On Philippians
April 11, 2021
The tenor of Philippians is very different from the letters to other churches, especially books like Galatians and Corinthians. In Galatians and Corinthians, Paul is correcting and rebuking, sometimes harshly. He’s kind of shaking them by the scruff of the neck—“You foolish Galatians!” (Gal. 4.1) “What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!” (1Cor. 11.22).
It’s interesting that, to these two very broken congregations, Paul has some of his most beautiful language about the newness we have in Christ. “…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” (Gal. 2.20) or “in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal. 3.26-27), and “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5.24). “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1Cor. 3.16). “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2Cor. 5.17).
Paul recognizes that the churches in Galatia and Corinth are not behaving as churches should. They believe the right things (at least most of the time), but their actions are a denial of the Gospel. Instead of walking in the newness of life, they’re returning to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits to which they were enslaved (Gal. 4.9). So Paul’s response is to highlight the reality of the new life in Christ—it is completely different than the one you had previously. You are made new. You are new creation. So quit acting like you aren’t!
The situation in Philippi, however, is not the same. Paul isn’t correcting them, he’s merely exhorting them to continue in the faith, even when faced with persecution. For them, he doesn’t present himself as this grand apostle in whom new creation is already a reality, even though that’s true. To them he says, “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3.12-14).
“Look,” he says, “you’ve held onto this vision of who you are in Christ. You’ve left the old life behind and become the people God created you to be. And now, you and me both, we’re looking at our lives, wondering why it hasn’t gotten easier to be new creation, resurrection people. We still fail. We still fall short. But focusing on that, focusing on the power of the elemental spirits, is to reject the power of God in Christ! So I forget it. I forget all the ways I’ve succeeded and failed in the past, and I look at who I am in Christ, and I just keep moving forward. So join me, as you always have before!”
—John Coffey
