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Scripture Reading: Phil. 1:19-21; 2:5-8, 15, 17; 3:7-11, 14; 4:12-13
The subject of the book of Philippians is the experience of Christ in every kind of circumstance. No other book deals as specifically with the experience of Christ as this one, telling us that Christ must be our experience regardless of our circumstances and difficulties.
Students of the Scriptures may ask why the book of Philippians is inserted between the two sister books of Ephesians and Colossians. I believe that there is a sovereign meaning to this; I wholly believe in the sovereign arrangement of these books in the New Testament. The book of Ephesians is concerning the church, and the church is a matter of a life in Christ. If we intend to have the church life, we need the experience of Christ. We can never separate the church life from the experience of Christ as life. We can never realize the church in a living way if we do not experience Christ in our daily walk. We have to experience Christ in all our circumstances; only then can we realize the church life.
The church is not a matter of mere doctrine. We cannot realize the church merely by teaching or by studying. Rather, it requires the real experience of the life of Christ. The more we experience Christ’s life, the more we will sense the need for the church. When we live by ourselves apart from Christ, we do not sense the need for the church. But when we come to Christ and begin to experience Him, right away we sense the need for the church life. Thus, the experience of Christ as life is basic to the realization of the church life. Because of this, Philippians, the book on the experience of Christ, immediately follows Ephesians, the book on the church. This is the meaning of the sovereign order of these books. The more we love Christ and live in Him, by Him, and with Him, and the more we experience Him, the more we sense our deep need for the church.
Philippians has four chapters, and each chapter is a section. Chapter 1 shows us that Christ is our life and expression. In other words, this chapter tells us how we live Christ to magnify Him, that is, to express Him.
Verse 21 of chapter 1 says, “To me, to live is Christ.” This has the meaning both of living by Christ as our life and of living for Christ as our purpose. While we are on this earth, we live not by ourselves but by Christ as our life, and we live not for ourselves but for Christ as our purpose. If we live for ourselves, we cannot say that for us to live is Christ; we would have to say that for us to live is we ourselves. If it is true that for us to live is Christ, this means that we are living by Christ and for Christ. Christ is our life, and Christ is our purpose.
Verse 20 says, “According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.” To say that Christ is magnified in us is abstract, but to say that Christ is magnified in our body is more concrete. Whether through life or through death, Christ will be magnified in us bodily. Magnified means “expressed,” “exalted,” and “honored.” Christ is expressed, exalted, and honored in us bodily. This means that we are living here to express Christ, exalt Christ, and honor Christ, and our life, living, and being are to follow Christ as our purpose. The purpose of our living, of our family, of our job, and of everything in our life is Christ Himself. Our purpose is to magnify Christ, express Christ, glorify Christ, exalt Christ, and honor Christ.
Although it is an easy thing to quote this verse, do we really live for Christ? Is everything of ours on the altar for Christ? We should remember who it is that wrote this word. The apostle Paul put everything on the altar, and he left nothing for himself. Everything of his was an offering, either put on the altar or poured out at the base of the altar. While he was in prison, everything had been taken away for Christ; all that was left to him was his breath. Such a person was qualified to say, “To me, to live is Christ.” We may not be qualified to say this, because we may not be one hundred percent for Christ. We must be wholly for Christ. While we do business, our business is for Christ. Our job, our studying, our teaching, and everything in our life are for Christ. Whatever happens to us, whatever we have, and whatever we do must all be for Christ. Then we will be in a position to say that for us, to live is Christ. We should check ourselves in this light. Verses 20 and 21 are the key verses in the first section of this book, showing how the apostle Paul took Christ as his life and as his expression.
Verse 19 of chapter 1 is another verse which is very precious yet very much neglected by Christians today. This verse speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Conybeare tells us that the Greek word for supply is a technical word, referring to the choragus, the leader of the chorus on the Greek stage. The choragus was responsible to supply all the needs of the members of the chorus. Their clothing, food, musical instruments, and everything they needed were provided by the choragus. Paul uses this same word to describe the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Therefore, this word may be rendered as “bountiful supply,” a supply that meets all our needs.
The term the Spirit of Jesus Christ is richer than the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God at the beginning of the Old Testament was not as rich as the Spirit of Jesus Christ after Pentecost. In the Old Testament times, within the Spirit of Jehovah there were not the elements of the humanity of the Lord Jesus, His suffering in His human life, the effectiveness of His death, and the power of His resurrection. However, on the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out from the ascended Christ, and within this Spirit were all these elements.
A cup of plain water contains only the water, but if we add tea, sugar, and other ingredients, the water becomes richer. This is a picture of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. To speak only of the Spirit of God is not sufficient; today the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In this Spirit there is divinity, the heavenly element, and there is also humanity as well as the suffering of the Lord Jesus in His human life on earth, His crucifixion, and His resurrection.
The Spirit of Jesus Christ may be compared to an all-inclusive dose of medicine. When we take this dose, one element kills germs, another element supplies nourishment, and other elements supply other needs. The reason that Paul could live Christ and magnify Him, the reason he was able to say, “To me, to live is Christ,” is that he had the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. As a member of the “chorus,” Paul was bountifully supplied by the Choragus. This is the proper meaning of Philippians 1:19.
We also are members of the “chorus,” and the Holy Spirit is the Choragus to satisfy all our needs. We are human beings, and within the Spirit is the human nature. We are suffering on the earth, and within Him there is the element of the suffering of human life. We need the cross as our killing element, and within the Spirit there is this element. We also need His resurrection power, and within the Spirit of Jesus Christ there is this power. Whatever we need today is in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. By the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ we can live Christ to magnify Him, and we can say, “To me, to live is Christ.”
Philippians 2 is the second section, showing us Christ as our pattern, our living example. The principle of this pattern is that someone with the highest life and position would be willing to live in a humble way. Christ has the highest life, the life of God, and He has the highest position, which is equality with God, yet He would not grasp that. Rather, He temporarily set it aside (vv. 5-8). To have grasped His equality with God would not have been wrong. Although He had the human nature, it would have been right for Him to take the standing of God. However, He would not grasp that. He put aside His position of equality with God, and He lived in the most humble and lowly way. This is the principle of Christ as the pattern.
We all have to learn this. If today by the sovereignty of God we have a high position and much wealth, we have to lower ourselves. We must lower our position and standard in our living according to the example of Christ. It is not wrong to grasp our position and say that it is something that God has given us to enjoy, but if we do this, we are not taking Christ as our person and pattern. The pattern given to us by Christ is that one has a life in the highest position, yet he is willing to live a life in the lowliest way. We all must learn to lower our position and standard. We may be millionaires, but we should be willing to lower our standard of living and use our substance for the glory of God and the benefit of others. This is the example of Christ, and this is the principle of Christ as a pattern to us who take Him as our life.
If we say that we take Christ as our life and yet do not take Him as our pattern, there is something wrong. In the past I have seen a number of good brothers and sisters in high positions, such as bank managers and university professors, who did love the Lord. Yet to my realization, some of them were not willing to humble themselves and take a lower position. On the one hand, they have the right to enjoy their position; to grasp one’s position is not robbery. However, Christ for the glory of God and for our benefit emptied and humbled Himself to live not as God but as a slave. He truly had the position of God, being equal with God, yet He humbled Himself to live as a slave.
Some brothers and sisters are rich only for themselves. When they enjoy their own riches, they are generous to themselves, but in giving their riches to others they are not generous. Their way of living is to spend their wealth and their riches for their own enjoyment. They are not willing to give their wealth for God’s glory and work. No one can condemn them, because according to their position it is legal and right to do this. However, if they mean business to take Christ as their life and pattern, they should lower their standard in the way they spend for their living.
The principle of Christ as the pattern for our living is that even if we have the highest standard, the highest position, we should not grasp it. We should put that aside and lower our standard. As long as we can live on the earth, that is good enough. We should save the rest of what we have for the glory of God and the benefit of others. If we would not do this, if we would keep our standard and grasp our position, we will waste what God has given us.
Verse 17 says, “Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all.” This person, who took Christ as his pattern, offered everything on the altar. This verse says that Paul himself was being poured out. To be poured out is to lower one’s standard and position in his living.
Verse 15 says, “That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world.” Verses 17 and 15 are two key verses in this chapter. One says that Paul was being poured out as a drink offering, and the other says that we shine as luminaries. We cannot shine as luminaries until we lower the standard of our living and are willing to give up our rightful position. We should not grasp our position. To proclaim that we are professors or bank managers is to grasp our position, but if a professor would go to the street corners on Saturdays and distribute tracts to the people, he will be shining. If Christ while on earth grasped His position as God, no light would have shined forth. He gave up the high standard of being equal with God, put it aside, and lowered Himself to live in poverty as a lowly man from Nazareth. Because of this, men saw the light shining through Him and out of Him.
Besides verses 15 and 17, verses 6 and 7 are also crucial, saying, “Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men.” For Christ to empty Himself, to make Himself of no reputation, means that He lowered His standard. In our living and in the things we do, we must lower our standard. We should not try to be honored by people. To try to be honored by people is a wrong concept in our Christian walk. Rather, we may be despised by others.
For Christ to keep His position of equality with God would not have been robbery. It was one hundred percent legal and right, but He gave that up. He lowered Himself and made Himself of no reputation. He was despised as a lowly carpenter from Nazareth. This is our pattern. We should not talk about taking Christ as our life in a vain way. To speak in vain about taking Christ as life is to enjoy a kind of entertainment. If we are serious, we have to lower our position and standard and be willing to be poured out on the altar as a drink offering. Then the light will shine through us. This is the key to Philippians 2.
Chapter 3 of Philippians shows us that Christ must be our goal and our aim. Verse 14 speaks of the goal. We are in a race, and our goal is the all-inclusive Christ. When the apostle Paul wrote this Epistle in approximately A.D. 64, he was already quite old and had been running the Christian race for a long time. Although Paul was aged and very experienced in Christ, he did not have the assurance that he had arrived at the goal. He was even afraid that he would miss the mark. So he said, “Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal” (vv. 13b-14a). The goal is Christ Himself as the prize to be awarded to us. In the Old Testament the good land of Canaan was the goal for all the people of Israel after they were saved and delivered out of Egypt. While they were wandering and pressing on in the wilderness, they had a goal ahead of them. The good land of Canaan is a type of Christ, who is our goal.
There are many important verses in Philippians 3. Verse 10 begins, “To know Him.” Paul knew Christ already, but he desired to know Him more. This verse continues, “And the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” The death of Christ is a form, like a mold used for cooking. God puts us as pieces of dough into the mold of Christ’s death, onto His cross. When a person makes a cake, he conforms the dough to the form of the mold. In the same way, God puts us into the mold of Christ’s death to conform us to it.
This is by the resurrection power. Within us is the resurrection power and without is the cross, the mold, in our circumstances. Paul’s imprisonment provided the circumstances in which he was put into the mold of Christ’s death so that he might be conformed to His death. By himself there was no strength to do this. The strength was the resurrection power within him.
In chapter 3 of Philippians, the word resurrection is used twice. The first time it refers to the resurrection power by which we are conformed to the death of Christ (v. 10). Then verse 11 says, “If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.” Many translations of this verse are not adequate; the translators neglected the first part of the Greek word for resurrection because they did not have the proper light. The word resurrection is composed with a prefix and should be translated “extra-resurrection,” or “out-resurrection.” The out-resurrection is something special. Many verses in the New Testament tell us that at the coming of the Lord Jesus, all the saved persons who have died in the Lord will be resurrected. However, there is a difference in the way they will participate in that resurrection. Of all those who share in that resurrection, some will enjoy a special resurrection, an outstanding resurrection. This may be compared to a graduating class. Although all the students graduate, only the top ones share an outstanding graduation, an “extra-graduation.” Paul was pursuing this special resurrection.
The out-resurrection is nothing less than a special portion of Christ experienced by us. A special portion of Christ will be awarded to certain ones. This is similar to the hidden manna, which is different from the open manna (Rev. 2:17; Exo. 16:14-15). Both the open manna and the hidden manna are a type of Christ, but the hidden manna is a special portion. Christ is the resurrection in a general way (John 11:25), but Christ as the out-resurrection is a special portion of Christ as a reward.
All young believers should learn to recite Philippians 3:7 and 8. Paul says, “What things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ. But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.” What things in verse 7 refers to the religious things, the things in Judaism as mentioned in the previous verses. Paul dropped all those religious things for Christ. In verse 8, however, Paul dropped not only the religious things but “all things” on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. All the above verses show us that Christ is not only our life and our pattern but also our goal and our aim. We drop all other things and pursue nothing but Christ. Our goal is to gain Christ.
Chapter 4 reveals to us that Christ is our secret and our power, our strength. Verses 12 and 13 say, “I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack. I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” In Greek the phrase I have learned the secret means “I have been initiated.” This may be illustrated by mathematics. When we teach a young student addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, we initiate him by giving him the basic principles. In this way he learns the secret. Whenever he comes across a problem in mathematics, he knows the secret of how to solve it.
Christ is not only our power but our secret. We live by this power, and we live by this secret. Then whatever matter comes to us, we can solve it. Because we know the secret, we do not care whether we are rich or we are poor or whether we are abased or we abound. The unbelievers in the world are foolish because they do not know the secret. They are like people who have never learned the principles of mathematics; no matter what problem they come across, they cannot solve it. We are not this kind of person. We have been initiated in Christ, with Christ, and by Christ. Because Christ is our secret, we know how to face any kind of situation. Whether people honor us or despise us, we know the secret and we have the power. Christ is our secret, and Christ is also our power.
If Christ were not the Spirit, He could not be our power within. Therefore, we must come back to the Spirit. We can never and should never forget Philippians 1:19, which speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. If Christ were not the “electricity,” how could He be the power to us? He is the electricity transmitted to us by the Spirit as the current. The current, the transmission, of the electricity is the electricity itself, just as the circulation of blood is the blood itself flowing. Without the blood, there is no circulation, but we use the term circulation to describe the movement of the blood. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is the transmission of the Lord, although in actuality the Spirit is the Lord Himself.
If the Lord Himself were not the Spirit as the transmission, how could He be subjective to us? How could we be in Him and He in us? In John 15:4 the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” The only way to abide in Christ and for Him to abide in us is by the Spirit. This is the reason John 14 indicates that Christ was to be transfigured as the Spirit. Christ could not abide in us and we could not abide in Him until the things mentioned in John 14 were accomplished. Now Christ is the Spirit (vv. 16-18; 2 Cor. 3:17), and as the Spirit He enters into us. In this way, we are in Him and He is in us. He and we, we and He, become a mutual abode; we abide in Him and He abides in us. This is a matter entirely of the Spirit. Therefore, we repeat this vital point: We must know our spirit and realize the Holy Spirit. For Christ to be our power and our secret is not an objective matter; it is one hundred percent subjective to us. If we know Him in the spirit and as the Spirit, we will experience Him.
If we are impressed deeply with all of these points in the four sections of Philippians, this book will be very clear to us. We must take Christ as our life and our expression, our pattern and our example, our goal and our aim, and our secret and our power. Then we can do all things in Him who empowers us. He is our secret. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are four wonderful books in the Bible. If we experience the Christ in Galatians and Philippians, we will know His Body in Ephesians; then we will realize Christ as the Head in Colossians.
If Christ were not the Spirit, He could not be our power within. Therefore, we must come back to the Spirit. We can never and should never forget Philippians 1:19, which speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. If Christ were not the “electricity,” how could He be the power to us? He is the electricity transmitted to us by the Spirit as the current. The current, the transmission, of the electricity is the electricity itself, just as the circulation of blood is the blood itself flowing. Without the blood, there is no circulation, but we use the term circulation to describe the movement of the blood. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is the transmission of the Lord, although in actuality the Spirit is the Lord Himself.
If the Lord Himself were not the Spirit as the transmission, how could He be subjective to us? How could we be in Him and He in us? In John 15:4 the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” The only way to abide in Christ and for Him to abide in us is by the Spirit. This is the reason John 14 indicates that Christ was to be transfigured as the Spirit. Christ could not abide in us and we could not abide in Him until the things mentioned John 14 were accomplished. Now Christ is the Spirit (John 14:16-18; 2 Cor. 3:17), and as the Spirit He enters into us. In this way, we are in Him and He is in us. He and we, we and He, become a mutual abode; we abide in Him and He abides in us. This is a matter entirely of the Spirit. Therefore, we repeat this vital point: We must know our spirit and realize the Holy Spirit. For Christ to be our power and our secret is not an objective matter; it is one hundred percent subjective to us. If we know Him in the spirit and as the Spirit, we will experience Him.
If we are impressed deeply with all of these points in the four sections of Philippians, this book will be very clear to us. We must take Christ as our life and our expression, our pattern and our example, our goal and our aim, and our secret and our power. Then we can do all things in Him who empowers us. He is our secret. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are four wonderful books in the Bible. If we experience the Christ in Galatians and Philippians, we will know His Body in Ephesians; then we will realize Christ as the Head in Colossians.
