by T. Austin-Sparks
Chapter 3 - Christ the All-Dominating Object and Prize
What we
have said about Christ as our mind leads us straight into
chapter three of the Letter to the Philippians. Chapter
three is the continuation of what is in chapter two. We
recognize the convenience of chapter divisions, but we
greatly regret them. They are not part of the original
New Testament writings, but were only introduced by a man
named Stephen Langton in the thirteenth century, just as
the verse divisions were made by the Paris printer
Stephanas in the seventeenth century. These divisions
help us to find the place, but they are very artificial
and really - in one way - are apt to rob us of real
values. So very often it is essential to run straight on
in the reading, ignoring the chapter division, in order
to get the full value and meaning of the subject being
dealt with.
There are few better examples of this than the one before
us (as mentioned above). The continuity is found in this:
"Have this mind in you which was in Christ
Jesus", who - in order to secure God's full purpose
and realize God's full end - emptied Himself and let go
of everything that He had, and humbled Himself, etc. The
goal and prize of all this was His full and final
exaltation and glory. This was the mind of Christ.
Now Paul goes on to say that that mind had been planted
in him and - in the much lesser way - he had let go of
the rich heritage which had been his and had counted it
all valueless in view of the great "on high
calling" to "gain Christ". The loss of all
things was incomparable to that great ultimate
"gain", the fullness of Christ. Christ's
supreme example, and Paul's own apprehension of Christ
with this very practical effect, were the basis of his
appeal for oneness of mind in believers. What Paul is
really saying is that oneness, unity, and
singlemindedness among believers will be achieved by -
and only by - THIS Christly disposition, and by
Christ being the only and all-absorbing object and prize.
He contrasts this "mind" with those who
"mind earthly things" (4:8) and who "seek
their own, not the things of Jesus Christ" (2:4,21).
We could include MANY things in that "all
seek their own", for apparently this referred to the
Judaizers, who were wanting to change Christianity. Maybe
'their own things' were just "things" in which THEY
were interested in Christianity. It has turned out in
Christianity that the means to the end have become more
than the end. Hence jealousies, rivalries, vested
interests, the clientele, support, the 'Mission', the
'Denomination', the Institution, etc., and if anything
seems detrimentally to affect it, a bitter spirit arises,
and charges of 'sheep-stealing', divisiveness, and so on,
split the spirit of Christ. If everything were looked at
as to whether it has a contribution of Christ to make to
believers, rather than how it affects our particular
interest, Christ would be the unifying object.
Paul was not saying that there must be uniformity of mind
on all particular points, for "there are diversities
of gifts", and functions, but that in right and
proper diversity there should be one all-unifying
"mind"; the passion for Christ transcending and
dominating all else, and arbitrating in all issues.
Paul's own life, a life so capable of versatility,
variety, many interests and possibilities, was unified by
this "one thing" (3:13). We must keep clearly
in mind that in what Paul is saying here he is not
thinking of salvation, but of the purpose of salvation,
which is so very much more than escaping eternal judgment
and getting into heaven. I do not think that the deep
concern and exercise shown here by the Apostle meant that
he feared for his salvation, but, as he says, "If by
any means I may attain" - unto what? Being an
eternally saved soul? No! But "that I may apprehend THAT
FOR WHICH I was apprehended": "The prize of
the on-high calling".
The stress - if that is the right word to use - the
intensity exhibited by Paul is not because God has made
it difficult, but because every art and artifice, every
means and method of Satan, every danger in his own
reactions to suffering is encountered especially by
those who are set upon, and in the way of that on-high
Calling! The enemy knows the ultimate peril to his
kingdom involved in this utterness for Christ, for the on-high calling
is to reign, and there is an
"If" attached to that. So this oneness of mind
is an immense potential!
In his appeal the Apostle reminds his readers that this
motive comes from the very fact that their
"citizenship is (now) in heaven" (3:20) and
therefore the "on-high" or "heavenly"
calling should be in the very constitution and
disposition of a heavenly people.
May our true heavenly nature assert itself more and more
powerfully so that
"the things of earth (do) grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace."
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