Philippians 2:1-30
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashiona as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless,b the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offeredc upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.
19 Butd I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded,e who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.
23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and holdf such in reputation:
30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
The apostle now urged those to whom he wrote to fill his joy to the full. In order to do this he indicated two causative facts which suggested two resulting experiences, and then referred to conduct issuing therefrom. The facts are "exhortation in Christ" and "fellowship in the Spirit." When\\ these are realized and submitted to they create that frame of mind which issues in such manner of life as is for the progress of the Gospel In a stupendous and stately passage the mind of Christ is revealed. The master principle is love, first as the motive of self-emptying, and, second, as the reason of divine exaltation. In His Self-emptying, Christ passed from sovereign authority to obedient service, which led ultimately to the death of the Cross, in which He was able to deal with sin and provide redemption.
The issue of such Self-sacrificing love and action resulted in the enthronement of that mind of love. God highly exalted Him, and gave Him the name that is above every name, with the avowed purpose that all should submit to Him.
In order to obtain obedience to the initial injunction to have the mind of Christ, the apostle now shows the secrets of ability to obey. First, there must be recognition of the fact that it is God who wills and works in the believer; and then the consequent deduction as this fact of salvation is worked out in fear and trembling. The result will be that in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation the believers will be seen as lights in the world. Throughout this teaching, incidentally, we have a revelation of how remarkably Paul himself was actuated by the mind of Christ. Though in prison, the missionary impulse was strong in him, and his passion for the progress of the Gospel and the blessing of others affected all his thinking and his doing.