The Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

May

May 1

Chapter 2, Verse 12, con’t, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

ὑπηκούσατε, hypēkousate, “obeyed,” comes from a root which traditionally meant to listen carefully when someone knocked at your door so as to correctly identify them. Here, it means to heed a command with absolute submission. It should be clear that Paul is not insisting on mere obedience to him but, rather, obedience to all he has taught them about Jesus and his word. Paul came with the observable authority of God and deserved to be followed. Today, a bible teacher who is honest with the bible, seeks to win the lost, build up the church, and does it without selfish gain, deserves the same hearing as well as to be followed.

May 2

I’ve heard it said, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play.” It has happened to me over and over again in ministry and business. Why? Without supervision of assumed authority, people will do as they please because they assume two things, most often in error: no on is watching and, no one will catch me so there won’t be any punishment. While this may be true in the world, it is not true in kingdom life. That is why God gave us the Holy Spirit to live in us. The boss is never away! Without him in our lives, there is no telling what dastardly deeds we would do.

May 3

This verse is not about doing moral works to obtain salvation. That would make Christ’s sacrifice useless. It is about being obedient to the cause of Christ and allowing the merits of God’s salvation to be seen in your life as you work these into your life after you are saved and then show publicly how God’s righteousness has changed you. And this is not to be done with fear of failure that makes you shake in your boots. The language used is pointing us to humility and service rather than pride and being self absorbed. When God saves us, it is all his work. Afterward, what we do with it is all about our taking responsibility to live out the gospel and share our faith with others that they too may enjoy it.

May 4

Chapter 2, Verse 12, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

I imagine that everyone is afraid of something. For me, it is spiders. I get very nervous when one comes crawling out from wherever spiders hide. Anxiety rises and remains until it leave or I kill it. The two words used in verse 12, φόβου, phobou, “fear,” and τρόμου, tromou, “trembling,” are such words. In this passage, in a religious sense, they are used by Paul to describe the obvious. After we are saved, we must be very careful how we conduct ourselves as believers for fear of failure, at least seen as failure, before a lost world. It doesn’t mean we will lose our salvation because of our failures but, rather, our influence to reach those who have not yet come to faith.

May 5

Chapter 2, Verse 13, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Before I was saved, I recognized God in two ways: in the natural world (Romans 1:20) and through people who lived a true Christian life and shared the gospel with me. None of that was my dong. When I was saved, 4/6/79, God drew me to repentance and faith (Acts 20:22) as the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin (John 16:8). Since I was saved, I have, in due course, changed my mind about God. I know him and know that he rewards those who seek after him (Hebrews 11:6). The crux of the matter is right here in verse 13, “for it is God,” not me, who works in me despite my failures and many times lack of faith to accomplish his purposes for my life.

May 6

Chapter 2, Verse 13, con’t, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

From a very young age, I was encouraged and sometimes forced (at least in my mind) to work. Work, for me, meant completing a task that produced something. So, for me, work was never about mere participation or even a paycheck. It was always about winning, coming in first. That’s not necessarily a bad work ethic unless it causes you to compete with everyone else to one up them. Where you really get into trouble is letting that spill over into a relationship with God. He doesn’t need your help, you need his. For believers, ἐνεργῶν, energōn, “working,” means God is working in you, giving you energy to do all the things he leads you to do. Without him, it is utterly impossible to do those things.

May 7

Chapter 2, Verse 13, con’t, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

As a matter of habit, most people want to look good; that is, they want to dress nice, have nice hair, drive a nice car, etc. And they want to feel good about themselves as a result, even if they are not interested in doing what is necessary to actually feel good–like healthy eating habits and exercise. Here, Paul say that God is working in believers lives. ἐνεργῶν, energōn, “working,” is different from working on, although the outcome may be the same. Sometimes, God challenges us physically and with circumstances to cause us to change how we act. But, mostly, he is interested in changing/perfecting our thinking in regard to righteousness so that with forward minds we will do what is right because we know what is right.

May 8

Chapter 2, Verse 13, con’t, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

θέλειν, thelein, “to will,” is much like to wish; you want something to happen, you hope it will happen, you might even expect it to happen, but it is not within your power to cause it to happen. Not so with God. He has the power. Not only that, since time has no constraints upon him, his will is predetermined much like Jesus being the lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). ἐνεργεῖν energein, “to work,” is what is done generally to make ends meet and contribute to society. For God, work is what he does as the result of his will. And we must remember that God does not change (Malachi 3:6) so that his will and his work cannot be thwarted.

May 9

Chapter 2, Verse 13, con’t, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Over the years, as I have read this word, εὐδοκίας, eudokias, “good pleasure,” my understanding has not been at all clear. Why? Because, when I read the word pleasure, I think about something I do for myself, something that makes me feel good. Feeling good, for me, is at best temporary on every level, especially physically. God doesn’t have to feel good. He is good, the only good in creation and for that matter outside creation. Paul’s intent here is to convey God’s desire to do what seems good or beneficial to someone. Not everything God does seems good, but it is. Again, that because God is always good an no wrong can be found in him. God wants to help us in every life situation. We have to stop being so impatient and selfish so we can recognize his work in our lives.

May 10

Chapter 2, Verse 14, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”

When I read this verse, it reminds me of two others, “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,” (Colossians 3:23) and my life’s verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). All of these verses render work differently. Maybe that is because there is a lot to do and Paul’s emphasis on language was designed to expand our thinking on the subject. Whatever his reason, he had a lot to say about working. Sometimes he was referring to toil, sometimes to dedication, and sometimes to service. The last is most important. The more people we serve, the more we will have an opportunity to reach with the gospel–especially when they realize we do not want anything in return.

May 11

Chapter 2, Verse 14, con’t, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”

That word doesn’t even sound friendly. Honestly, I know I’m guilty of it more often than I would like to admit. γογγυσμῶν, gongysmōn, “grumbling,” or more accurately, “murmurings,” is something you do “under your breath” rather than a vocal complaint. Murmuring typically happens in one of two ways. The first way is when you register your displeasure with something in your own mind. You might want to “let someone have it” verbally, but instead you store it away in your mind–to use later on. The other way we (I) murmur is when I do it quietly into the ear of another person. This is dangerous because you are likely being unkind privately. There is never a good outcome to such behavior. As my pastor used to say, “If you can’t say something nice, keep our dirty mouth shut.”

May 12

Chapter 2, Verse 14, con’t, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”

In the world today, it seems just about everyone is disputing something. Whose fault is this or who lied about that. That is not to say that disputes are never proper so long as the challenge comes from a well prepared argument based on clearly discernible and completely verifiable facts. In Paul’s writing, διαλογισμῶν, dialogismōn, “disputing,” was used to describe a person who, after self-deliberation (arguing with himself) intellectually rebels against God. In other words, what I think about any given situation is more important than what God’s Word says about it. In effect, that is denying God. And on a fool has said in his own heart there is no God (Psalm 14:11). The world is ripe with this sort of thinking.

May 13

Chapter 2, Verse 15, “that you my be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”

Paul said we should not argue and complain “that” which could be “so that” because that introduces the result of living without spite and contention in our lives. The “biggie” hits us right off the bat, blameless. Hoe in the world can I be blameless? ἄμεμπτοι, amemptoi, means not deserving disapproval and theologically is applied to mean free from fault or defect and also morally pure. Well, that is not me. Or is it? In my daily walk, because of sin, it is impossible. But God, thank God, doesn’t see me that way. He sees me as pure because of the blood of Jesus. What am I to do? Strive. I work as hard as I can to show holiness to those around me because of God’s love applied to my life.

May 14

Chapter 2, Verse 15, con’t, “that you my be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”

In America’s court system, when a decision is reached, a person is either found guilty or not guilty be a “preponderance of the facts.” Being found innocent is not an option. That simply means a prosecutor could not prove the case “beyond a reasonable doubt.” So how is it that Paul expects believers to be found innocent before God in the midst of so much moral corruption? Simple. Because in Christ we have judicially, that is, by God who is the final judge of righteousness, been declared innocent because we are covered by the blood of the Savior, Jesus. God doesn’t judge us by our actions, good or bad, but by the sacrificial life of his Son who had/has no sin. Our job in life is to learn to live out God’s holiness in us.

May 15

Children, in this verse is τέκνα, tekna, and it has a special designation. Taken from τέκνον, teknon, it denotes a child without regard to sex or age. The most important part of the meaning here is that it identifies those who are true, genuine children begotten by virtue of divine promise. This take Paul’s idea of adoption (Romans 8:15, 23 & Ephesians 1:5) to a who other level. It means that I am more than adopted into God’s family (I am an adopted child by my earthly parents), I am a true offspring and genuine posterity grafted into the family tree (Romans 11:11-25). That is why the Lord Jesus calls us his brothers and sisters. We have been made an actual part of the family of God by the new birth in Christ.

May 16

I am reminded of Ephesians 5:27, where Paul, alluding to the husband/wife relationship, wrote about Christ and the church saying, “that he might present it (the church) to himself a glorious church not having spot (blemish) or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it would be without blemish (KJV). ἄμωμα, amōma, “unblemished,” means, both figuratively and literally, something had to be added to make me unblemished–the blood of Jesus. I have no idea how that works, but I know that when the Father sees me, it is through the blood of the spotless lamb, Jesus, who was slain for my sin so that he sees me without blemish. Thank God for that precious, life-giving sacrifice.

May 17

I was tempted to pass over this phrase. Why not? μέσον, meson, “in the midst,” does just “in the middle of” as “in between.” So, why should it be considered important? I believe Paul’s intent is for us to think about being surrounded by evil and how we should respond to it. My normal response, when something comes at me that I know is evil and intended to tear down the rightouseness I understand, is to vocally and harshly respond to put down the evil voice. But I have found when I do that, evil just get reinforcements together and escalates the argument. So, I’ll just stop yelling and present the truth. If they hear and accept, I have a new ally. If they reject, the evil they espouse is on their shoulders, not mine. And, my spirit is calm and unhindered by anger.

May 18

σκολιᾶς, skolias, “crooked,” means curved or winding and is the word from which we get scoliosis, curvature of the spine. It is used here to describe something not normal, a behavior that runs contrary to that which honors God, hence, crooked. Its root skolios can mean crooked or bent like a dried up peace of wood and figuratively is used as morally twisted or warped because it is unacceptable to God. That describes much of the world today. Not necessarily crooked as in dishonest, but not following the “straight and narrow” of the bible. We live in a time when it has gotten so bad that people make fun of people of faith. What do we do? We keep walking the walk of faith and warn them of the dire consequences of their behavior.

May 19

ἐν οἷς, en hois, “among whom,” is just like “in the midst,” just a few words earlier. Paul is making a strong point here that I believe we most often miss. What is it? We have a great responsibility to conduct ourselves in a christlike manner because we are almost always by a non-believing world. I admit it is very hard for me. I do not consider myself morally superior, but I have great difficulty dealing with and even overlooking brazen behavior that can only be described as stupid. And yet, here I am, in the midst, called upon to be a shining light. I just have to work harder to control my temperament or risk losing opportunities to be a witness for Christ.

May 20

It is not insignificant that φαίνεσθε, phainesthe, “you shine” in this verse is passive. That means we do not shine because of who we are from within ourselves but, rather, we shed light because that light is part of us as believers in Christ, indwelled by the Holy Spirit. So, we shine as, or like, φωστῆρες, phōstēres, “lights” because we have become a luminary giving of the light of God. While the idea is highly metaphorical, it remains real in that people who do not know Christ can (or should) clearly see a difference in those who do know him. Jesus is that light, John 1:5, and Paul was called to shine that light at his conversion, Acts 22:12-18, so that Gentiles darkened eyes would be opened to the light of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and salvation to all who would trust Christ as Savior.

May 21

For the third time in this one verse, Paul points out that our place is right here on planet Earth–to make a difference in the lives of everyone, especially those who do not know God in Christ Jesus. World here is κόσμῳ, kosmō, cosmo, which also describes the whole of the universe. Literally, it means “ordered” system. That is what we are to introduce into the chaos of the world, order, better yet, peace–the pease that comes from knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord. Jesus said, “I have said these things to you that you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). So, being in the world, among the chaos, we are more than cnuerors–we are victors!

May 22

Chapter 2, Verse 16, “holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain”

ἐπέχοντες, epechontes, means “holding forth”–ESV, holding fast, from “epi” and “echo,” it conveys both the idea of holding and presenting. First, we are to hold on to the word. We should read it, think about it, commit it to memory, and build every aspect of our loves upon it. To know the word is to know better the One who gave it to us. Then, the more we know the word, and become comfortable handling it, the better we will be at sharing it. God, through Isaiah, said that his word would not return to him void/empty, but would accomplish his purpose. We are the luminaries assigned to spread that word.