Read Philippians 1:3-11 .
Do they sound similar? Yes, they are similar in a number of ways.
There’s an ordinary reason why they’re similar, and also a special reason.
The ordinary reason is that, back in those days, all letters by educated people followed a special form. We have a few rules like this, but not many. We begin with “Dear [someone]”, and end with “Yours” and our name. In Paul’s day, you’d follow a number of extra rules that the old Greek teachers taught. You praise God (or the gods), you praise the person you’re writing to, and show why you believe they should read your letter.
That’s the ordinary reason why Paul’s two letters sound similar. But the special reason is connected to Paul’s reason for writing.
Last week, Paul was writing about the faith and love of the Philippians. His prayer was that their love would increase – for each other, and for everyone else. Love was a key part of his message.
And this week, too, love is the special topic that he starts his letter with.
Look at verses 9 and 10: “And this is my prayer,” he says, “that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless...”
Love again is the key thing in Paul’s thinking. It will be what holds the faithful people to the Way until Jesus comes again. Paul again prays that this love will “overflow” in his readers.
But let’s look closely at the new things Paul says about love this week. We may not notice it if we just let the words flow past. What are the special qualities of this love?
Paul says that this love has “knowledge and full insight”. That’s interesting! We usually think of love as an emotion, a feeling. We think of romantic love, where a lover can’t see any faults in the loved one. People joke that “love is blind”. This love is quite different. This love is smart, wide open – it has “full insight”. This love doesn’t make you senseless and silly – no, it helps you “to determine what is best”.
Why does Paul write about love this way?
What other ways can we obtain knowledge, and work out what is best? Many would turn to books for knowledge, and to the law for what to do.
These things have their place, but Paul knows that they have their limits. In particular, you can’t live a life devoted to God by following a rule book.
There are plenty of rules in the Old Testament. Paul used to be Saul. He used to know the rules better than most and believed they were the way to God. He used to persecute people who didn’t see things that way. Christians were his enemy.
Now, he’s a new man. He’s had an encounter with the spirit of Jesus. He’s moved by Jesus’ appeal to his heart: “Why do you persecute me?” He’s blinded for a while, but moved by the loving actions of Christians who are charged with helping him. No longer Saul, but Paul, he starts out with a new understanding. Many others will argue against his new position.It’s hard to turn your back on centuries of tradition. But Paul is convinced that one principle governs everything. When it comes to doing what is right, he has one over-riding guideline, pure and simple: love rules!
Commentaires