Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticise you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.
Phi 2:12-18
You will notice I am sure that I have given you the whole segment of Philippians 2:12-18 in a more readable version, the New Living Translation (NLT). This passage is interesting in that it links well what has gone before it to what lies ahead it. Paul effectively sums up all he has been writing to the Philippians since the beginning of the letter and then makes some key statements about living the Christian life which he follows up with real life examples of two people who are putting such advice into practice. This is a classic bridging passage in one of Paul’s letters.
Let me give you the sections headings from the New Living Translation
- Greetings
- Thanksgiving and Prayer
- The Advance of the Gospel
- To Live is Christ
- Christ’s Example of Humility
- Lights in the World
- Timothy and Epaphroditus
I have given you this passage in plain modern English. You might say, “Ian, why don’t you do that for every passage we look at?” This once again demonstrates to you the power of using multiple translations in order to dig deep down into the text of the Bible. There have been times I give you the readings from the New Living Translation, my favourite easy to read version in modern English. But then there are times with what we have covered so far in Philippians, I have given you a more literal version in order to be able to demonstrate to you the subtleties of the Greek in a more literal version or I have given you the Greek text interlinearised. At other times in order to show you how different translations divide the same passage I use the key comparative versions to show you the difference between them. I did this most recently with the different ways the versions punctuate the flow of text. You also know now that the pericope divisions (the titled sections) of the Bible text vary depending on how the Bible publishers have chosen to divide the passage. All of this can change the way we perceive and understand the text of the Bible.
While all of the above might true it is still possible to pick up a good Dynamic Equivalence Version and understand what is being said. That is especially true when we read a large block of the text of the Bible at one sitting. I have told you over and over through these Bible Gems that my Greek professor, Dr Basil Brown, repeatedly told us to read the text in large chunks at least seven times in order to understand it well. I hope I have demonstrated to you with what we have done this far in the letter Paul wrote to the Philippians how that works in practical ways.
It is good for us to stop for a moment and take stock of where we have come from in this letter to Philippians. We began with Gem 1899 and have now reached Gem 1955. I have written 57 Gems so far on this book. We began with the introduction and background. We have looked at the standard way Greek letters were written in order to see what Paul has done in this letter. How he had included so many personal touches for these people he loves dearly. Then we camped for a while on the classic verse in Phil 1:6. We then looked at the way the letter was divided by the various translations to see the differences. Following which we looked at Paul’s imprisonment and people’s reaction to the Gospel. We stopped at times to analyse some very significant verses in the letter until we came to That Majestic Passage (Phil 2:5-11) which we began in Gem 1923 and ended with Gem 1941. From Gem 1942 to 1949 we stopped to dig into just what the Name that Above Every Name in fact is among the various contenders the commentators have given us. Starting with Gem 1950 we began our look at this next segment.
I am very aware that for some people this approach is much too deep. On the other hand others love it because they feel for the first time they can understand all that is going on in a Biblical book. Even having looked at Philippians in this detailed way I have still omitted some things. The kind of things commentators spend pages and pages discussing but which in the end don’t leave us with practical help for living life in the 21st Century or give us a better understanding of the words the writer meant in the book they wrote. My approach is to go deep when I know there is a reason to do so or to keep the big picture in mind in order for us to see more clearly how the book we are studying hangs together. As long as it makes things clearer to us and helps us to understand more clearly in this case what Paul meant as a benefit to the Philippians and therefore to us 21st Century dwellers wherever we may live. Why? Because God’s Word is always helpful and relevant to earth dwellers wherever they may be. We are on a journey while on earth to make us fit to live the Life of the Age to Come. But there are conditions and fine print along the way of which we have to be aware.
Take some time before you read the next Gem to see for yourself how Philippians 2:12-18 sits between what Paul talked about before Philippians 2:12 and what comes immediately after it. Stop and consider why Paul chose Timothy and Epaphroditus as his examples in the passage that follows. I think you will notice how it all flows together. Paul wrote using an amanuensis, a scribe to whom he dictated the letter. The thought process has all come flowing out of Paul as he said it. There are those who think that Luke was the one who wrote the prison letters down for Paul. We just don’t know. The scribe is likely mentioned in some letters, as I have mentioned in some past Gems, but certainly not in this one. In the next Gem I will draw out the connections in Philippians 2:12-18 for you which then flow into Philippians 2:19-30.
God always has a bigger picture in mind.
To see and understand the big picture, you’ve got to meet the Master Painter.
Passion and devotion grow when you begin to understand the big picture or understand how to understand.
Paul of Tarsus said, “This one thing I do.” What is the one thing you most want to accomplish?
Sometimes the completion of a task is beyond the capability of the person you were when you started, you’ve got to keep growing to finish it.
Paul Scanlon