Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

When Jesus was in the home of Mary and Martha, it was Mary who sat at His feet while Martha
served. And Jesus said, “Martha, Martha … you are worried and upset about many things, but only
one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke
10:41-42). One thing is needed! How often we reverse the two. We think our service is needed and
fellowship dispensable. We need to learn that nothing can be a substitute for the cultivation of the
presence of God. (J. Boice) When believers die, they are immediately free of suffering and are
directly present with Christ in the third heaven. From that point on, they will be with the Saviour
forever. This is why Paul could call the instantaneous act of death “gain.” Thus, when believers pass
away, earth’s loss is always heaven’s gain. (R. Gromacki) The glory of Christ ought to be the end of
our life, the grace of Christ the principle of our life, and the Word of Christ the rule of it. The
Christian life is derived from Christ, and directed to Him. He is the principle, rule, and end of it. (M.
Henry)
The believer’s attitude toward Bible doctrine changes as a result of post-salvation epistemological
rehabilitation. Doctrine in the soul creates a desire for more doctrine. Initially the immature Christian
listens to Bible teaching for a variety of motives that carry over from his life as an unbeliever, but
gradually human viewpoint is replaced by divine viewpoint. The believer’s academic discipline and
concentration on the Word of God become stronger as he develops personal love for God, the
highest motivation in life. The spiritually adult believer approaches the perception of doctrine with a
new mental attitude. He concentrates on the mind of Christ because he is occupied with the Person
of Christ and has begun to share the happiness of God. The believer knows that he has attained
spiritual adulthood because his perception, metabolism, and application of Bible doctrine cease to be
a means to an end and instead become ends in themselves. He takes genuine pleasure in the Word of
God. The perception of Bible doctrine is the highest form or worship. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.)
The great thing said in elucidation is that all Paul’s bodily living, all his bodily life activity, “is
Christ.” This is a new and a concentrated way of saying that he is a “slave of Christ” who has no will
of his own, that Christ alone moves his body and all its members according to His will ... Life and
death are not antithesis, they are alternatives … Neither statement could stand by itself. Only the
living that is Christ reaches the getting to die that is gain; no dying is gain unless it closes the living
that is Christ. Christ will not be magnified by means of a death that does not close a life that has
already magnified Him. (R. Lenski) “Gaining Christ,” then, is another way of expressing the
Christian’s progressive experience of sanctification, growth in grace, or becoming more and more
like Jesus. In life he is absorbed and determined in consecrated living for Christ; in death he expects
to possess Christ totally. (J. Motyer)
One of the greatest achievements in life is the ability to equate living and dying. Life on earth
includes he period in which an individual knows that he is dying; dying is part of living. Only by
facing the reality of death with doctrinal objectivity can any believer face life from the divine
viewpoint. And only through suffering for blessing and attaining the stages of spiritual adulthood
can the believer equate living and dying and thereby benefit from suffering ... Each stage of spiritual
adulthood brings a new experiential glorification of Christ. This progressive experience begins with
spiritual self-esteem, which is described by the phrase “Christ formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). In