Minding “The One Thing”
MINDING “THE ONE THING”
PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4
Paul wants his readers to unite in unselfish love and humility.
Paul has just appealed for unity on the ground that conflict makes harmony of purpose essential (1:27-30). He now sustains that appeal, urging unity for its own sake as a distinctive mark of the church of Jesus Christ. 2:1 indicates the reasonableness of Paul’s plea; 2:2 expresses the idea of unity in four different phrases; 2:3-4 illustrate the appeal concretely.
The apostle was confident of his access to the Philippians. He has already spoken of the encouragement he has experienced from Christ through them and of the mutual affection and respect which binds him and his friends (1:3-5,7f.,19f.,25f.). Now he appeals to the church to reconsider their relationship with him and to affirm that he has not misjudged them (2:1).
If they are really open to him and have shared with him the realities of Christian experience, let them now crown his joy by sharing a common attitude (2:2). The believers had not sufficiently grasped the character of church fellowship. The proud individualism of the Greek spirit had been brought into the assembly of faith and each one took with utmost seriousness their own interests (2:4).
Paul calls on the believers to climb down from their thrones and to mind “the one thing.” What is meant by this unusual expression becomes clear in 2:21, where Paul speaks of those who regard their own interests with greater seriousness than they do the interests of Jesus Christ. This was the situation at Philippi which detracted from Paul’s joy. To mind “the one thing” is to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ (2:5; 2 Corinthians 10:5); it is to put the seriousness of “the one thing” above the seriousness with which we regard ourselves (2:3f.). This demands a life of love prompted by Jesus Christ and directed toward Jesus Christ, but shown in our relationships with one another.
That is why Paul speaks of the hindrances to Christian love: self-assertiveness, conceit and selfishness. He calls for a practical demonstration of humility which recognizes others as recipients of grace. Christian humility takes another brother or sister seriously and listens to their point of view as one listens to a superior. Only when people stand on the level ground of mutual respect do they stand together; only then do they recognize in their midst the one Lord to whom each one submits.