Philippian Studies: Lessons in Faith and Love from St. Paul's Epistle to the PhilippiansMoule, H. C. G. (Handley Carr Glyn)
Religion
Philippian Studies: Lessons in Faith and Love from St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians
Moule, H. C. G. (Handley Carr Glyn)
Bible. Philippians -- Commentaries
Lastly, the normal Christian life, thus conditioned, is a life whose
mental energies (_logixesthe_) are fully at work, always gravitating
towards purposes and actions true, pure, gracious, virtuous,
commendable; "sowing the fruit of righteousness in peace," at the side
of "the God of peace." True, the man may have many things to think of
which are either perfectly secular in themselves (he may be a servant,
he may be a man of business, he may be a physician, he may be a
minister of state); or which are evil in themselves (he may be an
investigator, or a judge, of crime). Nevertheless, this will not
deflect the true current of the mind. These "thinkings" will all find
place and direction in the "thought" which remembers that the thinker
is the Lord's, and that in his _whole_ life he is to be true to the
Lord's glory and the good of man. "The God of peace will be with him"
wherever he goes, whatever he does; deep below the surface, but so as
to control the whole surface all the while.
Such is the Christian life, where the Christian "stands firm in the
Lord." It was thus at Philippi. In the early generations of the
Church (let the _Apology of Aristides_ alone be adequate witness) it
was thus, to a degree and to an extent most memorable, in at least very
many Christian circles. It is thus still, in many an individual life.
But is it in any sense whatever thus in the rule and average or even
earnest Christian lives? Is it thus in ours?
"Henceforth, let us _live_--not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died
for us, and rose again." To Him, in Him, by Him, we are bound to live
so (Rom. viii. 12, _opheileta_), we are able to live so. Let us
"present ourselves to God" (Rom. vi. 13), watching and praying, and it
shall be.
"Two arms I find to hold Thee fast,
Submission meek and reverent faith;
Held by Thy hand that hold shall last
Through life and over death.
"Not me the dark foe fears at all,
But hid in Thee I take the field;
Now at my feet the mighty fall,
For Thou hast bid them yield." [11]
[1] So certainly read, not _Euodias_, which would be a man's name, a
contraction of Euodianus. Euodias as a fact is not found in
inscriptions. Euodia on the other hand is a known feminine name; and
the words just following ("help these women") make it practically
certain that the two persons just named were both female converts.
(_Euodian_ of course may be the accusative of either _Euodias_ or
_Euodia_.)
[2] _Cor Dei in verbis Dei_; Gregory the Great's noble description of
the Bible, in a letter to the courtier Theodoras, begging him to study
daily "the Letter of the heavenly Emperor."
[3] "I exhort," R.V. A slightly tenderer word seems better to
represent _parakalein_ in this personal connexion. "I beseech" (A.V.)
is _perhaps_ rather too tender.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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