 surrection." 
 
 that I may have lohereofto glory in the day of Christ, — 
 The apostle Paul seems ever to have wrought with the 
 day of judgment in view, and he had glorious anticipa- 
 'tionsof what in reference to himself and his fellow-workers 
 would then be manifested. He told the Corinthian 
 Christians that as they had acknowledged, though but 
 partially, that they gloried in him and his fellow-workers, 
 even as he and his fellow-workers gloried in them, so he 
 hoped that they would continue to glory unto the end, 
 even to the day of the Lord Jesus (II. Cor. i. 13, 14). To 
 them he said, " Each man's work shall be made manifest : 
 for the day (that is, the day of judgment) shall declare it, 
 because it is revealed in fire, and the lire itself shall prove 
 each man's work of what sort it is." I. Cor. iii. 13. And 
 again he said to them, " With me it is a \evy small thing 
 that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: 
 yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing 
 against myself ; yet am I not hereby justified : but he that 
 judgeth me is the Lord. Wherefore judge nothing before 
 the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to 
 light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest 
 the counsels of the hearts ; and then shall each man 
 have his praise from God." I. Cor. iv. 3-5. 
 
 that I did not run in vain neither labor m vain. — If the 
 Philippian Christians should continue to the last day 
 to be what they had been from the first day of Paul's 
 acquaintance with them, that is, if they should continue 
 to he seen as luminaries in the world, holding forth the 
 Word of life, then he would surely have whereof to glory 
 in that day,- that he had not run in vain neither labored 
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 16. 
 
 in vain on their behalf. Continuance in well-doing is that, 
 and that only, which ensures against failure in the Chris- 
 tian course. " We are become partakers of Christ, if we 
 hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the 
 end." Heb. iii. 14. 
 
 The apostle wrote to the Philippians in the same 
 spirit in which the author of the epistle to the Hebrews 
 (who may have been Paul) wrote to his Jewish brethren 
 in Christ : " God is not unrighteous to forget your work 
 and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that 
 ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister. 
 And we desire that each one of j^ou may show the same 
 diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end : that 
 ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through 
 faith and patience (endurance or continuance of labor) 
 inherit the promises." Heb. vi. 10-12. 
 
 Paul likens his efforts for the spiritual welfare of the 
 Philippians to the severely strenuous exertions of the 
 Grecian youth who contended for prizes in the Isthmian 
 games. The apostle made frequent reference to these 
 contests in his epistles. See Acts xx. 24 ; Eom. ix. 16 ; 
 
 I. Cor. ix. 24-27 ; Gal. ii. 2 and v. 17 ; Phil. i. 27, 30 and 
 iii. 12-14 ; Col. i. 29 and ii. 1, 18 ; I. Tim. iv. 7-10 and vi. 
 
 II, 12 ; II. Tim. ii. 5 and iv. 7, 8; Heb. xii. 1. 
 
 It is interesting to notice that Polycarp in his epistle 
 to the Philippians uses the same metaphorical expression 
 as Paul in reference to the Christian life. " All of you 
 obey the w^ord of righteousness," says he, " and practise 
 true endurance, which you have seen exemplified before 
 you not only in ])lessed Ignatius, Zosimus and Eufus, 
 but in others of your own body, and in Paul himself and 
 the other apostles. You know that they all did not run 
 in rain. They have gone, in the path of faith and 
 righteousness, to their promised place, beside the Lord 
 with whom they suffered." 
 
 17. Yea, and if I am offered (poured out as a drink- 
 •oifering) u])on the sacrifice and service of your faith, — 
 The word translated ' yea' has here a reflexive force, 
 and the apostle's meaning may be thus paraphrased : 
 ' My labor for you has indeed been severe, but if I shall 
 
 [ 03 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 17.] I^OTES. 
 
 be called to do more than I have hitherto done, even to- 
 shed my blood foi' you'. In the metaphor which the 
 apostle here uses, the Philippian Christians are pic- 
 tured as priests engaged in otfering a sacrifice, and the 
 reference is probably, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, to a. 
 heathen rather than a Jewish sacrifice, which, as the 
 Philippian Christians were, many of them, converts from 
 heathenism, would appeal to them forcibly. The sacrifice 
 which they are represented as ottering is their faith in 
 Christ, or their service for Christ as a manifestation of 
 their faith. Paul, making still further use of a metaphor 
 derived from the custom of the heathen, represents his- 
 own life-blood as a libation poured out upon the sacrifice 
 of the Philippians. 
 
 J joy, and rejoice icith you all : — I rejoice in this as a 
 privilege, and 1 congratulate you all as having a part 
 with me in manifesting devotion to our common Saviour. 
 
 IS. and in tJie same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice- 
 with me. — I ask you likewise to rejoice in the privilege" 
 of serving Christ which is afforded you, and to congrat- 
 ulate me on the high privilege of dying for the Gospel's 
 sake, if it shall please Christ to bestow upon me such an 
 honor. We have the testimony of tradition that Paul 
 did receive this honor ; and thus the Philippian Chris- 
 tians would have in the death as well as in the life of 
 their spiritual father an example of loyalty to Christ which 
 might W'cU stir up in them like consecration to the 
 service of the Gospel. And if in the hearts of the 
 Philippian Christians, why not in ours also '? 
 
 19. But I hope in the Lord Jesus.— The conjunction 
 * but,' in connection with Paul's proposal, possibly 
 indicates a connection with the words 'in my absence' in 
 verse 12; or the connection may be with the paragraph 
 just ended. ' But notwithstanding that my death is 
 a possibihty, my hope is that I may be able to send 
 Timothy to you shortly.' In the same manner, in verse 
 24, Paul expresses his confidence in the Lord, of being 
 able shortly to come unto them himself. Paul expresses 
 no hope or trust except in the Lord. He realised that 
 he was a part of Christ, a member of his body, and so he 
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
- NOTES. [CH. II. V. 19. 
 
 would not put forth an act or feel an impulse apart from 
 Christ. " The Christian is a part of Christ, a member of 
 his body. His every thought and word and deed pro- 
 ceeds from Christ, as the centre of volition. Thus be 
 loves in the Lord, he hopes in the Lord, he boasts in the 
 Lord, he labors in the Lord, etc. He has one guiding 
 principle in acting and in forbearing to act. ' Only in 
 the Lord' (I. Cor. vii. 39)." Lightfoot. Such indeed is 
 the Pauline Christian. And is not this the model for 
 all Christians ? 
 
 to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may he 
 of good comfort, when I know your state. — As you will be 
 comforted when you hear from me in reference to my 
 circumstances, so I also hope to be comforted when I 
 learn what your situation is. 
 
 20. For I have no man likeminded, who will care truly 
 (genuinely) for your state. — The word "truly " may also be 
 understood to mean naturally, like a parent. As Timothy 
 was associated with Paul in the establishment of the 
 Philippian Church, and as he had from the beginning 
 shared Paul's solicitude for their welfare, and visited them 
 from time to time, he would have, like the apostle, a 
 parental feeling towards the Philippian Christians. 
 
 When Paul wrote from Eome his letter to the Colos- 
 sians he had with him no less than seven other brethren 
 of Timothy's stamp. One of them was Tychicus, whom he 
 spoke of as '* the beloved brother and faithful minister 
 and fellow-servant in the Lord." He had Onesimus, 
 " the faithful and beloved brother," whom he had 
 begotten in his bonds. He had Aristarchus of Thessalo- 
 nica, who had been a companion in travel, and was then 
 a fellow-prisoner with him. He had Mark, the cousin of 
 Barnabas, whom he had once regarded as unfaithful, 
 but w^ho now possessed his entire confidence. He had 
 Jesus, called Justus, from Corinth. Of these five men he 
 says in his letter to the Colossians, " These only are 
 my fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God, men that 
 have been a comfort unto me." But before closing 
 his letter he mentions two others. One of them was 
 Epaphras, whom he speaks of as a " beloved fellow- 
 
 [ 65 ] E 
 
CH. II. V. 20.] NOTES. 
 
 servant," and " a faithful minister of Christ," and of whom 
 he says that he was always striving (agonising) for 
 them (the Colossians) in his prayers, that they might 
 stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God ; 
 and he further says concerning him, " I bear him witness 
 that he hath much labor (labor in prayer) for you, 
 and for them in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis." 
 And along with Epaphras he mentions Luke, " the 
 beloved physician." But all these seven must have 
 been absent from Home when Paul w^rote his letter 
 to the Philippians. 
 
 21. For they all seek their own, not the things of 
 Jesus Christ. — Paul here speaks of those who were with 
 him and might have been sent to Philippi, if they 
 had been fit to go. At the close of this letter, when Paul 
 is sending their salutation to the Philippians, he merely 
 says, " The brethren that are with me salute you," 
 He could not have said less, if he mentioned them at 
 all. The difference between such a notice of those 
 who were with him at this time, and the individual 
 and affectionate mention which he made of his compan- 
 ions when he w^rote to the Colossians, not far from 
 the same time, is very suggestive. All the brethren who 
 were with Paul were clearly disqualified for such a com- 
 mission as that with which Timothy was entrusted, for 
 the reason that they were distinguishing between their 
 own things and the things of Christ, as though they and 
 Christ were not one, and their interests and Christ's were 
 not identical. How clearly their disqualification for such 
 a service as that which Timothy was sent to perform 
 appeared to Paul, is seen from the sharp contrariety in 
 which he places their un-Christian selfishness, and the 
 devotion to Christ which ought rather to have character- 
 ised them. " They all seek their own, not the things of 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 22. But ye hnoio the 'proof of him, that, as a child 
 serveth a father, so he served loith me in furtherance of the 
 gospel. — To have such testimony concerning him given 
 by Paul, what an honor this w^as to Timothy ! Then too, 
 the PhiHppians knew that what Paul said was true, for 
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 22. 
 
 the service of which Paul spoke had been rendered before 
 their eyes in PhiHppi. 
 
 At the time when Paul sent Timothy from Ephesus via 
 Macedonia (Acts xix. 22) to Corinth, he said in his letter 
 to the Corinthians (I Cor. iv. 17), which would reach 
 them before the arrival of Timothy, this concerning his 
 true and trusted son in the faith : " I have sent unto 
 you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the 
 Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways 
 which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in 
 every church." So thoroughly imbued with the apostle's 
 teachings even concerning the deepest truths of the 
 Gospel was Timothy, that the apostle could feel fully 
 assured concerning him that he would truly and faith- 
 fully remind the Corinthian Christians of what he had 
 himself taught them. Having expressed this assurance 
 in the early part of his letter, he again near its close 
 (Ch. xvi. 10) refers to Timothy's visit thus: "Nov/ if 
 Timothy come, see that he be with you without fear ; for 
 he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do." 
 
 When on his second missionary journey Paul had been 
 conveyed from Beroea to Athens, his anxiety for the 
 Thessalonian Christians was such that he could not for- 
 bear sending back to Thessalonica his sole companion, in 
 order that he might ascertain what their circumstances 
 were, and might establish them and comfort them. This 
 companion whom in writing to the Thessalonians he 
 speaks of as ** our brother and God's minister in the 
 gospel of Christ, " was his beloved son Timothy. How 
 satisfactorily he did what Paul sent him to do we learn 
 from these words of the apostle, contained in his lirst 
 letter to the Thessalonians : " When Timothy came even 
 now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of 
 your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance 
 of us always, longing to see us, as we also to see you ; 
 for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in 
 all our distress and atiliction through your faith : for now 
 we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord " (I Thess. iii. 6-8.) 
 
 Paul's final estimate of his " beloved child " is given in 
 his second letter to him, written on the eve of his own 
 
 \ 67 ] 
 
CH. II. V. 22.] NOTES. 
 
 anticipated martyrdom. The lustre of Timothy's noble 
 Christian character then shone forth more brilliantly 
 than ever, contrasted as the picture was with the dark 
 background of many faithless ones described by the 
 apostle as holding a form of godliness after they had by 
 their un-Christian and even diabolical characteristics 
 denied the power thereof (II. Tim. iii. 1-8). " But," says 
 Paul concerning Timothy (verse 10), " thou didst follow 
 my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, long suffering, love, 
 patience, persecutions, sufferings." 
 
 23, 24. Him therefore I hope to send forthivith, so soon 
 as I shall see hoiv it will go ivith me .• hut I tnist in the 
 Lord that I myself also shall come shortly. — The apostle's 
 trial before Nero was evidently near at hand, and 
 whatever its issue might be, he was prepared for it 
 (II. Tim, iv. 6) ; but he had a confident expectation of 
 lieing released from his imprisonment, in which case hiS' 
 intention was to pay a visit to Philippi as quickly as 
 possible. That this hope was realised seems very proba- 
 ble, as already remarked (see note on Ch. i. 25). Timo- 
 thy, however, he hoped to send to them without delay^ 
 on the termination of his trial. 
 
 25. But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaph' 
 roditus, my brother and felloiv-icorker and felloic -soldier, 
 and your messenger and minister to my need ; — Nothing is 
 known of Epaphroditus beyond the information given 
 concerning him in this letter. Although Epaphras is 
 an abbreviated form of Epaphroditus, yet there is no 
 proof of what has been suggested as a probability, that 
 the Philippian Epaphroditus is the same as the Colossian 
 Epaphras, but on the other hand such an identity is 
 highly improbable, because not only were Philippi and 
 Colossae widely separated, but Epaphroditus seems to 
 have been as truly one of the Philippians as Epaphras 
 was one of the Colossians (see Col. iv. 12). Besides the 
 name in either form was a very common one. 
 
 It is delightful to think of these two men bearing 
 the same name, the one from European Philippi, and 
 the other from Asiatic Colossae, alike devoting them- 
 selves heart and soul to the furtherance of the Gospel, 
 
 [ -68 ,] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 25. 
 
 both alike dear to Paul, both visiting him in his impris- 
 onment at Eome, probably at different times, and both 
 tarrying with the apostle for a season, engaged with him 
 day and night in the most earnest prayer and work. 
 What comfort they must have brought to the aged Paul 
 in his confinement, and what help they must have re- 
 ceived from him ! 
 
 Bishop Lightfoot remarks that Paul's three words 
 descriptive of Epaphroditus — '* brother and fellow-worker 
 and fellow-soldier," are arranged in an ascending scale, 
 denoting common sympathy, common w^ork, common 
 danger and suffering. And Bishop Ellicott speaks of the 
 three climactic designations employed by the apostle 
 to set forth the threefold relation in which Epaphroditus 
 stood to him. He was Paul's brother in the faith, Paul's 
 fellow-worker in preaching and propagating the faith 
 in Christ, and Paul's fellow-soldier in maintaining and 
 defending the faith. 
 
 Epaphroditus had undertaken the long journey to 
 Eome as the bearer of certain gifts which the Philippian 
 Church desired to send to the apostle for the purpose 
 of relieving as far as they could the discomfort of his 
 prison life. He was welcomed by Paul not only as a 
 brother greatly beloved, a true yoke-fellow and a brave 
 defender of the Gospel, but as a messenger of the loved 
 Church at Philippi, and as one who had come in their 
 stead to minister to his need. The things which he 
 brought are spoken of by the apostle in this letter (Ch. 
 iv. 18) as "an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, 
 well-pleasing to God." To acknowledge the receipt of 
 these gifts, and to express his high appreciation of them 
 as tokens of the unfailing love of the Philippian s for 
 him, was one object of his writing this letter. Epaphro- 
 ditus seems to have been the bearer of this letter, on his 
 return journey to Philippi. The reasons why Paul con- 
 sidered it necessary to send him back to Philippi at this 
 time are mentioned in the following verses. 
 
 26-30. since he longed after you all, and teas sore 
 troubled, because ye had heard that he teas sick : for indeed 
 he 2UIS sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; 
 
 [ 69 J 
 
CK. II. V. 26-30.] NOTES. 
 
 and not on him only, hut on me also, that I might not hare 
 snrroiu iiiDon sorrow. I have sent him therefore the more 
 diligently, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and 
 thai I may he tlie less sorroivful. Receive him therefore in 
 the Lord ivith all joy ; and hold snch in hovor : hecaiise 
 for the iDork of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding 
 his life to supply that which was lacking in your service 
 toward me. — Epaphroditus while in Eome had devoted 
 himself to the work of Christ so unsparingly that he had 
 fallen dangerously sick. He had hazarded his life in his 
 attempt to do not only what on his own account he 
 desired to do, but what as a representative of the 
 Philippian Church he felt anxious to accomplish. He 
 had desired to make up as far as possible by his own 
 increased exertions that which was lacking in the help 
 which his fellow-Philippians would gladly have rendered 
 to Paul, if they too could have been present with him, but 
 which on account of their absence they were unable to- 
 give. The severe illness which befell Epaphroditus 
 afforded the Philippians an opportunity to evidence the 
 high esteem and Virarm affection in which he wa.s held by 
 them ; for when they heard of his prostration and suffer- 
 ing in that far away city, they were deeply grieved, and 
 anxiously hoped for his speedy and safe return to Philippic 
 And their anxiety for his recovery, coupled with their 
 earnest desire to see him again as soon as he might be able 
 to face the homeward journey, begot in him a like longing 
 to see and be with them, and also sore trouble because 
 they had been so grieved for him. Paul therefore be- 
 cause he grieved with them, despatched him to them at 
 the earliest possible moment, rejoicing greatly on account 
 of the joy with which they would welcome him. And in 
 this letter which Epaphroditus took to them from him^ 
 they were told not only of the great mercy which God 
 had shown toward his servant in sparing his life, but 
 toward the writer also, that he might not have sorrow 
 upon sorrow. Paul also reminded them of the treasure 
 they possessed in having in their fellowship and united 
 service for Christ such an one as Epaphroditus, whose 
 companionship with him in Rome had so greatly strength- 
 
 [ 70 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. II. V. 26-30. 
 
 ened the bonds of love between them. And he did not 
 forget to exhort them to hold such a servant of Christ in 
 the highest honor. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 1. FinaUij, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. — By the 
 use of the word translated ' finally,' found in several of 
 his letters, the apostle seems to indicate that he is about 
 to bring his writing to a close. After writing, "Finally, 
 brethren, farewell," in his second epistle to the Corin- 
 thians, the apostle closes with a very few words of 
 exhortation and salutation, followed by his apostolic bene- 
 diction. In like manner the word ' finally ' occurs near 
 the end of the last chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians. 
 But in each of the epistles to the Thessalonians, a large 
 part of the epistle follows after the occurrence of the word 
 'finally,' as is the case in the epistle to the Philippians. 
 
 The word translated "rejoice," means also "farewell," 
 and it would be so translated, as it is in II. Cor. xiii. 11, 
 if it w^ere not followed by the words " in the Lord." 
 "This wordcombines," says Bishop Lightfoot, "a parting 
 benediction with an exhortation to cheerfulness. It is 
 neither 'farewell' alone, nor 'rejoice' alone." In his 
 commentary on this epistle Dr. Lightfoot paraphrases 
 the words thus: "And now, my brethren, I must wish 
 you farewell. Rejoice in the Lord." 
 
 "Rejoice in the Lord," or Be full of joy, says the 
 apostle. For Paul there was no other joy than joy in 
 the Lord. In Him he lived, in Him he walked, in Him 
 he wrought, in Him he loved, and how could he rejoice 
 but in Him, who was his " All?" 
 
 After penning this exhortation, or causing it to be 
 penned, the apostle seems to have been interrupted ; and 
 when the writing or the dictation was resumed, instead 
 of concluding his letter, as he had apparently intended 
 to do, with an acknowledgment of the gifts received from 
 Philippi, with salutations from himself and others, and 
 his apostolic benediction, he evidently felt constrained by 
 circumstances which seem to have occurred just then 
 at Rome, or very recently at Philippi, and which had 
 
 [ 71 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 1.] NOTES. 
 
 annoyed him greatly, to record the severe words of 
 warning against the judaizers, which immediately follow, 
 and which led him finally to lengthen his epistle so con- 
 siderably, to say so much in regard to himself, and to 
 say perhaps more than he had at first intended to say in 
 regard to the gifts which Epaphroditus had brought to 
 him. How else can we explain the connection or rather 
 the disconnection of the two sentences which are in- 
 cluded in the first verse of the third chapter of this 
 epistle ? 
 
 To lurite the same things to you, to me indeed is not 
 irksome, hut for you it is safe. — " The same things," here 
 referred to, seem to be warnings like those which he pro- 
 ceeds to give them in the following verse. He seems to 
 imply that he had previously written to them similar 
 words, but we have no knowledge of any previous letter 
 written to the Philippians by him, beyond the mention 
 which Polycarp in his letter to the Philippians makes of. 
 " letters " which the apostle had written to them. See 
 the third paragraph of his epistle. An interesting dis- 
 sertation on '' Lost Epistles to the Philippians" by Dr. 
 Lightfoot, can be seen in his commentary on this epistle. 
 
 2. Beioare of the dogs, heicare of the evil workers^ 
 heioare of the concision : — The Judaizing Christians, true 
 to the character which the apostle here gives them, were 
 ever seeking to "bite and devour" (G^l. v. 15) their 
 Gentile fellow-believers. These teachers, here called 
 " evil workers," are called by the apostle in II. Cor. 
 xi. 13 " deceitful workers." Deceit is always and only 
 evil. Their dissembling led them to seek to appear as 
 true apostles, while they altogether repudiated the 
 apostleship of Paul. Hence the apostle calls them 
 ** false apostles. . . . fashioning themselves into apostles 
 of Christ." Preaching circumcision, when circumcision 
 was done away by faith in Christ and by baptism 
 into Christ, they were really mere mutilators of the 
 flesh, Paul desired that the Philippians should be 
 on their guard against all such workers, however earnest 
 and zealous they might be, and so in these plain-spoken 
 words he warned them against them, as he had pre- 
 
 [ 72 1 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 2. 
 
 viously warned the Corinthians and the Galatians, as 
 also indirectly the Ephesians and the Colossians. 
 
 3. for we are the circumciswn, — " He is not a Jew," 
 said Paul to the Romans, "who is one outwardly ; neither 
 is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he 
 is a Jew who is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that 
 of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise 
 is not of men, but of God (Rom. ii. 28, 29). Thus does the 
 apostle describe spiritual circumcision, which ever was 
 and is a distinguishing mark of the true Israel of God. 
 Here also we quote a remarkable passage from the Old 
 Testament, " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 
 that I will punish all them which are circumcised in 
 uncircumcision .... for all the house of Israel are 
 uncircumcised in heart (Jer. ix. 25, 26)." 
 
 iclio iDorship by the Syirit of God, — " As many as are 
 led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye 
 received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear ; but ye 
 received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father (Rom. viii. 15)." 
 
 and glory in Christ Jesus, — The meaning of this clause 
 is clear, but additional light may be thrown upon it by 
 referring to a passage in Jeremiah (Jer. ix. 23, 24), 
 which the apostle seems to have had in his mind when 
 hf^ penned these words. Paul quotes in I. Cor. i. 31, the 
 substance of the prophet's words in the above passage, 
 after setting forth the Christian's ground for glorying 
 in conformity with the meaning of the prophet. The 
 passage in Jeremiah is as follows : " Thus saith the 
 Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither 
 let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich 
 man glory in his riches : but let him that glorieth glory 
 in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, 
 that I am Jehovah who exerciseth loving kindness, 
 justice, and righteousness, in the earth : for in these 
 things I delight, saith Jehovah." In the passage in 
 I. Cor. i. 26-31, which closes with a reference to the 
 words of Jeremiah, the apostle after requesting the 
 Christians of Corinth to take cognisance of the fact in 
 reference to their calling, that not many wise after the 
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 3.] NOTES. 
 
 flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, had been con- 
 verted : but that God had chosen the foolish things of 
 the world, that he might put to shame them that were 
 wise, and weak things of the world, that he might put to 
 shame the things that were strong ; and the base things 
 of the world, and the things that are despised, yea, and 
 the things that are not, that he might bring to nought 
 the things that are ; that no flesh should glory before 
 God ; then says, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who 
 was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness 
 and sanctification, and redemption ; that, according as 
 it is written. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 
 
 We who glory in Christ Jesus, said Paul to the Philip- 
 pians, are the true circumcision, because we, of God's 
 great mercy and grace, are in Christ Jesus, who, in 
 fulfilment of God's design to glorify himself in his Son and 
 in his people through him, was made everything unto us. 
 " Christ is all, and in all ;" therefore do we glory in him. 
 
 a'tid have no confidence in the flesh .- — Filled with Christ, 
 we are necessarily emptied of self. Finding every ex- 
 cellence in him, we have turned entirely to him. Possess- 
 ing in him every ground of confidence, our trust is in 
 him, and in him alone. We can have no confidence in 
 the flesh, because in our flesh dwelleth no good thing : 
 we can have all confidence in Christ Jesus, because he is 
 full of grace and truth, and because we have received 
 of his fulness, grace for grace, and continue to receive 
 from the same source the same bountiful and inexhausti- 
 ble supplies, 
 
 4. though I myself might have confidence even in the 
 flesh : — Even in regard to the most distinctive and there- 
 fore most valued Jewish rite, and in reference to that 
 time element in connection with the administration of 
 this rite, which gives to it its highest value ; and in 
 respect of other matters, of nationality and lineage and 
 tribal connection and ancestry ; and as regards my re- 
 lation as a Jew to the law of Moses, and my religious 
 zeal, and my personal ceremonial righteousness ; in 
 regard to all these particulars, I might well boast, if I 
 felt any inclination to have confidence in the flesh. 
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 4. 
 
 if any other man tUin'ketli to have confidence in the 
 flesh, I yet more : — In reference to some of the above 
 particulars, Paul felt that he could boast above all others, 
 if he were so inclined. To the Galatians he said, '* I 
 advanced iu the Jews' religion bej'ond many of my own 
 age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly 
 zealous for the traditions of my fathers." Gal. i. 14. 
 
 5. circwncisecl the cirjhtli day, — This was according 
 to the terms of the covenant which God made with 
 Abraham. " He that is eight days old shall be circum- 
 cised." Gen. xvii. 12. It was also according to a spe- 
 cific commandment communicated to Israel through 
 Moses. See Lev. xii. 3. He was therefore a child of 
 the covenant. Native Jews who were thus circumcised 
 were distinguished from both Ishmaelites and proselytes, 
 the former being circumcised after the thirteenth year, 
 and the latter in mature age. Concerning the circum- 
 cision of the former, see Josephus Ant. I. 12. 2, 
 
 of tlie stock of Israel, — To the Eomans Paul wrote, " I 
 also am an Israelite (Rom. xi. 1). As his circumcision on 
 the eighth day pointed him out as neither proselyte nor 
 Ishmaelite, so his being '* of the stock of Israel " showed 
 that he was not descended from proselytes or Ishmaelites 
 or Idumeans. He was a scion of the stock of him who 
 was made "A Prince of God," when his name was changed 
 from Jacob to Israel, and so had the closest connection 
 with " the commonwealth of Israel." He belonged to- 
 the "Israel of God" — God's covenant people, ** whose," 
 said Paul to the Eomans, '* is the adoption, and the glory, 
 and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and 
 the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the 
 fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh." 
 Eom. ix. 4, 5. 
 
 of the tribe of Benjamin, — Benjamin, " the son of the 
 right hand," was, along with Joseph, a child of "beau- 
 tiful and well-favored" Eachel, Jacob's favorite wife; 
 and he possessed this further distinction that he was born 
 in the land of promise, and within sight of Bethlehem. 
 When Moses before his death blessed the children of 
 Israel, he said concerning Benjamin, " The beloved of 
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
€H. III. V. 5.] NOTES. 
 
 Jehovah shall dwell safely by him ; he covereth him all 
 the day long, and he dwelleth between his shoulders." 
 The tribe of Benjamin gave to the Israelites their first 
 king. When the separation took place among the twelve 
 tribe? of Israel, Benjamin alone remained faithful to 
 Judah. " This tribe had from the earliest times held 
 the post of honor in the armies of the nation. ' After 
 thee, Benjamin' was a battle cry of Israel." Lightfoot. 
 The tribe of Benjamin could boast of having within its 
 territory the holy city Jerusalem and the one temple of 
 Jehovah. After the captivity the tribe of Benjamin 
 returned with Judah to its original seat in Palestine, 
 which was not the case with the northern tribes of the 
 house of Israel. It may also be mentioned that '* at a 
 very early date the prediction in Jacob's blessing of 
 Benjamin (Gen. xlix. 27), 'In the morning he shall 
 devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil,' 
 was applied to the persecuting zeal and later conversion 
 of St. Paul." 
 
 a Hehreio of Hebreius ; — At the very highest source of 
 the race to which Paul belonged we find this patronymic, 
 'Hebrew,' for in Gen. xiv. 13 we read of "Abram the 
 Hebrew." There were Grecian Jews as well as Hebrew 
 Jews, and the latter held themselves superior to the 
 former, for while the latter, wherever born, were carefully 
 educated according to Hebrew traditions and customs, 
 .and rigidly retained their ancient tongue, the latter 
 assimilated themselves more or less to the habits and 
 thoughts of other nations, and used the Greek tongue, 
 from which they were called " Hellenists." It is from 
 this standpoint that we find Paul defending himself as a 
 Hebrew of Hebrews in Acts xxii. 3, saying "I am a Jew, 
 born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city 
 (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according 
 to the strictest manner of the law of our fathers." He 
 would have been brought up very strictly in the place of 
 his birth, had he remained there, but he had enjoyed the 
 greater privilege of being brought up in Jerusalem, and at 
 the feet of the most distinguished doctor of the Jewish 
 law. In the record of the days immediately following 
 
 [ 76 J 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. r. 5, 
 
 Pentecost we read that *' there arose a murmuring of the 
 Grecian Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows 
 were neglected in the daih' ministration " of reUef, show- 
 ing how the distinction was maintained between the two 
 classes, even after they had been baptised in the name of 
 Jesus Christ. The hostihty which was aroused by the 
 preaching of Stephen was from the Grecian Jews with 
 whom Saul in his opposition to the work of the apostles 
 identified himself (Acts vi. 9 and viii. 1). Later on in 
 connection with the mention of Saul's preaching in 
 Jerusalem after his conversion, we read of his speaking 
 and disputing against the Grecian Jews. Again in show- 
 ing how the Hebrew Jews were distinguished from the 
 Grecian, we read in regard to those that were scattered 
 abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen, 
 that they travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and 
 Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews, 
 that is. Hebrew Jews, for the statement which follows 
 is that there were some of them, men of Cyprus and 
 Cyrene, who when they were come to Antioch, spake 
 unto the Grecian Jews also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 
 It would ill become one who could not speak the Hebrew 
 language to call himself a Hebrew, much less " a Heb- 
 rew of Hebrews," but as Paul had every advantage as 
 a pupil of the great Gamaliel, he was able to speak 
 Hebrew fluently. See Acts xxi. 40 and xxii. 2. In 
 his writings Paul quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures^ 
 and translated his quotations for himself. Paul was also 
 familiar with the Greek language and literature. The 
 Chiliarch was astonished to find that this Hebrew could 
 speak Greek. Acts xxi. 37. The Athenians must have 
 been equally amazed to hear him on the Areopagus quo- 
 ting from one of their own poets. Acts xvii. 28. Had 
 Paul not been the Hebrew he was, he could not in 
 his apostolic work have confuted the Judaizers as he 
 did, and had he not been at home as a Greek-speaking 
 Jew, he would not have been qualified as he was to do 
 bis Heaven-appointed work as the apostle of the Gentiles. 
 as touching the Imc, a Pharisee ; — Up to this point Paul 
 had spoken of his inherited privileges. What he has 
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
jCU. III. V. 5.] NOTES. 
 
 further to say about himself, he says from a purely 
 religious point of view. The Pharisees were not only 
 loyal to orthodox Judaism ; they were intense religionists. 
 They were enthusiasts, and many of them were fanatics 
 in religion. They dogged the steps of Christ as fault- 
 finders and persecutors during all his ministry. The 
 name Pharisee is prol^ably derived from the verb pdrasli, 
 meaning to separate. The Pharisees were the " separ- 
 ated" ones, or separatists. They were characterised 
 by their devotion to the Mosaic law — this law, however, 
 as overlaid and interpreted by wellnigh interminable 
 traditions, which had to a very great extent the effect of 
 nullifying the law itself. Paul appears to have allied 
 himself with the extremists among the Pharisees, who 
 were known as " Zealots." To the Galatians he wrote 
 thus of his past life : " I advanced in the Jews' religion 
 beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, 
 being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my 
 fathers." To King Agrippa Paul said, '' After the strait- 
 est sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee." Before the 
 council at Jerusalem he said, "Brethren, I am a Phari- 
 see, a son of Pharisees." Nothing could be made clearer 
 than this fact which he by his reiterated statements 
 concerning himself set forth, that he had been " out and 
 out" a Pharisee. 
 
 6. as touching zeal, persecuting the church; — "Be- 
 yond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made 
 
 havoc of it (devastated it)." Gal. i. 13. "I am 
 
 not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the 
 <}hurch of God." I. Cor. xv. 9. "I persecuted this Way 
 unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both 
 men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me 
 witness, and all the estate of the elders : from whom 
 .also I received letters unto the brethren, and journeyed 
 to Damascus to bring them also that were there unto 
 Jerusalem in bonds to be punished." Acts xxii. 4, 5. 
 " I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that 
 believed on thee : and when the blood of Stephen thy 
 witness was shed, I also was standing by, and consent- 
 ing, and keeping the garments of them that slew him." 
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 6. 
 
 Acts xxii. 19, 20. It is to be noted that the word in the 
 last verse just quoted, which is translated "consenting," 
 means approving. In the Authorised Version the same 
 word is translated ** have pleasure " in Kom. i. 32. 
 Saul's guilt in approving of the stoning to death of Ste- 
 phen is brought more prominently to view in Acts. viii. 1. 
 On Paul's own authority he himself seems to be put 
 down in this record as the chief of the murderers of 
 Stephen. Those who actually threw the stones may have 
 acted more or less blindly, but he was acting intelli- 
 gently, and taking pleasure in what was being done with 
 his sanction. What Paul had said to the crowd from the 
 castle stairs in Jerusalem he afterwards reiterated before 
 king Agrippa in Cyesarea : " I verily thought with myself 
 that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of 
 Jesus of Nazareth. And this I also did in Jerusalem : and 
 I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having 
 received authority from the chief priests, and when they 
 were put to death I gave my vote against them. And 
 punishing them oftentimes in all the synagogues, I strove 
 to make them blaspheme ; and being exceedingly mad 
 against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities." 
 In this was literally fulfilled what Jesus had said, 
 " They shall put you out of the synagogues : yea, the 
 hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think 
 that he otfereth service unto God." John xvi. 2. 
 
 as touching the righteousness ivhAcli is in the laiu, 
 found blameless. — By the righteousness which is in the 
 law, Paul meant that righteousness which is the result 
 of rendering perfect obedience to the law, and which 
 meets with its own reward, according as it is written, 
 "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judg- 
 ments : which if a man do, he shall live in them." 
 Lev. xviii, 5. In his epistle to the Romans, Paul thus 
 refers to the w^ords of Scripture just quoted, '• Moses 
 writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which 
 is of the law shall live thereby." Rom. x. 5. If it w^ere 
 possible for any man to keep the whole law and not 
 offend in any particular, he would earn a righteousness 
 which he could call his own ; and on account of this 
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
CH. III. l\ 7.] NOTES. 
 
 personal righteousness life would be his of right. Paul 
 had once been blind enough to think that by his own deeds 
 he had fulfilled the conditions necessary to entitle him to 
 live before God. Like the young ruler who said to Christ, 
 "All these things have I observed from my youth up. 
 What lack I yet?" he considered himself "blameless" 
 before the law of God. When Paul says of himself that 
 he was ** found blameless," his meaning is that he had 
 shown himself to be such, even in respect of being free 
 from sins of omission. He had not only observed all 
 the prohibitions of the law, but he had fulfilled all the 
 requirements expressed in its positive commands. In all 
 respects he was in his own estimation " found blameless." 
 In all that the designation ' Pharisee' could be considered 
 as standing for, Paul was perfect. 
 
 7. Hoiubeit ichat things ivere gain to me, these have I 
 counted loss for Christ. — What sort of things were gains 
 to me, or the sort of things which were gains to me, 
 namely, such things as I have enumerated, these have I 
 counted loss, that is, I no longer regard them as my assets 
 in my account with God, I take no account of these 
 whatever; in fact, I regard them as utterly valueless, on 
 account of, or for the sake of Christ. 
 
 8. Yea verily, and I count all things to he loss for the 
 excellency of the hioivledge of Christ Jesus my Lord :— 
 This statement is similar to that in the seventh verse, the 
 only difference being that it is stronger, and is introduced 
 with great emphasis. There he said, "what things;" 
 here he says, " all things." There he said, " I have 
 counted;" here he says, " I count," showing the continu- 
 ance and permanence or finality of the reckoning which he 
 had made. There he simply said, " on account of Christ ; " 
 here he says, " on account of the excellency of the knowl- 
 edge of Christ Jesus my Lord." It was the revelation 
 of Christ to him which had produced this entire revolu- 
 tion in his thoughts. And he could not speak of the knowl- 
 edge of Christ which had come to him without calling it 
 "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ." Moreover 
 the expansion of the single term Christ into the 
 expression " Christ .Jesus my Lord," showed that Christ 
 
 I 80 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 8. 
 
 had become to Paul not merely what he became to 
 Thomas when he exclaimed, " My Lord and My God ! " 
 but intinitely more. 
 
 for u'hom I suffered the loss of all tilings, and do count 
 them hut refuse, that I may gain Christ, — Here the word 
 " all " translated " all things " is accompanied by the 
 definite article, and so refers back to the "all things" 
 of the preceding clause, and to "what things" in the 
 previous verse. The loss which Paul suffered was the 
 loss of those things in the possession of which he had 
 formerly prided himself. The loss here spoken of was a 
 "confiscation," as Dr. Lightfoot expresses it. The 
 apostle here gives his present estimate of those things 
 which he formerly valued so highly. They are now but 
 despicable refuse, or offensive offal. The confiscation of 
 Paul's formerly so precious property had resulted in a 
 great gain, and the gain which had accrued to him 
 would be an ever-increasing one. Paul could now 
 say, * Christ is mine,' but as his Christian course was 
 not finished, he chose rather to speak of Christ as a 
 prize, the obtaining of which was a blessedness which 
 awaited him. 
 
 What could be finer than this from Bishop Hall : " To 
 gain Christ, to lay fast hold upon Him, to receive Him 
 inwardly into our bosoms, and so to make Him ours and 
 ourselves His, that we may be joined to Him as our 
 Head, espoused to Him as our Husband, incorporated 
 into Him as our Nourishment, engrafted in Him as our 
 Stock, and laid upon Him as a sure Foundation." 
 
 " The term * Christ ' seems to denote Him in every 
 aspect, and to win Him is to enjoy Him in every aspect. 
 It is to have Him as mine, and to feel that in comparison 
 with such a possession all else may be regarded as truly 
 loss. To the apostle, Christ was so identified with the 
 truth, that when he gained Him he gained the highest 
 knowledge ; so identified with life, that when he gained 
 Him he was endowed with the noblest form of it ; and so 
 identified with spiritual influence, that when he gained 
 Him his whole nature was filled with power and glad- 
 ness." Eadie. 
 
 [ 81 ] F 
 
CH. III. V. 9.] NOTES. 
 
 9. and be found in him, — When ? At Christ's second 
 appearing, to which Paul looked forward with fervent 
 and boundless expectation. Christ had been revealed in 
 him, when he first appeared to him, and as Christ and 
 he were henceforth one and inseparable, he anticipated 
 the joy of being found in him when he should see him. 
 And he goes on to explain what his hope was as to the 
 condition in which he would then be found. 
 
 not having a righteousness of mine oion, even that tvhich 
 is of the latv, — This was his supposed obedience thereto, 
 which now seemed to him to be but " filthy rags." " We 
 are all become as one that is unclean, and all our right- 
 eousnesses are as filthy rags (Authorised Version), or, as 
 a polluted garment (Eevised Version)." 
 
 b2it that ivJiich is through, faith in Christ, the right- 
 eousness which is from God. by faith : — When Paul ex- 
 pressed the hope of gaining Christ, and of being found in 
 him, not having his own righteousness, but that which is 
 through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from 
 God by faith, he declared his expectation that while he 
 would be justified through faith in Christ, this also 
 meant that when he as a believer in Christ would be 
 found in him, he would in him stand justified before 
 God. This then explains the two expressions found in 
 Gal. ii. 16, 17, "justified by faith in Christ," and "justi- 
 fied in Christ." The believer in Christ being inseparable 
 from Christ by reason of his union with him, his justifi- 
 cation while set forth as the result of his faith, is also 
 the necessary consequence of his standing as a new 
 creature in Christ, "It is only by becoming one with 
 Christ, that Christ's righteousness can become our right* 
 eousness." Lightfoot. 
 
 10. that I may know him. — In our English Versions 
 the construction of the passage of which this clause forms 
 a part, from the eighth to the eleventh verse inclusive; 
 is such as to lead one to suppose that in each of the 
 clauses translated, "that I may gain Christ," " be found 
 in him," " that I may know him," " I may attain 
 unto the resurrection from the dead," the same 
 Greek forms of moods and tenses are to be found ; 
 
 [ 82 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 10. 
 
 which, however, is not the case. The forms of the 
 verbs translated " may gain," " be found," that is, 
 may be found, and " may attain " are all subjunctives, 
 whereas the form of the verb which is translated " may 
 know," is not a subjunctive, but an infinitive preceded 
 by the article in the genitive case. This is significant, 
 and its significance seems clearly revealed when we 
 study the connection of the passage throughout ; for this 
 infinitive form of the verb preceded as it is with the article 
 in the genitive case, is evidently linked with the genitive 
 form of the word translated knowledge in the eighth 
 verse, while the portion of the text which intervenes 
 may be regarded as a parenthesis. We would then 
 translate the passage as follows : "Yea verily, and I count 
 all things to be loss for (or because of) the excellency 
 (the surpassing worth) of the knowledge (which I have 
 obtained) of Christ Jesus my Lord : [for whom I have 
 suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but 
 refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, 
 not having a righteousness of mine own, that which is of 
 the law, but that w^hich is through faith in Christ, the 
 righteousness which is from God by faith] : (the surpass- 
 ing worth, I say) of knowing him, and the power of his 
 resurrection, etc. Such extended parentheses are quite 
 in the style of Paul's writing, but sometimes his meaning 
 cannot be made entirely clear in a translation without 
 supplying words not in the ttxt. The necessity of sup- 
 plying any words is avoided by translating the verb in 
 the infinitive mood as if it were a subjunctive, as our 
 English translators did, and they have given us a 
 translation which reads smoothly, but thereby the sense 
 of the passage has been obscured. And the reader 
 will observe that the smoothness in the translation 
 disappears when in the reading of the passage, the 
 parenthetical clause, beginning with the words " for 
 whom," and extending to the end of the ninth verse, is 
 omitted. 
 
 This translation of the infinitive form of the verb ' to 
 know' preceded by the article in the genitive case, as 
 given in our English Versions, is defended by Bishop 
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 10.] NOTES. 
 
 Ellicott, but against it and in favor of the other translation, 
 given above, are Winer, De Wette and others. 
 
 and the yoioer of his resicrrectioii, — This and the follow- 
 ing clauses are explanatory of the way by which the 
 apostle sought to realise more and more of the excellence 
 of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. He had 
 died with Christ on the cross, as he told the Galatians 
 (Gal. ii. 20), and his crucifixion with Christ meant cruci- 
 fixion to sin. The risen Lord lived in him, as he also 
 said to the Galatians in the same connection, and this 
 meant in him " newness of life." These realities of the 
 Christian life (for Paul's experiences were not solitary) 
 the apostle sought to impress upon the Eoman and 
 Colossian Christians in his letters addressed to them. 
 " Are ye ignorant," said he to the Eomans, " that all we 
 who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into 
 his death ? " As Christ died and was buried, so we who 
 were baptised into him were through baptism into death 
 buried along with him. " Buried with him in baptism " 
 were we, said he to the Colossians ; but in this same 
 baptism, went he on to say to them, *' ye were also raised 
 with him through faith in the working of God who raised 
 him from the dead." To the Eomans also Paul explained 
 that union with Christ in his death and burial through 
 their baptism into him, meant also, through this same 
 baptism into him, their union with him in his resurrection. 
 And then he went on further to explain that they and he 
 who had thus become united with the likeness of Christ's 
 death, should also be united with the likeness of his 
 resurrection, that is, they should become like Christ their 
 risen and glorified Lord. Therefore after saying to them 
 that they should no longer be in bondage to sin, but 
 should be wholly released from it, even as Christ was 
 released from the dominion of death and the grave, he 
 exhorted them thus : " Even so reckon ye also yourselves 
 to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." 
 And to the same purpose Paul exhorted the Colossians, 
 saying to them, " If then ye were raised together with 
 Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is 
 seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the 
 
 [ 84 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 10. 
 
 things that are above, not on the things that are upon 
 the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ 
 in God. When Christ, our life, shall be manifested, then 
 shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. Put to 
 -death therefore your members which are upon the earth ; 
 , . . seeing that ye have put off the old man with his 
 doings, and have put on the new man, that is being 
 renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that 
 created him." 
 
 It was in accord with this teaching and exhorting of 
 others that the apostle in writing to the Philippians gave 
 •expression to the yearning of his own heart that he might 
 through experiencing in his life more and more of the 
 power of Christ's resurrection, realise to a greater and 
 greater extent the surpassing value of his glorious 
 Saviour. 
 
 and the felloicship of his sufferings, — The apostle of the 
 Gentiles early learned that what God had at the time of 
 his conversion said to Ananias concerning him, namely, 
 ^* I will show him how many things he must suffer for my 
 name's sake," was said in love, and in token of God's 
 special favor to him, for he soon came to know that suf- 
 fering for Christ served to unite him more closely to 
 Christ, and so to make him more Christ-like. Accord- 
 ingly he w^rote to the Corinthians, " As the sufferings of 
 Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth 
 through Christ." This he remarked concerning himself 
 and all other Christians ; and then with special reference 
 to those to whom he was then writing, he added, ' Our 
 hope for you is stedfast ; knowing that, as ye are par- 
 takers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort." 
 At the time w^hen he knew not what day he might be 
 led forth from his Eoman prison to be beheaded he wrote 
 to his beloved child Timothy as follows : " Eemember 
 Jesus Christ, risen from the dead .... according to my 
 gospel : wherein I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a male- 
 factor ; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I 
 ■endure all things for the elect's sake, that they also may 
 obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal 
 glory. Faithful is the saying : For if we died with him, 
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 10.] NOTES. 
 
 we shall also live with him : if we endure, we shall reign 
 with him." 
 
 The apostle Peter, and James the brother of the Lord, 
 both of whom, if the traditions concerning them are true, 
 suffered martyrdom, each in a signal manner for the sake 
 of Christ, were imbued with the same feelings which 
 Paul had in relation to sufferings which Christians were 
 called to endure as Christians. Peter, full of sympathy 
 for his suffering brethren, wrote thus to them, "Beloved, 
 think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, 
 which Cometh upon 3^ou to prove you, as though a strange 
 thing happened unto you : but inasmuch as ye are par- 
 takers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice ; that at the revela- 
 tion of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. 
 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are 
 ye; because tbe Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God 
 resteth upon you. For let none of you suffer as a 
 murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in 
 other men's matters : but if a man suffer as a Christian, 
 let hira not be ashamed ; but let him glorify God in this 
 name." 
 
 In the same manner James the Just also wrote to the 
 same persecuted brethren of the dispersion, emphasising 
 the privilege of suffering which the}" for Christ's sake 
 were undergoing : " Count it all joj, my brethren," said 
 he to them, " when ye fall into manifold trials ; knowing 
 that the proving of your faith worketh patience. And let 
 patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect 
 and entire, lacking in nothing. Blessed is the man that 
 endureth trial ; for when he hath been approved, he shall 
 receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to 
 them that love him." 
 
 Among the passages in Paul's epistles which bear upon 
 this subject is a very remarkable one, found in Col. i. 24,. 
 which must not be passed over. " Now I rejoice, " says 
 the apostle, " in mj^ sufferings for your sake, and fill up 
 on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of 
 Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the 
 church." What are "the afflictions of Christ," of 
 which Paul here speaks ? What does he mean when 
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 10. 
 
 he speaks of "that which is lacking" in Christ's 
 afflictions ? What connection was there between Paul's 
 suii'erings and Christ's afflictions, and how could 
 his sufterings be spoken of as the complement of 
 the afflictions of Christ ? We cannot perceive what 
 Paul's meaning in this passage is until we clearly 
 understand his teaching concerning the great musterion, 
 of which he so often speaks, and concerning which he 
 says so much. Of this vnisterion (secret) he speaks in 
 the passage which immediately follows the words we are 
 considering. " Whereof (that is, of which Church, just 
 spoken of as Christ's Body) I was," says he, " made a 
 minister, according to the stewardship of God which was 
 given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God, even the 
 musterion which hath been hid for ages and generations ; 
 but now hath it been manifested to his saints, to whom God 
 was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory 
 of this musterion among the Gentiles, which is Christ in 
 you the hope of glory." The English word ' mystery ' 
 as a translation of the Greek word musterion is misleading. 
 In a Greek lexicon of New Testament words, which I 
 now have before me, I find the word m-usterion defined as 
 " a matter to the knowledge of which initiation is neces- 
 sary ; a secret which would remain such but for revela- 
 tion." Paul who uses this word so often does not use it 
 without telling us what riches of meaning it contains. 
 It is sufficient for our present purpose to take the defini- 
 tion of this term which the apostle gives in the closing 
 words of the passage in Colossians which I have just 
 quoted. " Which (musterion),'' says he, *• is Christ in 
 you." All those who are united to Christ by faith are 
 spoken of in the epistles of Paul as being " in Christ;" 
 and the counterpart of this truth is, that Christ 
 is in all those who by a living faith are joined to him. 
 For want of a better name to denote the intimate union 
 which exists between Christ and his people, the term 
 ''mystical Pinion'' is used, the word mystical being 
 derived from the Greek word musterion ; but in reference 
 to this term what the apostle says must ever be borne in 
 mind, namely, that the musterion which was hidden for 
 
 [ 87 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 10.] NOTES. 
 
 ages and generations has now been manifested to God's 
 saints, to whom he has been pleased to make known its 
 meaning, the principal part of which is that Christ is in 
 them, which truth, he tells us, reveals the riches of its 
 glory. 
 
 We can now with this light to guide us seek for 
 answers to the questions above stated, the first of which 
 is, What are the afflictions of Christ, spoken of by Paul ? 
 Christ as embodied in his people is to be thought of as 
 still on earth, and therefore when his people are afflicted, 
 Christ in them is to be thought of as bearingj these 
 afflictions, which afflictions, on account of his oneness 
 with his people, are most truly his. This explains 
 what Jesus meant when his voice arrested the perse- 
 cuting Saul of Tarsus, saying, " Saul, Saul, why 
 persecutest thou me ? " When Saul recognised the fact 
 that a divine voice had spoken to him, and inquired, 
 *• Who art thou. Lord ? " the answer came, " I am Jesus 
 whom thou persecutest." Again, we see that Paul when 
 writing to the Eomans recognised the fact that Christ 
 was still a sufferer in this w^orld, in saying, "If so 
 be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified 
 with him," Whenever, then, any one of Christ's people 
 suffers for Christ's sake, Christ himself in that servant of 
 his is a sufferer. And was it not thus before Christ's 
 advent, even as it has been and continues to be, since in 
 bodily form he left this world, though God's people 
 of old understood not, as we now understand the 
 meaning of his Word spoken to them ? Hear Isaiah 
 the prophet saying, " I w411 make mention of the loving- 
 kindness of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah 
 hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness towards the 
 house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them accord- 
 ing to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his 
 lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely, they ai-e my peo- 
 ple, children that will not deal falsely : so he was their 
 Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the 
 angel of his presence saved them : in his love and in his 
 pity he redeemed them ; and he bear them, and carried 
 them all the days of old." Is. Ixiii. 7, 9. 
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 10. 
 
 What the apostle meant when he spoke of that 
 which was lacking in Christ's atiiictions, was that other 
 aifiictions than those which he endured in the days of 
 his flesh remained to be borne by him as he, embodied 
 in his people, would bear them, so long as any of the 
 members of his Body, the Church, should be found in 
 this world. 
 
 There is the most intimate connection between the 
 afHictions which Christ is now enduring, and those suffer- 
 ings which his people are bearing for his sake, since in the 
 one case it is Christ in them who is aiiflicted, and in the 
 other it is they in Christ who suffer. The sufferings are 
 in fact identical, on account of the oneness of the sufferers. 
 Hence the sufferings which those who are in Christ en- 
 dure can as Paul teaches us be considered the comple- 
 ment or filling up of the afflictions which remained to be 
 endured by the members of Christ's Body still in the 
 world after the Saviour's return to glory. 
 
 Is it any wonder that Paul considered it a privilege — 
 yea, the very highest of privileges — to suffer for Christ, 
 after such a revelation of his oneness with Christ had 
 been vouchsafed to him ? Can we wonder that the aged 
 *' prisoner of Christ" at Eome, who was himself so joyfully 
 suffering for Christ, wrote to his child Timothy in the last 
 communication which he sent to him, " Suffer hardship 
 wuth the gospel ; " and again, " Take thy part in suffering 
 hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus ;" and 
 yet again before closing his letter, " Suffer hardship, 
 do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry." Timo- 
 thy was not physically strong, and Paul did not forget his 
 "often infirmities;" but spiritual strength was what he 
 most needed for the endurance of hardship for Christ, as 
 Paul well knew. Therefore when he said to him, " Suffer 
 hardship with the gospel, " he added to his exhortation 
 this qualification, " according to the power of God." 
 Then again before repeating the exhortation, he said, 
 " Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace 
 that is in Christ Jesus." 
 
 becoming conformed unto his death ;— Paul longed for 
 ■complete identification with Christ in his sufferings, 
 
 [ B9 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 10.] NOTES. 
 
 and therefore desired to die such a death as Christ died. 
 As Paul, while he lived, bore branded on his body the 
 marks of Jesus, so he hoped that, by the manner of his 
 death, the marks of Jesus would be even more distinctly 
 branded upon him. We cannot doubt that Paul gloried 
 in being able to write to Timothy, " I am suffering hard- 
 ship unto bonds, as a malefactor," for he realised that 
 there was in this a high degree of blessedness. A still 
 higher degree of blessedness, however, would be realised 
 by his suffering hardship unto death as a malefactor, for 
 thus would his entire assimilation to Christ in suffering 
 be attained. 
 
 11. if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection 
 from the dead. — Above in speaking of his gaining Christ,, 
 the apostle had joined the thought of gaining him with 
 the thought of his being found in him at the resurrection, 
 showing that he felt that only the resurrection day would 
 prove that he had in reality gained Christ. That day 
 was the day on which the victory he had won in the 
 battle with sin and Satan would be declared. That was 
 the day toward which as a goal he was running the 
 Christian race. It was not the general resurrection to 
 which Paul looked forward with such earnest expectation. 
 That will be to some " the resurrection of life," while to 
 others it will be ''the resurrection of condemnation." 
 John v. 29. It was that resurrection, which to all who 
 shall participate in it will be the resurrection of life^ 
 called in Luke xiv. 14, " the resurrection of the just," 
 and in Kev. xx. 5, **the first resurrection," to which 
 Paul looked with such eager interest. It was revealed 
 to Paul as well as to John that blessed and holy is he 
 who hath part in this first resurrection ; for by the spirit 
 of revelation it was given to Paul to declare that at that 
 time the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a 
 shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
 trump of God, and that then the dead in Christ shall rise 
 first, and also that then those who are alive, who are left,, 
 shall together with the dead in Christ be caught up in the 
 clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and to be thenceforth 
 for ever with him. I. Thess. iv. 16, 17. 
 
 [ 90 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 11. 
 
 To complete the exposition of this clause it is necessary 
 to point out two things of deepest interest in connection 
 with the Greek text. The first of these is that in the 
 Greek, for example in I. Cor, xv. 42, the general resur- 
 rection is spoken of as simply " the resurrection of the 
 dead ; " whereas the resurrection of Christ and of those 
 who are his is described as "the resurrection from the 
 dead," or "the resurrection that is from the dead," 
 implying a separation of some from others among the 
 dead, and a selection, from among the dead, of those who 
 are worthy to be first raised up. But that which calls 
 for special notice in this connection is the fact that, in 
 the clause before us, the utmost emphasis which the 
 Greek language enabled the apostle to employ is here 
 called into requisition by him in speaking of that resur- 
 rection which was to him the goal of all his aspirations. 
 Not only does the definite article 'the' both precede and 
 follow the word resurrection in this place, but the 
 preposition 'from,' which is connected with the word 
 ' dead,' is also joined to the word resurrection to strengthen 
 it. Thus was redoubled emphasis used by Paul to set 
 forth the grandness of that attainment which he antici- 
 pated would be realised by him on that day when Christ 
 should appear the second time without sin unto salvation, 
 and when he, a sinner saved by grace, should appear with 
 him in glorj*. 
 
 12. Not that III ave already obtained, — The apostle did 
 not wish to be misunderstood ; therefore he restated his 
 case. He did not wish the Philippians to think of him 
 as circumstanced otherwise than they were. He, like 
 them, was yet running the Christian race. He had not 
 yet obtained the prize. 
 
 or am already made ])erfect : — In the whole history of 
 the human race only one man had been made perfect 
 w^hile on earth. He, the single exception, on account of 
 having been made perfect, became unto all them that 
 obey him the author or cause of eternal salvation. Paul 
 was like him, but the likeness was not yet perfect. 
 Greater likeness to Christ was what he was ever striving 
 after, but there was yet a great distance between him and 
 
 [ 91 ] 
 
•CH. III. V. 12.] NOTES. 
 
 Christ to be overtaken. When the most Christ-hke man 
 on earth was so far from saying that he had akeady been 
 made perfect, who else is there that can truthfully say., 
 '* I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ?" 
 Perhaps the apostle John was as Christ-like as Paul. 
 And what has he to say on this subject? Is he any the 
 less emphatic than Paul in disclaiming perfection for the 
 life which he was living? Here is the most decided 
 pronouncement of this, like Paul, Heaven-taught man, 
 in reference to this matter. "This," says he, "is the 
 message which we have heard from him, and announce 
 unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at 
 all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and 
 walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth : but 
 if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have 
 fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his 
 Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no 
 ■sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright- 
 -eousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make 
 him a liar, and his word is not in us." 
 
 hut I i)res8 on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for 
 tvhich also I icas laid hold on by Christ Jesus. — In order 
 to feel the force of the apostle's language in this passage, 
 it is necessarj^ to understand the metaphor which he here 
 employs. Before Paul's eye when he penned these words 
 was the picture of the runners in the foot-race in the 
 -Grecian amphitheatre. At the end of the stadium, or 
 <50urse marked off for the contestants, stood the winning- 
 post, on which was hung the wreath to be given to him 
 who first reached the goal. Those to whom Paul was 
 writing were as familiar as he was with the scenes 
 which were called up by a reference to the Corinthian 
 games. Paul's metaphorical language therefore present- 
 •ed most vividly to the minds of the Philippians the fore- 
 most runner in the race as he was nearing the end of the 
 course and about to lay hold upon the crown. Like him 
 am I, was the apostle's meaning, when he said to them, 
 I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that prize that 
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 12. 
 
 is before me. That prize was salvation — the salvation that 
 is in Christ Jesus. To stop short of the goal would mean 
 to lose the prize. To relax his efforts would mean to en- 
 danger his prospects. Therefore he pressed on with un- 
 flagging ardor. Using the same figure in writing to the 
 Corinthians, Paul said, " I therefore so run, as not uncer- 
 tainly." No element of uncertainty could be allowed to- 
 dim his hope. That must remain as bright as any 
 effort of his could make it. Therefore his struggle 
 must continue to the end. But the thought of his 
 laying hold on the prize brought to his mind an- 
 other thought w^hich w^as to him most encouraging 
 and comforting, namely that of Christ's having laid 
 hold on him ; without which laying hold on him on 
 the part of his Saviour, his own laying hold on Christ 
 would be but a vain effort. God's gifts and God's calling 
 are not repented of, as Paul said to the Eomans. 
 Therefore his hope of eternal life and salvation rested 
 upon a firm foundation. Paul often recounted how Christ 
 had laid hold on him at the time of his conversion, how 
 as he was drawing near to Damascus and was breathing 
 out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the 
 Lord, that same Lord stopped him ; how by a light out 
 of heaven which suddenly shone round about him he was 
 stricken to the ground ; how through a voice speaking to 
 him Jesus was revealed to him ; how he surrendered 
 himself to Christ, and becam^ at once a new creature in 
 him. All this was recalled as he wrote to the Philippians 
 and said to them, "I was laid hold on by Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 13. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid 
 Jiold : — The apostle desired to bring this matter home to 
 the PhiUppians, and especially to any of them who might 
 be affected by antinomian influences, and who might be 
 inclined to rest upon past experiences and feel secure. 
 * Once saved, for ever saved, w^iatever the life after 
 conversion may be,' is a soul-destroying creed. Paul did 
 not wish that any of the Phihppians should hold to such 
 a belief. Therefore with all the force of his example 
 he sought to prevent them from becoming lax in 
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 13.] NOTES. 
 
 their Christian lives. Brethren, said he, I count not 
 myself yet to have laid hold. Salvation is not mine even, 
 if now I cease to strive to gain the crown. The prize is 
 given only to those who press on to the end of life for 
 the pm^pose of secm-ing it. No, I have not yet reached 
 the goal. 
 
 but one thing I do, forgetting the things lohich arc 
 behind^ and stretching foriuard to the things lohich arc 
 before, {14) I press on toward, the goal unto the prize of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus. — The construc- 
 tion of the Greek in these verses seems to indicate 
 that the " one thing " in the thirteenth verse is 
 the prize described at the end of the fourteenth verse. 
 In a free translation the meaning may be express- 
 ed thus: 'Not yet indeed is the prize in my grasp: 
 but for this one thing — the prize of the high call- 
 ing of God in Christ Jesus — I press on in the race 
 toward the goal, forgetting indeed the things that are 
 behind, and stretching forward to the things that are 
 before.' According to the metaphor the things that were 
 behind were the stages of the course already passed ; 
 and the things that were before were the steps that re- 
 mained to be taken before the apostle's course should be 
 finished. That portion of the course which absorbed all 
 the attention and called forth all the exertion of each 
 competitor in the race in the Grecian amphitheatre was 
 the portion which at any stage of progress still remained 
 to be done. 
 
 15. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, he thus 
 minded: — The word here translated "perfect" is the 
 same as that which in I. Cor. xiv, 20 is rendered " men." 
 *' Brethren," said Paul to the Corinthians, " be not 
 children in mind : howbeit in malice be ye babes, but 
 in mind be men." Babes and children are immature, 
 while persons who have grown to manhood and woman- 
 hood have usually at the same time attained to 
 a good degree of intelligence. The members of the 
 Corinthian Church had not yet attained to Christian man- 
 hood and womanhood. In spiritual understanding they 
 were yet babes. In his first letter to them, speaking of 
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 15. 
 
 having visited them, and of the condition in which he 
 then found them spiritually, the apostle wrote as follows : 
 ^' And I, brethren, could not (when I came to you) speak 
 unto you as unto spiritual (persons), butfl was obliged to 
 speak unto you) as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. 
 I fed you wnth milk, not with meat ; for ye were not yet 
 able to bear it (or to assimilate it) : nay, not even now are 
 ye able; for ye are yet carnal." It is plain that what hin- 
 dered their growth in spiritual understanding was their 
 carnality, which engendered jealousy and strife, and 
 caused them to walk after the manner of the people of the 
 world. See I. Cor. ii. 1 and iii. 1-3. Having thus as- 
 certained the meaning of the w^ord translated " perfect," 
 as the apostle sometimes used it, we return to the 
 text before us, and following the order of the words 
 in the Greek, translate thus : ' As many then (in the 
 Philippian Church) as are men, that is, persons of mature 
 understanding, let us be thus minded.' Let us, as is 
 proper, entertain the view of the Christian life which, as 
 illustrated by my own example, I have now presented 
 to you. The apostle well knew that there were those in 
 the Church in Philippi (and it is not improbable that they 
 comprised the majority) who would with heart and soul 
 respond to his exhortation. At the same time his 
 language implied that not all in the Philippian Church 
 might, from want of knowledge and experience, be entirely 
 prepared to coincide with him in his view of what the 
 Christian race demanded, especially in respect to the 
 strenuousness upon which he laid such particular em- 
 phasis. It is not improbable that some of the Philippians 
 were influenced to a greater or less extent by the Juda- 
 izing teachers in their midst, whose insistance upon the 
 necessity of adhering to Mosaic ceremonies, could only 
 have the effect of creating a worldly and un spiritual 
 disposition of mind, as it would, in so far as they were 
 affected by it, lead them away from Christ. Yet in regard 
 to these the apostle could not but hope that his exhor- 
 tation, enforced4Dy his example, would not be entirely in 
 vain, since they too entertained the highest regard for 
 him as a Heaven-sent teacher. 
 
 [ 95 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 15.] NOTES. 
 
 That the word here translated " perfect " in our English 
 Versions was used by the apostle in the sense which we 
 usually attach to it, and that as thus used it was meant 
 to convey " reproachful irony," as Dr. Lightfoot supposes, 
 we cannot believe, since such a meaning would be out of 
 harmony with the context, and does not accord with the 
 idea which the tenor of the epistle throughout leads us 
 to form concerning the character of the Philippian Chris- 
 tians. Dr. Eadie's view seems to be the correct one. 
 He says, " The perfect ones, among whom, by the idiom he 
 employs, he (the apostle) places himself, are those who 
 have burst the fetters of intellectual and spiritual 
 bondage ; who have made some advancement in the 
 divine life ; who are acquainted with the higher forms of 
 truth, and are no strangers to the impulses and powers 
 of divine grace ; who are the circumcision ; who, by the 
 Spirit, worship God ; who are conscious of union with 
 Christ, of possessing righteousness through faith in him, 
 and some measure of conformity to him, and who cherish 
 through him the hope of a happy resurrection. The per- 
 fect one was only in the w^ay of being perfected ; none 
 knew his imperfection so much, or felt it so deeply, and 
 therefore he strove with quenchless ardor to move fleetly 
 onward to the end of the race, and obtain the crown. 
 The imperfect are those w^hose minds had not been 
 able so fully to rise above all confidence in the flesh ; 
 who still thought circumcision might not be wholly with- 
 out value ; w^ho would scruple to count all such things 
 dead and positive loss, but hankered after some of them ; 
 and who, in formally renouncing them, secretly or un- 
 awares clung to them, and might not distinctly compre- 
 hend the freeness, adaptation, and perfection of that right- 
 eousness which is through the faith of Christ. Thev 
 could not be perfect runners in that course which the 
 apostle has traced, for they had not laid aside ' every 
 weight.' They were entangled at every step, and progress 
 was impeded." 
 
 and if in anything ye are othenvise minded, this also shall 
 God reveal unto you : — To be " otherwise minded" means 
 to be of a mind contrary to that which the apostle had 
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 15. 
 
 showed them was his ; and that would at once appear to 
 those who were thoughtful and prayerful to be a very 
 serious difference indeed. If the apostle was right, as 
 they could not doubt, then they were certainly wrong in 
 being otherwise minded. The apostle was undoubtedly 
 divinely guided and impelled, and therefore it would 
 behoove them also to seek guidance and constraint from 
 the same divine source. The apostle sought to lead in 
 the right way those whose minds had in any degree been 
 wrongly influenced, but he knew that until God himself 
 should reveal unto them the truth, they would never be 
 able to perceive it. In his light alone would they be able 
 to see light. 
 
 16. only, ivhereunto ivc have attained, hy that same 
 rule let us loalk. — The apostle continued to class himself 
 with those whom he was seeking to lead in the way of 
 Christian progress. They could not fail to be impressed 
 with the fact that Paul's attainments in the knowledge of 
 Christ and in the experience of salvation were marvellous, 
 and also that the greatness of his Christian attainment 
 was due solely to this, that he had walked by a rule 
 which Christ himself had shown him. How reasonable 
 then it would appear even to the erring Philippians that 
 they should seek to walk as their apostolic teacher w^as 
 walking, and leading the way for them. 
 
 17. Brethren, he ye imitators together of me, and mark 
 them that so toalk even as ye have us for an ensample. — 
 What Paul had already virtually expressed in speaking of 
 his own aspirations and exertions as a follower of Christ, 
 he now utters in direct and plain words of exhortation. 
 " Brethren," said he, " vie with each other in imitating 
 me." Those among the Philippians who were half- 
 hearted and lax as Christians would be touched by the 
 apostle's addressing them as his brethren. It is beauti- 
 ful to see how Paul, after placing himself in the fore- 
 ground as worthy of imitation, immediately withdraws 
 from that position by associating with himself, as examples 
 to be copied, those who had been his devoted partners in 
 work in Philippi. The quick transition from " me " to 
 " us" is characteristic of the fervent and yet profoundly 
 humble apostle. 
 
 [ 97 ] G 
 
CH. III. V. 18.] NOTES. 
 
 18. For many icalk, of luhom I told you often, and 
 noiu tell you even iveeping, that they are the enemies of the 
 cross of Christ : — These were the people against whom he 
 had already in this letter warned the Philippian Church, 
 saying, " Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil- 
 workers, beware of the concision," See Ch. iii. 2. 
 In connection with the giving of this repeated warn- 
 ing he told the Philippians that the repetition of it 
 was not irksome to him, and the reason was that he 
 . deeply felt the necessity of it. Often had the warning 
 been repeated, he now reminds them, as he recurs again 
 to the painful subject. How very painful it was for him 
 to say what he felt bound to say again, his tears of sorrow 
 could testify. , It may be that some of his tears had fallen 
 upon the paper on which this letter was written, and if 
 so, the stains thus caused would bear witness to the truth 
 of what he said as to the deep feeling which his words ex- 
 pressed. These Judaizers (for he doubtless referred to 
 them) while professing to trust in Christ for salvation 
 and calling themselves Christians, were in truth Christ's 
 enemies, yea, enemies even of his cross ; for if what they 
 said was true, that it was necessary to be circumcised in 
 order to be saved (See Acts xv. 1), then virtually 
 circumcision took the place of Christ as a Saviour. They 
 were indeed enemies of the cross, who persuading their 
 disciples to be subjected to the law of Moses, caused 
 their hold upon Christ to be weakened, if not entirely 
 severed ; for by so doing they declared the sacrifice 
 offered on Calvary to be insufficient, if not absolutely 
 superfluous, and so made God's plan of salvation by 
 grace to be a thing of nought. 
 
 But there was another phase of this judaizing opposition 
 to the Gospel which rendered its promoters extremely 
 obnoxious in the view of Paul and those of his fellow 
 Christians who were striving to lead holy lives. While 
 advocating submission to the requirements of the Mosaic 
 law, it was in practice antinomian, and consequently 
 pernicious to the last degree. Jude, a brother of James 
 and of Jesus, in addressing those whom he speaks of as 
 " beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ," 
 seems to have had before him as his main object in writing. 
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
NOTES, [CH. III. V, 18. 
 
 his letter, to sound an alarm concerning those antinomian 
 sectaries. Beginning his warning epistle he thus writes, 
 " Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto 
 you of our conamon salvation, I was constrained to write 
 unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the 
 faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. For 
 there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were 
 of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, un- 
 godly men, turning the grace of our God into lascivious- 
 ness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." 
 The freedom from bondage to the law which Paul pro- 
 claimed as the prerogative of those who accepted Christ as 
 their Kedeemer (Gal. iii. 13 andv.l.) was by these false 
 teachers turned into license to sin. ' We are saved by grace' 
 said they ; * let us therefore sin, that grace may abound.' 
 See Eom. vi. 1. These perverters of the Gospel of 
 Christ (see Gal. i. 7) made slanderous reports concerning 
 the preaching of Paul and his fellow-laborers, affirming 
 that they said, ' Let us do evil, that good may come' 
 (Eom. iii. 8) ; and thus by falsifying the apostle's state- 
 ments tbey sought to make even him a countenancer of 
 their evil ways. It was safe to predict, as the apostle did, 
 the certain condemnation of these " evil-workers," not- 
 withstanding that they called themselves Christians. 
 This the apostle did by saying concerning them, " Whose 
 condemnation is just." Paul called them "false breth- 
 ren " (Gal. ii. 4), " false apostles, deceitful workers," 
 even saying of them that they fashioned themselves into 
 apostles of Christ, and adding that this was no marvel, 
 since even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light 
 (II. Cor. xi. 13, 14). How perilous Paul felt it to be to 
 have such opposers, against whom it was necessary to 
 be ever watchful, may be seen from the catalogue of his 
 trials which he gives in II. Cor. xi. 23-27, in which 
 among the perils which he encountered he mentions 
 "perils among false brethren." Concerning such as 
 these Paul wrote to Titus when he was at work am.ong 
 the Cretans: " There are many unruly men, vain talkers 
 and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision, whose 
 mouths must be stopped ; men who overthrow whole 
 houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy 
 
 [ 99 ] 
 
CH. III. V, 18.] NOTES. 
 
 lucre's sake. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, 
 said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. 
 This testimony is true. For which cause reprove them 
 sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving 
 heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men who 
 
 turn away from the truth They profess that they 
 
 know God ; but by their works they deny him, being abom- 
 inable, and disobedient, and unto every good work repro- 
 bate " (Titus i. 10-16). Their character and motives are 
 thus described by the apostle in his letter to the Galatians : 
 *'As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they 
 compel you to be circumcised ; only that they may not 
 be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For not even they 
 who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law ; 
 but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may 
 glory in your flesh." They were as far as possible from 
 glorying in the cross of Christ, although they were pro- 
 fessed followers of Christ ; which led the holy apostle, 
 who realised how wide and deep the gulf was which 
 separated them from him, to say, " But far be it from me 
 to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 through which the world hath been crucified unto me, 
 and I unto the world." The apostle Peter in his old age, 
 writing a second general letter to his brethren in the 
 Lord, thus warns them against those who, like the false 
 prophets of Old Testament times, would be sure to lead 
 many astray. *' There shall be," said he, " false teachers, 
 who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying 
 even the Master that bought them, bringing upon them- 
 selves swift destruction. And many shall follow their 
 lascivious doings ; by reason of whom the way of the 
 truth shall be evil spoken of. And in covetousness shall 
 they with feigned words make merchandise of you : whose 
 sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their de- 
 struction slumbereth not." 
 
 The full force of the words, " the enemies of the cross of 
 Christ," cannot be expressed without placing the utmost 
 emphasis on the definite article which precedes the word 
 enemies. '* Many walk," says the apostle, " whom I 
 often told you of, and whom I now tell you of even 
 weeping, the enemies of the cross of Christ (or, those 
 
 I 100 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 18. 
 
 enemies of the cross of Christ)." Paul evidently meant 
 to point out the antinomian Judaizers as the very worst 
 enemies of the cross of Christ. And it is as necessary in 
 our day, as it was in the apostle's, that it should be 
 clearly understood that those Christians are indeed 
 enemies of the cross of Christ, yea, its worst enemies, 
 " who see not in it the evil of sin, so as to forsake it," 
 who notwithstanding their profession of loyalty to 
 Christ, remain strangers to the attractions of his cross, 
 who will not submit to the authority or conform them- 
 selves to the example of him who died upon the cross for 
 them. Those who are willing to be pardoned, but have 
 no desire to be sanctified, not only have no claim to the 
 shelter of the cross, but they deserve to be pointed out in 
 the most unmistakable manner as the very worst enemies 
 of the crucified Son of God, if they profess to look to him 
 for mercy, but refuse his sanctifying grace — that grace of 
 God which hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 
 instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness 
 and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously 
 and godly in this present world ; looking for the blessed 
 hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ ; who gave himself for us, that he 
 might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto him- 
 self a people for his own possession, zealous of good 
 works. Titus ii. 11-14. 
 
 19. whose end is im'dition,—Oi these same " false 
 apostles, deceitful workers," who were " fashioning them- 
 selves into apostles of Christ," the apostle said to the Rom- 
 ans, "Whose end shall be according to their works," which 
 end could only be perdition, since those who live in sin, 
 die also in sin, and are consequently destro^'ed. Those 
 who like the Romans, before their conversion to Christ, 
 and like the antinomian Christians of Paul's day, present 
 the members of their bodies as servants to uncleanness, 
 and to iniquity unto iniquity, must perish, for the end of 
 those things is death. " The land which hath drunk the 
 rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet 
 for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing 
 from God : but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is reject- 
 ed and nigh unto a curse ; whose end is to be burned." 
 
 [ 101 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 19.] NOTES. 
 
 luhose god is the belly, — Gluttony, here mentioned as 
 one form of excess which was descriptive of antinomian 
 Christianity, may be taken as a type of sensual appetites 
 generally. " Of whom (or of what) a man is overcome, 
 of the same is he also brought into bondage." II. Pet. ii. 19. 
 " To whom ye present yourselves as bondservants unto 
 obedience, his bondservants ye are whom ye obey." 
 Eom. vi. 16. Therefore as to those bondservants of sin, 
 against whom the apostle was warning the Philippians, it 
 could be truly declared that they were as far as possible 
 from having Christ as their Saviour ; for their god was 
 their belly. 
 
 aiid tuhose glory is in their shame, — " The unfettered 
 liberty of which they (antinomian Christians) boast, thus 
 perverted becomes their deepest degradation." Light- 
 foot. " These are they," said Jude, "who are hidden rocks 
 in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds 
 that without fear feed themselves ; clouds without water, 
 carried along with winds; autumn trees without fruit, 
 twice dead, plucked up by the roots ; wild waves of the 
 sea, foaming out their own shame ; wandering stars, for 
 whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for 
 ever." Jude 12, 13. 
 
 luho mind earthly things. — On earthly things, rather 
 than on heavenly, their minds were set. Wholly fleshly 
 were those whom the apostle was describing, as their 
 lives showed; " for they that are after the flesh do mind 
 the things of the flesh," as " they that are after the Spirit 
 the things of the Spirit." As Paul plainly impHed in his 
 exhortation to the Colossians, they who have been raised 
 from the dead together with Christ, do seek the things 
 that are above, where Christ is seated on the right hand 
 of God. They do set their mind on the things that are 
 above, not on the things that are upon the earth. From 
 which it follows that those of whom Paul was speaking to 
 the Philippians had never been quickened with Christ, but 
 were dead through their trespasses and sins. 
 
 20. For our citizeiiship is in heaven; — These words are 
 to be closely connected with the exhortation of the apostle 
 in the seventeenth verse. * Follow us,' is the apostle's 
 meaning, ' rather than the false teachers, who would lead 
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 20. 
 
 you to destruction. Our commonwealth is not on earth ; 
 it is in heaven. Our interests are all there, not here. The 
 ties by which we are bound are not earthly, but heavenly. 
 The great attraction for us heavenwards, is that Christ 
 is there. Follow us then, if you would be wise, if you 
 would be happy, if you would be saved, if you would have 
 a home on high, if you would, like us, even now possess 
 citizenship in heaven ; for we are able now to say, not 
 merely this, that we hope to go to heaven when we must 
 leave this world, but this, our citizenship is in heaven, 
 yea, even now we are sitting together in heavenly places 
 and enjoying heavenly relationships in Christ Jesus.' 
 
 whence also ive icait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ : — When Jesus was leaving the world, he said to his 
 disciples, " Little children, yet a little while I am with you. 
 Ye shall seek me : and as I said unto the Jews, whither 
 I go, ye cannot come ; so now I say unto you." And 
 when Simon Peter asked him, ' Lord, whither goest thou '?' 
 Jesus answered, " Whither I go, thou canst not follow me 
 
 now ; but thou shalt follow afterwards In my father's 
 
 house are many mansions ; . . . . I go to prepare a place 
 for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come 
 again, and will receive you unto myself ; that where I 
 am, there ye may be also." As surely as Christ once 
 came from heaven to earth, and was here in our stead 
 once offered as the Lamb of God to bear the sins of 
 many, so surely shall he appear here on earth a second 
 time apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto 
 salvation. It is because of these blessed assurances 
 written in God's Word that Paul and his fellow- believers 
 were in their day, and that we also are now, waiting for 
 the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul 
 wrote to the persecuted Thessalonians to comfort tbem 
 in their afHictions, he contrasted what the condition of 
 their persecutors would be with that which would be 
 their own happy state, in that day when the Lord Jesus 
 should be revealed from heaven with the angels of his 
 power in flaming fire. Vengeance would then be ren- 
 dered to them that had not known God, and that had 
 not obeyed their Lord Jesus. These would suffer 
 punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of 
 
 [ 103 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 20.] NOTES, 
 
 the Lord and from the glory of his might ; while those 
 whom they had afflicted would enjoy the recompense 
 of rest along with all those who had in like manner 
 suffered. How restful Christ's appearing will be to his 
 saints, may be inferred from this further word which 
 the apostle wrote to the Thessalonians for their comfort, 
 that when the Lord Jesus shall again appear, he shall 
 come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at 
 in all them that believed. Mark the language. The 
 apostle does not say that in that day Christ shall be 
 glorified before his saints and be marvelled at by all them 
 that are his; but that he shall then be glorified in his 
 saints, and be marvelled at in all them that believed. 
 That which will occasion exceeding joy to the saints of 
 God in that day will be their realisation of their oneness 
 with their Lord, Christ in them and they in him as never 
 realised before. Then will the completed Body of Christ, 
 the Church, united to her Head, be marvelled at and 
 admired by wondering angels, and the greatest wonder 
 of all will then be this, that the Divine Saviour is and 
 will forever be so greatly glorified in his redeemed 
 people. 
 
 21. luho shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation^ 
 that it may he conformed to the body of his glory, accord^ 
 ing to the ivorhing luhereby he is able even to subject ail 
 things unto himself. — This mortal body of ours is called 
 the body of our humiliation. It is such as a consequence 
 of sin. Sin it is which brought death into the world 
 and all our woe. Through sinful indulgences and uncon- 
 trolled passions, through unforeseen accidents and volun- 
 tary conflicts, through innumerable maladies and multi- 
 form sufferings, and finally by death either natural or 
 violent, this our earthly tabernacle is subjected to dishon- 
 or. But if you and I have been born again and adopted 
 into God's family, if we are Christ's, these bodies of ours 
 are to be fashioned anew. At Christ's appearing we shall 
 come forth in an altogether new fashion, the fashion of 
 the immortals. It will be the fashion not of angels, nor 
 yet a fashion altogether new in heaven, for Christ has worn 
 it ever since his ascension to glory. We shall be Hke him. 
 We are to be reclothed by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. III. V. 21, 
 
 He shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, yea, 
 so fashion it that it will be conformed to the body of his 
 glory, according to the working whereby he, our Almighty 
 Saviour, is able even to subject all things unto himself. 
 This same apostle who tells us these things in the 
 epistle to the Philippians wrote on this subject to the 
 Corinthians by inspiration as follows : " There are also 
 celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial," that is, the terres- 
 trial are not more real than the celestial : " but the glory 
 of the celestial bodies is one and that of the terrestrial 
 bodies is another," that is, the glory of the one, the 
 celestial, is vastly different from that of the other, the 
 terrestrial. Just as " there is one glory of the sun, and 
 another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars ; 
 for one star differeth from another star in glory." "So 
 also," says the inspired apostle, "is the resurrection of 
 the dead. It (the body of our humiliation) is sown (a bare 
 grain) in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it is 
 sown in dishonor ; it is raised in glory : it is sown in 
 weakness ; it is raised in power : it is sown a natural 
 body ; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural 
 (or physical) body, there is also a spiritual body," incon- 
 ceivable by us, it may be, but no less real on that account. 
 '• And as is the heavenly," that is, the spiritual body, 
 " such are they also that are heavenly." And as we have 
 borne the image of the earthy, we who are Christ's, so 
 surely " we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 
 The disciples before whom Christ was transfigured on the 
 mount, got some idea as to what the Saviour's now glori- 
 fied body is like. We read that " his face did shine (not 
 as a star, nor as the moon, but) as the sun," and that 
 " his garments became white as the light." And in 
 evidence of the correspondence which will exist between 
 glorified saints and their glorified Saviour, we have this 
 word of Jesus himself : Then (at that harvest time in the 
 end of the world, when the angels will be the reapers) 
 shall the gathered saints, the righteous ones, shine forth 
 like their Divine Eedeemer, as the sun in the Kingdom 
 of their Father. See Matt, xiii, 43. 
 
 As to the matter of Christ's subjecting all things unto 
 himself, on this subject also we have a two-fold comment 
 
 r 105 ] 
 
CH. III. V. 21.] NOTES. 
 
 of the Scripture itself. In I, Cor. xv. 20-28, it is said, "Now 
 hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of 
 them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by 
 man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in 
 Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But 
 each in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; then thej- 
 that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, 
 when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the 
 Father ; when he shall have abolished all rule and all 
 authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all 
 his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be 
 abolished is death. For (as it is written in the Psalm) 
 He put all things in subjection under his feet .... And 
 when all things have been subjected unto him, then 
 shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did 
 subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.'* 
 In the first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians the 
 apostle unfolds the same truth, as he prays for those to 
 whom he is writing : "That the God of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of 
 wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ; having 
 the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know 
 what is the hope of his calling (what you who have been 
 called into God's kingdom are privileged to hope for), 
 what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the 
 saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power 
 to us-ward who believe, according to that working of 
 the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, 
 when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit 
 at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all 
 rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every 
 name that is named, not only in this world, but also in 
 that which is to come : and he put all things in sub- 
 jection under his feet, and gave him to be head over 
 all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of 
 him that filleth all in all." 
 
 [ 106 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. IV. V. 1. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. Wherefore, my hrctlircn beloved and longed for, my 
 joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved. — 
 '< Wherefore," that is, since you are citizens of this heav- 
 enly commonwealth, since the Son of the Highest is 
 your Sovereign Potentate, since your King is your Saviour, 
 and you are to be sharers in all his glory, even by being 
 in body fashioned like unto his glorious body, •* so stand 
 fast in the Lord," that is, as I by the pattern which 
 through God's grace I am trying to set before you, and 
 as I through the force of that divine truth which I have 
 presented to you, now exhort you to do. United as you 
 are to Christ by faith in him, so stand fast in him, abide 
 in him, in him be firm, resisting through his strength all 
 endeavors of your adversaries to draw you away from 
 him. Turn not my joy into grief — my joy over your 
 salvation into grief for your ruin. Deprive me not of my 
 crown — the crown which I look forward to receiving 
 from Christ when I present you as saved ones before 
 him. My brethren, cherished in my heart, longed for in 
 my prayers, be stedfast in the Lord, my beloved. Thus 
 by tenderest expressions of sincerest affection — by his very 
 heart-strings, did Paul seek to bind to Christ and establish 
 in his grace his dear Philippian fellow-Christians. 
 
 2. I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of 
 the same mind in the Lord. — After uttering a heart-felt 
 and yearning entreaty for those in general who were in 
 danger of slackening their adherence to the Gospel, as 
 he had preached it to them, Paul now m.akes bold to 
 address by name two women in the Philippian Church, 
 who had formerly been his valued fellow-laborers in 
 Philippi, and to exhort them to put away the differences 
 which had separated them, to come together and be 
 affectionately interested in each other, as those who are 
 sisters in Christ should do. " Let there be no strife, I 
 pray thee, between thee and me, and between my herd- 
 men and thy herdmen ; for w^e are brethren," said 
 Abraham to Lot, his kinsman. If the ties of ordinary 
 kinship should bind men together, how much more should 
 kinship in Christ unite them ! It is useless to speculate 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
OH. IV. V. 2.] NOTES. 
 
 as to whether these wo^aen were ladies of rank or not, or 
 whether like Phoebe in the Church in Cenchreae they were 
 deaconesses or not, as we have no information on these 
 points. 
 
 3. Yea, I beseech thee also, true yokefellow, hel]j these 
 luomen, for they labored ivith me in the gospel, with 
 Clement a,lso, and the rest of my felloiv-ioorkers, zvhose 
 names are in the book of life. — Epaphroditus, the bearer 
 of this letter, is doubtless appealed to here. He was a 
 highly esteemed member of the Church in Philippi, and 
 Paul's thus appealing to him to help these women to 
 adjust their differences, would prepare the way for his 
 using his good offices to bring about a reconciliation be- 
 tween them on his arrival at his home. Epaphroditus 
 had perhaps brought to Paul in Eome the sad tidings of 
 dissension between these women, whose falling-out would 
 be as much a grief to him as to the apostle. The apostle 
 and Epaphroditus alike were most anxious that the 
 breach between these former fellow-workers should be 
 healed, as it not only affected seriously the peace of the 
 Church, but also hindered the prosperity of the work of 
 Christ in Philippi. Nothing, we may be sure, pleases 
 Satan more than quarrels between Christians. Clement, 
 here mentioned, had been another prominent worker 
 with Paul at Philippi, and had wrought with these women 
 in furtherance of the Gospel, but we know nothing con- 
 cerning him beyond what is said here. To recall his 
 faithful labors and to make special mention of him was a 
 pleasure to the apostle. For the comfort of other 
 fellow-workers, not all of whose names may have been 
 remembered, the apostle was so thoughtful concerning 
 them as to say that their names were all recorded on 
 high in God's book of life. Nothing that any of us do 
 here in his name is forgotten of God. 
 
 4. Bejoice in the Lord always : again I ivill say, Be. 
 joice. — This exhortation to the Philippians is a testimony 
 to the ever abounding joy in the heart of Paul. To the 
 Corinthians he wrote, " We are pressed on every side, 
 yet not straitened ; perplexed, yet not unto despair ; 
 pursued, yet not forsaken (or left behind) ; smitten down, 
 yet not destroyed." In the same letter after enumera- 
 
 [; 108 J 
 
l^OTES. [CH. IV. V, 4. 
 
 ting his trying experiences, he says, " I am filled with 
 comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction." This 
 was his condition when he was writing to the Philip- 
 pians. He himself was rejoicing in the Lord, rejoicing 
 greatly though a prisoner in Rome, and he desired that 
 the Philippians should likewise be joyful in the Lord. 
 The word here translated ** rejoice," has a double meaning. 
 It combines, as before remarked, in note on iii. 1, " a 
 parting benediction with an exhortation to cheerfulness." 
 See the full note on the word in that place. 
 
 5. Let your forbearance be hioicn unto all men. The 
 Lard is at hand. — For the word " forbearance," or 
 "moderation" in the Authorised Version, "gentleness" 
 is given in the margin of the Revised Versions. Gentle- 
 ness or mildness is the opposite of contentiousness, and 
 is so expressed in Titus iii. 2. " Put them in mind .... 
 not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness 
 toward all men," and likewise in I. Tim. iii. 3, we find 
 the contrast, " gentle, not contentious." "The wisdom 
 that is from above is," James tells us, " first pure, then 
 peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated." Those who are 
 genuinely good will be gentle, and will treat even their 
 servants with gentleness. See I. Pet. ii. 18. " Meek- 
 ness and gentleness " were marked traits of Christ's 
 character, and should be manifested in the conduct of 
 his followers. IL Cor. x. 1. The nearness of Christ's 
 appearing should ever exert a restraining, and at the 
 same time a constraining influence upon us, checking 
 every evil impulse, and impeUing us to speak and act as 
 in the presence of our Lord. 
 
 6. In nothing be anxious ; but in everything by 'prayer 
 and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be 
 made Icnotvn unto God. — As to anxieties, have them not ; 
 be rid of them, if you have them. Why should you be 
 harassed with cares, when God is caring for you ? Such 
 was the reasoning of Peter when he exhorted all those to 
 whom he was writing to cast all their anxiety upon God ; 
 and it is instructive to note that in the same connection 
 this apostle indicates that a good way by which to drown 
 our own cares is to be occupied in doing what we can to 
 reHeve the anxieties of others. •' Gird yourselves," said 
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
CH. IV. V. 6.] NOTES. 
 
 he, " with humility to serve one another .... Humble 
 yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God, that he 
 may exalt you in due time ; casting all your anxiety 
 upon him, because he careth for you." I. Pet. v. 5-7. 
 While exhorting the Philippians to " have no anxieties," 
 Paul pointed out the means to be used in order that they 
 might get rid of them. They were to take their 
 anxieties to God in prayer and supplication. And so 
 we find Paul explaining what Peter meant, when he told 
 his brethren to cast all their anxiety upon God, namely^ 
 to do it by prayer and supplication ; while Peter explains 
 what Paul meant, when he said, " In everything by 
 prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your 
 requests be made known unto God," that is, when you 
 have thus taken your anxieties to God, you are to leave 
 them with him, and so cease to bear the burden of them 
 yourselves. In reference to what matters are we to go to 
 God in prayer and supplication, making our requests? 
 Paul's answer is, * In every matter, in everything, great 
 and small.' No matter how small the thing is which 
 gives us anxiety, we should take it to God. We may even 
 beseech God to give us relief, when any sort of matter is 
 troubling us. It is our privilege to supplicate God in 
 prayer to remove any and every burden of anxiety. 
 And knowing how ready God is to succor us, w^e should 
 ever approach him in prayer with thanksgiving. 
 
 7. And the peace of God, ivhich ixtsseth all understand^ 
 ing, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ 
 Jesus. — Such will be the result of your taking to God by 
 prayer and supplication w^ith thanksgiving every thing 
 that threatens to mar your peace, and of your letting 
 your request be made known to him concerning it. The 
 peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will like 
 a sentinel on duty be made to guard your hearts and 
 your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Your hearts and your 
 thoughts in Christ Jesus will be guarded from any intru- 
 sion of the tempter. The apostle spoke from experience 
 of habitually doing what he exhorted the Philippians to 
 do, and from experience of having that continually done 
 for him, which he assured the Philippians God would 
 under the same conditions do for them. 
 
 [ no ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. IV. V. 7, 
 
 The words "in Christ Jesus " are not to be passed over 
 as unimportant. The translation " through Christ Jesus,' 
 as in the Authorised Version, mistakes the meaning alto- 
 gether. Christ is the channel through which the peace 
 of God flows to those who experience it. He Himself is 
 '* our peace," but that is not what is meant here. The 
 deep experience which Paul enjoyed of having his heart 
 and his thoughts guarded by the peace of God, which 
 passeth all understanding, was due to the fact that he 
 most truly realised his oneness with Christ. Paul knew 
 that Christ lived in him, that Christ's heart throbbed in 
 his heart, that in his thoughts Christ himself was think- 
 ing ; and it was this knowledge that enabled him to 
 realise how perfectly his heart and his thoughts were 
 guarded. The peace of God was not like a sentinel 
 guarding from without ; it was within, creating an ex- 
 perience which was inexpressible, because it surpassed 
 all understanding. 
 
 8. Finally, brethren, — The apostle now intends bring* 
 ing his letter to a close, as he had intended to do when 
 before he wrote the word " finally." See Ch. iii. 1. The 
 word translated " finally " could as well be rendered, ' As 
 to the rest.' Paul had some things yet to say, though 
 he did not intend to add very many words. 
 
 whatsoever things are true, ivJiatsoever things are 
 honorable, tvhatsoever things are just, ichatsoevcr things 
 are imre, tvhatsoever things are lovely, tvhatsoever things 
 are of good rei^ort; — The apostle here summarises the 
 excellencies which are universally approved by mankind^ 
 and which ought ever to be distinguishing marks of the 
 Christian, since he, when truly reflecting the character of 
 his Lord and Master, is the highest style of man. By 
 the things that are true are meant those that are real 
 and genuine, straightforward and reliable, those things 
 that are as far removed from falseness and disguise as 
 the east is from the west. By the things that are honor* 
 able are meant those that are dignified and decorous, 
 worthy of nobility, fit to be called Christian in the 
 highest sense. By the things that are just are meant 
 those that are truly righteous, and cannot be impugned. 
 By the things that are pure are meant those which are 
 
 [ 111 ] 
 
CH. IV. V. 8.] NOTES. 
 
 entirely free from baseness, those which ate transparent 
 and stainless. By the things which are lovely are meant 
 those which are amiable and endearing. By the things 
 which are of good report are meant those which are 
 gracious, winning and attractive. The word " whatso- 
 ever," used six times in this passage, shows how 
 inclusive of all things that are good, and how exclusive 
 of all things that are evil, the religion of Christ is. 
 
 if there be any virtue, and if there he any j^raise, think 
 on these things. — If virtue exists that is worthy of the 
 name, if, measured not by human standards, but by the 
 divine standard, there really is such a thing as goodness ; 
 and if there be any praise worthily earned and worthily 
 bestowed, if by mortals a heavenly plaudit can be won ; 
 then take account of these things. It was as far as 
 possible from the apostle's thought to suggest that virtue 
 in its highest and best sense did not exist, or that such 
 goodness as would meet with God's approval was not 
 attainable ; he sought rather to set before the minds of 
 the Philippian Christians the lofty claims and rightful 
 demands of the religion of Christ. He would have them 
 see what the character of the Christian should be and 
 might be, how highly Christian excellence deserved to be 
 esteemed for its own sake, and how earnestly and deter- 
 minedly it should be striven after, in order that by its 
 exemplification before men those not yet Christians 
 might be led to follow Christ. The model which the 
 apostle portrayed, how worthy of imitation it is ! To be 
 distinguished for probity and integrity, to be so true that 
 those who know you will remark concerning you that 
 you are true through and through ; to be pointed out as 
 one of God's noblemen ; to be righteous before men, like 
 Zacharias and Elizabeth, *' walking in all the command- 
 ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless ;" to be so 
 pure that the tempter could not find any thing in you up- 
 on which to lay hold, to have a heart so full of abhorrence 
 of every thing that is ignoble, that you would be utterly 
 incapable of doing any mean thing ; to be so void of ill- 
 nature and malevolence, and so full of kindliness and 
 charity, that all who knew you would be constrained to 
 love you ; to possess and to manifest a character in which 
 
 [ 112 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. IV. v. 8. 
 
 graciousness would be so combined with goodness as to 
 draw to you irresistibly those who should come in contact 
 with you : if the Christian religion could after this 
 manner be widely endorsed, how mightily it would be 
 commended to the world I That there have been and are 
 in the world such exponents of the working of God's grace 
 in human hearts cannot be denied. 
 
 9. TJie tilings which ye both learned and received and 
 heard and saiv in me, these things do.- — The Philippians 
 knew so well how the grace of God had been magnified 
 in Paul, that they could have no thought of his giving 
 expression to egotism as he thus addressed them. They 
 who are known to be such as are well-pleasing to God 
 cannot but be approved of men. It is true that even 
 that which is good in God's people is sometimes evil 
 spoken of. So it was with Paul. But his behavior was 
 ever so seemly, that wherein he was spoken against as 
 an evil-doer, his good works gave the lie to the accusa- 
 tion. Paul had practised in the sight of the Philippians 
 those things which he had preached to them, and there- 
 fore with a boldness which carried with it virtue's 
 incontrovertible commendation he could say to them, 'The 
 things which ye both learned of me and accepted, which 
 ye not only heard of in me, but saw in me, these things 
 put into practice.' Practice should ever accompany 
 preaching and profession, else our words of exhortation 
 will be but vain words. 
 
 and the God of i^ieace shall he icith you. — x\bove (see 
 verse 7) the apostle had said, " And the peace of God. . 
 . . . shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ 
 Jesus," that is, if in everything by prayer and suppli- 
 cation with thanksgiving you let your requests be made 
 known unto God, and by so doing rid yourselves of all 
 anxiety. Here he tells the Philippians that the same bless- 
 ing will be with them, if they translate their knowledge 
 and their faith into works. The assurance is the same as 
 in the seventh verse, though the expression is varied. 
 Those who experience in their hearts " the peace of God, 
 which passeth all understanding," have with them the 
 presence of " the God of peace." 
 
 [ 113 ] E 
 
CH. IV. V. 10.] NOTES. 
 
 10. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly^ that noiv at 
 length ye have revived your thought for me ; loherein ye did 
 indeed take thoiight, but ye lacked opportunity. — After a 
 considerable interval the apostle had again received 
 tokens of the thought which he knew the Philippians 
 ever took concerning him. Doubtless along with the 
 gifts which had come to him he had received assurances 
 that he had not been forgotten, although circumstances 
 had prevented their doing for him w^iat they had had it 
 in their hearts to do. In his second letter to the Corin- 
 thians the apostle refers to his having received from 
 Macedonia supplies according to his need. See II. Cor. xi. 
 9. It is not unlikely that these had come in part, if not 
 in whole, from the Church in Philippi. It brought no 
 ordinary joy to the apostle to be again remembered by 
 his dear Philippian friends. "I rejoice greatly," says 
 he. It was not a merely momentary joy w^hich he felt, 
 for he writes these words after some time had elapsed 
 since he received the gifts. He rejoices as greatly when 
 writing these words as he did on the day when Epapb- 
 roditus arrived from Philippi. It is to be noticed that 
 he speaks here of rejoicing " in the Lord." Concerning 
 this Dr. Eadie remarks, *■ His was a Christian gladness. 
 The gift was contributed in the Lord, and in a like spirit 
 he exulted in the reception of it." 
 
 11, 12. Not that I sfeak in respect of want : for I have 
 learned, in ivhatsover state I am, therein to be content. I 
 know hoiD to he abased, and I know also hoio to abound : 
 in every thing and in all things have I learned the secret 
 both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to 
 be in want. — We cannot do better here than to transcribe 
 from the paraphrase which precedes these ' Notes,' the 
 following : ' I must explain that in w^hat I have just said 
 I make no reference to any want, for I have not known 
 want. What I have had has been enough for me. What I 
 have not had has given me no concern : for I have learned, 
 in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know 
 how to be abased, and not be unhappy ; and I know also 
 how to abound, without being spoiled — without becoming 
 through the enjoyment of an abundance of comfort dis- 
 
 [ 114 ] 
 
NOTES. [CH. IV. V. 12. 
 
 qualified for the cheerful endurance again of an entirely 
 changed condition, which might he regarded as a condi- 
 tion of deprivation and suffering, but which God's grace 
 would enable me to look upon as that condition which 
 under God's good providence could be no other than the 
 very best condition for me at the time, because God had 
 in his wisdom so ordered it. In everything and in all 
 things — in each particular and in all circumstances of 
 God's arrangement for the supply of my temporal need 
 — have I learned the secret both to be tilled and to be 
 hungry, botb to abound and to be in want, to enjoy 
 whether in the one case or in the other the same equanim- 
 ity. The secret is a contented mind.' 
 
 If, as is supposed by some, perhaps not without a good 
 degree of plausibility, Paul through inheriting property, 
 was in his old age in comparatively attkient circumstances, 
 which contrasted strongly with his straitened state when 
 he was obliged to toil with his hands night and day to 
 procure sustenance for himself and his fellow-workers, 
 this does not at all affect what he says in regard to his 
 having learned in whatsoever state he was, therein to be 
 content. The meaning contained in the word " what- 
 soever" shows what an advanced stage Paul had in 
 time past reached in the school of Christ. 
 
 13. I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me. — 
 If Paul had not said this here, and if he had not in so 
 many other places in his epistles spoken of his intimate 
 relation to Christ, his union with him, his being in Christ 
 and Christ's being in him, we should have no clue to the 
 secret of that deep and undisturbed contentment of which 
 he speaks. The secret is here fully disclosed. Paul 
 understood clearly enough that apart from Christ he 
 could do nothing, while as a part of Christ he could do 
 all things. In these words of Paul the living branch of 
 the living vine of Christ's parable is vocal. What the 
 fruit-bearing branch is able to do, it does on account of 
 the life that is in it because of its union with the vine- 
 stock. P^ven so it is with him who by faith is joined to 
 Christ. " I am the vine, ye are the branches," said 
 Christ to his disciples. " He that abideth in me, and I in 
 
 [ 115 ] 
 
CH. IV. V. 13.] NOTES. 
 
 him, the same beareth much fruit." The reaHsation by 
 us of ouu oaenesB with Christ will enable us to say what 
 Paul said. If we are iu Christ, we ought to be strength- 
 ened in the grace that is in him. See II. Tim. ii. 1. 
 When thus strengthened in all power according to the 
 might of his glory, we shall bear fruit in every good 
 work. Col. i. 10, 11. 
 
 14-20. Hoichcit ije did loell that ye had fellon'sliip with 
 my affliction. And ye yourselves also Icnoiv, ye Philip- 
 pians, that in the beginning of the gospel, ichen I departed 
 from Macedonia, no church had fclloiDship with me in the 
 matter of giving and receiving but ye only ; for even in 
 Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my need. Not 
 that 1 seek for the gift ; hut I seek for the fruit that in- 
 creaseth to your account. But I have all things, and 
 abound : I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus 
 the things that came from you, an odor of a siveet smell, 
 a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. And my God 
 shall supply every need of yours according to his riches 
 in glory in Christ Jesus. Notu unto our God and Father 
 be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. — From the para- 
 phrase which precedes these * Notes,' we transcribe as 
 follow^s : * I could have got on quite w^ell without any of 
 the things which you so thoughtfully provided for me, 
 if the Lord had not put it into your hearts to care for me as 
 you have so kindly done. Nevertheless ye did well, that 
 just at this time and in this way ye had fellowship wdth 
 me in my troubles. Most clearly I recognise the good 
 providence of God in your thought for me, and my heart 
 is full of thankfulness for what you did for my relief. 
 I well remember, and can never forget it, and ye your- 
 selves also know, for ye can call to mind, ye kind-hearted 
 Philippians, that after I had left Macedonia at the time 
 when I was beginning to evangelise among you, no 
 Church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving 
 and taking aid, but ye only. Though I would not for 
 good reasons accept help from others (see II. Cor. xi. 
 7-12), I did take it from you, and I remember thank- 
 fully how you helped me repeatedly. For before I left 
 Macedonia, even when I was in Thessalonica, ye sent 
 
 [ 116] 
 
NOTES. [CH. IV. V. 14-20. 
 
 relief to me once and again. In Thessalonica 1 was 
 indeed hard pressed (see I. Thess. ii. 9), and your gifts 
 to me then were most timely. But why do I say all 
 this ? Is it that I have now any desire to make drafts 
 on your liberality '? By no means understand me thus. 
 It is not that I am seeking for the aid which you are so 
 ready to bestow^ I do indeed desire nothing for myself, 
 butl desire something for your benefit, and that something 
 is this — the fruit that increaseth to your credit. No, I 
 neither need nor w^ant any thing myself, but I do desire 
 for you the recompense which God bestows, the credit 
 which will be given to you, and which will increase to 
 your benefit with each proof of your love for me. I 
 indeed have all things now and abound. I am filled, 
 having received from Epaphroditus the things that came 
 from you— an odor of fragrance, a sacrifice acceptable, 
 well-pleasing to God. And know ye that my God shall 
 fully meet every need of yours according to his wealth 
 in glory in Christ Jesus. You have supplied all my 
 wants, and my God on my behalf wuU recompense you 
 by supplying all your wants. Thus our fellowship with 
 one another brings us into fellow^ship wath God, and how 
 blessed it is when we remember that it is through and 
 in Christ Jesus. For Christ's sake, for me as a brother 
 in Christ, you are kind to me. And God for Christ's 
 sake, for what you have done for me because j'ou and I 
 are members one of another in the Body of Christ, will 
 reward you. Now unto our common God and Father 
 be the glory unto the ages of the ages. So may it be.' 
 
 21. Salute every saint inChrist Jesus. — The apostle's 
 salutation is an individual one, as befitted the relation- 
 ship which existed between himself and the Philippians. 
 He knew^ them personally and intimately, and the strong- 
 est attachment existed between him and them. The 
 members of the Philippian Church were regarded by 
 Paul as his brethren and sisters in Christ, and in 
 addressing them he so worded his salutation as to express 
 the high esteem in which they as individuals were 
 held by him. The agreement in the wording of Paul's 
 opening and closing salutations to the Phihppians is 
 
 [ 117 ] 
 
CH. IV. V. 21.] NOTES. 
 
 worthy of notice. The apostle addresses the epistle 
 " to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi ; " 
 and in closing his epistle he says to those, without 
 naming them (presumably the officers of the Church), 
 in whose hands his letter would first be placed, 
 " Salute every saint in Christ Jesus." In regard to his 
 fellow-believers in Christ two thoughts were ever present 
 to the apostle's mind, one of which was, that as behevers 
 in Christ there exisied between them and their Saviour a 
 vital union, and the other was in reference to that 
 character which belonged to them by virtue of their 
 union with Christ as members of his Body. In Christ 
 they were saints. 
 
 The brethren that are with me salute yon. — The contrast 
 between the persons mentioned here and in the next 
 verse as sending their salutations is remarkable. These 
 are called brethren simply, while those are spoken of as 
 saints. The actions of these, as described by the apostle 
 (see ch. ii. 21) were not the actions of saints, and so 
 they were not mentioned as such. Though called 
 brethren by the apostle, they were in reality unworthy 
 brethren. 
 
 22. All the saints salute ^/oz^.— These were those who 
 were not so immediately associated with the apostle, but 
 who belonged to the Church in Rome. Some of their 
 names are doubtless mentioned in the last chapter of the 
 epistle to the Romans, written several years before Paul 
 went to Rome. We read (see Acts xxviii. 23, 24) 
 that soon after Paul's arrival in Rome, the Jews dwelling 
 there came to him into his lodging in great number, to 
 whom he expounded the truth concerning Jesus the 
 Messiah, and that while some who listened to the 
 apostle's argument and testimony continued to disbelieve, 
 there were others who believed the things which he 
 declared. These from the time they accepted Christ as 
 their Saviour were numbered among the Christians in 
 Rome, and they must have been included among those 
 who at the time when Paul wrote to the Philippians sent 
 to the Church there their salutation, and whom Paul 
 speaks of as saints. 
 
 [ 118] 
 
NOTES. [CH. IV. l\ 22. 
 
 Especially they that are of Ccesafs household. — Ciesar's 
 household comprised a very large number of freedmen 
 not only resident at Rome, but scattered throughout the 
 (•mpire, holding a very great variety of offices, including 
 alike those of the highest functionaries and those of the 
 lowest menials. A very interesting essay upon this subject 
 by Dr. Lightfoot can be found in his commentary on this 
 epistle. Some of these freedmen connected with the 
 household of the Emperor may have been among those 
 mentioned in the last chapter of the epistle to the 
 Bomans as saluted by the apostle, and others may have 
 become Christians after the apostle's arrival in Rome. 
 
 23. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be witJi your 
 spirit. — The church at Philippi is here regarded as l)eing 
 of one soul, in accordance with the apostle's exhortation 
 in this letter. See ch. ii. 3. Paul's benediction was 
 not written as a mere formulary. His whole heart 
 entered into it, and it was intended to reach the inner- 
 most being of those to whom his letter was sent. 
 
 [ 119] 
 
FEINTED AT THE 
 S. P. C. K. PRESS, VEPERY, MADRAS 
 
 1905. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Dr. J. A.cjar Beet, in the closincr sentences of an 
 essay published in The Expo.silor, January 1S89, thus 
 wrote : 
 
 "Willi a gift I the letter to the Phili])piansj 
 infinitely more precious than that he brought from 
 Phili[)pi, Epaphroditus starts on his homeward jour- 
 ney. The joy caused by his return, and the effect of 
 this wonderful letter when first read in the Church 
 at Philippi, are hidden frcmi us. And we may almost 
 say that with this letter the Church itself passes from 
 our view. To-day in silent meadows (juiet cattle 
 browse among the ruins which mark the site of what 
 was once the flourishing Roman colony of Philippi, 
 the home of the most attractive Church of the apos- 
 tolic age. But the name and fame and spiritual influ- 
 ence will never pass. To myriads of men and women 
 in every age and nation, the letter written in a dun- 
 geon at Rome and carried along the Egnatian Way by 
 an obscure Christian nu^ssenger, has been a light 
 Divine, and a cheerfid guide along the most rugged 
 paths in life. As T wafch and myself rejoice in the 
 brightness of that far-shining light, and glance at 
 those silent ruins, I see fulfilled an ancienf ]>rophecy: 
 The grass withcrfth, the 'flower fadeth: hid Ihe word 
 of our God shall stand forever/' 
 
 In the third sentence of the above ]iaragra])h. Dr. 
 Beet considerately used the word "almosf." With 
 the letter of fhe apostle Paul to the Philii)i)iaiis the 
 Church at Pliili|)pi has not altogether i)ass('d from 
 
 I 121 1 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 onr view. From the article Philippi in Hastings' 
 Bible Dictionary we take the following: ''At the 
 beginning of the second century the Church at Phil- 
 ippi emerges once more for a moment into the light of 
 history, when it received a visit from one apostolic 
 father, and a letter from another, sometime in the 
 reign of Trajan, i. e. before A. D. 117. Ignatius, 
 Bishop of Antioch, was condemned to death as a 
 Christian, and sent in charge of a guard of soldiers 
 to be thrown to the beasts at Rome. His route, as we 
 know from his epistles, lay through Philadelphia, 
 Smyrna, and Troas. Thence, like Paul, he must have 
 crossed to Neapolis, and so reached Philippi (his 
 guards were probably making for one of the Adriatic 
 ports by way of the Egnatian Road), since the 
 Church at Philippi 'welcomed' and 'escorted' him, 
 and on his departure wrote two letters, one to the 
 Church at Antioch, consoling them for the loss of 
 their Bishop, and one to Poly carp, of Smyrna, asking 
 for copies of as many as i)ossible of the letters which 
 Ignatius had written in Asia Minor. Polycarp's an- 
 swer is his letter to the Philippians, the sole source of 
 our knowledge of this episode of Philippian history." 
 
 "It is not impossible," adds this writer, "that this 
 rer{uest of the Philippians was the origin of the col- 
 lection of the Ignatian letters and of their x^reserva- 
 tion for later ages." 
 
 The only other scraps of history pertaining to the 
 Church at Philippi are the names of some of the 
 Bishops among the subscribers to 4th and 5th century 
 councils: Porphyrins at Sardia in 344, Flaviano at 
 Ephesus in 431, Sozon at the Latrocinium of Ephesus 
 in 449 and at Chalcedon in 451 A. D. 
 
 The epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians is sub- 
 joined. 
 
 [ 122 ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF POLYGARP 
 TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 Polyearii mid the elders who are with him, to the 
 Church sojourning' in Philippi, mercy and peace from 
 God and onr Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 I. I rejoiced to hear that ye received and escorted 
 on their way the saintly followers of Christ whose 
 fetters are their diadems; and that the root of your 
 faith, famous from the befiinnino-, still bears fruit 
 unto Jesus Christ, who died and was raised again for 
 us ; in whom though ye never saw him, ye believe with 
 joy unspeakable, being saved l^y grace and not by 
 works. 
 
 II. Therefore be strenuous. Serve God and for- 
 sake all vain and erroneous teaching. Believe on him 
 who raised Jesus Christ to be the judge of (|uick and 
 dead, subjecting all things to him. He will raise us 
 also, if we obey his cimimandments, and remember 
 the warnings of Christ, who bade us do as we wc^dd 
 be done by, and promised the kingdom of heaven to 
 those who follow after righteousness. 
 
 III. I write these things, not of my own motion, 
 but in answer to your invitation. I am not e(|ual to 
 the blessed Paul who taught you both in |)ei-s(m and 
 by letter. Prom his letters you may learn to build 
 yourself up in faith, hope, and love. Faith is the 
 mother of us all: love leads the way, and h(»i)e follows. 
 Observing these ye will fulfill the connnandnumt. 
 Whosoever has love is far from sin. 
 
 [ 123 ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP. 
 
 IV. Above all things avoid eovetousness. We 
 brought nothing into the world and can carry nothing 
 out. Let us therefore put on the armor of righteous- 
 ness. Teach your wives to live in faith and love and 
 purity, cherishing their husbands, and showing kind- 
 ness to all men, and to train their children in godli- 
 ness. Let the widows pray without ceasing and avoid 
 all malice and eovetousness, remembering that they 
 are God's altar, and that the offerings there made are 
 scanned by his all-seeing eye, which the most secret 
 thoughts cannot escape. 
 
 V. Let us remember that God is not mocked, and 
 let us walk holily. The deacons must be blameless, 
 not tale-bearers nor covetous, but sober, compassion- 
 ate, diligent, after the pattern of Christ, who was the 
 chief of deacons. We must please God in the present 
 life, that he may bestow upon us the future life. 
 They that are true citizens of Christ's Kingdom 
 now shall themselves be Kings with him hereafter. 
 The younger men also must be chaste and restrain 
 their passions. Lust warreth against the spirit. No 
 profligate person shall inherit the kingdom of God. 
 Let them also be subject to the presbyters and deacons. 
 The virgins, too, must keep their conscience blameless 
 and pure; 
 
 VI. The presbyters also must be tender and pitiful, 
 bringing home the strayed sheep, watching over the 
 sickly, taking care of the widow and orphan and the 
 poor man. Let them have regard to what is good in 
 the sight of God and men, shunning all unrighteous- 
 ness and malice, abstaining from eovetousness, not 
 credulous or harsh in their judgments of others, as 
 conscious of their own inflrmities. We must forgive, 
 if Ave would be forgiven; for all alike will stand 
 before the judgment-seat of Christ. So then let us 
 serve him in all godliness, according to the teaching 
 of the Apostles and the Prophets, holding aloof from 
 all false brethren and hypocrites and deceivers. 
 
 VII. He who disallows the incarnation is Anti- 
 
 l 124 ] 
 
THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP. 
 
 Christ; he who rejects the testimony ot* the Cross is 
 of the devil ; he who denies the resurrection and the 
 judjiment is of Satan. Flee from all false teaching; 
 be instant in fastini*' and ])rayer; entreat God to de- 
 liver you from temptation. The spirit may be willing, 
 but the iiesh is weak. 
 
 VIII. Let us cleave steadfastly to Jesus Christ our 
 hope. He bore his cross patiently ; he was without sin 
 and without guile; he suffered all things for our 
 sakes. Let us therefore follow him aiul suffer gladly 
 for his name, if need be, for he has given us an exam- 
 ple. 
 
 IX. Therefore be obedient and practice patient 
 endurance such as ye saw in Ignatius and Zosimus 
 hnd Rufus and others from among yourselves, yea in 
 Paul himself and in the other apostles. All these 
 have won the prize. They have gone to their own 
 place: for they loved not the present world, l)ut him 
 who died and rose for us. 
 
 X. Follow the example of Christ. Be firm in the 
 faith; be kindly, aff'ecticmate, and helpful one to 
 another. Despise no man. Do good while you can. Sub- 
 mit one to another. So live, that your good works 
 may be manifest to the Gentiles, and that Christ's 
 name may not be blasphemed through you. Teach 
 all men to be sober, even as ye yourselves walk. 
 
 XL I grieve exceedingly over your pres])yter Val- 
 ens, that he should so forget his office. Avoid covetous- 
 ness. Abstain from all evil. How can a man teach 
 others, when he is unable to govern himself? Covet- 
 ousness is idolatry. The covetous man shall be 
 judged as a Gentiie; whereas the saints shall them- 
 selves judge the world, as Paul teacheth. Not that I 
 am aware of any such fault in you, among wh(mi Paul 
 labored and of* whom he boasted in all the Churches 
 at a time when we Smyrna'ans were not yet converted 
 to Christ. I greive greatly for Valens and his wife. 
 (Jod grnnt them true re])entance. Treat ye them 
 with moderation, and rcsloi'c Ihem as erring nicinbcrs, 
 
 f 125 1 
 
THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP. 
 
 that your whole body may be made whole. So doing, 
 ye shall edify yourselves. 
 
 XII. You are versed in the Scriptures far beyond 
 myself. Remember therefore how these Scriptures 
 warn you not to give way to anger. Blessed are ye 
 if ye remember this. May God the Father and the 
 Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, build you up in 
 faith and truth and gentleness and patience and chas- 
 tity, and grant to you and to us our portion among 
 the saints, with all those who shall believe on our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for all saints. Pray for 
 kings and rulers, for you persecutors, for the enemies 
 of the Cross, that your fruit may be seen and ye may 
 be perfect in Christ. 
 
 XIII. I have been asked by you and by Ignatius 
 to allow our messenger to carry your letter to Syria. 
 I will do this — either myself or the delegate whom I 
 shall send on your behalf as well as on ours. I have 
 also attended to your other request, and sent you 
 such letters of Ignatius as I had in my possession. 
 They are attached to this letter. You will find them 
 highly profitable, for they teach faith and patient 
 endurance and are in all ways edifying. In return 
 do ye communicate to me the latest news of Ignatius 
 and his companions. 
 
 XIV. This letter will reach you through Crescens. 
 I commend him to you now, as I have done heretofore. 
 His conduct with us was blameless, as doubtless it will 
 be with you. Welcome his sister also, when she meets 
 you. Farewell all of you in Christ. Amen. 
 
 [ 126 ] 
 
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