Philippians 4:1-9 Commentary

Paul devotes much of his letter to Philippi’s Christians talking literally about their minds. As we’ve already noted, he summons them to a faithful and obedient reception of God’s grace. However, the apostle also speaks to them at some length about their attitude or mindset.

So while preachers might, with the Spirit’s guidance, organize our message around any number of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s themes, we might consider using verse 8 as a kind of central theme. “Finally, brothers and sisters,” Paul writes there, “whatever is true [alethe], whatever is noble [semna], whatever is right [dikaia], whatever is pure [hagna], whatever is lovely [prosphile], whatever is admirable [euphema] – if anything is excellent [arete] or praiseworthy [epainos] – think about [logizesthe] such things.”

There is, of course, much to “unpack” here. Preachers might begin by exploring with worshipers the concept of logizesthe that both the NIV and NRSV translate as “think about.” Paul seems to describe what we might call “concentrating on” or “focusing on.” The Message paraphrases logizesthe as “filling our minds with” and “meditating on.” The New Living Translation [NLT] paraphrases it as “fixing our thoughts on.”  

Preachers might go on to ask worshipers about what they naturally most think about. Many of us spend a lot of time focusing on our jobs, family members, health, and other things we consider central to our well-being. Paul may have in mind, as well, concentrating on humans’ darker thoughts about such things as various forms of disobedience and evil.

This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s Paul invites God’s adopted children to, instead, focus on what the Spirit uses to contribute to our physical, emotional, and even spiritual wellness. He summons us to think about things that closely align with God’s will and ways, as well as plans and purposes. 

Jesus’ followers might even think of those things that Paul calls us to concentrate on as beautiful. Those things, he insists are “true” or perhaps “genuine,” as well as “honorable” or maybe “noble.”

 Christians long to think about what’s “right,” and “holy,” as well as “pure,” or literally “innocent.” We seek the Spirit’s help to equip us to concentrate on what’s “lovely,” or, literally “acceptable,” as well as what’s “admirable,” or perhaps “reputable.”

The apostle seems to sum up all these things that are appropriate to focus on as “excellent” or “praiseworthy.” The Message paraphrases these foci of our attention as “the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” After all, things that are beautiful and praiseworthy reflect God’s character, as well as the ways God created us to be, and attitudes God created us to cultivate.

But preachers may also note that none of these lovely things Paul calls us to focus on come naturally to us. While such beauty is what God created us for, we naturally concentrate on ourselves, as well as our own interests and sinful desires. 

What’s more, what seems like an avalanche of bad and troubling news sometimes threatens not to just bury us but also monopolize our hearts and minds. Jesus’ friends desperately need the Spirit’s help to set our hearts and minds on lovelier things.

We might think of the rest of Philippians 4:1-9 as presenting ways to open ourselves to the Spirit’s leading. A relentless celebration of God helps focus our minds on things about which God thinks. “Rejoice [chairete] in the Lord always,” Paul writes in verse 4. “I will say it again: Rejoice.” As we focus our thoughts on God, as well as God’s goodness and purposes, the Spirit uses this to help Jesus’ friends cultivate the kind of joy that is calm cheerfulness.

God’s adopted children who want to concentrate on lovely things, what’s more, according to verse 5, cultivate considerateness toward our neighbors. We let our “gentleness” [epeikes] be “evident” [gnostheto] to all people. 

People who wish to concentrate on what’s lovely also focus not on our neighbors’ “ugliness,” but on their deep need for God and people’s kindness. God’s dearly beloved people find ways to come close to our hurting neighbors because God is, after all, perhaps especially “near” [engys] to hurting people.

On top of all that, verse 6 suggest Jesus’ followers who want to focus on what’s lovely spend much time in prayer. We don’t let our worries crowd lovely things out of our minds. Christians are not “anxious [merimnate] about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present” our “requests to God.” With gratitude we prayerfully beg God to help us concentrate not on what makes us fret, but on things that are lovely.

Then, after all, as Paul goes on to write in verse 7, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [phrouresei]” our “hearts and minds [noemata] in Christ Jesus.” While anxious, ugly, and evil thoughts naturally crowd our minds, Paul insists the Spirit uses God’s peace to fill our minds with thoughts of what’s lovely.

In other words, among the things that are “true” on which we focus is God’s lovingkindness. The things that are “noble” on which we concentrate include a gentleness toward our neighbors. Among the things on which Jesus’ friends set our minds is a prayerful relationship with our loving God. The things that are “admirable” about which we think include our neighbors.

Preachers might suggest some ways the Spirit can help God’s people focus on what’s lovely. The Triune God is, of course, the epitome of things like beauty, truth, and nobility. So Jesus’ followers look for ways to deliberately spend time meditating on who God is and what God is like.

Christians might also set our minds on the beauty we find in God’s creation and creatures, including our fellow human beings. We look for, celebrate and publicly acknowledge our fellow image-bearers’ kindness, gentleness, and patience. Christians savor and contemplate the beauty of snowy mornings, springtime afternoons and cool fall evenings. We even find ways to look at and focus on majestic sea creatures, land animals, and the birds of the air.

But, of course, God longs for such right “thinking” to result in right living. So in verse 1, for example, Paul summons his “dear friends” to “stand firm [stekete] in the Lord.” People who focus our thoughts on what’s true and noble, in the paraphrase The Message offers, “Don’t waver.” The Spirit can use Jesus’ followers’ concentration on what’s right and pure to help us “Stay on track, steady in God.”

What’s more, God’s adopted children who focus on what’s true and noble long and work for unity among our adopted siblings in Christ. In verse 2-3 Paul writes, “I plead with Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind [autou phronein] in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help [syllambanou] these women.” 

It’s tempting for 21st century Christians, including me, to expend much time and energy thinking about the very real divisions among God’s dearly beloved people. Paul summons us to concentrate not on division, but on the unity with which God graces us in the Jesus Christ whose return is imminent. Such focus can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, help those whose names God has written in the Book of Life to help others work for it.

Paul closes this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson by reminding his readers that the Holy Spirit can use our focus on what’s true, noble, compelling, and gracious to equip us for godly living. In verse 9 he tells Philippi’s Christians, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, put it into practice [prassete].”

The apostle has spilled much ink encouraging his Philippian brothers and sisters in Christ not just to look to Christ, but also to cultivate Christlikeness. Now he summons them to look to himself by putting into practice the things they’ve learned from him. 

When this, by the power of the Holy Spirit happens, God’s peace [eirenes] is with us (9b). When Christians concentrate on what’s best and most beautiful, God’s peace is with us. When we cultivate practices that celebrate and pray to God, as well as show others kindness, God’s peace is with us. When Jesus’ friends stand firm in our faith and work for Christian unity, God’s peace is with us.

The grace that is God’s peace is among the letter to the Philippians’ central themes. Paul begins it with the prayer, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2). In this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson he promises “the peace of God … will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (4:5). Now he echoes that with the promise that the “God of peace will be with you.”

That’s something worth concentrating and focusing on.

*I have here and elsewhere added in brackets the italicized Greek words for the English words the NIV translation uses.

Illustration

In “Beauty” in his Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith, Frederick Buechner writes, “Beauty is to the spirit as food is to the flesh. A glimpse of it in a young face, say, or an echo of it in a song fills an emptiness in you that nothing else under the sun can. 

“Unlike food, however, it is something you never get your fill of. It leaves you always aching with longing not so much for more of the same as for whatever it is, deep within and far beyond both it and yourself, that makes it beautiful [cf. C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory]. ‘The beauty of holiness’ is how the Psalms name it (29:2), and ‘As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.’”