Section 4
any standing, title, or position for ourselves. Making such claims will never bring us into the power of resurrection. Instead of seeking glory for ourselves, we should seek Christ and Him alone. Then we shall experience the crucified life.
I believe that in the church in Philippi, two sisters, Euodias and Syntyche, were in rivalry for position or vainglory. Otherwise, there would have been no need for Paul to beg them to "think the same thing in the Lord" (Phil. 4:2). If there had not been the problem of rivalry in the church there, there would have been no need for Paul to say in Philippians 2:3, "Doing nothing by way of rivalry nor by way of vainglory." Because among the saints in Philippi there was rivalry for vain glory, it was necessary for Paul to present Christ as the pattern of a crucified life. Paul presents this pattern in Philippians, not in other books, because in Philippi rivalry for vainglory was a definite problem. As long as certain of the saints there were seeking glory for themselves, there was rivalry. Therefore, Paul showed them that Christ, the Son of God, had a very high position. He possessed the very form of God and had the right to be equal with God. Nevertheless, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form