make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 2 Fulfil ye my joy. Here again we may…
2 Fulfil ye my joy. Here again we may see how little anxiety he had as to himself, provided only it went well with the Church of Christ. He was kept shut up in prison, and bound with chains; he was reckoned worthy of capital punishment — before his view were tortures — near at hand was the executioner; yet all these things do not prevent his experiencing unmingled joy, provided he sees that the Churches are in a good condition. Now what he reckons the chief indication of a prosperous condition of the Church is — when mutual agreement prevails in it, and brotherly harmony. Thus the 137th Psalm teaches us in like manner, that our crowning joy is the remembrance of Jerusalem. (Psalm 137:6.) But if this were the completion of Paul’s joy, the Philippians would have been worse than cruel if they had tortured the mind of this holy man with a twofold anguish by disagreement among themselves.
That ye think the same thing. The sum is this — that they be joined together in views and inclinations. For he makes mention of agreement in doctrine and mutual love; and afterwards, repeating the same thing, (in my opinion,) he exhorts them to be of one mind, and to have the same views. The expression τὸ αὐτὸ, (the same thing,) implies that they must accommodate themselves to each other. Hence the beginning of love is harmony of views, but that is not sufficient, unless men’s hearts are at the same time joined together in mutual affection. At the same time there were no inconsistency in rendering it thus: — “that ye may be of the same mind — so as to have mutual love, to be one in mind and one in views;” for participles are not unfrequently made use of instead of infinitives. I have adopted, however, the view which seemed to me less forced.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 5, 6, 7 Like love.
Like love.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–8 2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded,…
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Ver. 2. Being of one accord, of one mind] Hereunto those many "ones" should move us mentioned by our apostle, Eph 4:4-5. {See Trapp on "Eph 4:4"} {See Trapp on "Eph 4:5"} {See Trapp on "Act 4:32"} They were of one heart. Animo animaque inter se miscebantur, saith Tertullian of those primitive Christians; yea, they were una anima, one soul (so Tremellius rendereth this text out of the Syriac), all informed with one and the same soul; all as one man, in the matters of God’s worship.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 Fulfil ye my joy; viz. the exercise of those…
Fulfil ye my joy; viz. the exercise of those graces he had been joyful for, which would be an addition to that joy he had for them, and the making of it much more abundant, contributing as much as the friends of the Bridegroom here can to the completing of it, Joh 3:29.
That ye be like-minded; which is when they believe and affect the same things, agreeable to the mind of God, Phi 3:15; Act 4:32; Rom 12:16; 2Co 13:11.
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Having the same love; having the same mutual sincere charity, Eph 4:2; Col 3:14.
Being of one accord; being unanimous in their honest designs, Joh 17:22; 1Pe 3:8.
Of one mind; agreeing as to the main in the same judgment and opinion, to promote the interest of Christ, 1Co 1:10; Gal 5:7,10.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv3–6 Here our apostle dissuadeth the Philippians from a double…
Here our apostle dissuadeth the Philippians from a double vice, destructive to unity, namely, contention and vain-glory, which are the very bane of unity and unanimity: let nothing be done amongst you through emulation and envy, through contention and vain-glory. Pride and ambition are usually attended with strife and contention: a vain-glorious person overrates himself, undervalues others, and breaks the peace with all.
Here our apostle directs to humilty, in order to peace and unity; which humility he styles lowliness of mind, a grace whereby a man thinks meanly of himself, and highly of others, having a better opinion of others’ wisdom and piety than his own; now this a man may do, and not sin, though he be mistaken; the publican judged the Pharisee better than himself; and though it was not so, God did not disapprove him for it, but he went away justified. It is no crime to judge another better than ourselves, though he be not so; but it is pride to judge another worse than ourselves, though he really be so.
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Learn hence, That true humility doth not consist in lowliness of expression, but in lowliness of mind and opinion: not the man that speaks meanly of himself, but he that thinks so, is the humble man.
Learn, 2. That the humble and lowly-minded man is so conscious to himself of his own infirmities, so modest in the estimating of his graces and virtues, and so forward to hope and believe the best of others, that not only in outward expression, but in real estimation, doth he give others a preference before himself: In lowliness of mind, let each man esteem others better than themselves.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–8 Fulfil ye my joy,.... The Arabic version adds, "by…
Fulfil ye my joy,.... The Arabic version adds, "by these things"; meaning not his joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, which arose from views of interest his person, blood, and righteousness; which was had by believing in him, by enjoying communion with him, and living in hope of the glory of God; this in a fruit of the Spirit, Gal 5:22, and is called joy in the Holy Ghost; who, as he was the author, must be the finisher of it, and not the Philippians; much less does he mean that fulness of joy in the presence, and at the right hand of God in heaven, which he expected to have; but that which arose from the state, conduct, and mutual respect of the saints to each other; he had much joy in them, on account of the good work being begun, and carrying on in their souls; and because of their steadfastness in the faith, notwithstanding the persecutions they met with; and on account of their continued love to him, and the late fresh instance of it they had given, in sending their minister with a present to him, and who had given him a particular account of their affairs; but his joy was not yet full, there were some things which damped it; as the unbecoming walk and conversation of some, of whom he spoke with grief of heart, and tears in his eyes; and the inclination of others to listen to the false teachers, those of the concision, or circumcision; and the murmurings, disputings, and divisions of others among them, that were contentious and quarrelsome; wherefore to crown his joy, and fill it brimful, he signifies that their unity in affection, judgment, and practice, would do it, for so he explains it as follows:
that ye be likeminded, or "equally affected to one another"; that since they were but as one man, were one body, and had but one head, and one Spirit, that quickened and comforted them, and had but one faith and one baptism, they ought to be one in affection, practice, and judgment; this is the general, of which the following are the particulars:
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having the same love; both for quality, being hearty, sincere, and unfeigned; and for quantity, returning the same that is measured to them; and with respect to objects, loving the same Christ, the same doctrines of Christ, the same ministers of the Gospel, and all the saints, rich and poor, high and low, weak or strong believers, without making any difference, by which means unity is preserved: for if one loves Christ, and another antichrist; one loves one doctrine, and another the opposite to it; one loves a teacher of the law, and another a preacher of the Gospel, one loves one Gospel minister, and one loves another, in distinction from, and opposition to the other; one loves the rich and not the poor, men of great gifts and grace, and neglects the meaner saints; when this is the case, they cannot be said to have the same love, nor can there be harmony, concord, and agreement:
being of one accord, or "being alike in soul"; having the same soul, not in substance and number, as some philosophers have asserted, but having the same affection, judgment, and will, as the first Christians are said to be of one heart and of one soul; or "unanimous" in their sentiments about doctrines and ordinances, being all of a piece in their practices; and agreeing in all their counsels, debates, acts, and votes, in their church meetings:
of one mind; in the doctrines of grace, in the ordinances of the Gospel; and in the discipline of the church: the means of preserving and increasing such affection, unity, and agreement, are next directed to.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 Think the same thing - Seeing Christ is your…
Think the same thing - Seeing Christ is your common Head. Having the same love - To God, your common Father. Being of one soul - Animated with the same affections and tempers, as ye have all drank ill to one spirit. Of one mind - Tenderly rejoicing and grieving together.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–8 Verse 2. Fulfil ye my joy] Ye ought to…
Verse 2. Fulfil ye my joy] Ye ought to complete my joy, who have suffered so much to bring you into the possession of these blessings, by being like-minded with myself, having the same love to God, his cause, and me, as I have to him, his cause, and you.
Being of one accord] Being perfectly agreed in labouring to promote the honour of your Master; and of one mind, being constantly intent upon this great subject; keeping your eye fixed upon it in all you say, do, or intend.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 7, 8 Php 2:3-4. Let nothing be done among you through…
Php 2:3-4. Let nothing be done among you through strife — A spirit of contradiction or contention, which is inconsistent with your being like- minded; or vain glory — Desire of praise; wishing to draw the eyes of others upon you, and to make yourselves the subjects of discourse and admiration which is directly opposite to the love of God: but in lowliness of mind — In unaffected simplicity and humility; let each esteem other better than themselves — Which, on one account or another, you may know almost every one to be; being better acquainted with your own sins, weaknesses, and defects, than you are with those of any others. “The apostle does not mean that we should reckon every person, without distinction, superior to ourselves in natural talents, acquired gifts, or even in goodness; but that we should, by an humble behaviour, acknowledge the superiority of those who are above us in station or office; or who, we are sensible, excel us in gifts and graces. For general expressions are always to be limited by the nature of the subject to which they are applied. Besides, we cannot suppose that the apostle requires us to judge falsely, either of ourselves or others.” — Macknight. Look not every man on his own things — Only, so as to regard merely his own convenience and interest; but every man also on the things of others — Being concerned for their welfare, both temporal and spiritual.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2–8 Fulfil ye my joy - Fill up my joy…
Fulfil ye my joy - Fill up my joy so that nothing shall be wanting to complete it. This, he says, would be done by their union, zeal, and humility; compare Joh 3:29.
That ye be like-minded - Greek That ye think the same thing; see the notes at 2Co 13:11. Perfect unity of sentiment, opinion, and plan would be desirable if it could be attained. It may be, so far as to prevent discord, schism, contention and strife in the church, and so that Christians may be harmonious in promoting the same great work - the salvation of souls.
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Having the same love - Love to the same objects, and the same love one for another. Though their opinions might differ on some points, yet they might be united in love; see the notes at 1Co 1:10.
Being of one accord - σύμψυχοι sumpsuchoi - of one soul; having your souls joined together. The word used here does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It means a union of soul; or an acting together as if but one soul actuated them.
Of one mind - Greek “Thinking the same thing.” The apostle here uses a great variety of expressions to denote the same thing. The object which he aimed at was union of heart, of feeling, of plan, of purpose. He wished them to avoid all divisions and strifes; and to show the power of religion by being united in the common cause. Probably there is no single thing so much insisted on in the New Testament as the importance of harmony among Christians. Now, there is almost nothing so little known; but if it prevailed, the world would soon be converted to God; compare the notes at Joh 17:21 - or see the text itself without the notes.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7 Esteem others better than themselves. St. Thomas Aquinas (22.…
Esteem others better than themselves. St. Thomas Aquinas (22. q. 162. a. 3.) puts the question, how an innocent man can with truth think himself worse than the most wicked of men? He answers, that a man who has received very extraordinary gifts from God, cannot think these gifts less than what any other has received; but he may reflect that he has nothing, and is nothing of himself. And a man truly humble considers only his own sins and failings, and is persuaded that any other person would have made better use of the same graces; which agrees with what follows, (ver. 4) not considering the things that are his own. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–8 Fulfil--that is, Make full. I have joy in you,…
Fulfil--that is, Make full. I have joy in you, complete it by that which is still wanting, namely, unity (Phi 1:9).
likeminded--literally, "that ye be of the same mind"; more general than the following "of one mind."
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having the same love--equally disposed to love and be loved.
being of one accord--literally, "with united souls." This pairs with the following clause, thus, "With united souls, being of one mind"; as the former two also pair together, "That ye be likeminded, having the same love."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–5 2. Fulfil… my joy—Paul’s joy in them he has…
2. Fulfil… my joy—Paul’s joy in them he has shown, Php_1:4 : he now would have it made perfect by the reign among them of a spirit of unity.
That ye be likeminded—Rather, think the same thing, not in external matters, but in all the affairs of the Church on which they were called to form or express an opinion. This is not difficult to them who are moved by a mutual love.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–8 2. Fulfil ye my joy] Lit. “fill” it. He…
2. Fulfil ye my joy] Lit. “fill” it. He already rejoices in them (Php_1:4); but the manifestation in them of the unity of holy love would complete the reasons and the experience of that joy.—“He felt small anxiety for himself, if but the Church of Christ might prosper” (Calvin).
that ye be] The Greek construction (see on Php_1:9) denotes (in N.T.) sometimes the purpose (as in the phrase “we ask, to test your kindness”), sometimes the purport (as in the phrase “we ask, to be forgiven”). A modification of the latter meaning appears here. In the words “fulfil ye,” &c. the Apostle is practically asking them to be what he now describes.
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likeminded] R.V., of the same mind, for the sake of uniformity with the last clause of this verse.—We have here the weak point of the Philippian Church plainly indicated.
the same love] on both sides; i.e. practically, general love, holy charity in all towards all.
of one accord] More literally, “one-souled.” See on Php_2:27 above.
of one mind] A similar expression to that just above, “of the same mind”, but somewhat stronger.—The word (phroneîn) represented by “mind” in these clauses obviously denotes not so much intellectual as moral action and attitude.—See on Php_1:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–8 (2) That ye be likeminded, having the same love,…
(2) That ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.—In this verse there is again a four-fold division; but of a different kind. St. Paul begins with the exhortation not uncommon from him, to be likeminded,” that is, to have true sympathy (as in Rom_12:16; Rom_15:5; 2Co_13:11; also Php_3:16; Php_4:2); which he naturally strengthens by the addition of “having the same love” (that is, a mutual love), to show that the sympathy is to be one not only of mind but of heart. But this does not satisfy him: he rises to the further exhortation to perfect “union of soul” (which is the proper rendering for “being of one accord”) in which they shall not only be likeminded, but (in a phrase peculiar to this passage) be actually “of one mind,” living in one another, each sinking his individuality in the enthusiasm of a common love.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–8 Fulfil ye my joy. St. Paul has already (Php_1:4)…
Fulfil ye my joy. St. Paul has already (Php_1:4) spoken of his joy derived from the life and conduct of the Philippian Christians; now he asks them to complete his joy by living in unity. There were disagreements among them. (Php_4:2) That ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. The apostle"s earnestness leads him to dwell on the idea of unify, clothing the one thought again and again in different words. Babai says Chrysostom, posakiv to auto legei apo diayesewv pollhv . "Having the same love:" loving and beloved; omoiwv kai filein kai fileisyai (Chrysostom). "Being of one accord sumqucoi ," Bishop Ellicott renders more literally, "With accordant souls minding the one thing."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3–7 Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory
Php_2:3-4
Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory
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I.
There are two ways of doing even the best work. Through strife and through love. This was seen in chap. 1, where two classes of preachers were described.
II. Entire sympathy with Christ will always heighten mans appreciation of man.
III. Christianity is thus the only humanizing and fraternizing religion.
IV. Self-seeking is in utter antagonism to the spirit of Christianity.
V. Christianity never encourages a degrading view of human nature. Man is to be esteemed by man. Christians are to recognize each others excellencies. Loves eye is quick to detect virtue in another. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Observe--
I. How things are often done--in a spirit of selfish opposition; of vain-glorious assumption.
II. How they ought to be done--in humility, giving the honour to others. (D. Lyth, D. D.)
Unanimity
I. Up to this point the apostle continues his appeal for unanimity. The spirit of this appeal is that of profound and tender sympathy with Christ. When history gives up her dead it will be found that where the rod has conquered its tens, love has won its thousands. The anxiety for entire oneness in the Church is in harmony with Christs prayer. Paul was wont to call for this. Absence of union is a reflection on the uniting force.
II. The uniting force in a Christian Church is the love of Christ. Where, then, there is disunion, it is plain that there is either not sufficient of this love, or that it is unequal to the exigencies of the case. Hence the grandeur and urgency of the appeal, If there be any consolation in Christ; as though he had said, Remember that Christs love is on trial. Men are looking on you as an experiment, and that not only you but Christ Himself will be deeply involved in the event of failure.
III. A discordant Church is a reflection on the moral power of the Saviour, because, without Him the Church would not be in existence. The world has a right to compare the deeds of the servant with the spirit of the Master, because the connection is moral and involves responsibility. A recently erected edifice, e.g., has fallen. How do men treat the fact? They instantly connect it with the architect or the builder. When a chemical experiment has failed men blame the manipulator. So all the practices of the Church are carried back to Christ, and He is magnified, or put to an open shame, according to their nature.
IV. What conclusion are we to come to from all this on the subject of mutual discipline? Are charity and justice to be sundered? Is there not to be a law of right in the Church? Is the garment of love to be thrown over the leper? Hear what Paul says (2Th_3:6; Rom_16:17). The tones vary but the voice is the same Christ called Herod a fox, and said that Nathaniel was without guile. God can be warm as summer and chilling as winter. The apostle is perfectly consistent. The voice is as truly one as is the voice of a mother, when she sings her child to slumber, or shrieks at the approach of a ravenous beast. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Evils to be shunned and graces to be cultivated
The words depend upon the former, Fulfil my joy that ye be, etc. Why? That nothing be done through strife, etc. As if he should have said, If there be among you contention and vain glory it is not possible that you should be like minded, and so my joy is unfulfilled.
I. He would have nothing done through contention.
1. Contention should be abandoned by Christians, i.e., they should take no pleasure in dissenting from others (Gal_5:20; Gal_5:24; Pro_26:21). The schisms and heresies wherewith the Church at all times is troubled, come commonly from men who take a pleasure in dissent, such as Arius, Nestorius, Macedonius, etc.
2. But may nothing be done through contention? May not Micaiah set himself against four hundred false prophets (2Ch_18:1-34), and Jeremiah strive with the whole earth (Jer_15:10), and a pure Church with error? To know whether any thing is done through contention two rules are necessary.
(1) Is it done upon a humour to contradict whether true or false?
(2) When the truth is manifested is the opposition still maintained?
II. The apostle would repress the evil of vain-glory, a vain affection of glory, which is when vain men, to get themselves glory, single themselves in some vanity from the rest (Gal_5:26).
1. The reason is that men desirous of this cannot, as they should, as becometh Christians, be of one accord with others.
2. It is vain-glory that we are not to affect, for this glory is allowable that men speak well of us, and glorify God on our behalf.
III. As a remedy the apostle prescribes meekness of mind.
1. Humility is opposed to contention and vain-glory as a preservative against them, and a preserver of that unity and concord of which they are the bane.
2. Ye see how it is defined to be a virtue, whereby every man, in whatsoever state or place he be, esteemeth other better than himself (Eph_4:2). In modesty we are to yield in many things of our own right, so that, though David knew himself to be better than Saul, yet in meekness of mind he may esteem Saul better than himself.
IV. Another remedy (verse 4) is not to look on our own things but on the things of others. Self seeking is an enemy also to concord. If we look on our own graces, wit, learning, goods, and neglect or contemn those of other men, what else will follow but vain glory and contention (Luk_18:11). We may look on our own things and glorify God, but not to glorify them; and on the things of others, not to envy them but to reverence them. (H. Airay, D. D.)
True humility
I. Its features.
1. It distrusts self.
2. Honours others.
II. Its effect. It excludes--
1. Strife.
2. Vain-glory.
III. Its obligation.
1. It is conformable to the mind of Christ.
2. It contributes to social happiness. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Prohibitions and injunctions
I. What is forbidden.
1. Not a proper care for ones own health reputation, interest, etc., but a selfish disregard of the happiness, claims, and rights of others.
II. What is enjoined? not inquisitiveness, but consideration, sympathy, help--because of Gods ordination, our own mutual dependence, Christs example, the pleasure and reward. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Selfishness
I. Its nature.
II. Operation.
III. Cure. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Vain-glory
Vain-glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves of their own vanity. (Lord Bacon.)
Lowliness of mind
If we have any graces, they are graces which ought not to elate, but to humble us; and that the more we have received, the more we ought to abase ourselves, as you see among the ears of corn, those bend their head lowest which are the best and the fullest of grain. (J. Daille.)
Humility
Of all trees, I observe, God hath chosen the vine, a low plant that creeps upon the helpful wall; of all beasts, the soft and patient lamb; of all fowls, the mild and guileless dove. Christ is the rose of the field, and the lily of the valley. When God appeared to Moses, it was not in the lofty cedar, nor the sturdy oak, nor the spreading plane; but in a bush, a humble, slender, abject shrub; as if He would, by these elections, check the conceited arrogance of man. (Owen Feltham.)
Christian humility
Rowland Hill, during his last illness, being asked by Mr. Jay if he felt his personal interest in Christ, replied, I can see more of my Saviours glory than of my interest in Him. God is letting me down gently into the grave, and I shall creep into heaven under some crevice of the door.
Avoiding vain-glory
When Lacordaire, the most renowned of Roman Catholic orators, was complimented upon being the first preacher in France, he replied, No; I am the second; Adolphe Monod is the first. (J. A. James.)
Frederick the Great once sent a sword to George Washington with the inscription, From the oldest soldier to the greatest. (H. O. Mackay.)
Truthful estimation
It is impossible for a man to esteem another better looking than himself, when he is only half as good looking. There may be a difference between men in appearance, but if a man is six feet high he cannot say of another man who is only three feet high, I think he is taller than I am, and be a truthful man. If a man is sagacious and he knows it--as he generally does--he cannot say that a wool gatherer is smarter than he. If a man is generous and kind, he cannot make himself believe that a stingy man is better than he. But this is not the idea. Paul meant simply that a man who is using his whole self for other men, and is striving to help others instead of helping himself, is putting himself below others, or esteeming them better than himself. The mother esteems the child as better than herself in that sense. If either of the two is to lie awake she lies awake. She lies awake that the child may go to sleep. If either she or the babe is to go hungry it is not the babe. She esteems the babe better than herself in the sense that she gives herself away for it; that she bestows her thought and feeling and care on its behalf. Paul means that when we love our fellow men, we ought to be in that general spirit which shall lead us to feel that service rendered to others at some inconvenience, and it may be suffering, is a great deal better than rendering service to ourselves. And it comes back again to that other form, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. (H. W. Beecher.)
The estimation of self and others
In the ancient fable a man carried two bags slung over his shoulders. In the one in front he carried his neighbours faults: in the one behind, out of sight, he carried his own--the exact reverse of the Christian way. (Christian Age.)
The example of Christ
The primary object of the apostle in the next few verses is not to tell how great Christ was by nature, and how low He became, although in his illustration he has done so; but to show how He looked on His own things and the things of others. St. Paul begins the tale of Christs humiliation by referring to the state of mind which led to it; and the clause which has the prime emphasis laid upon it is that which virtually asserts that He did not regard His own things. Though the form of God was His He did not regard it with a selfish and exclusive attachment, but He laid it aside and became man. He was in the form of God, and did not think it a thing to be eagerly laid hold of to be equal with God in having or exhibiting this form. He emptied Himself of it. He did not look simply to His own things--the glories of the Godhead; but He looked on the things of others, and therefore descended to humanity and death. His heart was not so set upon His glory, that He would not appear at any time without it. There was something which He coveted more--something which He felt to be truly a ᾶρπαγμός, and that was the redemption of a fallen world by His abasement and death. Or to speak after the manner of men, two things were present to His mind. Either continuance in the form of God, and being always equal with God, but allowing humanity to perish; or vailing this form and foregoing this equality for a season, and delivering by His condescension and agony the fallen progeny of Adam. He gave the latter the preference from His possession of His mind, and in indiscribable generosity He looked at the things of others, and descended with His splendour eclipsed--appeared not as God in glory, but clothed in flesh; not in royal robes, but in the dress of a village youth; not as a Deity in fire, but a man in tears; not in a palace, but in a manger; not with a thunderbolt in His hand, but with the hammer and hatchet of a Galilean mechanic, and in this way He gave the Church an example of that self-abnegation and kindness which the apostle here enforces, Look not every one on his own things, but also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. (Professor Eadie.)
Humility and joyfulness
Our humiliations work out our most elevated joys. The way that a drop of rain comes to sing in the leaf that rustles in the top of the tree all the summer long, is by going down to the roots first and from thence ascending to the bough. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v5 Chapter 7
Chapter 7
THE MIND OF CHRIST (CONTINUED).
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Php_2:5-11 (R.V.)
IT proves hard to make us aware of the sin and the misery involved in the place commonly allowed to Self. Some of the conspicuous outrages on Christian decency we do disapprove and avoid; perhaps we have embarked in a more serious resistance to its domination. Yet, after all, how easily and how complacently do we continue to give scope to it! In forms of self-assertion, of arrogance, of eager and grasping competition, it breaks out. It does so in ordinary life, in what is called public life, and, where it is most offensive of all, in Church life. Hence we fail so much in readiness to make the case of others our own, and to be practically moved by their interests, rights, and claims. There are certainly great differences here; and some, in virtue of natural sympathy or Christian grace, attain to remarkable degrees of generous service. Yet these also, if they know themselves, know how energetically self comes upon the field, and how much ground it covers. Many among us are doing good to others; but does it never strike us that there is a distant and arrogant way of doing good? Many in Christian society are kind, and that is well; but undoubtedly there are self-indulgent ways of being kind.
Having to deal with this evil energy of self, the Apostle turns at once to the central truth of Christianity, the person of Christ. Here he finds the type set, the standard fixed, of what Christianity is and means; or rather, here he finds a great fountain, from which a mighty stream proceeds; and before it all the forms of self-worship must be swept away. In bringing this out the Apostle makes a most remarkable statement regarding the Incarnation and the history of our Lord. He reveals, at the same time, the place in his own mind held by the thought of Christ coming into the world, and the influence that thought had exerted on the formation of his character. He bids us recognise in Christ the supreme exemplification of one who is looking away from his own things-whose mind is filled, whose action is inspired by concern for others. This is so at the root of the interposition of Christ to save us that the principle becomes imperative and supreme for all Christs followers.
We have to consider the facts as they presented themselves to the mind of Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, that we may estimate the motive which he conceives them to reveal, and the obligation which is thus laid upon all who name the name of Christ and take rank among His followers.
The Apostle, let us first observe, speaks of the Incarnation as that reveals itself to us, as it offers itself to the contemplation of men. To involve himself in discussion of inner mysteries concerning the Divine nature and the human, and the manner of their union, as these are known to God, is not, and could not, be his object. The mysteries must be asserted, but much about them is to continue unexplained. He is to appeal to the impression derivable, as he maintains, from the plainest statement of the facts which have been delivered to faith. This being the object in view, determines the cast of his language. It is the manner of being, the manner of living, the manner of acting characteristic of Christ at successive stages, which is to occupy our minds. Hence the Apostles thought expresses itself in phrases such as "form of God," "form of a servant," and the like. We are to see one way of existing succeeding another in the history of Christ.
First, our Lord is recognised as already existing before the beginning of His earthly history; and in that existence He contemplates and orders what His course shall be. This is plain; for in the seventh verse He is spoken of as emptying Himself, and thus assuming the likeness of men. For the apostle, then, it was a fixed thing that He who was born in Nazareth pre-existed in a more glorious nature, and took ours by a notable condescension. This preexistence of Christ is the first thing to consider when we would make clear to ourselves how Christ, being true man, differs from other men. In this point Paul and John and the writer to the Hebrews unite their testimony in the most express and emphatic way; as we hear our Lord Himself also saying, "Before Abraham was, I am," and speaking of the glory which He had before the world was. But what manner of existence this was is also set forth. He "existed in the form of God." The same word "form" recurs presently in the expression "the form of a servant." It is distinguished from the words "likeness," "fashion," which are expressed by other Greek terms.
Frequently we use this word "form" in a way which contrasts it with the true being, or makes it denote the outward as opposed to the inward. But according to the usage which prevailed among thinking men when the Apostle wrote, the expression should not be understood to point to anything superficial, accidental, superimposed. No doubt it is an expression which describes the Being by adverting to the attributes which, as it were, He wore, or was clothed with. But the word carries us especially to those attributes of the thing described which are characteristic; by which it is permanently distinguished to the eye or to the mind; which denote its true nature because they rise out of that nature; the attributes which, to our minds, express the essence. So here. He existed, how? In the possession and use of all that pertains to the Divine nature. His manner of existence was, what? The Divine manner of existence. The characters through which Divine existence is revealed were His. He subsisted in the form of God. This was the manner of it, the glorious "form" which ought to fix and hold our minds.
If any one should suggest that, according to this text, the pre-existent Christ might be only a creature, though having the Divine attributes and the Divine mode of life, he would introduce a mass of contradictions most gratuitously. The Apostles thought is simply this: For Christ the mode of existence is first of all Divine; then, by-and-by, a new form rises into view. Our Lords existence did not begin (according to the New Testament writers) when He was born, when He was found in fashion as a man, sojourning with us. He came to this world from some previous state. One asks from what state? Before He took the form of man, in what form of existence was He found? The Apostle answers, In the form of God.
To Him, therefore, with and in the Father, we have learned to ascribe all wisdom and power, all glory and blessedness, all holiness and all majesty. Specially through Him the worlds were made, and in Him they consist. The fulness, the sufficiency, the essential strength of Godhead were His. The exercise and manifestation of all these were His form of being. One might expect, then, that in any process of self-manifestation to created beings in which it might please Him to go forth, the expression of His supremacy and transcendence should be written on the face of it.
The next thought is expressed in the received translation by the words "thought it no robbery to be equal with God." So truly and properly Divine was He that equality with God could not appear to Him or be reckoned by Him as anything else than His own. He counted such equality no robbery, arrogance, or wrong. To claim it, and all that corresponds to it, could not appear to Him something assumed without right, but rather something assumed with the best right. So taken, these words would complete the Apostles view of the original Divine pre-eminence of the Son of God.
They would express, so to say, the equity of the situation, from which all that follows should be estimated. Had it pleased the Son of God to express only, and to impress on all minds only, His equality with God, this could not have seemed to Him encroachment or wrong.
I think a good deal can be said for this. But the sense which, on the whole, is now approved by commentators is that indicated by the Revised Version. This takes the clause not as still dwelling on the primeval glory of the Son of God, and what was implied in it, but rather as beginning to indicate how a new situation arose, pointing out the dispositions out of which the Incarnation came. "He counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God." To hold by this was not the great object with Him. In any steps He might take, in any forthgoings He might enter on, the Son of God might have aimed at maintaining and disclosing equality with God. That alternative was open. But this is not what we see; no holding by that, no solicitude about that appears. His procedure, His actings reveal nothing of this kind. What we see filling His heart and fixing His regard is not what might be due to Himself or assumed fitly by Himself, but what might bring deliverance and blessedness to us.
On the contrary, "He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men." In the Incarnation our Lord assumed the "form" of a servant, or slave; for in the room of the authority of the Creator now appears the subjection of the creature. He who gave form to all things, and Himself set the type of what was highest and best in the universe, transcending meanwhile all created excellence in His uncreated glory, now is seen conforming Himself to the type or model or likeness of one of his creatures, of man. He comes into human existence as men do, and He continues in it as men do. Yet it is not said that He is now merely a man, or has become nothing but a man; He is in the likeness of men and is found in fashion as a man.
In taking this great step the Apostle says, "He emptied Himself." The emptying is perhaps designedly opposed to the thought of accumulation or self-enrichment conveyed in the phrase "He counted it not a prize." However this may be, the phrase is in itself a remarkable expression.
It seems most certain, on the one hand, that this cannot import that He who was with God and was God could renounce His own essential nature and cease to be Divine. The assertion of a contradiction like this involves the mind in mere darkness. The notion is excluded by other scriptures; for He who came on earth among us is Immanuel, God with us: and it is not required by the passage before us; for the "emptying" can at most apply to the "form" of God-the exercise and enjoyment of Divine attributes such as adequately express the Divine nature; and it may, perhaps, not extend its sense even so far; for the writer significantly abstains from carrying his thought further than the bare word "He emptied Himself."
On the other hand, we are to beware of weakening unduly this great testimony. Certainly it fixes our thoughts on this, at least, that our Lord, by becoming man, had for His, truly for His, the experience of human limitation, human weakness and impoverishment, human dependence, human subjection, singularly contrasting with the glory and plenitude of the form of God. This became His. It was so emphatically real, it became at the Incarnation so emphatically the form of existence on which He entered, that it is the thing eminently to be regarded, reverently to be dwelt upon. This emptiness, instead of that fulness, is to draw and fix our regard. Instead of the form of God, there rises before us this true human history, this lowly manhood-and it took place by His emptying Himself.
Various persons and schools have thought it right to go further. The word here used has appeared to them to suggest that if the Son of God did not renounce His Godhead, yet the Divine nature in Him must have bereaved itself of the Divine attributes, or withheld itself from the use and exercise of them; so that the all-fulness no longer was at His disposal. In this line they have gone on to describe or assign the mode of self-emptying which the Incarnation should imply.
It does not appear to me that one can lay down positions as to the internal privations of One whose nature is owned to be essentially Divine, without falling into confusion and darkening counsel. But perhaps we may do well to cherish the impression that this self-emptying on the part of the eternal Son of God, for our salvation, involves realities which we cannot conceive or put in any words. There was more in this emptying of Himself than we can think or say.
He emptied Himself when He became man. Here we have the eminent example of a Divine mystery, which, being revealed, remains a mystery never to be adequately explained, and which yet proves full of meaning and full of power. The Word was made flesh. He through whom all worlds took being, was seen in Judea in the lowliness of that practical historical manhood. We never can explain this. But if we believe it all things become new for us; the meaning it proves to have for human history is inexhaustible.
He emptied Himself, "taking the form of a servant," or bondslave. For the creature is in absolute subjection alike to Gods authority and, to His providence; and so Christ came to be, He entered on a discipline of subjection and obedience. In particular He was made after the likeness of men. He was born as other children are; He grew as other children grow; body and mind took shape for Him under human conditions.
And so He was "found in fashion as a man." Could words express more strongly how wonderful it is in the Apostles eyes that He should so be found? He lived His life and made His mark in the world in human fashion-His form, His mien, His speech, His acts His way of life declared Him man. But being so, He humbled Himself to a strange and great obedience. Subjection, and in that subjection obedience, is the part of every creature. But the obedience which. Christ was called to learn was special. A heavy task was laid upon Him. He was made under the law; and bearing the burden of human sin, He wrought redemption. In doing so many great interests fell to Him to be cared for; and this was done by Him, not in the manner of Godhead which speaks and it is done, but with the pains and labour of a faithful servant. "I have a commandment," He said, as He faced the Jews, who would have had His Messianic work otherwise ordered. {Joh_12:49}
This experience deepened into the final experience of the cross. Death is the signature of failure and disgrace. Even with sinless creatures it seems so. Their beauty and their use are past; their worth is measured and exhausted; they die. More emphatically in a nature like ours, which aims at fellowship with God and immortality, death is significant this way, and bears the character of doom. So we are taught to think that death entered by sin. But the violent and cruel death of crucifixion, inflicted for the worst crimes, is most significant this way. What it comprehended for our Lord we cannot measure. We know that He looked forward to it with the most solemn expectation; and when it came the experience was overwhelming. Yes, He submitted to the doom and blight of death, in which death He made atonement and finished transgression. The incarnation was the way in which our Lord bound Himself to our woeful fortunes, and carried to us the benefits with which He would enrich us; and His death was for our sins, endured that we might live. But the Apostle does not here dwell on the reasons why Christs obedience must take this road. It is enough that for reasons concerning our welfare, and the worthy achievement of the Fathers Divine purposes, Christ bowed Himself to so great lowliness. A dark and sad death-a true obedience unto death-became the portion of the Son of God. "I am the Living One, and I was dead." So complete was the self-emptying, the humiliation, the obedience.
"Therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the Name that is above every name." For still we must think of Him as One that has come down into the region of the creatures, the region in which we are distinguished by names, and are capable of higher and lower in endless degrees. God, dealing with Him so situated, acts in a manner rightly corresponding to this great self-dedication, so as to utter Gods mind upon it. He has set Him on high, and given Him the Name that is above every name; so that Divine honour shall be rendered to Him by all creation, and knees bowed in worship to Him everywhere, and all shall own Him Lord-that is, partaker of Divine Sovereignty. All this is "to the glory of the Father," seeing that in all this the worthiness and beauty of Gods being and ways come to light with a splendour heretofore unexampled.
So then we may say, perhaps, that as in the humiliation He who is God experienced what it is to be man, now in the exaltation He who is man experiences what it is to be God.
But the point to dwell on chiefly is this consideration-What is it that attracts so specially the Fathers approbation? What does so is Christs great act of self-forgetting love. That satisfies and rests the Divine mind. Doubtless the Sons pure and perfect character, and the perfection of His whole service, were on all accounts approved, but specially the mind of Christ revealed in His self-forgetting devotion. Therefore God has highly exalted Him
For in the first place, Christ in this work of His is Himself the revelation of the Father. All along the Fathers heart is seen disclosed. It was in fellowship with the Father, always delighted in Him, that the history was entered on; in harmony with Him it was accomplished. Throughout we have before us not only the mind of the Son, but the mind of the Father that sent Him.
And then, in the next place, as the Son, sent forth into the world, and become one of us, and subject to vicissitude, accomplishes His course, it is fitting for the Father to watch, to approve, and to crown the service; and He who has so given Himself for God and man must take the place due to such a "mind" and to such an obedience.
Let us observe it then: what was in Gods eye, and ought to be in ours, is not only the dignity of the person, the greatness of the condescension, the perfection of obedience and patience of endurance, but, in the heart of all these, the mind of Christ. That was the inspiration of the whole marvellous history, vivifying it throughout. Christ, indeed, was not One who could so care for us, as to fail in His regard to any interest of His Fathers name or kingdom; nor could He take any course really unseemly, because unworthy of Himself. But carrying with Him all that is due to His Father, and all that befits His Fathers Child and Servant, the wonderful thing is how His heart yearns over men, how His course shapes itself to the necessities of our case, how all that concerns Himself disappears as He looks on the fallen race. A worthy deliverance for them, consecrating them to God in the blessedness of life eternal-this is in His eye, to be reached by Him through all kinds of lowliness, obedience, and suffering. On this His heart was set; this gave meaning and character to every step of His history. This was the mind of the good Shepherd that laid down His life for the sheep. And this is what completes and consecrates all the service, and receives the Fathers triumphant approbation. This is the Lamb of God. There never was a Lamb like this.
How all this was and is in the Eternal Son in His Divine nature we cannot suitably conceive. In some most sublime and perfect manner we own it to be there. But we can think of it and speak of it as the "mind of Christ": as it came to light in the Man of Bethlehem, who, amid all the possibilities of the Incarnation, is seen setting His face so steadily one way, whose life is all of one piece, and to whom we ascribe grace. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore God has highly exalted Him; and given Him the Name that is above every name. This is the right way. This is the right life.
Are we followers of Christ? Are we in touch with His grace? Do we yield ourselves to His will and way? Do we renounce the melancholy obstructiveness which sets us at odds with Christ? Do we count it our wisdom now to come into His school? Then, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, this lowly, loving mind. Let it. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Do nothing through strife or vainglory. In lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than himself. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and envy, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you. If there is any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, let this be so. Let this mind be in you; and find ways of showing it. But, indeed, if it be in you, it will find ways to show itself.
The Church of Christ has not been without likeness to its Lord, and service to its Lord, yet it has come far short in showing to the world the mind of Christ. We often "show the Lords death." But in His death were the mighty life and the conclusive triumph of Christs love. Let the life also of Christ Jesus be manifest in our mortal body.
We see here what the vision of Christ was which opened itself to Paul, -which, glowing in his heart, sent him through the world, seeking the profit of many, that they might be saved. This was in his mind, the wonderful condescension and devotion of the Son of God. "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me." "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus." "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though He was rich yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich." "He loved me and gave Himself for me." And in various forms and degrees the manifestation of this same grace has astonished, and conquered, and inspired all those who have greatly served Christ in the Church in seeking to do good to men. Let us not separate ourselves from this fellowship of Christ; let us not be secluded from this mind of Christ. As we come to Him with our sorrows, and sins, and wants, let us drink into His mind. Let us sit at His feet and learn of Him.
A line of contemplation, hard to follow yet inspiring, opens up in considering the Incarnation of our Lord as permanent. No day is coming in which that shall have to be looked upon as gone away into the past. This is suggestive as to the tie between Creator and creature, as to the bridge between Infinite and finite, to be evermore found in Him. But it may suffice here to have indicated the topic.
It is more to the point in connection with this passage to call attention to a lesson for the present day. Of late great emphasis has been laid by earnest thinkers upon the reality of Christs human nature. Anxiety has been felt to do full right to that humanity which the Gospels set before us so vividly. This has been in many ways a happy service to the Church. In the hands of divines the humanity of Christ has sometimes seemed to become shadowy and unreal, through the stress laid on His proper Godhead; and now men have become anxious to possess their souls with the human side of things, even perhaps at the cost of leaving the Divine side untouched. The recoil has carried men quite naturally into a kind of humanitarianism, sometimes deliberate, sometimes unconscious. Christ is thought of as the ideal Man, who, just because He is the ideal Man, is morally indistinguishable from God, and is in the closest fellowship with God. Yet He grows on the soil of human nature, He is fundamentally and only human. And this, it is implied, is enough; it covers all we want. But we see this was not Pauls way of thinking. The real humanity was necessary for him, because he desiderated a real incarnation. But the true original Divine nature was also necessary. For so he discerned the love-the grace, and the gift by grace; so he felt that the Eternal God had bowed down to bless him in and by His Son. It makes a great difference to religion when men are persuaded to forego this faith.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv2–8 2. Fulfil ye my joy. Make my joy full.…
2. Fulfil ye my joy. Make my joy full. They had already given him much joy (4:1–10), but he desired one thing more; viz., that they be like-minded, in full agreement, perfect harmony. Having the same love. Loving one another with pure hearts fervently. Being of one accord. Of one heart and soul. No outward strife.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v5 Php_2:5. Let this mind be in you.—The apostle’s word…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Php_2:5. Let this mind be in you.—The apostle’s word reminds us that he had already counselled his readers to be likeminded amongst themselves. “Each to each, and all to Christ,” this verse seems to say. What follows—to Php_2:11—is the very marrow of the gospel.
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Php_2:6. Who, being in the form of God.—R.V. margin, “being originally.” Form here implies not the external accidents, but the essential attributes. Similar to this, but not so decisive, are the expressions used elsewhere of the divinity of the Son (2Co_4:4; Col_1:15; Heb_1:3). Similar is the term “The Word.” Thought it not robbery.—“Did not deem His being on an equality with God a thing to be seized on—and retained as a prize” (Ellicott). “Yet did not regard it as a prize, a treasure to be clutched and retained at all hazards” (Lightfoot). This interpretation of the two eminent bishops is accepted by the R.V., the Speaker’s Commentary, and is the common and indeed almost universal interpretation of the Greek Fathers (Lightfoot, flatly contradicted by Beet). Meyer (followed by Beet), Cremer and Hofmann contend for the active meaning—“robbing.” To be equal with God.—The Jews considered Christ’s peculiar claim of Sonship as a “making Himself equal with God” (Joh_5:18).
Php_2:7. But made Himself of no reputation.—R.V. “emptied Himself.” The emphasis is upon Himself. In contrast to the idea lying in “robbery”—that of emptying the treasures of some one else—it was Himself whom He made bare. And took upon Him the form of a servant.—By taking the form of a slave. Note the antitheses in these verses (6, 7), “being in the form of God,” “took the form of a servant,” “equality with God,” “emptied Himself.” And was made in the likeness of men.—Lit. “becoming in similitude of men.” The word “likeness” (A.V. margin, “habit”) differs from “form” and “fashion.” There is, of course, no support for the Docetic teaching that Christ was only seemingly a man.
Php_2:8. In fashion.—The entire outwardly perceptible mode and form. Men saw in Christ a human form, bearing, language, action, mode of life, wants and their satisfaction, in general, the state and relations of a human being so that He was recognised “as a man” (Meyer). “Form” (in Php_2:6-7) is that which is intrinsic and essential. “Fashion” is that which is outward and accidental. Became obedient unto death.—Does not mean that He humbled Himself so as to become a cringing slave to the King of Terrors; but that His obedience to God went to the uttermost limit—as far as death—even the death of the cross. That is, the death of the accursed, the death reserved for malefactors. Jewish hatred still speaks of Christ as, “The man who was hung.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Php_2:5-8
The Humiliation of Christ a Pattern of Supreme Unselfishness.
I. The humiliation of Christ was no violation of His divine essence.—“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Php_2:6). Thought it not a prey to be seized upon. As He was in Himself truly and properly God, it could be no object of desire or ambition to claim equality with God. Being God He could not undeify Himself. His divinity remained with Him through the whole course of His self-imposed humiliation. It was this that constituted both the mystery and the greatness of the humiliation.
II. The humiliation of Christ was a voluntary incarnation in human form—“But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Php_2:7). He emptied Himself, not of His divinity—that was impossible—but of the outward and self-manifesting glories of the Godhead. He took the form of a servant by being made in the likeness of man. He remained full of divinity, yet He bore Himself as if He were empty. A native preacher among the Oneidas, addressing his fellow-converts, said: “What are the views you form of the character of Jesus? You will answer, perhaps, that He was a man of singular benevolence. You will tell me that He proved this to be His character by the nature of the miracles He wrought. He created bread to feed thousands who were ready to perish. He raised to life the son of a poor woman who was a widow, and to whom his labours were necessary for her support in old age. Are these then your only views of the Saviour? I will tell you they are lame. When Jesus came into the world He threw His blanket around Him, but the God was within.”
III. The humiliation of Christ reached its climax in a career of obedience even unto death.—“He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Php_2:8). He fulfilled all the demands of law and of God. He shrank not from death—death in its most shameful and ignoble form, the death of the cross. He was numbered with the transgressors—not an honourable death, but like the degrading execution of criminals. He went to the realm of the dead and revolutionised it. Hitherto death had reigned supreme, an unbroken power. The prison-house of the dead was fast locked. None returned. Now One comes there who has the keys of Hades and of death. He opens the door and sets the captives free. “Meekness in suffering, prayer for His murderers, a faithful resignation of His soul into the hands of His heavenly Father, the sun eclipsed, the heavens darkened, the earth trembling, the graves open, the rocks rent, the veil of the Temple torn—who could say less than this, ‘Truly, this was the Son of God’? He suffers patiently; this is through the power of grace; many good men have done so through His enabling. The frame of nature suffers with Him; this is proper to the God of Nature, the Son of God” (Bishop Hall).
IV. The humiliation of Christ is an example of unselfishness to all His followers.—“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Php_2:5). The apostle does not put forth himself as an example, but Christ. Christ gave His all for us, and we should give our all to Him, and our best service for the good of others. No one can follow Christ until he has first found Christ. Some try to imitate Christ before they have savingly found Him. To look at Christ as our Example only, and not as our Redeemer, is not to see Him as He is. Without faith in Christ as our Redeemer we cannot really follow His example. Without the grace of Christ there can be no imitation of Christ. A little girl once presented to a celebrated statesman a small bouquet of ordinary flowers, the only one she could procure at the season. He inquired why she gave him the bouquet. “Because I love you,” the child answered. “Do you bring any little gifts to Jesus?” he asked. “Oh,” said the child, “I give myself to Him.”
Lessons.—
1. The unselfish are always humble.
2. The humble are patient in doing and suffering.
3. Humility is the pathway of exaltation.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Php_2:5-8. The Incarnate Deity.
I. That Christ did not seek to retain an appearance of divine glory and co-equality.
II. He divested Himself actually of His appropriate and descriptive ensigns of divine nature and government.
III. He entered upon a course of responsible subordination.
IV. He united Himself to human nature by a perfect incarnation.
V. He stooped to the most extreme depression of state.
VI. He reduced Himself to the necessity of death.
VII. He yielded to death in a peculiar form.
Lessons.—
1. How admirable is the expedient of the Redeemer’s incarnation!
2. What a sublime example does the conduct of the Saviour afford.—R. W. Hamilton.
Php_2:5. The Christian Temper the Same Mind which was in Christ.
I. Some things in which we cannot consider Christ as an example.—All those graces in us which suppose our guilt and fallen state could not be exemplified to us by our Saviour.
II. Some things related of Christ we must not pretend to imitate.—What He did under the character of Messiah was peculiar to Himself, and not designed to put us on doing likewise.
III. Why Christians should copy the mind and temper of Christ.—
1. It was the design of God to set His Son before us as the model of the Christian temper.
2. He was a pattern admirably fitted to be proposed to our imitation.
(1) He was an example in our own nature.
(2) His circumstances and conduct in our nature adapted His example to the most general use.
(3) His example was perfect, so that it has the force of a rule.
3. The relations in which we stand to Christ and the concern we have with Him lay us under the strongest engagements to endeavour a resemblance. He is our friend, our Lord and Master, our Head, our Judge, the model of our final happiness.
Lessons.—
1. Christianity in its main design is a practical thing.
2. We see the advantages we have by the gospel beyond any other dispensation for true goodness.
3. How inexcusable must they be who are not recovered to a godlike temper and conversation by this most excellent dispensation!
4. With what care and attention should We study the life of Christ!—J. Evans. D.D.
Christ our Pattern.
I. The mind of Christ was a pure mind.
II. A self-sacrificing mind.
III. A lowly mind.
IV. A forbearing mind.
V. A constant mind.
VI. A prayerful mind.—Preacher’s Magazine.
Php_2:6-7. Christ the Redeemer.—This which the Son of God did and underwent is the one fact of heaven and earth, with which none in creation, none in history, none in your own personal being, can for a moment be compared, but in the presence and in the light of which all these ought to be contemplated and concluded—that it is the great object of faith and practice. Of faith—for upon the personal and hearty reception of it as the foundation of your life before God, that life itself, and all its prospects, depend; of practice—for high above all other examples, shining over and blessing while it surpasses them, is this mighty example of the Son of God. Oh, brethren, how the selfish man and the selfish woman and the selfish family ought to depart from such a theme as this, downcast for very shame, and abased at their unlikeness to the pattern which they profess to be imitating! Oh that this question might be fixed and rankle like a dart in their bosoms, even till it will take no answer but the surrender of the life to Him, and, by the daily grace of His Spirit, living as He lived!—Alford.
Php_2:8. Christ’s Crucifixion—
I. As an historical fact.—It is quite certain.
II. As displaying in its circumstances every variety of human character.
III. As accompanied by striking prodigies.—The darkened sun, the quaking earth, the cleft rocks, the rent veil, the opened graves.
IV. As furnishing an illustrious example of the passive virtues—Taught us how to suffer and to die.
V. As being the brightest manifestation of self-denying and self-devoting love.
VI. As constituting the sole meritorious cause of human salvation.—Who is the sufferer? The Son of God. Why does He suffer? As a prophet, as a martyr, as an example? Yes; but chiefly as a sacrifice for sin.
VII. As producing the most wonderful moral transformations.—On individuals, on communities, and on Christendom.—G. Brooks.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v5 Php 2:5-8 {R.V.}.
Philippians
THE DESCENT OF THE WORD
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Php 2:5-8 {R.V.}.
The purpose of the Apostle in this great passage must ever be kept clearly in view. Our Lord’s example is set forth as the pattern of that unselfish disregard of one’s own things, and devotion to the things of others, which has just been urged on the Philippians, and the mind which was in Him is presented as the model on which they are to fashion their minds. This purpose in some measure explains some of the peculiarities of the language here, and may help to guide us through some of the intricacies and doubtful points in the interpretation of the words. It explains why Christ’s death is looked at in them only in its bearing upon Himself, as an act of obedience and of condescension, and why even that death in which Jesus stands most inimitable and unique is presented as capable of being imitated by us. The general drift of these verses is clear, but there are few Scripture passages which have evoked more difference of opinion as to the precise meaning of nearly every phrase. To enter on the subtle discussions involved in the adequate exposition of the words would far exceed our limits, and we must perforce content ourselves with a slight treatment of them, and aim chiefly at bringing out their practical side.
The broad truth which stands sun-clear amid all diverse interpretations is--that the Incarnation, Life, and Death are the great examples of living humility and self-sacrifice. To be born was His supreme act of condescension. It was love which made Him assume the vesture of human flesh. To die was the climax of His voluntary obedience, and of His devotion to us.
I. The height from which Jesus descended.
The whole strange conception of birth as being the voluntary act of the Person born, and as being the most stupendous instance of condescension in the world’s history, necessarily reposes on the clear conviction that He had a prior existence so lofty that it was an all but infinite descent to become man. Hence Paul begins with the most emphatic assertion that he who bore the name of Jesus lived a divine life before He was born. He uses a very strong word which is given in the margin of the Revised Version, and might well have been in its text. ‘Being originally’ as the word accurately means, carries our thoughts back not only to a state which preceded Bethlehem and the cradle, but to that same timeless eternity from which the prologue of the Gospel of John partially draws the veil when it says, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and to which Jesus Himself more obscurely pointed when He said, ‘Before Abraham was I am.’
Equally emphatic in another direction is Paul’s next expression, ‘In the form of God,’ for ‘form’ means much more than ‘shape.’ I would point out the careful selection in this passage of three words to express three ideas which are often by hasty thought regarded as identical. We read of ‘the form of God’ {verse 6}, ‘the likeness of men’ {verse 7}, and ‘in fashion as a man.’ Careful investigation of these two words ‘form’ and ‘fashion’ has established a broad distinction between them, the former being more fixed, the latter referring to that which is accidental and outward, which may be fleeting and unsubstantial. The possession of the form involves participation in the essence also. Here it implies no corporeal idea as if God had a material form, but it implies also much more than a mere apparent resemblance. He who is in the form of God possesses the essential divine attributes. Only God can be ‘in the form of God’: man is made in the likeness of God, but man is not ‘in the form of God.’ Light is thrown on this lofty phrase by its antithesis with the succeeding expression in the next verse, ‘the form of a servant,’ and as that is immediately explained to refer to Christ’s assumption of human nature, there is no room for candid doubt that ‘being originally in the form of God’ is a deliberately asserted claim of the divinity of Christ in His pre-existent state.
As we have already pointed out, Paul soars here to the same lofty height to which the prologue of John’s Gospel rises, and he echoes our Lord’s own words about ‘the glory which I had with Thee before the foundation of the world.’ Our thoughts are carried back before creatures were, and we become dimly aware of an eternal distinction in the divine nature which only perfects its eternal oneness. Such an eternal participation in the divine nature before all creation and before time is the necessary pre-supposition of the worth of Christ’s life as the pattern of humility and self-sacrifice. That pre-supposition gives all its meaning, its pathos, and its power, to His gentleness, and love, and death. The facts are different in their significance, and different in their power to bless and gladden, to purge and sway the soul, according as we contemplate them with or without the background of His pre-existent divinity. The view which regards Him as simply a man, like all the rest of us, beginning to be when He was born, takes away from His example its mightiest constraining force. Only when we with all our hearts believe ‘that the Word became flesh,’ do we discern the overwhelming depths of condescension manifested in the Birth. If it was not the incarnation of God, it has no claim on the hearts of men.
II. The wondrous act of descent.
The stages in that long descent are marked out with a precision and definiteness which would be intolerable presumption, if Paul were speaking only his own thoughts, or telling what he had seen with his own eyes. They begin with what was in the mind of the eternal Word before He began His descent, and whilst yet He is ‘in the form of God.’ He stands on the lofty level before the descent begins, and in spirit makes the surrender, which, stage by stage, is afterwards to be wrought out in act. Before any of these acts there must have been the disposition of mind and will which Paul describes as ‘counting it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with God.’ He did not regard the being equal to God as a prey or treasure to be clutched and retained at all hazards. That sweeps our thoughts into the dim regions far beyond Calvary or Bethlehem, and is a more overwhelming manifestation of love than are the acts of lowly gentleness and patient endurance which followed in time. It included and transcended them all.
It was the supreme example of not ‘looking on one’s own things.’ And what made Him so count? What but infinite love. To rescue men, and win them to Himself and goodness, and finally to lift them to the place from which He came down for them, seemed to Him to be worth the temporary surrender of that glory and majesty. We can but bow and adore the perfect love. We look more deeply into the depths of Deity than unaided eyes could ever penetrate, and what we see is the movement in that abyss of Godhead of purest surrender which, by beholding, we are to assimilate.
Then comes the wonder of wonders, ‘He emptied Himself.’ We cannot enter here on the questions which gather round that phrase, and which give it a factitious importance in regard to present controversies. All that we would point out now is that while the Apostle distinctly treats the Incarnation as being a laying aside of what made the Word to be equal with God, he says nothing, on which an exact determination can be based, of the degree or particulars in which the divine nature of our Lord was limited by His humanity. The fact he asserts, and that is all. The scene in the Upper Chamber was but a feeble picture of what had already been done behind the veil. Unless He had laid aside His garments of divine glory and majesty, He would have had no human flesh from which to strip the robes. Unless He had willed to take the ‘form of a servant,’ He would not have had a body to gird with the slave’s towel. The Incarnation, which made all His acts of lowly love possible, was a greater act of lowly love than those which flowed from it. Looking at it from earth, men say, ‘Jesus was born.’ Looking at it from heaven, Angels say, ‘He emptied Himself.’
But how did He empty Himself? By taking the form of a slave, that is to God. And how did He take the form of a slave? By ‘becoming in the likeness of men.’ Here we are specially to note the remarkable language implying that what is true of none other in all the generations of men is true of Him. That just as ‘emptying Himself’ was His own act, also the taking the form of a slave by His being born was His own act, and was more truly described as a ‘becoming.’ We note, too, the strong contrast between that most remarkable word and the ‘being originally’ which is used to express the mystery of divine pre-existence.
Whilst His becoming in the likeness of men stands in strong contrast with ‘being originally’ and energetically expresses the voluntariness of our Lord’s birth, the ‘likeness of men’ does not cast any doubt on the reality of His manhood, but points to the fact that ‘though certainly perfect man, He was by reason of the divine nature present in Him not simply and merely man.’
Here then the beginning of Christ’s manhood is spoken of in terms which are only explicable, if it was a second form of being, preceded by a pre-existent form, and was assumed by His own act. The language, too, demands that that humanity should have been true essential manhood. It was in ‘the form’ of man and possessed of all essential attributes. It was in ‘the likeness’ of man possessed of all external characteristics, and yet was something more. It summed up human nature, and was its representative.
III. The obedience which attended the descent.
It was not merely an act of humiliation and condescension to become man, but all His life was one long act of lowliness. Just as He ‘emptied Himself’ in the act of becoming in the ‘likeness of men,’ so He ‘humbled Himself,’ and all along the course of His earthly life He chose constant lowliness and to be ‘despised and rejected of men.’ It was the result moment by moment of His own will that to the eyes of men He presented ‘no form nor comeliness,’ and that will was moment by moment steadied in its unmoved humility, because He perpetually looked ‘not on His own things, but on the things of others.’ The guise He presented to the eyes of men was ‘the fashion of a man.’ That word corresponds exactly to Paul’s carefully selected term, and makes emphatic both its superficial and its transitory character.
The lifelong humbling of Himself was further manifested in His becoming ‘obedient.’ That obedience was, of course, to God. And here we cannot but pause to ask the question, How comes it that to the man Jesus obedience to God was an act of humiliation? Surely there is but one explanation of such a statement. For all men but this one to be God’s slaves is their highest honour, and to speak of obedience as humiliation is a sheer absurdity.
Not only was the life of Jesus so perfect an example of unbroken obedience that He could safely front His adversaries with the question, ‘Which of you convinceth Me of sin?’ and with the claim to ‘do always the things that pleased Him,’ but the obedience to the Father was perfected in His death. Consider the extraordinary fact that a man’s death is the crowning instance of his humility, and ask yourselves the question, Who then is this who chose to be born, and stooped in the act of dying? His death was obedience to God, because by it He carried out the Father’s will for the salvation of the world, His death is the greatest instance of unselfish self-sacrifice, and the loftiest example of looking on the ‘things of others’ that the world has ever seen. It dwindles in significance, in pathos, and in power to move us to imitation unless we clearly see the divine glory of the eternal Lord as the background of the gentle lowliness of the Man of Sorrows, and the Cross. No theory of Christ’s life and death but that He was born for us, and died for us, either explains the facts and the apostolic language concerning them, or leaves them invested with their full power to melt our hearts and mould our lives. There is a possibility of imitating Him in the most transcendent of His acts. The mind may be in us which was in Christ Jesus. That it may, His death must first be the ground of our hope, and then we must make it the pattern of our lives, and draw from it the power to shape them after His blessed Example.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v6 form of God
form of God
"Form," etc. (Greek - μορφή, the form by which a person or thing strikes the vision, the external appearance)."--Thayer. CF Joh 17:15. "The glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Nothing in this passage teaches that the Eternal Word Joh 1:1 emptied Himself of either His divine nature, or His attributes, but only of the outward and visible manifestation of the Godhead. "He emptied, stripped Himself of the insignia of Majesty."--Lightfoot. "When occasion demanded He exercised His divine attributes."-- Moorehead. CF (See Scofield "Joh 1:1"). See Scofield "Joh 20:28"
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robbery a thing to be grasped after. See, Gen 3:5-6.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The Example of Christ’s Humility. Php 2:5-11
The Example of Christ’s Humility. Php 2:5-11
Christ’s state of humiliation and its lesson:
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v. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
v. 6. who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
v. 7. but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men;
v. 8. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
His admonition to meekness and humility the apostle supports in the most emphatic manner: After this manner think in yourselves that also was in Christ Jesus. The Christians should have this mind, this opinion, concerning themselves, they should let this manner of thinking govern their view of life. As they were ready to make great sacrifices for the sake of Christ. so let them display the same quality in the common concerns of daily business and social intercourse. Jesus, in His work, in His office as Savior of the world, should be continually before their eyes. The mind of Christ should live in the Christians. This is the argument with which the apostle clinches his entire argumentation and admonition. The Christians will be able to follow the entire exhortation of Paul if they always have the example of Christ in their minds.
Now Paul draws his picture of Christ: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God). Jesus is here represented as the Son of God incarnate, in His capacity as Savior of the world, as man among men, who alone can be an example to men. This man, Jesus Christ, found Himself in the form of God, Mar 16:12; Php 3:21; Rom 8:29; Php 3:10; Rom 12:2; 2Co 3:18; Mat 17:12. His form, His external appearance, which, of course, included His nature, was that of God. Only one that has the nature of God, who in His essence is God, will also have divine form. This form of God includes every manner of manifestation of His divinity, everything wherein the divinity is shown, Joh 1:14. It is the divine glory and majesty which includes all the divine attributes and qualities, especially His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. They are a part of God’s essence, they are the divine majesty, the sum total of God’s glory. Thus the eternal Son of God, in His incarnation, found Himself in the form of God, invested with all His glory and majesty. He was not merely clothed with divine form and glory, but He possessed this glory and majesty as His own. He not only stood on the same level with God, He was identical with God. But He did not count it a prize to be on an equality with God. For the sake of saving sinners, Christ regarded the wonderful prize of His divinity, with all its manifestations, lightly. He did not make use of His glory and majesty as a prize or spoil to be held by Him at all costs, even after His incarnation; He did not make a show of the majesty and glory that were His, as a victor might display his spoils. He did not make use of the possessions which His human nature had gained according to vagrant fancies; He did not make a shop of His divinity, merely for the sake of gaining favor and making impressions.
This resolution of Christ found its expression in His life: But emptied Himself, assuming the form of a servant, being made in likeness of men, and in habit found like a man; He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Here the completeness of Christ’s self-renunciation is brought out. He emptied Himself, poured out His contents, though not His substance. He voluntarily gave up something, waived His right, renounced its use for the time being. Not that Jesus, during His earthly ministry, had merely prophetic gifts, as those given by God to the prophets of old. By His own almighty power Jesus performed the great miracles which are recorded of Him. It is true, indeed, that He and the Father are one, and that He received the works from the Father, but it is true, also, that He performed them in His own power. But He voluntarily divested Himself of the unbounded, continual use of His divine majesty. He did not give up the divine nature, but only its unlimited use. He might often have helped Himself, but He chose not to make use of His glory, because He wanted to be the Savior of the world. He deliberately assumed the form of a servant, that was the way in which He emptied Himself. Not that His incarnation was a degradation, a humiliation, but the fact that He became a poor, lowly, humble man, that he took upon Himself the likeness of our sinful flesh and bore the misery of fallen mankind in His body. He seemed altogether like other people of His day and time. The peculiar weaknesses of the flesh He also endured, hunger, thirst, faintness, etc. These are attributes of men in their present sinful condition, weaknesses that are the result of sin. And the fact that He became subject to these natural affections of man shows that He divested Himself of His divine glory, renounced its full and continual use. Thus there is a double nature in Christ, that of God and that of a true human being. He might have come down on earth as a glorified, sinless man, like Adam before the Fall. And there is not only a double nature in Christ, divine and human, but also a double form of being, the form of God and that of a servant, of a poor, lowly human being. These were not successive states, but they were present at the same time in the person of Christ. That was Christ’s condition, an example for all Christians.
The humiliation of Christ proceeded by degrees; the longer He lived, the more thoroughly He emptied Himself, the more completely He was clothed with the form of a servant. He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. The greatest and most serious ill which sinful flesh is heir to is that of death, since death represents the culmination of all evils caused by sin. Christ’s death was one of an especially cursed nature, that on the cross. In this respect His humiliation went beyond the usual experience of sin-laden human beings. He died a cruel death, not that of a Roman citizen, but that of a base criminal, of a slave. This represents the last, the most abject degree of degradation. But He was willing to undergo all; He put aside, for the time being, the glory which was His, in order to be to the full extent, in the complete meaning of the term, the Savior of the world. He died as one that laid down his life of his own free will. The fact that His death was a willing sacrifice, and for that reason was so valuable, is stressed here. Note: Just as Christ showed Himself a shining example of humility, so the Christians should learn of Him. They should also, for the sake of love for Christ and their brethren, waive their rights, not be over insistent upon their rights, their honor, and their interests. They should learn to suffer also the evil, the wrong which is committed against them, willingly and gladly. Thus will they show the spirit of Christ among themselves and toward one another, thus will they preserve Christian love and harmony, thus will they live as it becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5 Do nothing out of selfishness or empty conceit
Do nothing out of selfishness or empty conceit
"Do not serve yourselves or think of yourselves as better than others"
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Each of you should take care not only for your own needs, but also for the needs of others
"Do not care only about what you need, but also about what others need"
translationWords
humble
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Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6, 7, 8 2:3-4 Don’t be selfish: Self-centeredness is antithetical to genuine…
2:3-4 Don’t be selfish: Self-centeredness is antithetical to genuine care for others (cp. 2:20-21; 1 Cor 10:24; Gal 5:26).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.