Commentary on Philippians

He has set down either four causes or four persons that proclaim Christ. Of these, two, the first and the last, are from malice; the two in the middle from a good mind and will. How the first and last differ from each other, and how the second and third, must be said. The first is from malice, through envy and contention: for he said “envy” because they feel that way, since they are rivals to us. The last too is itself from evil: as “some proclaim Christ out of contumacy.” That is, in order to harm us. For though they openly deny Christ, they have pretended to proclaim him, so that we, who think and believe them adversaries, may grieve that the same things we proclaim are proclaimed by them: for they proclaim Christ, he says, out of contumacy, not holily nor purely, but so as to strike us with tribulation and groaning and pain, so as to show that they rejoice in our punishments and chains; as it was said to Christ himself when he was placed on the cross, “If you are the Son of God, free yourself,” so it may be said to Paul: “May your God free you from your chains; that Christ God is God; yet you are in punishments.” In this way, then, this preaching of the malicious differs from that earlier one: that one is not to add punishments to the apostle’s chains, but so that they themselves may aim at the glory of preaching, since they do this through envy, not through understanding and their own will. But the double cause, or double person, from good stands thus: some proclaim Christ through good will, some out of love. These two causes from good are opposed one by one to those from evil: for this, which is second, answers to the first. For if the first preach Christ because they envy and contend, on the contrary some of the good proclaim Christ through good will, truly thinking so, not envying us, but because what they think is good and they have good will toward the gospel. And the third cause, which is from the good, is contrary to that which is last of the evil. For if the last of the evil is such that some proclaim Christ out of contumacy for our punishment and tribulation, this one of the good is contrary, because some proclaim out of love: that is, following me and dear to me, not insulting me: namely, he says, because I am placed in the defense of the gospel. For they know that I am in the defense of the gospel, and that therefore I endure these punishments of mine for the gospel; hence they too proclaim Christ out of love, either love toward Christ or love toward me, not insulting me, like those who preach Christ out of contumacy; not purely, but thinking to raise up tribulation for my chains.

“What then? Provided that in every way, whether under pretext or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.” Since he set down above four persons or causes for Christ’s being proclaimed, he declares and shows that he is not moved at all by the malicious because they preach Christ. For they think in vain that they are raising tribulation for my chains. For what, or why am I moved? Or why am I sent into tribulation? For I rejoice and am glad that Christ is proclaimed in every way: whether they preach Christ under some pretext of theirs or some occasion of their own for harming or envying—provided they preach—or proclaim him in truth. For the outcome pleases me greatly, that they proclaim Christ; and they both name Christ, and confess him God, though in another spirit, and the Son of God. For when this is celebrated, practiced, carried out, Christ is so proclaimed by all, and we arrive at what we wish, that Christ be proclaimed. If this is so, they thought in vain that I was sent into tribulation. Then he adds thus: “And in this I rejoice, and shall rejoice.” And I rejoice, he says, even in this very thing, that Christ is proclaimed. For even those who proclaim Christ by way of harming, to harm me, do not deny him; nor do those who proclaim Christ through envy, out of spite, secretly, and by malicious words, yet they confess Christ and proclaim Christ: in this, he says, I rejoice and shall rejoice.

“For I know that this will turn out for my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus.” Almost boldly and rashly he has gladly accepted, and accepted with joy, that Christ should be proclaimed in any way, even by the wicked, even out of contumacy, even through envy: but this from confidence in God and his goodwill, and, as he himself says, from the supply of Christ and his Spirit, I confirm will be; and I know it will be, since this which is proclaimed in any way will be true, and will even be as Paul himself wishes, who truly proclaims: and therefore he says, “for I know that this will turn out for my salvation”: so that what they proclaim, even for my ruin—those who proclaim Christ out of contumacy, or those who proclaim Christ through envy and contention—all of it, I know, will turn out for my salvation, with Christ and his Spirit supplying, namely. “According,” he says, “to what I expect,” and I have hope, so I have confidence that they will never harm me, even if they proclaim Christ for another reason, that I may suffer punishments and be tormented: yet since my hope and expectation is from Christ, this will turn out for my salvation.

“Since I shall be ashamed in nothing; but with all confidence, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body.” It followed that this very thing which the malicious preach, which they preach through envy, which they preach out of contumacy, might not straightway turn out for salvation, so that it could bring him ruin and punishments, so that he would always be in chains, and indeed even in death, but either way. For the apostle, looking ahead, says that it will come about that Christ is preached whatever the outcome: for never, he says, shall I be ashamed, but from either I shall be glad with joy and rejoice, and as always, so now Christ will be magnified, he says, in my body; that is, when my body, subjected to all punishments, endures everything, and preaches Christ, and does not desist, nor is frightened by punishments, nor yields to all punishments. What “all punishments” means he himself explains by adding, “whether by life or by death.” For whether I live by enduring punishments, Christ will be preached; or whether I die under punishments, he will be preached more and more, when all see that I was neither deterred by punishments nor called back by death, but either spent my life in the gospel with punishments, or endured punishments even to death, and yet persevered in preaching the gospel.

“For to me life is Christ, and to die is gain.” So I do not fear death, because to die is gain for me: not death itself is gain, but dying: but life is Christ, because whoever hopes in him always lives, both now and afterward. For when he said, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death,” referring to this life: if he conquers those who lay snares for him and perseveres in the gospel, his life will glory, because it glories in Christ, not in chains, not in safety, not if he suffers nothing. But if he is killed, to die is gain, since Christ is life to him. So he has answered each with each; so that to death he answered, I do not fear death, since Christ is my life: whether in life, or in chains, though they bind me, yet Christ is my life, and dying itself is gain, since I come to Christ. Or each of these two is given to each of the preceding: I do not fear death, because Christ is my life and to die is gain; or, when life will be in punishment for me, I do not fear life, because Christ is my life. So they accomplish nothing, whether they hand me over to death or give me over to torments in life: for neither harms me, because for me there is no life in torments with punishment, since Christ is my life: or if they kill me, this too is no punishment to me, because Christ is my life and to die is gain.

“But if to live in the flesh, this is the fruit of work for me.” Since he said above, “to me life is Christ,” and it was uncertain which life he meant, whether this one in the flesh or that one afterward, he added about this life which is here in the flesh, and said that nevertheless even in this life, while we live here in the flesh, there is fruit for me, he says, of work. What is this fruit of work? That by my labor and the gospel I proclaim Christ and bring about for many the hope of life and salvation, when they have begun to hope in Christ and to give faith to the gospel. This, he says, is for me the fruit of work, even to live in the flesh. “And what I shall choose I do not know.” For whether I die, because death is gain, and Christ is my life, and I surely come to him when I die here in the flesh; or whether again I live here in the flesh, because to proclaim Christ and preach the gospel is fruit of work for me; which I shall choose, he says, I do not know: whether to seek death, or still to remain in life.

“But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is far better. But that I remain in the flesh is necessary for your sake.” A double necessity and desire, he says, leads me in divided directions; for I have the desire to be dissolved, that is, to depart from the body, and to be with Christ; also that, to obtain the gain; which indeed is best and to be chosen. But again there is for me in the flesh the necessity to remain and persevere for your sake. So to the first part he gave desire, to wish to be dissolved and to be with Christ, because it is highest, chief, and best; but here, that he should still remain in the flesh, he called rather a necessity than that; so that for this reason I may live, to instruct you, to confirm you in the gospel. Since, then, he has as it were two desires, he confirms one, that he will still remain here in the flesh: and this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue with you for your progress and the grace of faith. Truly like a father, truly like a servant of God, of his two desires he as it were leaves aside that which would have profited him alone: to go away now, to be dissolved now, and to be with Christ.

I am confident, he says, and know with confidence that God will make me remain here still, so that I may remain; and I will continue, so that I may profit you all, and you may have progress toward the glory of faith. I will remain, he says, and he added more, “and I will continue,” that is, I will remain until perfection; the perfection of your progress, that you may advance and obtain grace, namely of faith; that is, when you offer faith you may earn grace from God.

“That your glory and exultation may abound in Christ Jesus with me, through my presence again with you.” So that when I have begun to be with you again—that is, “through my presence again with you”—your glory may exult, and that exultation may abound in Christ Jesus with me, through my presence again with you: that is, so that I, being present, may perceive how your glory exults and abounds in Christ, because you love Christ, because you serve Christ, because you rejoice to serve Christ.

“Only conduct yourselves worthily in the gospel of Christ.” The whole sum of the Christian life is this: to conduct oneself in the gospel of Christ, to proclaim him to oneself and to others, to have hope in him, to do whatever one does from his commandments: this is to conduct oneself worthily in the gospel of Christ. But even this is too little: so it must be joined that we conduct ourselves in the gospel of Christ before all things, and conduct ourselves worthily. To conduct oneself worthily is to live according to his precepts and do what Christ commands. “So that whether I come and see you, or, being absent, I hear of you, that you stand in one spirit, with one soul striving together with the faith of the gospel.” He himself explains what it is to conduct oneself worthily in the gospel of Christ: “standing in one spirit, with one soul striving together with the faith of the gospel.” “Standing,” he says, “in one spirit”: because the spirit is one when we are now wise, and perceive the gospel, and live so. And the work of the soul is this, that we drive out the adversities of the body: therefore “with one,” he says, “soul striving together with faith,” which faith the gospel gave you. So stand, he says, in one spirit, and struggle together with one soul with the faith of the gospel. But this exposition contains what he said above, “conduct yourselves worthily in the gospel of Christ.” How the words stand so as to be whole and joined to one another we shall consider thus: conduct yourselves, he says, worthily in the gospel, so that I may hear worthily of you that you stand in one spirit and with one soul strive together with the faith of the gospel. And I shall hear, or even in absence; and there will be faith, so that when I hear, I may believe, when I come to you and see you. Or in absence I shall hear of you, as I shall see you in either case, that you stand in one spirit.

“And are in nothing terrified by your adversaries”: and this work too belongs to the exposition of what it is to conduct oneself worthily in the gospel of Christ: never to be terrified by adversaries, nor terrified in anything. “Since for them it is a declaration of destruction, but for us of salvation.” This, he says, is not to be terrified, for those who serve the gospel. That is, every act of a Christian is toward salvation: not to be troubled by adversities, to believe the faith of the gospel in Christ, to suffer for Christ, and at the same time to know that it comes from God’s grace. So this thing, he says, not to be terrified in anything by adversaries, is both for our salvation and for our adversaries a cause of destruction: and yet this is the gift of God. “And this from God”: lest we think it is our own work that not being terrified is a cause of salvation for us: for this too is from God, as I have often warned, so that all things come about by God’s will and mercy and grace.

“Since it has been given to you by Christ.” He joins these precepts to the whole exhortation: for it pertains to showing what it is to conduct oneself worthily in the gospel of Christ, thus, according to the preceding precepts: and now when the exhortation is added that they should believe in Christ; and not only believe, but also suffer for him. And what they should suffer he adds: either what you have seen in me, or what you have heard about me: for this is to conduct oneself worthily in the gospel of Christ, and this has been given us as a gift for Christ’s sake, since he fulfilled the mystery and suffered all things for our liberation. For his sake, then, he gave us the gift of believing in him. And it is a great gift, if by faith in him alone we merit so great a grace. But let us so believe as also to suffer for him; for this he adds: “having the same contest and struggle which you both saw in me and heard about me.” So that you too, believing in Christ, may suffer all things for him, that is, for his sake. For to do all things, and not to turn to another, and to suffer all things for him, this is the contest: and we have this struggle, namely the contention and intention that leads to the palm and the crown. So that you may not be ignorant of this struggle, it is the one you saw in me, namely about the chains, the prison, all the ills which Paul endured: both of which have credibility with you that I suffered, since you either heard or saw.

“If, then, there is any calling in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion, fulfill my joy, that you all think the same.” Being about to ask a favor, that his joy may be fulfilled—a joy commanded regarding this, that you all think the same, that no one disagree (for then there is both love and concord, when all think the same; and if there is concord, the apostle will have this joy)—so, then, that he may obtain what he wishes to be his joy, through their unanimity, concord, and same mind, and the rest like these, he sets forth first, as it were, an account of merits, which he deserves from them, that his joy may be fulfilled in this: that all think the same, and the rest. These are the grounds of merit: that they have been called together in Christ: for God calls us in Christ; for he sanctifies those whom he called and chose and ordained. Calling, then, is first; if there is, he says, any calling in Christ among us, that we have been called together, and called in Christ, and my merit toward you; then fulfill my joy. This, then, is the first ground of merit among them, that they listen to one another: that they have been called in Christ. And from the fact that they have been called in Christ there is also love. Likewise he adds, “if any consolation of love.” For since we are in evils, and labor under the evils of the world, if we love one another, God will be to us the consolation of love. If this, then, he says, is the consolation of love, that, since I love you, you console me in the evils in which I am: fulfill, then, my joy. This must be added to each. Then he added, “if any fellowship of the spirit.” In good order this is third too: for first is being called in Christ, then having love: and when both are present, so that they are both called in Christ and have among themselves the consolation of the beloved and of love, there is without doubt fellowship of the spirit. “If there is,” he says, “any fellowship of the spirit.” Let us hear that: “fulfill my joy.” Then he adds, “if any affection and compassion.” For one body of the church is made when those called in Christ are joined to one another by love; they are joined also by the spirit, and become the same heart and the same compassion. If, then, there is any heart, if there is a heart of compassion, to this end, that the calling be in Christ and the fellowship in the spirit. And compassion is for this, if there is any consolation of love: that each console the other, because we are always in evils in the world: since we are the same heart, we ought to show compassion to one another. So, then, if there is any heart of compassion, fulfill my joy. And what joy he added: “that you think the same, all the same thing.” What is “think the same”? He supplies it by what follows, either in what they should think the same or how they should think the same: “Exercise the same love, being of one soul, knowing one thing, doing nothing through contention or through vain glory, but in humility of mind each considering others to surpass him; let each of you look not only to his own things, but each to those of others.”

“For think this in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus.” As I said, this is the exhortation he is now carrying out with fuller precepts: “fulfill,” he says, “my joy,” in the things by which it can be brought about: and these precepts, as he always taught, contain what is to be done, and likewise what is not to be done. What is to be done he adds thus: “that you all think the same, all exercise the same love, being of one soul, knowing one thing.” He inserts what is not to be done: “nothing through contention nor through vain glory.” And he adds again what is to be done: “but through humility of mind each considering others to surpass him.” Likewise he adds what is not to be done: “let each not look to his own things.” Then what is to be done: “but each to those of others.” Then he adds thus what is of greatest force for exhortation, and a sure exhortation from the precepts, in which the conclusion of the precept is this: that each think of the refreshment of others. This, he says, you ought to do, resolve, and think in yourselves, which Christ did: that, thinking of others, he thought nothing of himself and his own glory; or that, as he will teach, he himself laid aside his power in order to help all others. So this is held in the exhortation, so that the joy of Paul himself may be fulfilled. Let us see, then, the individual precepts. First he says, “that you think the same”: the power, right, and working of all Christianity is not to disagree, but to have one and the same thing in mind. For if there is one God, if one his Son, if one Holy Spirit, if all these three are one, so we too ought to hold as one what we think, so that we all think the same. Then follows that we “exercise the same love.” This now pertains to moral discipline, that is, to life; that to knowledge. For since I have said that there are two kinds in Paul, and in every treatise—that some things are learned for knowledge, others for acts and for life—so here too, for knowledge, it is set down “that you think the same”; then for life, “exercise the same love.” What is “the same”? The same you show to another as another shows to you; not a divided love, but love in Christ. This is the same love. Then he added: “of one soul, knowing one thing.” He seems to me to have repeated in reverse order what was said above. For “of one soul” is one thing, pertaining to the same love; “knowing one thing” is another, pertaining, as I said above, to “that you all think the same.” But there is something more in these two than in the earlier ones. For “that you all think the same” is one thing, “knowing one thing” another, in the same subject indeed, since both pertain to knowledge. But that earlier “thinking the same” serves this, that while knowledge is not yet confirmed, yet the power of knowing may appear equal, not yet completed, and knowledge already perfected. So in the second precept, though both are in one sense, it is set down more strongly: “knowing,” he says, “one thing”: this is already the precept itself, when he said “knowing.” But above he said “thinking the same,” that is, having the same perceptions of understanding: so that is still in act, this can be seen in perfection. “Thinking the same” and, for life in like manner, still in act, regarding life, “exercise the same love.” But in perfection there is “of one soul,” and both concern morals and the manner of life: hence, though each seems the same as its counterpart, the later ones are stronger. Then he added: “nothing through contention nor through vain glory.” For even with thinking the same and knowing the same there could still be contention. So a measure is added of what ought to be, or rather what ought not to be: “nothing,” he says, “through contention.” For many have either a necessity or a will to contend. So he removed both kinds of contention, so that there is neither necessity nor will to contend, since both are faulty. Some rush into contention itself out of curiosity; others are by nature such as to be contentious: therefore it was added, “nothing through contention.” Then again others bring this forward for boasting, so that they contend and seem equal, or superior by persistence in resisting, and superior in glorying. This, then, he wants taken away, and says, “nor through vain glory.” For vain glory is to wish to please by words, to please by great cunning and by contention in debate. For contention ought rarely to be found in a Christian, and not boasting in speech. With this later precept so set down, that we may not seem to do anything through vain glory, there was necessarily added, “but through humility of mind.” For so vain glory can be taken away, if there is humility in the mind, that is, in the understandings. For he set down these “senses.” Let him bring forward whatever he treats by way of inquiry, not by assumed authority. “Each considering others to surpass him.” For this is truly humility, if you think every other better: for this is to consider yourselves surpassed by one another; so that no one thinks of another without esteeming him better, and as surpassing and being better. If this is so, this is humility of mind. Then he adds: “Let each of you look not to his own things, but to those of others.” From this thought is linked what is added afterward. Meanwhile this is to be referred to what precedes: for then you will fulfill my joy, if you do this too, that each looks not only to his own things but to those of others, and so each has care for others and the concerns of others. For this is what we think: that if we think only of ourselves, we can profit ourselves, and deal only with our own affairs, with our hope, our liberation: but this is too little. For we truly deal with ourselves then, if we also care for others and hasten to profit others. For since we are all one body, if we look out for others, we look out for ourselves; if we think of others, we think all the more of ourselves. Hence he adds how great is this which he admonishes, how exceptional, how forceful, when he says: Let us have this same in our minds which is also in Christ Jesus. What this is—“think this in yourselves which you think in Christ Jesus”—he himself sets out and explains. For if we think this in Christ Jesus, that he took care rather for others, that is, for us, not for himself, nor for what he himself could or was able or is able to do, but thought rather of us. This is what he said above: “but each of us should take care of the things of others”: for our Lord Christ the Savior, surely, since he was Savior, brought salvation to others: and how he did not use kindness only, nor, shining with his goodwill, clothe and cover with his light, nor call back to himself by infused kindness and majesty. So that we might know his benefit as greater and greatest, he emptied himself, he says, and stripped off all majesty, so that, descending into flesh and taking up all that patience of humility, in order to profit us in the flesh, he endured injuries in the flesh, then the cross and death. All of which teach and exhort us, imitating the Lord in like manner, to think rather of others than of ourselves. For this is truly to deal with ourselves: to take up the care of others for their salvation. This, then, is “that you think this in yourselves which you also think in Christ”: you perceive that he profited others: so think this in yourselves too, that you think for others, and take up concern for others, so that you may be able to profit others.

“Who, though he was established in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but emptied himself, and took the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men, and found in bearing as a man, he humbled himself, being made subject even to death, and the death of the cross.” He had given two things above, that is, two precepts: one, that they love humility; the other, that they care not only for their own things but also for those of others. And he says, “Think this in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus.” What, then, of these two do we take in Christ Jesus? One? And which one? Or rather both? For one, about humility, is plain: that Christ humbled himself and took the person of a slave. Yet the second precept can be here too: for he endured so for the sake of others, and thought of others rather than himself. And here it is briefly set out what Christ is, both before he came down in the flesh, and in what power and substance he is. For it is said that Christ was the form of God. And what is the form of God? Not a shape, not a face, but image and power. I touched on this fully here too, in Ephesians, and treated it more fully and richly in other books: that God is in that he is the principal being itself; and being itself is principally to have living and understanding. But understanding and living are a kind of form and image of existence itself. Since, then, God is existence, as is proved in many ways, and still more what is above existence; and the form of existence is to be moved, to understand, to live—for that being which is invisible and incomprehensible is formed around and defined in a certain way, that is, called into consideration and knowledge, when living and understanding are understood. So being is the Father; but living and understanding, which are these very things in that which is being, are as it were form. Christ, then, is the form of God: for Christ is life, and knowledge and understanding. This, then, is the form and image of God. How great the power, how great the deity or virtue, is expressed elsewhere. So now Paul: Christ, he says, did not think it robbery, that is, did not claim this for himself and wish to have only this, that he was the form of God; but also emptied himself in power, so as to descend to the world and to the flesh, and take the form of man, that is, the image of something small and lowly. But I think this must be attended to carefully and keenly: that although he himself says that he was sent by God and fulfills the Father’s will, this is set down as a mystery in such a way that it is of his own will that he came and took the form or image of a slave. For so he says: “who, though he was established in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but emptied himself, and took the form of a slave.” But since we always join them so, and grasp this by the necessity of understanding, that in that which is being there are understanding and life, so that even in God—to whom belongs this power, that he is being and provides being to all—there is yet that understanding, as living, or above understanding and above life and above existence; and that Christ, who is life, a life that has also come forth from God, is within, and in that he is life itself, existence, and understanding itself, he is equal to God: hence the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. But these things, as I said, are treated more fully elsewhere. So when the Father willed, the Son willed; and when the Son willed, the Father willed. Hence both are rightly said: that he was sent by the Father, and, as is set down here, that he emptied himself. And let us understand that he emptied himself not in this sense, that he left his power somewhere else or deprived himself of it; but that he humbled himself to every mean thing, descending to the lowest offices. When he fulfilled these things, he emptied himself and his power. For taking flesh and the form and likeness of man, he suffered, did, and fulfilled all things that were man’s. For this is what he says: “made in the likeness of man, and found in bearing as a man.” For those are not to be heard who say he was a phantom because it is said here “in the likeness of man”: rather it is referred to God, and to the Logos himself formed by the taking of flesh in the likeness of men. For since flesh on earth has various forms, and it is plain that Christ received flesh; it was said in what likeness: in the likeness of men, that is, not of the other animals; not that there was here only a likeness of men in Christ, not man himself taken up. Then it is added after likeness, also “bearing,” so that he bore himself as a man. So he added, “found as a man.” The Greek said schēma; the Latin named it habitus, “bearing.” So, since two things are set down in the Greek, likeness and bearing, let us take bearing as figure, and how a man bears himself. For the whole quality of a man is expressed by these two, likeness and figure. For there could be a likeness of man on an immense scale, as in giants, as in the faces and limbs that are fashioned; so therefore he added also the figure of man, so that a definite bearing and measure, besides the likeness of man, might be seen to have been taken up. And as to his saying “found as a man,” this was not said with doubt, “as a man,” as if he were not a man but a phantom of a man; but “found as a man” was said by this middle way of speaking, by which in truth he was not a man [only], but God, and, having received flesh and figure, as it were man. And as to his saying, “he took the form of a slave”: since he was himself the form of God, and man is God’s slave, therefore it was said, “he took the form of a slave.” From this he humbled himself and emptied himself, being made, he says, subject even to death, namely of the cross. See, in this very thing, when he said “being made subject”—and in the Greek it is said openly and fully, hypēkoos genomenos, that is, “made a hearer under”—in this very thing is expressed what we said a little before, that he was sent by the Father. For if he was a hearer under, that is truly and wholly said, “he who sent me here,” and “made subject”; surely both can be taken and understood not only by that reasoning, that God is also in Christ, and the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, but also because in many places we find the like, that the authority belongs to the sender and the will to the one obeying. For as among the poets, when the father sent Mercury by his command, and Mercury, obeying the father’s command, composed himself and emptied himself to fly and take his journey—if it is lawful to compare such things with divine ones—one may understand both that Christ was sent by the command of God the almighty Father, and that Christ the Son, by the very fact that he obeyed the command, emptied himself, so as to take the form of man, and come in the flesh, and bear the image of a slave, humbling himself and becoming obedient, and obedient even to death. Which death? For there are many kinds of death: for first, to be in the flesh belongs to death; then to take on all the sins of the flesh is itself death; therefore it was added, “even to death.” Which death? “Of the cross,” he says. For the Savior did not free us by death, but freed us by the death of the cross: for the whole mystery lies not in death only, but Christ’s, and in the death of the cross: hence Paul said that he had faith in Christ, and in Christ himself crucified.

What is gathered from all these? So Christ both took counsel for others and made himself lowly. “For which reason God also exalted him, and gave him a name, that in the name of Jesus all should bend the knee, of those in heaven, on earth, and below the earth; and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” What this is which has now been said—that God therefore exalted his Son and gave him the name that is above all names—and what this name itself is, and why he gave and granted these things now, although it is a matter of great treatment and great teaching, we nonetheless briefly point out what it is like. Christ, that is, the Logos, who is with God, and at God’s side, near God, and therefore is himself God, to whom … came here from his working, so that he was also Christ Jesus, and was exalted, and received a name above all names: this Logos, I say, in that he is Logos, is the form of God, is truly joined, coupled, and is one, and therefore the Logos too is God, through whom all things were created, and in whom what was made is life, and this was from the beginning, and without the Logos nothing was made, he who is joined. Let the ears take this simply: was he not called Son at that very time? It can indeed be understood that by the power of God, as God himself and the form of God, himself God, he received this name and this word afterward, after, descending into the world, that is, into hylē, he cut off hylē itself, and conquered, and overcame death, so that death no longer ruled. If such are these works of his, and such the mercy of God, and through this the task was fulfilled by him, at his return and going back he received this name, and from there he was exalted, and obtained this grace, that he received the name of Son, which name is above every name. But the catholic teaching says that the Father always was, and the Son always: and so it must be both said and understood. Yet since an error has arisen among us here, that it is agreed that before the descent into the flesh the Logos was never called Son, this exposition does not now run so, nor hold its view thus: but since it is said that he emptied himself, and though he was the form of God took the form and figure of a slave, was found and made in the likeness of man, and humbled himself even to death, and the death of the cross, and it is added thus, “for which reason God exalted him,” he seems to have been exalted because of the passion itself and to have received this grace, that he should receive this name which is above every name, for this, I say, cause. For so Paul says. If this is so, he seems to want it understood that before this the name did not exist: that he was the power of God, was the Logos, was even the form in that he was Logos, and God, and was with God; and therefore that it would not, as it were, be fitting that he received the name of Son then, but after he was sent. In which we now understand, from the fact that he was sent, that the one is Father and this one Son; then that because of the works, because of the mystery, because of the passion, by which death is life, by the very death of Christ—because of this grace, I say, he received the name which is above every name; so that only the name was added, while the reality was the same: also before, that is, the Logos and the power itself; not as though the reality first existed now, when he came into flesh. But when the reality came, that is, power, wisdom, act, and working, he was nonetheless called Logos and was Logos. But now the Logos himself, when he put on flesh, as was said, the Logos himself, I say, after the passion and after the death of the cross, by which he conquered all death and all sins, received the word “Son,” which word is above every name. For what can be taken as equal, what can be compared with the name of Son? For friendship, kinship of blood, brotherhood, and the rest are all lower; whether of ministers, or of angels, or whatever else we may name. The Son, then, is above every name: which name God gave to Christ after the passion, after the cross. Yet it may seem almost not to be so, that it is true that the Son is above every name. For if one is not called son unless there is a father, and father unless there is a son, is this name “Son” also above that name which is “Father”? Surely not. How, then, when he received the name of Son, did he receive it above every name? Surely it must be taken without doubt with regard to the other names, and this name of Son is above all others. For the Father is joined with the Son, and these names are equal, as far as names go; although the name Son is not above the name of the Father, nor the name Father above the name of the Son. That power which is called Father is above, above that power which is called Son; yet the names Son and Father are equal to each other. If this is so, the Son is above every name, because the Father together with the Son is above every name; to which name, and in which name, of Jesus Christ, every man bends the knee and prays: and not man only, but all heavenly things, and all earthly, and all under the earth, which are said to be below. And likewise: “Every voice confesses that Jesus Christ our Lord is in the glory of the Father,” and always was. This glory, then, was also given, so that he is himself the glory of the Father, since the Father both begot him; and by him the world was created and saved, and death is life; and salvation and eternity, which were sought by all these. Those who believe in him have conquered death in the death of Christ.

“So, my dearest, as you have always obeyed, not only as in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both in will and in effect, for his good will.” After the mystery of the whole dispensation was set out—which had been set down there to confirm the precept by which he warned that no man should think of or care for himself, as our Lord Jesus too acted by his mystery—there is added, as I said, an exhortation that they love one another; first when he called them his dearest and most beloved; then, as, he says, you have been obedient to me, so you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but more and more in my absence, and obeyed with fear and trembling. Why more and more? Either because days go on, or because in absence the one who admonishes is more to be feared. And what is this, that he exhorts and admonishes them to do and work out their salvation, and to do it observing and obeying, “with fear,” he says, “and trembling”? So that fear is referred to the mind, but trembling to the body. And it is a great mystery which we ought to hear attentively: that by taking counsel and care for others we work out salvation the more for ourselves. Then, that it is in our power to work out salvation for ourselves. For so he said, “work out your salvation.” But again, so that each one would not give too little thanks to God if he seemed to work out salvation for himself, it is added: “for it is God who works in you, both in will and in effect, for his good will.” So work out, he says, your salvation: but the working itself is from God: for God works in you, and works so that you will so. And willing is as it were ours, from which we work out salvation for ourselves. And yet because the very willing is worked in us by God, it comes about that we have both the working and the will from God. So both are mixed: that we have the will, and the will itself is God’s; and because we have the will, effect is present for the good will. And he binds a man’s fear more strongly when he says, “for it is God who works in you.” For if it is God who works in them, without doubt we ought to be in fear, lest we act against God’s will, either by doing less or not with fear and trembling. And God works in us both to will and to act, for his good will. So one who does not work from God first does not have the willing; then, even if he has the willing, he does not have the effect, because he does not have the good will.

“Do all things without murmurings and hesitations or second thoughts.” These are two admonitions: that when we now do something, trusting, now believing in God, and carry out the divine commands, whether apostolic or prophetic or evangelical, we should not have murmuring, that is, complaints about obeying while we obey; that we should not do anything, he says, either with some doubt or with reasoning and second thoughts as to whether it should be done or not. Or because, if you complain, you act from necessity, which is not the good will of one who obeys. “That you may be without complaint” (the Greek says, “that you may be without blame”): that is, that there be no complaint about you: and the Latin may have said this, “without complaint and blameless.” Then this follows: “And sincere sons of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” For if you live in this way and obey in this way, you will not be blemished, says the Latin. But the Greek put it thus: tekna, that is, sons without reproach. This is also what was said above, “but be sincere now,” in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. What does this signify? If the saved soul becomes a son of God in this way, if it lives as now, when it is in the world, it is in the midst, in a crooked and perverse generation, that is, in this life. So while we are in this life, we must labor so that, fleeing this perversity and the crookedness of this generation, that is, of the creation in which we are, we may live without blemish, without reproach, sincere sons of God, doing all things without reproach and without second thoughts. So it is not enough only to do, but to do in such a way that there is in us no second thought, or murmuring and complaint about doing. If we do these things in this life—for the mind already devoted to God is then made one among the sons of God, if it does God’s precepts willingly, eagerly, without complaint; and does them now, while it is in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. “Among whom you shine as lights in the world.” A great exhortation: that already in this very state in which we are in this world, we may stand out already in this crooked and perverse generation: and stand out so as to be lights of the world, which are in the world itself; like the sun and moon and the other shining stars. For living by faith and the knowledge of God according to the divine precepts, Christians excel, and exist as light and splendor in this world. For if, beyond other men, they conquer all things that are evil, and overpower the hidden demons, and expose iniquities, conquering darkness and the works of darkness, they act in this world as lights, and give light to all.

“Holding fast the word of life, for my glory in the day of Christ.” And there is a reward for you, that you live so, since you are lights in the world; and for me you will be a glory in the day of Christ, that is, when Christ comes to judge. I have glory through you, because you hold fast the word of life, that is, because you have known Christ, who is the word of life: because what was made in Christ is life. So Christ is the word of life. From this it is known how great the benefit and how great the glory of those who correct the souls of others. “Since I have not run in vain.” This will be my glory, he says, through the day of Christ: that I freed you, and my labor did not labor in vain, nor run in vain. Labor is the genus; running is a species of labor. So having put forward the genus, “I have not labored in vain,” which could be with body or tongue or admonition or persistence, he added a definite species, “I have not run in vain.” This is either the labor of travel or the labor of affection, to persuade them of this, and persuade them quickly: this is “I have not run in vain.”

“But if I labor in the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. In the same way you too be glad with me.” What was given above by precept is set here in exhortation: that we should have care not for ourselves only, but each also for others. If this is so, rejoicing too arises from us. He says this of us and of others. But if I labor, he says, in the sacrifice and service of your faith, that is, so that I am ready even to die for you, provided I serve you and confirm your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. So in this way you too be glad with me, so that we all equally take care of one another and rejoice in one another.

“But I hope in the Lord Jesus Christ to send Timothy to you quickly, so that I too may be of good spirit, knowing what concerns you.” This is among the commands. He truly cares for them, since he promises to send another who will provide them the same things, and from whom he may learn what the Philippians are doing. He promises that he will shortly send his dearest Timothy. And since every act of ours must be assigned to God, to be completed by God, “I hope,” he says, “in the Lord Jesus Christ” that I will send Timothy to you, and send him quickly. The reason why he sends him is added: “so that I too may be of good spirit, knowing” what you are doing, or how matters stand with you. And as to his saying, “so that I too may be of good spirit”: for I hope that you are of good spirit, because you keep all the precepts and the faith in Jesus Christ, from which you are of good spirit; but I wish to send Timothy quickly so that I too may be of good spirit, when I know what concerns you, either from your conduct or from that of others.

“For I have no one who is of one mind with me.” He shows why he promises Timothy, and gives reasons: because he has no one of one mind, that is, who bears the same mind. You have one reason. He added another: “who is faithfully concerned for you.” Truly this one must be sent, who is both dearest to me, and takes care of you, and has concern for you. “For all seek their own things, not those of Jesus Christ.” Since he said that he is alone, and “I have no one,” he says, “who is of one mind with me.” What reasons does he give about the rest? Namely the second, which is piety. For if Timothy is given as one who is faithfully concerned for you, he has also added this reason, the vice and sin: “all seek their own things,” that is, are concerned, defend their own, guard their own; and this is not of a Christian. For what is it for a Christian to seek in any companion or brother rather than the things of Christ, that is, faith in Christ, fellowship, love, knowledge? Yet “the things that are” may also be understood as preaching the gospel about Christ.

“But you know very well his proof.” That is, you have proof of him: the Greek put it so. You ought to know; perceive and recognize what proof I have of him. Then what follows is rightly joined: “since as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” It appears, then, what it is to “seek not the things of Jesus Christ.” Timothy, he says, has served with me in the gospel as a son with a father. He shows briefly how he served, although he said, “he served with me in the gospel.” But how did he serve? As a son serves a father: in love and greater obedience Timothy served with me in the gospel: for he served with me, he says, not me. “Him, then, I hope to send soon.” After he commended the person, his affection, and his diligence, he added that he will send such a man. I hope, he says, to send him. This is also above: “I hope in the Lord.” And as to his saying “soon,” this is what was “quickly” above. “As soon as I see how things stand with me,” I will send Timothy; but when I see how things stand with me. “And I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come soon.” With great affection and great admonition he added this: that while he sends Timothy, he yet promises that he himself will come.

For I trust, he says, in the Lord that all will be well with me. “Yet I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow soldier, but your apostle, and the minister of my desire.” Although he promised to send Timothy quickly, yet because there is still some delay, when he said he would send him, he now sends Epaphroditus: it is necessary, he says, to send Epaphroditus to you. He commends the person; afterward he added the reason. The commendation of the person is: a brother in the law, a fellow soldier in camp and in the labor of the gospel, “but your apostle.” See, he names Epaphroditus an apostle. For everyone who is sent, and who is sent for the sake of the gospel, can be called an apostle. So hence those twelve, or eleven, were called apostles from the ministry for which they were sent to preach. So whoever is sent for this can be called an apostle. And as to his saying “your apostle”: either because he is sent to you, for others are sent to other places; or one whom you chose from among your own as apostle; “minister,” he says, however, “of my desire.” And what is my desire? That you hear, that you hold fast the word.

“Since he was longing for and desiring all of you.” Now he adds the reason why he sends him: for he said he would send Timothy quickly so that he might be of good spirit, knowing what concerns you. Now he sends this one because he longs for you and desires you all, and is distressed to be absent. And he proves that he is distressed thus: “and he was distressed because you had heard that he was ill.” With this distress, he says, he labored, and you had heard that he was ill in body, that is, sick. Or does “he was distressed” mean that it was for his own reason, that he was in sickness? And from that very reason he was distressed, and therefore it was, because he longed for you and desired you? From there, then, I now send him to you.

“For he was indeed ill to the point of death: but the Lord had mercy on him; and not only on him, but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow.” He shows why he either longed for the Philippians or was distressed: he was ill, he says, to the point of death. In such sickness the longings are great and vehement: he was sick to death, he says; but the Lord had mercy on him. See, since we experience benefit from the Lord here in life too. Then, because we ought also to hasten to death [?]. For although the world is the ministry of sin, and therefore to be fled, yet to desire life in the world is not sin. And if it ought to be desired, it is rightly said, “but the Lord had mercy on him.” Then, since all that we do here for life, if we are also righteous, profits both us and others, God rightly has mercy on us and keeps us in life. So then he adds: God had mercy not on him only, but also on me, so that I might not have sorrow. For it was said above, “minister of my desire,” of this same Epaphroditus; for if I lost the minister of my desire, I would be saddened and have sorrow. So many are preserved: and God has mercy on those through whom something is done that pertains to the ministry of salvation. At the same time we too ought to pray for such people, so that we may not have sorrow if we lose those whose help we use in doing, instilling, and proclaiming divine things.

“So I have sent him the more speedily.” He has distinguished his sendings. For of Epaphroditus he says, “I sent.” Of Timothy, he says, “I hope to send to you quickly.” And yet above, “I thought it necessary to send to you,” is not about one he is going to send, but one already sent. Hence he concluded here: “I have sent him to you, so that when you see him you may rejoice again, and I may be without sorrow.” He joined this reason too, why he sent him. Above, therefore: “I sent,” because he longed for you and desired you: now to the Philippians themselves, “so that you may be glad,” and rejoice again, when you see him. What is “rejoice again”? So that, though you were in sorrow—for so it was said above, “you had heard that he was ill”—now again you may be glad when you see him. Or “again,” because after a grave illness they heard that he had been made well, and rejoiced, and now, if they see him, they will rejoice again? And as to his adding, “and I may be without sorrow”: since above he said that Epaphroditus was the minister of his desire, surely when he sends him he could seem sad: but since he too longed for them, and they will rejoice if they see him, Paul can be without sorrow.

“Receive him, then, in the Lord with all rejoicing; and hold such men in honor. For because of the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life, so as to supply what was lacking in your service to me.” This is a commendation, that they should receive Epaphroditus. He gives grace and a reason to the commendation: “in the Lord,” he says, “receive him”; that is, him who is a minister of the Lord: you who are already in the Lord, love the Lord’s minister, and love him with all rejoicing. And he wishes this to be shown generally to all who are such. Those, he says, receive who are of this kind. And what is “receive him”? “Hold him in honor.” He also gives the reasons why he wants these things shown to such people: “since because of the work of Christ he came near to death.” This is surely of Epaphroditus; because, while he wishes to satisfy the gospel with labor of mind and body, that is, to preach the word of the Lord, he labored much, and by a grave sickness came near to death. At the same time he shows both what happened to Epaphroditus and what we ought to do. And how much did he labor? He came near to death, he says, “and risking his life.” Not uncertain about what he was doing for you, but uncertain in that he labored even to danger, so that he was now uncertain whether he would live, because of his labor. And what did he do for you? “So as to supply what was lacking in your service to me”: so that, since I was occupied, he completed what was lacking of my service. For in truth, since the preaching is one, and the teaching is one, only the labor can differ in individual apostles and evangelists; yet what they teach is one. Then what did Epaphroditus the apostle himself fulfill? This service, he says, which was lacking to you, he completed.

“For the rest, brothers, rejoice in the Lord: to write the same things to you is not tiresome to me, and for you it is plain.” Rejoice, he says, in the Lord, O brothers, because it is not tiresome to me to write the same things to you, and it profits you greatly. What I write is firm and safe. The Greek put it so, saying “firm” and “safe”; the Latin says “plain.” “Beware of the dogs, look out for the evil workers, look at the cutting off. For we are the circumcision, who serve God through the spirit, and exult in Christ Jesus, not trusting in the flesh.” This admonition teaches not what is to be done, but what is to be avoided. He warns them to keep themselves from the Jews: “beware,” he says, “of the dogs.” There is a treatment about dogs: for divine Scripture also sets down that there are dogs that are useful and are defenders of the church, as David teaches in Psalm 68, whom he says … from the blood of enemies in the temple of God. And here he speaks against dogs, from whom he says one must beware; the Jews, namely, who they are, that they are workers, and evil: for workers spend their life in works, not knowing God, and hope for salvation from works; of whom it has already been said above that works avail nothing. “Look,” he says, “at the cutting off.” So that among them it is a cutting off, because they cut off a shameful part of the body. But we, he says, are the circumcision. For we circumcise all malice from our hearts: and we do this because we serve God through the spirit, but they through the flesh; so they are cut off, not circumcised. Let us exult, he says; or rather, we exult. And where do we exult? Not in the flesh, having confidence like them, but in Christ Jesus. So call away all your knowledge from the Jewish discipline, from the works of the Jews, from Jewish circumcision; and have circumcision of the heart, so that we may serve God through the spirit and exult in Christ. But let them exult in the flesh, having confidence from there, because they are circumcised in the flesh, that they can be saved and merit eternal life.

“Although I too might have confidence in the flesh.” It is proved in many ways that the Jews have all confidence in the flesh and in circumcision: since the Jews even interpreted it so, when salvation came to Moses by circumcision: from which it can be understood that the Jews bear confidence also from the flesh, and more in the flesh. But Paul teaches this: if, he says, there is confidence in the flesh, that is, in circumcision, I have more: for I, he says, have confidence in the flesh. Then it is set down thus: “if anyone else thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I more.” And he teaches why, if anyone has confidence in the flesh, he himself has more. And so he shows that his whole person is Jewish in every way: by circumcision, race, tribe, nation, law, office in the law, and also zeal of life. And yet, though he had fulfilled all these things with regard to the Jewish discipline, all these, I say, he said were loss to him for the sake of Christ, and for the sake of the eminence of his flesh. All these, then, will be proved thus in the statement. “Circumcised on the eighth day”: this is circumcision. By race, he says, “of the race of Israel.” Likewise by tribe, “Benjamin.” Likewise by nation, “a Hebrew of Hebrews.” Likewise by law, “according to the law a Pharisee.” Likewise by zeal, “according to zeal persecuting the church.” Likewise by life, “according to the righteousness which is in the law, since I was without reproach.” By all these, then, he proved that he had more confidence in the flesh and in circumcision; having all things of the Jewish discipline, in blood, in nation, in mind, and in life. And as to his saying “according to zeal persecuting the church”: as having great zeal for the synagogue, he persecuted the church. Likewise as to his saying “according to righteousness,” that is, by morals and life, from which a man is justified; but he says in the law of the Jews. “Since I was without reproach,” so that I committed no crime and did all that the law commanded. For this is righteousness among the Jews from the law. But since righteousness now comes to us Christians from Christ, and we are justified because of him: “Those things which were gain to me, these I have counted as loss”: that is, I understood that they caused me loss, holding all those things cheap for Christ’s sake.

But he also added this: “Because of the eminence of Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Greek has, “because of the eminence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”: to show that those things are both small and least and rather contrary, if they stand alone; because they are loss, he says; and this eminence of Christ is what excels and conquers all things. “For whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung.” He concludes the thought: that he despises all those things and suffers every loss for Christ’s sake, so that he may gain Christ. And what is “I have suffered the loss”? All those things that had been glorious to me, of blood, of tribe, of nation, and that I had been a Pharisee in the law, and that I had kept righteousness so as to be without reproach: all these cast away, I have borne the loss of all things; and I have counted or count all those things as dung. For we read it better so, “I count,” than “I am counted”: for the Greek too put it so, hēgoumai, not that he is counted by others, but that he counts all those former things as dung; and casts them away, and by a just judgment gains Christ. He himself adds: “And that I may be found in him.” For this is to gain Christ: to be now in him, to be joined to him by faith, to perceive him, to have him. “Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law.” That, namely, which I set out above, when I lived without reproach: for then it is as it were my righteousness, or ours, when we think we merit God’s righteousness by our morals, perfected through morals. But not, he says, having this righteousness. But which? He adds it: “But that which is from the faith of Christ,” which he foretold; “the righteousness from God, from faith.” This righteousness, then, he says, he has; not that which is from the law, which is in works, as I said, and fleshly discipline; but this which proceeds from God. What is it? Righteousness from faith, which is faith from the faith of Christ, that is, from us toward Christ. And he added most fully what our faith toward Christ is, from which righteousness comes to us.

“To know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings: sharing in the burden of his death; if by any means I may come to meet him in the resurrection which is from the dead.” He sets out the faith we have in Christ, which he said he urges and proclaims to the Philippians, which proceeds from God, righteousness from faith, from the faith which he adds: to know him, what he is, who he is, where he is from. Surely it is of Christ that he then added: “and the power of his resurrection.” Either in that he rose by power: for it is a great power to rise from the dead; or in that he rose for our salvation: for this is the power of his resurrection. And he proved the same by what follows: for, he says, if we have fellowship in his sufferings, as he himself said, because we were or are sharers in his death, therefore we shall also be sharers in him. This is the power of the resurrection: that there is for us fellowship in his sufferings. And what is this fellowship? That we who believe Christ endure sufferings, and all sufferings, even to the cross and to death: from all of which, from knowledge and from fellowship in sufferings, resurrection comes; and from there, since we are sharers in his death and its burden, we are in some way made to meet him, so that in the resurrection we may come to meet him, the resurrection which is from the dead. See what faith in Christ is; and this he says he teaches, teaching what must be done in life: namely, that as companions of Christ’s passion we both believe this and have this faith, that we shall come in the power of his resurrection, having been made sharers in the burden of his death: so that for this we may in some way come to meet him in the resurrection which is from the dead. This is the reward; that is the labor; that is the life; this the merit and glory.

“Not because I have already received, or am already perfected.” He added this more strongly, speaking of himself indeed; but it is for us to refer to ourselves what Paul says of himself. And what is this? That by those labors, and that endurance of fellowship in death and sufferings, we may be able to go to meet him, and at the same time rise together in the resurrection of the dead. But not because, he says, I do these things, that I have already received them or am already perfected: for as long as anyone lives, he does not yet receive these things or is not perfected: for he is still engaged in fellowship with his sufferings, since the fellowship of sufferings lasts until death. So he does not yet receive nor is perfected, but perseveres until the end of life, remaining in those same labors and true fellowship with his sufferings; then he will be able to go to meet him in his resurrection from the dead. In this he also placed doubt, saying, “if by any means I may come to meet him.” Because he still lives, therefore he said “if by any means.” For when one perseveres in fellowship with the sufferings, and becomes like him even in death itself, there is no doubt that he will come to meet him in the resurrection. And what is it to come to meet him in the resurrection of the dead? The perfect and full life of each, completed from fellowship with Christ’s sufferings in every way, at that time when the resurrection from the dead comes about, that is, when the dead are raised. He, as Paul says speaking of himself, he, I say, who has led his life in full fellowship with his sufferings, comes to meet Christ: he is not merely raised, but comes to meet Christ. Others are only raised; but the perfect, who have suffered in every way like Christ, will meet him, and will go to meet Christ as he comes; as he himself said elsewhere. Rightly, then, he says “if by any means,” because he is still in life. And rightly he added, “not because I have already received, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if I may at last lay hold, in that in which I also have been laid hold of by Christ.” You see that he says he is still in life, and therefore he doubted above. For he still pursues Christ through all sufferings, so as to lay hold of Christ, that is, to reach Christ, having become a sharer in all his sufferings. For Christ by all his sufferings freed all who follow; and in a way laid hold of all, but those who would follow. Whoever wishes to follow and lay hold of Christ ought to follow Christ in all sufferings, so as to lay hold of Christ in that in which he has also been laid hold of by Christ. For if Christ freed all by his sufferings, he laid hold of all by his sufferings; in these, then, we are. That is, having become a sharer with Christ through his sufferings, he lays hold of Christ in that in which he was laid hold of by Christ.

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have laid hold.” He still persists in what I said, that he is still living, and therefore has not yet received, nor is perfected, nor has yet laid hold. For this is what he said: “but I pursue, if in some way I may lay hold.” So I consider that I have not yet laid hold, so that the Philippians may understand from this how far they are from the benefits of liberation, since that very Paul, often engaged in so many of Christ’s sufferings—beaten, imprisoned, thrown to beasts, and burdened with other evils—yet does not consider that he has laid hold of Christ; since he still lives and survives. Great is that sharing in suffering through which we are truly joined, if we imitate Christ even in suffering. “One thing, however: sending into forgetfulness what is behind, and stretching myself toward what is in front, according to the rule, I pursue toward the prize of the heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.” Since, as we said, he spoke above thus, “if by any means I may come to meet him in the resurrection of the dead,” and we taught why this doubt was set down—that he still lives, and many things could happen, above all death itself—therefore he added that he does not consider that he has yet laid hold of Christ. But he shows that he has something even now in his purpose: “one thing,” he says. What is it? That all that is past be sent into forgetfulness, and he follow only what is to come in front; that is, in those things which are first before us and must be followed according to the rule and discipline of the precepts, so that we may come from Christ to the prize of the heavenly calling, yet in Christ Jesus. There are, then, two precepts for the rest of life for one living in Christian order and still living by the rule: that all the things he has done, though he does them well and rightly, he should not keep in his memory as though he merited from them what he is to obtain; but send them into forgetfulness, and always follow, as if new, what remains, yet living according to the rule, and always stretching himself in it, and keeping the rule of a Christian until the end in death, so that he may come to the prize. For to remember past things, even things rightly done, belongs first to one who attributes them to his own merit and claims them; whereas these are not ours, and we do not obtain grace by our works. Then, somehow, we become negligent toward the things in front, that is, those that follow, out of confidence that we do many things. Hence the apostle commanded that the things behind should all be sent into forgetfulness. What we have said can also be taken of a different life we have lived: as Paul himself, that he was a Jew, a zealot of the law, and the rest: so that he called these “behind” and to be sent into forgetfulness; as if each of us ought to send his past life into forgetfulness. But the stronger sense is that we ought to send into forgetfulness even a past life well conducted and rightly lived according to the rule, and stretch ourselves toward the things in front according to the rule, so that we may follow Christ to the prize of the heavenly, he says, calling. For from the time we are Christians, we have been called by God. This is the heavenly calling: for no one is called to God or by God except in Jesus Christ. For he is the door, he the propitiator, he the reconciler: and this we have taught in many parts: and so our life is, and ought to be, that with Christ leading, that is, by our faith in Christ, we may come to the prize.

“Whoever, then, are perfect, let us think this: and if you think anything otherwise, this too God has revealed to you.” From here it may be understood that we have truly explained what we said above, that we should send back into forgetfulness the things done by us under the right rule. Since he joins: “whoever, then, are perfect,” let them send back into forgetfulness all that has been done. For we obtain the prize not by our merits but by God’s grace. So, then, he exhorts: “let us think this,” he says. Who should think this? “Whoever of us are perfect.” And what should we think? That we send into forgetfulness what is behind—and even the present time, that is, what we are now doing, must be sent into forgetfulness. Surely if the present, then also the past, and the things we had in life: and that we stretch ourselves toward the things in front according to the rule. This, he says, let us all think, and all be perfect. And as to what he adds, “and if you think anything otherwise, this too God has revealed to you”: if the sense is complete, holding itself and not joined to what follows, it must be understood thus: and if there is anything about this very thing that we have said which you take and understand otherwise, think so, I grant you: for he speaks of the perfect; for so he said, “whoever, then, of us are perfect.” So you who are perfect, even if you think otherwise: which he concluded as a concession, “this too God has revealed to you,” it is good, since both this which you think and what I said. But if this is not so, conceding, the sense will hang, so that it is said thus: “if you think anything otherwise, and yet God has revealed this to you”; he adds what is joined: “Yet let us think that to which we have attained,” that is, what we taught, and to which we have been instructed. For so he adds: “nevertheless, to what we have attained, let us think that very thing, let us walk in the same.” That is, from the time I proclaimed the gospel to you, and to this point we have attained in the manner of living and understanding; that very thing, he says, let us think, and walk in the same; namely in that to which we have attained: for by saying “yet,” he as it were rejects. We do not admit what is above, and the sense is such: this indeed is tolerable and may be done; yet that above all. So even if you think otherwise, and even if God has revealed this to you, by which you think otherwise, “nevertheless, to what we have attained, let us think that very thing.” And what is “to what we have attained”? What you received long ago from my admonitions, and what is now commanded by me: for to this we have attained from all admonition and precepts: and he says “we have attained,” by our precepts, namely; so that, sending into forgetfulness what is behind, we stretch ourselves toward what is in front according to the rule, so that we may come to the prize of the heavenly calling in Jesus Christ. In this, then, he says, let us walk. So the preceding reasoning concerns that life and the precept for life. Since it was said above, “sending into forgetfulness what is behind, let us stretch ourselves toward what is in front.” This is “let us walk in it.”

“Be imitators of me, brothers.” Fittingly for the thought we were discussing: that they should do nothing new themselves, even if they think otherwise, even if they have something revealed by God. “Be imitators of me,” he says, “brothers”; so that what I do, what I command, what I practice in life, what I follow, this you too imitate and follow. “And observe those who walk so, as you have us for an example.” He had given the precept of what was to be done by perfect men, and afterward had added that they should not think otherwise, and as it were conceded it; yet concluding that they should rather follow him and walk as he himself did. Now, with full exhortation, when he said, “be imitators of me,” he added an example, so as to persuade more easily: that they ought to do so because others did: “Observe,” he says, “those who walk so, as you have us for an example.” He has concluded two things: “who walk so, as we do,” and in this very thing he briefly placed that he himself was an example to these, both one who was an example to others and one who ought to be one to them: namely, as they imitate me, so you too should have an example. “For many walk, of whom I have often told you.” He added more, so that there would not seem to be few who imitate him: many, he says, walk so. And he added another argument: lest I bring forward an example to you today for exhortation, there are many, he says, who walk as we do, of whom I have often spoken. So he did not bring forward for the occasion those who walked so; since he had already often spoken of them, that they walked so.

“But now I say even with tears, enemies of the cross of Christ; whose god is the belly, and the glory in the shame of those who mind earthly things.” A greater exhortation comes when it is from fear. For above it was from advantages and benefits. For there is an exhortation on how they should live, to this very thing which he commanded above, since he himself compels and drives the Philippians to the same life, and has given again another argument, that many already live in the same way, many whom Paul himself has often told the Philippians already live so. This benefit of exhortation is made firm by a greater reason, what evil they will suffer if they live otherwise; and, as I said, persuasion from fear is greater. He also added emotion, being about to speak of the evils that those who live otherwise will suffer, by saying, “I say with tears.” For I grieve and weep, because those who are enemies of the cross, that is, who do not believe in this gospel, namely that they should believe in Christ as man, that is, who was in a man, who was born of Mary, was crucified. All heretics, then, who accept neither Christ crucified nor Christ in a man, who are many and various, these, I say, will have destruction as their end. For some said that he was a man, not that he was in a man. Others deny entirely that he was born in the flesh, others deny that he was crucified. All these heretics, as I said, and those like them, will perish. For this is what he said: “whose end is destruction”: which surely will befall men of this kind. And what they will suffer and what they are he lists thus: what they will suffer, “whose end is destruction”; what they are, “whose god is the belly”; what they will obtain, “and glory,” he says, “in their shame”? How they think he added: “who mind earthly things”? Of destruction: that their end is destruction who do not believe these things, that is, who are enemies of the cross. For this is what he said, that to be enemies of the cross of Christ is not to believe in the cross of Christ. These, I say, will perish, and their end is destruction. But those who do not believe this, that is, who are enemies of the cross of Christ, how do they have the belly as god, of whom he said, “whose god is the belly”? There are in a way two kinds, that is, one of two, who are enemies of the cross of Christ: either, thinking in a fleshly way, they laugh at the cross of Christ, since they think that a man, Christ, was raised on the cross; not, by the mystery according to the gospel, Christ crucified in a man, through which he conquered sin and triumphed over the powers, and triumphed through the crucified flesh: this cross, I say, we hold in the mystery. Others, as I said, take the cross as according to man, truly only a man: and therefore they are enemies of the cross, and these, because they think in a fleshly way, despise the mystery of the cross: and these, as I said, think of the flesh and consider nothing but the flesh, and for them the belly is god, and the glory is in their shame, and these are those who mind earthly things, whose end, however, is destruction. Or again those who think of Christ as spiritual, and do not understand him in the flesh, nor crucified; and therefore they are enemies of the cross of Christ, and they too will have destruction as their end. And this part is concluded about them: although this part pertains also to those who think of Christ in a fleshly way; but these three that follow pertain to those who think of Christ in a fleshly way: that their god is the belly, and the glory in their shame, and they mind earthly things.

“For our citizenship is in heaven.” Surely this is the contrary of what precedes; yet in relation to that part in which he said, “who mind earthly things,” thinking that Christ is a man, and was a man, and was not in the flesh, but came with flesh, as the Jews say he will come, and the other heretics. But we, on the contrary, have our whole life and manner of living in heaven, thinking that Christ came from heaven, put on flesh, was raised on the cross. Then he adds thus: “from where we also await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.” So that he both came from there and will come from there. For if he will come from there, he also came from there before. For he who ascended is himself also he who descended. So we have our citizenship in heaven, because from there we also await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will come to judgment in the last times; and he will be our Savior, because we believe in him and await Christ.

“Who transfigured the body of our lowliness, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working of his power, so that he may also subject all things to him.” This place too holds the mystery about the resurrection. For what Christ, placed in the flesh, fulfilled in order to save souls, so that immortality might be given also to the flesh through the resurrection, he worked by the powers of his cross. And all these things we await, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who, he says, by that mystery by which he descended and was crucified and rose again, transfigured the lowliness or figure of our body, or rather the body of our lowliness. How is this? Because when our lowly body rises and is changed, Jesus Christ has transfigured the lowliness of our body for the better, or has transfigured our lowly body into a magnificent one. He gives it, namely, eternity, making for it a heavenly garment; “that it may be,” he says, “conformed to the body of his glory.” For Christ is spirit, from which there is for him a body, form, and power, the form itself which is power; the form of glory is a divine and eternal body. And when we, rising, are changed, and have been made spiritual in soul and body and spirit—for so these come together into one man, and will be one spirit—if the body of our lowliness too is conformed, that is, of the same and equal form with the body of the glory of Christ himself, so that we too may be spirit, as he too is spirit. And this will come about “according to the working of his power.” For the whole mystery and every action of Christ works this and completes this according to his power: that we come together into one; when soul and body and spirit will be, as he himself is spirit. Likewise, since God is spirit, all things will be subjected to God when they are brought back to one power, and so, he says, he will be able to subject all things to him, namely to God. It may seem to be continuous and not joined in the discourse, since he put it thus, “so that he may also subject all things to him,” and did not first set down to whom we should refer “to him.” For if we refer “to him” to God, God has not been named above; it would be obscure and not right, and set down rather by the translator than by Paul. To whom, then, do we refer “to him”? It is agreed indeed that Christ works for this, to subject all things to God; but here there is no mention of God. To whom, then, do we refer it? It must be understood how briefly, yet plainly, he has set down God. For when he said that Christ, whom we await, transfigured the body of our lowliness, so that that body of our lowliness may be conformed to the body of his glory, here is where the understanding of God is received, and God himself, when he said, “according to the working of his power.” For Christ did all things to take care of souls, to give eternity to the flesh too, and to make our body conformed to the body of his glory; but he did this according to the working of his power. For he worked, but it is his power through which he worked: and that is God; for he works through the Father. Christ indeed works: namely, the Father is in him, and works through him. So where he said “of his power,” there God is understood, to whom, namely, he subjects all things, and for this he works, so that he may also subject all things to him. And as to his saying “also all things,” it refers to the fact that he himself is subject to him. For surely the Word, which is Christ, is subject to God, for God is more powerful. And this is proved by many things. He is the one who sends, this one the one who is sent; he the Father, this one the Son; this one through whom the working is, he the worker. So if these things are so, Christ is toward God as himself also subject. For so it is said in the first letter to the Corinthians: “but when all things have been subjected to him, then he himself will be subject to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.” Or is that the sense, that he said “so that he may also,” so that he not only makes the body of our lowliness conformed, but also can subject all things to him? For when all things that are either fleshly or creatures have been overcome and changed, all things are rendered subject to the power of God, through which Christ works.

“Therefore, dearest brothers, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord.” Every virtue in Christians is love and charity, which cannot come about unless they have one essence and stand firm in one, thinking one thing; which is now “stand firm,” he says, “in the Lord, O dearest brothers.” From which it may be understood that he wants them to think one thing when he says “dearest brothers.” For this comes about, that those who think one thing and stand firm in one love one another. In what one? In Christ, namely. For since all have faith equally in Christ, they stand firm in him. If you, O Philippians, do this, you will be my joy and my crown. “I ask Euodia, and I ask Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord.” That the women themselves may think one thing in the Lord, that is, believing Christ, may think and understand what the gospel holds concerning Christ. But “I ask,” he says, expressing what will profit them. For I do not command, I do not order, but I ask.

“So I beseech you too, true yokefellow, help those women who labored together with me in the gospel, with Clement and my other helpers, whose names are in the book of life.” We said above that Epaphroditus had promised to come to the Philippians: afterward he showed that he had sent him, when he said, “so I have sent him the more speedily.” So this is added as it were so that he too may have the commission in the letter, and he asks and beseeches him to admonish those women, Euodia and Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord. “Help,” he says, “those who labor together with me in the gospel.” How do they labor in the gospel? Either so that they themselves acknowledge, guard, and keep the gospel itself which I proclaim; or so that they themselves proclaim it, assert it, preach it; for women too, speaking in their measure about the gospel, that is, about Christ and the whole mystery, preach the gospel. Then he adds thus: “with Clement and my other helpers, whose names,” he says, “are in the book of life.” For so he records the mystery: that all who have faith concerning Christ, and have faith in him, and speak and instill that faith in Christ to people, are as it were helpers of the evangelists: and since this is so, their names are already in the book with God, because they will be in eternal life. And that this is Epaphroditus, to whom he commits these things, to help the aforementioned women to think one thing, may be understood from his saying, “I beseech you too, true yokefellow”; since he spoke of him above thus: “Yet I thought it necessary to send Epaphroditus, my brother, my fellow soldier.” So there he said “brother,” here he said “true”; above he said “fellow soldier,” here he said “yokefellow.”

“Rejoice; let your moderation be known to all people.” This is what follows: that those who think one thing and have faith in one should rejoice in the Lord and always be dear to one another. “Rejoice,” he says, “in the Lord.” That is too little; “again I say, rejoice.” For when you are joined in heart, you rejoice in the Lord; and when you rejoice in the Lord, you are joined in heart, and stand firm in the Lord. “Let your moderation,” he says, “be known to all people.” For it pertains greatly to the merit of the future life and to the kingdom in the heavens if we live with moderation. For moderation is the knowledge that keeps each one’s measure, neither stretching nor extending beyond itself. For while we are here, let us recognize our lowliness (since we are among things not our own), and keep the measure of our lowliness, and God will lift us up. So let your moderation, he says, be known to all people. Why does he admonish this? That we may please here? No: but so that Christ, having known our lowliness, may raise it and take up our moderation. For what does he add? “The Lord is near.” A great exhortation and a great precept, both from truth and from the force of persuasion. For since judgment is already imminent, and the end of this life is coming upon all, we ought to hasten to live with good morals and great moderation: for the judgment and the coming of the Lord are near.

“Bring nothing to anxiety.” That is, have no care for yourselves, nor think about the world and worldly things or be anxious: for God provides all things necessary for you, both now in this kind of life, and better things in that life which is eternal. “But in every prayer and supplication, with good grace, let your requests be made known before God.” So that every action of a Christian now faithful, good, and perfect, all anxieties set aside (for this is renunciation), may be free for prayers and supplication. Prayers are to ask the Lord; supplication is also to speak when you ask: for this is supplication, prayers when … But what will that supplication be? Asking something, or nothing? What is it that one should ask who, already made faithful, asks God? What supplication or request will he have, since he has renounced all worldly things? He himself advised that we pray and make prayers “with good grace”; so that for all of us supplication in prayers may be thanksgiving, that we give thanks; because by the goodness of God we have obtained so great a gift. For this is what he says, “with good grace.” And he added “good” so that we would not do it unwillingly, but truly give thanks, and then he added “good thanks.” Since supplication in prayers can be about good grace, it can also be about a request. Above, having said “with good grace,” he added: “let your requests,” he says, “be made known before God.” … And let him ask that the heavenly things themselves which are promised be fulfilled. Whoever asks surely asks for such things as it is right for one already faithful to ask. For when we think of what is to be asked, which we wish to be made known before God, they are necessarily such as befit a faithful man who hopes also for heavenly and all divine things. These, he says, that is, your requests, let them be made known before God.

“And the peace of God, which holds all understanding, keep your hearts.” This will be the reward if we pray so, make supplication so, that we pray with good grace; and have our requests so that they are made known before God. If this is so, there will be, he says, the peace of God, which will keep your hearts: which peace of God holds all understanding. This is set down forcefully and keenly: for when the peace of God has come into us, we shall understand God: nothing dissonant, nothing discordant, nothing contentious through arguments, nothing that admits a question, as happens to us in worldly things; but all things are so open when we have the peace of God that all understanding is with us: for it belongs to peace now to rest, now to have security. When God entrusts peace to our hearts, all understanding is now with us. For whoever understands God understands all things: when he understands God, the hearts of him who understands are kept. “Likewise your bodies in Jesus Christ.” See, here too there is a reference to the resurrection: and this too is a reward set down or announced to those who ask so, and pray so with good grace, that they may have the peace of God, and their bodies in Jesus Christ. For he spoke of the heart, of the understanding, that they will be kept when peace is given: now of those themselves, that is, of the body, of the soul; “your bodies,” he says, “in Jesus Christ”: for in his majesty and power are our bodies, which at his coming will rise, live again, receive their deserts: all which will be whole for us if we keep those precepts, thinking one thing in Christ, rejoicing, moderate, having no anxiety, in every prayer and supplication with good grace making our requests known before God.

“For the rest, brothers, whatever is just, whatever holy, whatever lovable, whatever of good report, if there is any virtue, if any praise, think on these things; what you have both learned and received and heard also in me, do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” He has taught what prayers we should have, that is, with good grace, and likewise what requests: then what peace, that is, what benefit is given us by God; that we must act and ask so that our understanding and our hearts may be kept, and all our bodies may be in Christ Jesus. Since these things are so, “for the rest,” he says, “brothers, think on these things.” What is “for the rest”? After you have been corrected, all discord and error now removed, since you think one thing: for the rest think so: whatever things are true, accept and think on these. And what are those true things? What is set down in the gospel, Christ Jesus the Son of God, and the rest we have often said. And when you think true things, it follows that they are chaste: for what is true is not corrupted: for this is chaste: what is not corrupted is true. Then what is truly chaste is also just: for they are justified by sanctification from God. All things that are just, that are chaste, that are true, that are holy, are now also lovable, now also of good report. For who would not love what is holy? Who would not speak and think well of it? These things, then, he says, think on, which pertain to good report: surely they are lovable and have love, and have no discord. For everything lovable has concord: likewise what is of good report has no envy and is in concord. Of all these, the earlier pertain to true virtue itself, the later to the fruit of virtue. For it is of virtue to love the true, the chaste, the just, the holy; the fruit of virtue is the lovable and of good report. Therefore he set down those two which he added: “if there is any virtue, if any praise.” He attended carefully to the force of things. For since all things come about by the grace of God—for he himself, through his Spirit sent into us, both governs and rules, so that nothing in us is ours—so he says, “if there is any virtue.” And again, if the virtue which is in us is not from us but from God, neither is the praise ours: and therefore, “if any praise.” Yet since the virtue or the praise seems to be ours, from there he said: “think,” he says, “on all these things.” What are they, surely? “What you have learned,” namely with me teaching, “and received, and heard, and seen in me.” He put the perfect first, “you have learned.” And from where have you learned? The causes are added: “you have received.” And again, this receiving, from where have you heard and seen? From me, you have seen in me: so that Paul is not only an admonisher but also gives an example of how they should follow the true, how the chaste, how the rest. “These things,” he says, “do.” Above he said, “think on these things”; now he adds, “do these things”; so that these good things may be not only in thought but also in act. Then he added the reward, as above: “and the God of peace will be with you”: a reward most necessary for the Philippians, that there be no discord, that all think one thing, that there be peace in their church: and the God of peace, who is the Father, and his Son Jesus our Lord, giving peace to every soul turned to God; this is what he says, “peace be with you.”

“But I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you have flourished again, so as to think on my behalf, in which you also thought before.” As the Philippians, taught in the gospel by the apostle Paul, had slipped into error, now, admonished, they have returned to their former understanding, so as to believe in the gospel as it is proclaimed. “And you have flourished again,” he says; that is, you have returned to flower: therefore I rejoiced in the Lord, and rejoiced greatly: and this is what he says, “so as to think on my behalf”: that is, that you think as I taught you; for they had begun to think otherwise. And as to his saying, “so as to think on my behalf”: because your understanding and wisdom, which had been one, was not on my behalf: but now when you think as I taught and handed on the gospel, you think on my behalf; that is, it can profit me, since I taught you. And what is that, “in which you also thought before,” now you have flourished again, and thinking the same you now think on my behalf?

“But you were occupied. I do not say it because of want.” If this thought is joined to the preceding, since it was said above, “so as to think also on my behalf,” that is, so that you think about me, the understanding will be that you send what is necessary for me; but you also sent; and so it was said, “but I rejoiced in the Lord that at last you have flourished again,” and the fruit has begun to abound from your working. For so he says afterward, “and you began to think on my behalf”: in which is also that, “in which you also thought before,” that you should send me necessities: and this is what follows. How did they think? Before, they were occupied, before in these works. Which indeed Paul, “not because,” he says, “I say it because of want.” For it is not that I want you to think on my behalf, or in what you thought before, and in which you were occupied, so as to send to me, or that I now want you to send, that I say it because of want. For so he says afterward, “not because I seek abundance in prayer.” So I do not seek this because of need, but so that the fruit may be abundant in your prayer, when you take care and think of all these things on my behalf: for this is to have care; not because I am in need. For “I also abound,” he says; since I am sufficient for myself: for so he adds: “For I have learned to be sufficient in the things in which I am.” This is a new thought: I know, he says, how to be sufficient in the things in which I am: for I have learned to be content with what I have; and to be sufficient to myself in the things in which I am: for this is not to be referred only to expenses, but they ought to show care and thought and prayer on behalf of Paul: so that this is to be referred to all things, “that you may also think on my behalf, in which you also thought.” In general, then, so that either necessities or prayer may be held by the Philippians on behalf of Paul. Then he set down this too, not only regarding fortunes or necessities:

“I know both how to be humbled and how to abound”: and of virtues, I know both how to be humbled and how to abound in all things, in the same way: that is, to show all virtues. “And in all things I have been instructed.” That is, accustomed to all things, both to bear thirst, hunger, cold; and again to be glad in abundance. So too of virtues and of labors: in all things, he says, I have been instructed; both to be filled and to bear hunger I have been instructed, he says, both to be filled with plenty and again to bear hunger. Likewise he repeats the same two: “both to abound and to be in need in all things I can.” By saying “in all things,” we do not refer these to the necessities of our living, but they are to be referred to all things that are in action, labors and virtues. So he said he had been instructed, so that he can both abound and be in need in all things. It is new what he says, “in all things I can be in need”: that is, I endure when I am in need in all things, that is, when I shall be needy.

And so that he may speak truly and nonetheless from the evangelical discipline, he adds: “Through him who strengthens me.” This kind of life must always be held and kept: that we too labor, and that it belong to our training to carry out, complete, bear, and endure all these things; yet so that we believe this, that God has made us strong for all these things. For when he said, “I can be in need in all things, and bear hunger,” he referred his strength back to God: “through him who strengthens me.” So you too, and all who have faith in God, should surely believe, whatever things there are, that they can be made strong both in need and in other labors. For God is never lacking to those who love him, who have faith and hope in him.

“Yet you did well in sharing in my tribulation.” That is, you were sharers or came to my aid in tribulation, as it is a sharing, to be joined in like manner to the mystery: and whoever suffers with another also comes to another’s aid.

“And you also know, Philippians, that in the beginnings of the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the account of giving and receiving except you only.” Here he has explained openly, as was said above, “you shared in my tribulation,” that is, you gave help and support by giving me necessities. Then he adds this: you Philippians alone, he says; and you too know that at the beginning of the gospel, when I set out into Macedonia, I preached the gospel through all the churches; but none, he says, shared with me. And in what did it share? “In the account,” he says, “of giving and receiving”: that is, in expenses, which is what is given and received: for one who gives has an account with him who receives; and one who receives has an account with him who gives, how much he gave and how much the receiver received. Not that the one who received also gave something; but when one gives a gift, there is an account of giving and receiving. For what is there in which Paul would give money? But since the account of giving and receiving lies in money between those who give and those who receive, therefore it is joined so. For money is not received for the gospel, as though the account of giving were in money; far otherwise.

“You only,” he says, “shared.” Then he adds that they gave: “Because to Thessalonica you sent once and twice what was necessary for me.” He has declared most openly what it is that you shared and how there is an account of giving and receiving. You, he says, only, to Thessalonica, once and twice sent what was necessary for me.

“Not because I seek the gift; but I seek abundant fruit in your prayer.” I am not in need, he says, nor do I seek these necessities; but you ought to have so much practice of goodwill that there may be for me the fruit of your goodwill, that you abound in goodwill; that is, that when I have prayer concerning you, there may be for me the fruit of your goodwill. When I either ask God for you or give thanks to God for you, there is for me fruit concerning the prayer that is for you, when I understand that you abound and are benevolent.

“For I have all things and abound.” Therefore, he says, I do not seek the gift; for I have all things: and many have all things but do not abound: for truly we can still want if we do not abound, but only have. One who abounds both has and has more than is necessary. For above he said, “you sent what was necessary for me”; now: these, he says, I have and abound. Then he goes on to show the abundance: “I am filled, having received what you sent by Epaphroditus.” So that what abounds would not be foreign, he says it is theirs too, because they sent it: “I am filled,” he says, “having received what you sent by Epaphroditus, an odor of sweetness, an acceptable sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God.” If above he said he sought nothing else from what is given but abundant fruit, so here too, when he says he is filled and has received what was sent, I do not rejoice and am not filled in the things that were sent; but in this, that you had the will and care to send; which is goodwill, and the fruit of abundance; hence it is an odor of sweetness to me that you are such; and a holy sacrifice, pleasing to God, to do willingly what you do; to take care, to provide what must be provided to another for his needs: this is itself the sacrifice, both holy and acceptable and pleasing to God, goodwill itself.

“But may my God fulfill every desire of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. But to God and our Father be glory to the ages of ages.” Since he said that they are both upright in their very works and good in will, in that they send willingly and take care, and that this is the best sacrifice to God and an odor of sweetness, now, to return thanks, he wishes and makes a vow that God (but let it be the apostle’s God), “my God,” he says, so that it is not common with the others, “may fulfill,” he says, “every desire of yours,” and fulfill it “according to his riches.” That is, when you have sought not the things of the world, but those which God bestows and gives from his riches, that is, things heavenly, things divine; for these are the riches of God. Then he added, “in glory in Christ Jesus,” so that these may be the riches which are in Christ Jesus, that is, eternal life, sanctification. And he added what is always added with reverence and devotion and obedience: “to God,” he says, “be glory,” to God the Father; and “to our God,” he says, namely Jesus Christ, our Father: may eternal glory be to him, that is, “to the ages of ages.” The letter ends. Then, after the admonitions and precepts for living rightly, greetings follow. First he greets himself, or bids others to be greeted in his name. And which others?

“Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.” “The saints in Christ Jesus,” or “greet in Christ Jesus”? “The brothers who are with me greet you.” Not only I, he says, greet you or bid you greet, but the brothers too greet you. He added, “who are with me.” He wanted this to be taken of the people and of every Christian who was with him. Then another: “all the saints greet you,” whom surely, the faith having been received, he sanctified: “but especially those who are of Caesar’s household”: they especially greet you, who are of Caesar’s household. And he shows the power of the gospel, that many from Caesar’s household believed, who surely should have been proud and thought of nothing but Caesar; and again their humility, that they are both humble and hospitable, and greet all the brothers placed elsewhere. And as to his saying “especially,” it may be understood that they took pains to please in service, and therefore he said, apart from the rest, that they greet.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” He thought of the Philippians in such a way that he did not take them, as in the other letters, as not thinking rightly, nor as led astray by false apostles, but only wrote a letter of exhortation, and ended with a prayer. “The grace,” he says, “of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” For if the spirit is within, they think rightly. What, then, do the prayers of the apostle do? That the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ may be with their spirit in Christ Jesus. Amen.