We continue this week to read Paul’s letter to the Philippians, and we will read the whole letter over the course of the month. This week we’re in chapter 2. The idea is for us to explore both Paul’s theology, his way of understanding who is Christ and what is Christ’s mission, and also to explore how the first Christians were to follow Jesus, what was their calling as the young church was starting to grow. One of the things that for me really stands out in Paul’s teaching, and especially in this chapter we read today, is the connection between the two, between who Christ is and who Christians are called to be, the connection between theology and ethics, theory and practice if you will, but even deeper than that, it’s a connection between two ontologies, that is between two modes of being: There is, or should be, a deep connection between Christ’s being and Christians’ being. Christians are called to imitate Christ, to become like Christ and in a way, to become Christ. In this Chapter Paul expresses his fundamental beliefs about Christ in a hymn that is often considered as the first Creed, and then for the rest of the letter Paul will explain to the Philippians how everything that applies to Christ, somehow, need to apply to them as well.
Okay, before we get to the heart of the matter, let’s have a look at the beginning of the chapter, as Paul expresses his deepest wishes for the congregation in Philippi. If you were here last week, you may remember how pleased Paul was about this church and how he remembered them fondly in his time of trial (he wrote the letter in a prison in Rome). In the beginning of this chapter, we get to understand a little bit better why Paul was so attached to these people and how he felt about them. What he experienced with this community was encouragement, comfort, sharing, compassion and sympathy. The church in Philippi was a loving church, filled with Christ’s spirit, and this really rejoiced Paul’s heart. Now Paul is going to try to move them a step further and it’s really what the letter is all about, Paul would like the Philippians to become more mature Christians. Paul in chapter 1 says that he prays that their love will grow more and more, based on knowledge and understanding. Yes, they are loving but they could go even further. And Paul makes it quite clear what they need to do, they need to renounce to themselves: being in full accord and of one mind, doing nothing out of selfish ambition, regard others as better than themselves, looking first at the interests of others. In short, they need to practice humility, to become more humble, and actually to be humble like Christ was humble.
So there’s two things that are important for us to notice:
– In terms of theology, belief: The fundamental belief Paul teaches about Christ and Christ’s mission is understood in term of renouncing to self, self emptying, humility.
– For this reason, humility is also the basis of all ethics, this is the fundamental virtue those who follow Christ need to practice, and more deeply it is only in renouncing to themselves that they will be able to become fully Christlike.
And it’s interesting because humility and renouncing to self are some of the values that are the most misunderstood in our culture today, where, even with the best intentions in the world, we hear so often about “finding ourselves” or “accomplishing ourselves” as if our lives were all about us. And we also find this way of thinking among Christians. I cannot tell you how many commentaries I read about this text that said that it is not always a good idea to ask people to be humble or to renounce to themselves. The commentators are not wrong in the sense that they point out to people who have been abused and oppressed in the course of history because of their sex, race, age and so on. Asking them to be humble or to renounce to themselves had been a way to keep them under control and even to lead them to accept oppression and enslavement. But all of this is rooted in a distortion and a wrongful use of Paul’s teaching.
Let’s have a closer look at it.
First of all, we have to consider what Paul is teaching about Christ, in his “mini creed” in which he sums up all what he believes about Jesus, his personhood and his mission. Well, the most striking thing to me is that Paul tells us that Christ renounced the privileges he had being “in the form of God” and “being equal with God“. Christ didn’t exploit this power he had from being God. Some translations use the word “grasp”, and I really like this word because it reminds us of Adam “grasping” the fruit when the serpent promises the woman they would be made like God by eating from the tree. And indeed, often Paul calls Christ “the new Adam”, the one who did everything right when Adam did it wrong. Christ instead of looking to get more power renounced his power. And this, for Paul, explains everything: Why Jesus came on earth (incarnation), how he lived (in poverty and anonymity), why he suffered (from opposition and rejection), how he died (a shameful death, the death of criminals and slaves). In short, Jesus was an example of obedience (listening to God), when Adam was everything but.
And so this is really from Christ that Christians need to understand what it means to “empty oneself” and to “become humble”: It is first of all to be aware of our privilege, to be aware of our own power and to renounce to use it for our own benefit, to refuse to use it at the expanse of others. And there is not way around that because this is the very nature of God. We see that obviously in Christ but it’s in the whole Bible that God renounces to exploit his power: withdrawing from the world to create the world, renouncing to punish sinners as they deserved, renouncing to be king over Israel and let the people have their own king and so on and so forth, until this ultimate act of self emptying that was death of the cross.
I guess this is very reassuring for us that God is not asking us anything God hasn’t done for us. God is not asking us to be powerless in front of his powerfulness, God is asking to be powerless as God was powerless in Jesus. God does not ask us to renounce our privilege so others could abuse us (although this may be a consequence) but the whole idea is to renounce to take all the space to make room for others, to enable others to live more fully. And even beyond that, God is not asking us to renounce to ourselves in order to disappear but so that in the end we might be filled with glory as Christ was filled with glory. We renounce to a sinful self to gain a glorious self in Christ. If anything, Jesus always invited the people who sat in the back to come forward to receive forgiveness and healing, to be affirmed in their faith. It is the religious leaders full of themselves that Jesus asked to step back. As for Paul, you’ll notice that he encourages humility and renouncing to self in a context of mutual love, it is not about letting others have power and control over the Philippians, it is about them being all of the same mind as equals. So for us, we really have to look at ourselves to understand where and when we are asked to do the same: What are the situations where I am powerful because of my age, my status, my race and how can I learn to refuse to impose myself to make room for others? But also: How does humility look like when I am not at the center of the stage. Should I have the humility to also ask for what I need? How many Christian women have been taught that humility is serve, serve, serve when humility could also look like this: asking for help, being aware of their limits, getting some rest!In fine, for Paul, humility is all about obedience, doing God’s will. And we need to use our own discernment to understand where it applies.It is in this sense that we can understand Paul’s invitation to the Philippians to “work out [their] salvation in fear and trembling“. It’s not about fearing God, it’s about fearing the many traps our pride and desire for vain glory may lead us.
Now this is probably well said, but concretely, how do we know God’s will, how do we walk the way of obedience? Well, very simply, Paul asks the Philippians to do “all things without murmuring and arguing“: We are invited to look at the task that is right at hand, what’s just in front of us and to pour our energy into it instead of always waiting for the perfect opportunity and the perfect setting to serve God. What counts is our willingness to be wholeheartedly in the present moment, and this is to me another way to understand the Lord’s commandment about loving our neighbor. Do the good that is right in front of you, don‘t look for anything complicated. It’s simple, but certainly not easy. To encourage the Philippians, Paul concludes the chapter in giving two examples of Christian humility with Timothy and Epaphroditus. He shows their willingness to love and to serve the community. Although they were church leaders, they were willing to lay down their power for the benefit of the community, Epaphroditus even came close to lay his own life in this service, and so they are both perfect examples of what Christ did for us. In the next chapter, Paul will use his own example. I think it’s a way of showing us that we can all imitate Christ no matter our life circumstances. Yes, the church is a place of love, as Paul mentions, a place of encouragement, comfort, sharing, compassion and sympathy but it’s not all there is to it. It’s about sharing Christ’s life and Christ’s nature and being wholly in Christ’s mission to bring all people together and to God.