And being confident
of this, I know
that I shall remain
and continue with you
all for your progress
and joy of faith,
that you're rejoicing
for me may be
more abundant in
Jesus Christ
by my coming to you
again.
Only let your conduct
be worthy of the Gospel of Christ,
so that whether I
come and see you or am absent,
I may hear of your
affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind
striving together for the faith of the Gospel,
and not in any way
terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them a proof
of perdition, but to you of salvation, and back from
God. For to you it has been granted on
behalf of Christ, not only to believe
in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same
conflict which you saw in me and now here is in
me.
Philippians 1: 25 --
30
Paul had
great confidence in this congregation and his relationship to them as this
rested on the love of Jesus Christ.
This love is not based upon systematic, it is not a polemic, nor
apologetic, but personal and autobiographic.
There is an free outflow of tender love and gratitude, and full of joy
and cheerfulness even in his facing a death.
Paul also the write in this epistle:
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I
began I say, rejoice" (Philippians 4: 4)! The keynote of this letter is proving that there is a healthy
Christian faith, and this faith is far from depressing and saddening to the
heart, for it makes a person truly happy and contented even as Paul was in
persecution and prison. Paul in writing
this letter delicately mingles mainly independents and gratitude. In this letter he had no doctrinal error,
nor practical advice to rebuke, as he did in the letters to the Galatians and
to the Corinthians. There was a warning
and one could say a discordant tone and that is to be found in this letter act: "Beware of dog is, beware of evil
workers, beware of the mutilation" (Philippians 3: 2). I will discuss is when I get to chapter 3
but I feel it's necessary to understand this word that is translated as the
mutilations for the Greek word, κατατομήν, or Paul is using this word a simple
play on words in regards to be contemptuously asked by the Jewish people who
were attempting to make all Christians be circumcised and this in contrast with
the crew spiritual circumcision. Paul
is guarding the Philippians with great earnestness against the opposite extreme
of antinomian license. (Philippians 3:
12 -- 21). Paul is reminding them of
the self-denying example of Jesus Christ, who is the highest of all, and yet
became the lowest of all mighty fast he himself of his Divine Majesty and
humbling himself even to the death on the cross, and it who, in reward for His
obedience, was exalted above every name (Philippians 2:1 -- 11).
This is
probably the most important doctrinal passage of the letter and it contains
this fruitful germ of speculation as to the nature and extent of the Kenosis, a
Greek word that simply means to empty and this is referring to Jesus Christ and
we read this earlier in the chapter (Philippians 2: 5 -- 8), a subject that has
been under much speculation and discussion as this very states that Jesus gave
up some of His divine attributes while he kept that was a man on earth. This very speaks about the attributes such
as omniscience, and the presence, and omnipotence that Christ emptied Himself
of these attributes let it could function as a man in order to fulfill the work
of redemption. This view was introduced
in the early 1800s a Lutheran theologian named, Gottfried Thomasius (1802-75). Now, we must come to understand this that
Paul in writing to the Philippians did not teach that Jesus gave up any of his
divine attributes since it says nothing of these attributes in the verse is
(2:5 -- 8). Instead it is speaking of
His humility that moved Him and this according to the will of the Father, to
leave His majestic state in heaven and enter into the humble position of human
nature. Well then how do we handle Mark
13: 32? Here Jesus says that he does not
know the day or hour and some will save them that he didn't invest himself, or
empty himself of at least part of his divine nature. How do we answer this? The answer is that Jesus cooperated with
the limitations of humanity and voluntarily did not exercise His attribute of
omniscience. He still was divine but was moving and living completely as a man.
The Kenosis theory is a dangerous doctrine because if it were true, then it
would mean that Jesus was not fully divine. If Jesus was not fully divine, then
His atoning work would not be sufficient to atone for the sins of the world. The
correct doctrine is the Hypostatic Union--that Jesus is both fully God, and
fully man (Col. 2:9), and did not give up any divine attributes while as a man
on earth.
With
correct doctrine and with the faith given to you by our God to be atoning work
of Jesus Christ on the cross we have no reason to be terrified of any adversary
even though we may have to suffer at times due to our Christian faith. But our rejoicing is in Jesus Christ and our
conduct is to be governed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not be misled, Jesus Christ was both
fully man, and fully God. Only God
could pay the debt owed to Himself, and that debt no man could pay for all men
are sinful. But by the mercy of God He
applied the death of the Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to pay that debt and
now has applied that debt to his children.
Praise God!
Sing to God, sing praises to His
name;
extol
Him who rides on the clouds,
by His name Yah,
and
rejoice before Him.
Psalm 68: 4
Walk in conduct worthy of God
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