Philippians 2:2 - One-souled

’...fill up my joy in order that you may be thinking the same, the same love having, souls together, the one thinking...’ 

-we know that paul has joy.  he told us about the joy he has in thinking about the philippians involvement in the Gospel and as this Good News about Jesus is being proclaimed.  so we have already seen that paul’s joy was tied to the spread of the Gospel.  here he exhorts the philippians to fill up his joy.  this is the main command of this particular section.  and it is totally safe to assume that what will give him full joy is tied to the forward progress of the Gospel in hearts and lives of these in philippi and elsewhere as well as among people(s) who haven’t heard or have no access to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

-now if paul’s joy is connected to how these believers in philippi are doing and on how the Gospel is moving forward, it makes total sense that what will fill up his joy is for these believers to channel all the things he just mentioned in the previous verse towards each other such that their own relationships show off the magnificent power and goodness of the Gospel and its ability to transform lives.  it’s not just about them having their fire insurance or having a good mano-a-mano vertical relationship with God.  paul is saying that they need to let the Lord make their relationships with each other so full of encouragement and love and sharing and caring that it totally enhances the way in which they come together and work together for the cause of Christ.

-what paul gives us is an application of phil 1.27, where the philippians are to be competing together in one spirit and one soul for the faith of the Gospel.  we’re talking about lives and conduct which are worthy of this Great Message and which are conducive to its spread.  now all the divine resources which the Lord has put at our disposal in the previous verse are to be employed to safeguard and grow unity of minds and hearts and focus among believers.  remember that oneness in the Body of Christ is produced automatically by God’s Spirit and must be guarded and preserved by God’s people (eph 4.3, 1cor 1.10), who determine to love each other in spite of their differences (1cor 8.1, col 3.14).  this is completely consistent with the new command which Jesus gave in jn 13.35 - ‘by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’  like Jesus, paul here is linking the forward progress of the Gospel to a manifestation of the selfless agapé love that those who follow Him show to one another.

-so, what does this love actually look like in the body?  does it look like absence of conflict?  everybody just getting along and being surfacy-nice to each other one day a week?  on the contrary, there is a shared passion for Jesus and a united commitment to the spread of His Gospel.  there is readiness to give and a mutual concern for the well-being of other believers, particularly those within our local assembly.  there is life-involvement that produces an awareness of needs and results in generous giving of time and sharing of resources to eliminate them.  there is Holy Spirit-empowered encouragement and comfort and speaking words that give life and build up and spur others on to love and good deeds.  it is people who really care about each other, people who love to be with each other (more than just a couple of hours a week), people who believe in each other and give grace to each other and forgive each other and who come together to get through hard times together.  it is people who really love Jesus working tirelessly side by side to help others learn to love Jesus, to give them a glimpse of His unbelievably breathtaking goodness, to be a blessing to their neighbors and to the nations.  it is people who put aside what they want or think they deserve and put the needs and wants of others before their own.  like Jesus did, as we shall read.

-so paul is saying, you guys are in the game with me, and the Gospel is going forward, and this is great, but now, fill up my joy by letting the Lord totally transform your relationships with one another, SO THAT you can really be united and focused on loving the Lord and on living to make Him famous.

-take note of the role of the mind, our thought life.  paul twice here uses the verb phroneo, which refers to the activity of the phrén, the perceiving mind or understanding (as opposed to the nous, which is the thinking mind).  the verb will be used again in phil 2.5 where paul exhorts us to have the same phroneo as Jesus.  it is important for us to understand the significance of the phrén both as it relates to the progress of the Gospel as well as the role it plays in all of life.  the activity of the phrén is certainly core to following and devotion to Christ (phil 3.13-15, col 3.1-2).  but for the greek, good phroneo (i.e. the act of perceiving and understanding well) is THE source of virtue.  plato actually considered phronésis (understanding) to be the chief virtue.  all culture is linked to it, to our mind and the proper/healthy exercise thereof.  it is a divine gift that should guide society and leaders and which directs the mind toward immortality.  for His part, God’s phronésis is unsearchable (is 40.28).  phroneo is how He set up the universe.  and while humans should certainly strive towards good phronésis, phronésis apart from God (fear and awe of Him) becomes arrogance (rom 11.20, rom 12.3), and faulty phroneo (bad understanding) and a-phrosuné (not understanding) are seen as the most elemental of sins (cf phil 3.19, lk 11.40, lk 12.20, mk 7.21-22, mk 8.33, eph 5.17, 1pet 2.15, ps 14.1)(cf gen 6.5, 1chr 28.9, ps 10.4, ps 139.23-24, prov 12.5, prov 23.7, is 55.6-9, is 57.11, is 65.2, lk 2.35, act 17.29, rom 2.14-16, rom 14.5, rom 14.13-14, rom 14.22, 1cor 14.20, 2cor 10.5, heb 4.12-13).  paul repeatedly urges unity of phroneo for those who follow Christ (rom 15.5, 2cor 13.11).  but the outcome of encouraging and comforting and loving and fellowshipping with one another should definitely increase our ability to really unite and focus on making Jesus famous.  one-souled.  we all want most what Jesus wants most, for us to love the Lord with all our hearts and to love each other and our neighbors really well.  i have a long, long way to go.