Philippians 2:1 I. "If" is not in this case a sign of doubt or hesitation, but, on the contrary, a sign of the most assured certainty. As employed by Paul, it is equivalent to "If there is any water in the sea," or "If there is any light in the sun." II. This appeal of the Apostle is a burst of te... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:1 Two Incitements to Love. I. It is tenderness and compassion which St. Paul wants the Philippians to practise, and he endeavours to win them to the practice by the recognition and proclamation of the tenderness and compassion that were already theirs. Listen, he says listen to the lo... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:2 I. _Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be of one mind._St. Paul's happiness was not quite complete until he could see those whom he loved and he loved these Philippians walking in unity. There may be unity without acquaintance, and there may be unity amidst variety. These two defects (as they... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:3 The Discipline of the Christian Character. I. The Christian character is set before us in manifold and diversified ways in the Bible. The Christian character in its completeness is the result and outgrowth of all that series of events of which the Bible is in part, but in the most... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:4 Courtesy. I. Courtesy is the expression in outward manner of deference for the most delicate susceptibilities of others. It is doubtless, on the one side, a habit; it is practised instinctively; its forms are caught by unconscious imitation; it is inherited like other habits, so tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:5 The True Imitation of Christ. Consider two or three simple instances of the mode in which we may catch something of the true mind of Christ, and carry out into our lives something of a true _Imitatio Christi._ I. There is, first of all, the readiness to forego, for the good of oth... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:5 The Humiliation and Glory of Christ. Consider the practical purposes of the Apostle in bringing this subject before us. I. Among the chief of these is the inculcation of humility. This whole marvellous passage is brought before us, not for dogmatic teaching, but for moral example.... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:5 The Humiliation of the Eternal Son. I. In looking into these words, we observe (1) that St. Paul clearly asserts Jesus Christ to have existed before His birth into the world. By saying that Jesus Christ existed in the form of God before He took on Him the form of a servant, St. Paul... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:5 These delineations of Christ reveal the true method of rendering moral service to man. Human deliverance and progress will remain a theory only until men come to work upon the method here stated. Great philanthropic programmes must begin at Bethlehem and comprehend the mysteries of... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:6 I. The Son of God was in the form of God: glorious as the Father; equal to the Father; the Creator and Upholder of the universe. Notwithstanding, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, _i.e._for the words are obscure as they now stand He deemed not His equality with God a ma... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:7 I. We must be careful that we do not suffer our knowledge of the perfect Deity of Jesus Christ to confound or weaken our apprehension of His entire and essential manhood. A very little error on this point may lead to the worst consequences. For instance, if Christ be not absolutely... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:8 The Humility of Christ. I. Among the virtues of Christ's humanity brought to dwell among men was humility, a virtue which lies at the foundation of the Christian character, a virtue unknown to the moral philosophy of the ancient world. "Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled H... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:10 I. Even angels are to worship in the name of Jesus. It is, however, more to the purpose for us to remember that God desires men, all men, so to worship. And it is a thought at once solemnising and comforting that not only living men, but the dead also, are required to call upon God... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:12 Working out Salvation. (1) This counsel implies that something has been already done. The very phrase "Work out" suggests this. The salvation has been begun, and is in one sense a complete thing. We stand still and see the salvation of God. (2) The exhortation implies that somethi... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:12 I. A Christian man has his whole salvation already accomplished for him in Christ, and yet he is to work it out. Work as well as believe, and in the daily practice of faithful obedience, in the daily subjugation of your own spirits to His Divine power, in the daily crucifixion of yo... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:14 The Duties of a Church towards its Neighbourhood. I. The relation of a Church to a neighbourhood is that of salt to the land. Prejudice may be dispersed, and men be favourably disposed to the truth, (1) by the irreproachable character of the individual members of a Church; (2) by... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:15 Sons of God. I. Sons of God. Let us inquire into the nature of the relationship. (1) The sons of God are here clearly distinguished from the world. It is a title in whose honour all then living, man as man, had not a right to share. But how does this square with the doctrine of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:16 In the very act of working out his own salvation, if he be rightly taught what the charge means, a man will be, incidentally at least, holding forth or applying to others the word of life. This is true in some measure. But so prone are we all to selfishness, so prone to religious s... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:20 The Experience of Isolation. I. It is a common complaint amongst us that we want sympathy. We are lonely, we say. If not actually solitary, we are solitary in feeling and in heart. In later life people make up their minds to this, as a condition of earthly life. They have fought a... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:20 I. In these and like passages of the Epistles of St. Paul written subsequently to his imprisonment, we may trace signs of one of the many trials of the Apostle's life; and it is one which we hardly perhaps estimate at its real measure. St. Paul's life at this time must have seemed l... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:21 The Life of Christ the Only True Idea of Self-devotion. There is something peculiarly touching in the saddened tone of these few words, in which St. Paul glances at the slackness of his fellow-labourers. It must have been a cross almost too heavy to bear without complaining when fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 2:27 I. Is this the same Apostle who wrote above, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better? Does he account it a mercy on the part of God which withdraws a Christian man from the immediate fruition of the inheritance of the saints in light? The words are so; a... [ Continue Reading ]