Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis
Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis
supergrace and thereby glorifying God. By following Paul’s guidelines, we have the potential (Subjunctive mood) of becoming blameless in all respects (Culminative Aorist tense). Does that mean we attain a state of sinless perfection? No, that is not possible as long as we live in this body of sin. But it does mean we have the capability of avoiding the arrogance complex of sins created by Satan, also known as Cosmic 1. As students of God, we can live the spiritual life in fellowship with the Lord the vast majority of our life on earth. If we continue to acknowledge our sins to the Father through Jesus Christ on a regular basis, we can at least be blameless in the midst of Satan’s world order. Does blameless mean we nolonger sin? No, as long as we live in this body of sin, we will continue to follow its dictates on occasion. Blameless here means God does not have to continually discipline us for remaining out of fellowship. Blameless means we keep a short account of our sins; we confess them, rebound, and keep moving. Do we need to withdraw from the world and live in a cave in order to do this? No, we must be able to do this in the middle of crooked and perverse friends, neighbors and co-workers. Anybody can live a life with relatively few sins if they isolate themselves in a cave like a monk. These individuals are the lowest form of Christians; they remain infants in the spiritual life. The only way to progress in God’s plan is to live “in the midst” of sin and evil and remain untouched and unmoved by it. The generation we live in is full of cosmic activity. People around us, including believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are ensnared by arrogance and hatred sins. On the one hand, many of them are involved in the arrogance complex of sins (Cosmic 1) as crooked, dishonest people. On the other hand, many of them are involved in the hatred complex of sins (Cosmic 2) as depraved and perverted individuals. Do we have to retreat from them and live in isolation in order to survive? No, we are supposed to shine (Tendential Present tense) as lights among them (Latin: luminaries). We cannot have an historical impact on unbelievers and reversionistic believers if we completely withdraw from their presence. We must learn Bible doctrine and apply it correctly while remaining in the sphere of the devil’s world (Latin: the nations). Individuals who withdraw from the world in order to pursue a “spiritual life” are in complete disobedience to the Father’s plan. These individuals, especially the monks and nuns of Catholicism, have the least amount of spiritual growth and impact among all believers. Don’t be fooled by the religious pretense of contemplative personality types. We have learned from earlier verses that testing and suffering are part of the spiritual growth process. If you live in isolation, how are you going to utilize important problem-solving devices such as impersonal love for mankind and the faith-rest drill? By removing yourself from society at large, you remove yourself from the divine classroom. Paul talks about running a race and fighting a battle, not sitting on the sidelines or shirking our responsibilities. REVELANT OPINIONS Sincerity is no substitute for knowing and acting upon the Truth. Boasted sincerity is confessed ignorance. And thousands of souls, perfectly sincere in ignorance of the Word, have walked into the
jaws of (the sin unto) death ... Unless we allow the Spirit to write in us His full, perfect mind, the mind of Christ, our lives are bound to bring to our fellow man a daily distortion of His Truth, a daily misrepresentation of Him. Out of doctrine grows our experience - not the other way around. Sinful man tries to reverse the process and ends up shipwrecked, on the side lines. (W.B. Harrison) Are we to imitate the mind of Christ and the life flowing from that mind? Impossible! The product of this effort, which is seen in virtually every Christian church today, is artificial and wholly human. This is not God's way. His way is not imitation, but rather implantation. (W.B. Harrison) Jesus Christ did not come to us as a mere example to live by. He came to impart to us all that He is. (K. Lamb) The vocation of believers is to be found and fulfilled in the midst of such a world. Believers in Christ are redeemed out of this present evil world, so that they no longer share its condemnation, nor its spirit. They do not belong to the world, to society as alienated from God, blind to His presence, and hostile to His rule, but they are still in the world and have no mandate to withdraw as recluses and shut themselves away in some secluded place. On the contrary, Christians have a direct commission to go into the world. In the midst of the world is our proper place as the Lord’s people. For it is only there that true Christian witness can be borne and influence for Christ effectively exerted. (R.P. Martin) All the generations have abnormity; but every generation has its own peculiar abnormity or spot. And the Church, from age to age, has especially to guard against the spot of the wicked generation in the midst of which it lives. (R. Finlayson) We may expect to be surrounded by the crooked and the perverse. It may not be a very comfortable position to occupy, but it is a very important and ought to be a very useful one. It is, in fact, to furnish opportunities for promoting the faith that this arrangement obtains. We often think that it would be happier to be translated at once where “the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest,” but it would not be better for us. Our best position is to have opportunities of benefiting others. (R. Edgar) Ever and ever we must have it impressed upon us that we are different from the world, must be told what is the matter with the world, and what we have that makes us so different. Then we shall not grumble because of ill-treatment, nor reason about escaping mistreatment by accommodating ourselves to the world. We have and hold “life’s Word.” (R. Lenski) “Blameless” means above reproach, not sinless perfection. All believers are called on to live out the salvation God has worked in them – to progress in their spiritual maturity. (R. Lightner) Philp. 2:15 In order that (purpose) you yourselves might become (gi,nomai, AMSubj.2P, Culminative, Potential, Deponent) blameless in all respects (Pred. Nom.; not stained by involvement in Cosmic I) and (connective) innocent as far as evil is concerned (Pred. Nom.; not stained by involvement in Cosmic II), students (Nom. Apposition) of God (Gen. Rel.), blameless (Pred. Nom.; not reproached by God for divine discipline, true to their character; Godward emphasis) in the midst (Acc. Spec.; where/when something is located) of a crooked (Descr. Gen.; unscrupulous, dishonest - Cosmic I) and (connective) perverse (diastre,fw, Pf.PPtc.GSF, Descriptive Genitive, Circumstantial; depraved, mishapen - Cosmic II) generation (Gen. Place), among whom (Loc. Pl.) you yourselves
- Page 59 and 60: the Lord gives him more years to li
- Page 61 and 62: face-to-face with Christ. So either
- Page 63 and 64: spiritual autonomy, which is the ne
- Page 65 and 66: united with him in death. In one se
- Page 67 and 68: said to enter Sheol or Hades. After
- Page 69 and 70: Philp. 1:24 Yet (adversative, post-
- Page 71 and 72: KW Philp. 1:26 In order that your r
- Page 73 and 74: Present tense), holding their groun
- Page 75 and 76: doom] for them, but for you, delive
- Page 77 and 78: side. The Constative Aorist tense p
- Page 79 and 80: Murray) Foreknowledge means that sa
- Page 81 and 82: (an Attributive article refers back
- Page 83 and 84: conditional clause is a protasis of
- Page 85 and 86: is always room for more! If the Phi
- Page 87 and 88: KJV Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be
- Page 89 and 90: affairs. It is the selfish, preoccu
- Page 91 and 92: KW Philp. 2:6 Who has always been a
- Page 93 and 94: VUL Philippians 2:6 qui cum in form
- Page 95 and 96: He laid aside the form of God. In s
- Page 97 and 98: conversation. (P. O’Brien) Philp.
- Page 99 and 100: REVELANT OPINIONS It is not at the
- Page 101 and 102: continue their experiential sanctif
- Page 103 and 104: Paul gives the Philippians their "e
- Page 105 and 106: long as we are in fellowship with H
- Page 107 and 108: undertaken in the strength that the
- Page 109: to be disputed. This greatly adorns
- Page 113 and 114: But as you might guess by the posit
- Page 115 and 116: REVELANT OPINIONS Paul's privilege
- Page 117 and 118: things concerning you [your status
- Page 119 and 120: with him), who (Subj. Nom., qualita
- Page 121 and 122: togetherness in our day. There can
- Page 123 and 124: It might not be an immediate or a p
- Page 125 and 126: KJV Philippians 2:26 For he longed
- Page 127 and 128: Philp. 2:27 For (explanatory) truly
- Page 129 and 130: appreciated him when he was there,
- Page 131 and 132: Poss.) lack (Acc. Dir. Obj.; unfini
- Page 133 and 134: diverted from that which God intend
- Page 135 and 136: their work was sometimes overruled
- Page 137 and 138: dispensation of the Church Age is r
- Page 139 and 140: and still do not have confidence (p
- Page 141 and 142: WHO Philippians 3:4 kai,per evgw. e
- Page 143 and 144: KJV Philippians 3:6 Concerning zeal
- Page 145 and 146: using the figure of a balance-sheet
- Page 147 and 148: what it cost him. There is a price
- Page 149 and 150: following God’s mandates, not by
- Page 151 and 152: get our words “dynamite” and
- Page 153 and 154: fellowship of His sufferings (Latin
- Page 155 and 156: experientially is not all or nothin
- Page 157 and 158: is referring to some particular kin
- Page 159 and 160: not an end result as we understand
jaws of (the sin unto) death ... Unless we allow the Spirit to write in us His full, perfect mind, the<br />
mind of Christ, our lives are bound to bring to our fellow man a daily distortion of His Truth, a daily<br />
misrepresentation of Him. Out of doctrine grows our experience - not the other way around. Sinful<br />
man tries to reverse the process and ends up shipwrecked, on the side lines. (W.B. Harrison) Are we<br />
to imitate the mind of Christ and the life flowing from that mind? Impossible! The product of this<br />
effort, which is seen in virtually every Christian church today, is artificial and wholly human. This is<br />
not God's way. His way is not imitation, but rather implantation. (W.B. Harrison) Jesus Christ did<br />
not come to us as a mere example to live <strong>by</strong>. He came to impart to us all that He is. (K. Lamb)<br />
The vocation of believers is to be found and fulfilled in the midst of such a world. Believers in Christ<br />
are redeemed out of this present evil world, so that they no longer share its condemnation, nor its<br />
spirit. They do not belong to the world, to society as alienated from God, blind to His presence, and<br />
hostile to His rule, but they are still in the world and have no mandate to withdraw as recluses and<br />
shut themselves away in some secluded place. On the contrary, Christians have a direct commission<br />
to go into the world. In the midst of the world is our proper place as the Lord’s people. For it is only<br />
there that true Christian witness can be borne and influence for Christ effectively exerted. (R.P.<br />
Martin) All the generations have abnormity; but every generation has its own peculiar abnormity or<br />
spot. And the Church, from age to age, has especially to guard against the spot of the wicked<br />
generation in the midst of which it lives. (R. Finlayson)<br />
We may expect to be surrounded <strong>by</strong> the crooked and the perverse. It may not be a very comfortable<br />
position to occupy, but it is a very important and ought to be a very useful one. It is, in fact, to<br />
furnish opportunities for promoting the faith that this arrangement obtains. We often think that it<br />
would be happier to be translated at once where “the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are<br />
at rest,” but it would not be better for us. Our best position is to have opportunities of benefiting<br />
others. (R. Edgar) Ever and ever we must have it impressed upon us that we are different from the<br />
world, must be told what is the matter with the world, and what we have that makes us so different.<br />
Then we shall not grumble because of ill-treatment, nor reason about escaping mistreatment <strong>by</strong><br />
accommodating ourselves to the world. We have and hold “life’s Word.” (R. Lenski) “Blameless”<br />
means above reproach, not sinless perfection. All believers are called on to live out the salvation<br />
God has worked in them – to progress in their spiritual maturity. (R. Lightner)<br />
Philp. 2:15 In order that (purpose) you yourselves might<br />
become (gi,nomai, AMSubj.2P, Culminative, Potential, Deponent)<br />
blameless in all respects (Pred. Nom.; not stained <strong>by</strong><br />
involvement in Cosmic I) and (connective) innocent as far as<br />
evil is concerned (Pred. Nom.; not stained <strong>by</strong> involvement in<br />
Cosmic II), students (Nom. Apposition) of God (Gen. Rel.),<br />
blameless (Pred. Nom.; not reproached <strong>by</strong> God for divine<br />
discipline, true to their character; Godward emphasis) in the<br />
midst (Acc. Spec.; where/when something is located) of a<br />
crooked (Descr. Gen.; unscrupulous, dishonest - Cosmic I) and<br />
(connective) perverse (diastre,fw, Pf.PPtc.GSF, Descriptive<br />
Genitive, Circumstantial; depraved, mishapen - Cosmic II)<br />
generation (Gen. Place), among whom (Loc. Pl.) you yourselves
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