Section 7
who emptied Himself and humbled Himself, so we need to experience the Christ who has been exalted. God has already exalted Christ in the universe, but now it remains for us to exalt Him in our personal universe—in our daily life, in our family life, and in our church life.
Paul's desire was that the saints in Philippi would exalt Christ in their daily living. If the believers had done this, they would have made Paul's joy full. His expectation was that the be lievers would experience Christ as the crucified life and then experience Christ in His exaltation. Christ's exaltation needs to be carried out in our daily living.
THE HIGHEST STANDARD
OF SALVATION
Proof that Paul's concept was that Christ would be exalted not only objectively in the uni verse but also subjectively and experientially in our daily life is found in Philippians 2:12. After speaking of the crucified life in verses 5 through 8 and the exalted life in verses 9 through 11, Paul says in verse 12, "So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only as in my pres ence, but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."