won our pardon, but only that we might be holy]. Their end (in such a path] is eternal perdition. Their God is [not He with whom they claim special intimacy but] their own sensual appetites. They boast [of their insight and experience], but their lofty claims are their deepest disgrace. Their interests and ideas, [pretending to soar above the skies], are really "of the earth, earthy." [Such teachings, and lives, are utterly alien to those of Paul and his true followers]. The seat and centre of their life is in heaven, whose citizens they are [free of its privileges, "obliged by its nobility"]. And from heaven they are looking, [in a life governed by that look], for the Lord Jesus Christ, as Saviour [of body as well as of soul]. He shall transfigure the body which now abases and encumbers us into true and eternal likeness to the Body He now wears upon the throne. [Do they ask, how can this be?] It is a possibility measured by His ability to subdue to His will, and to His purposes, nothing less than all things.

ences.

CH. IV. 1-7. [With such a present, and such a future], let the dear and sorely missed Philippians [cleanse themselves from all pollution, and to that end] let them keep close to Christ, or rather dwell in Christ. [Let them in particular renounce the spirit of self; and here] he entreats two Christian women, Euodia and Syntyche, to renounce their differAnd let his truehearted yoke-fellow [Epaphroditus?] help these two persons to a loving reconciliation, remembering how they toiled and strove for the cause of Christ, by Paul's side, [in the old days]; and let Clement, and Paul's other fellow-labourers, whose names the Lord has marked for heaven, do the like kind service [for Euodia and Syntyche]. Let all rejoice always in the Lord; yes, let them indeed rejoice in Him! Let all around them find them self-forgetful, void of self; the Lord's [remembered] presence is the way to this. Let them be anxious in no circumstance; everything must be taken at once to God in prayer, with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, [the glad tranquillity caused by His presence and rule in the heart], shall encircle as with walls their inner world and its actings, as they dwell in Christ.

8-9. In conclusion, let their minds, [thus shielded, not lie idle, but] be occupied with all that is true, honourable, right, pure, amiable; with all that man truly calls virtue, all that has the praise of his conscience.

And once more, let them practise the principles they have learned of Paul, and seen exemplified in him. So the God of peace, [peace in the soul and in the community], shall be with them.

10-20. [He must not close without loving thanks for a gift of money, for himself and his work, received lately from them.] It has given him holy joy to find that their thought about him has burst into life and fruit again after an interval. Not that they had ever forgotten him; but for some time (he knows) no means of communication had been found. Not, again, that he has been feeling any painful deficiency; for himself, he has learned the lesson of independence of circumstances. He understands the art of meeting poverty and plenty [in equal peace]. He has been let into the secret how to live so. [And the secret isJesus Christ]. In living union with Him and His spiritual power, Paul can meet every incident of the will of God, [to bear it, or to do it]. Not that he does not warmly feel their loving participation [by this gift] in his trials. But [there was no need of this particular gift to assure him of their affection]; they will remember that when he first evangelized Macedonia, and was now leaving it, they were the only Church which aided him with money; more such gifts than one reached him even when he was no further off than Thessalonica. Do not let them think that he is hunting for their money [by such reminiscences]; no, [so far as he welcomes their money at all] it is because such gifts are deposits bearing rich interest of blessing for the givers. But he has indeed been supplied, and over-supplied, in this contribution now sent by Epaphroditus' hands; this sweet incense from the altar [of selfsacrificing love to Christ in His servant]. For himself, [he can send back no material present, but] his God shall supply their every need, out of the wealth of eternal love and power, lodged for the saints in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be the glory for ever. Amen.

21-23. Let them greet individually from him every Christian of their number. The Christians associated with him greet them. So do all the Roman believers, especially those connected with the Imperial household.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with their inmost being. Amen.

If we submit ourselves fairly and honestly to the influence which the Gospel would bring to bear upon us, we may trust it to verify itself by producing inwardly "righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost." There is no manner of question that it was thus with the great Apostle, and if the faith he preached is a living reality, it is not only capable of producing the like results now, but must and will do so, where there is a corresponding hold of it. If in Christ Jesus there is forgiveness of sins, and if by Him "all that believe are justified," then, most assuredly, that which was offered by St Paul...to all, without distinction, is the heritage of Gentile as well as Jew, and may be the priceless possession of Englishmen in the nineteenth century after Christ, no less than of Greeks and Asiatics in the first. There wants but the same tenacious grasp of truth, the same uncompromising zeal, the same unflinching boldness, and the ancient message will awaken the old response. The same flower will bud and open, will form and set, in the mature and golden autumn of Christian experience, into the same rich, fragrant...fruit, which will be "Christ in us, the hope of glory."

Stanley LeathES, D.D.; The Witness of St Paul to Christ, pp. 87-8.

THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE

TO THE

PHILIPPIANS.

AUL and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to 1

PAUL and Shrist Jesus which are at Philippi,

TITLE.

The oldest known form is the briefest, TO THE PHILIPPIANS, or, exactly, TO THE PHILIPPESIANS (see on iv. 15). So in the "Subscription" to the Epistle, which see. The title as in the Authorized Version agrees with that adopted in the Elzevir editions of 1624, 1633.

1. Paul] See Acts xiii. 9. The Apostle probably bore, from infancy, both the two names, Saul (Saoul, Saulus) and Paul. See on Eph. i. 1, and Romans, p. 8, in this Series.

Timotheus] Named 24 times in N. T. See Acts xvi. 1 for his parentage and early home, and for indications of his character as man and Christian cp. 1 Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10, 11; 1 Tim. i. 2; 2 Tim. i. 4, 5; and especially below, ii. 19-22. His association with St Paul was intimate and endeared, and his connexion with the Philippian Church was close. See Acts xvi., where it is clearly implied that with Silas he accompanied St Paul on his first visit to Philippi (cp. xvii. 14, and below, ii. 22), though for unknown reasons he did not share the maltreatment of his friends. Later, Acts xx. 4, he appears accompanying St Paul from Macedonia to Asia Minor, and the mention of Philippi, ver. 6, makes it practically certain that by then Philippi had been visited again. With Macedonia generally, including of course Thessalonica, we find his name often connected; see mentions of him in Acts xvii. and xix. 22; 2 Cor. (written in Macedonia) i. 1; 1 Thess. iii. 2, 6.—His name is associated as here with St Paul's 2 Cor. i. 1; Col. i. 1; 1 Thess. i. 1; 2 Thess. i. I.—In this Epistle the association

2 with the bishops and deacons: grace be unto you, and

begins and ends with this verse, and the Apostle writes at once in the singular number. It is otherwise in 2 Cor., Col., and Thess.

the servants] Bondservants, slaves. The word is used by St Paul of himself (with or without his missionary brethren), Rom. i. 1; Gal. i. 10; Tit. i. 1. Cp. Acts xx. 19, xxvii. 23; Gal. vi. 17. He was a bondservant, in the absolute possession of his redeeming Lord, not only as an apostle but as a Christian; but he loves to emphasize the fact in connexion with his special mode of service. On the principles and conditions of the believer's sacred and happy bondservice see e.g. Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvii. 7—10; Rom. vi. 19, vii. 6; 1 Cor. vi. 20, vii. 22; Eph. vi. 7; 2 Tim. ii. 24. The word with its imagery conveys the truth that the spiritual bondservant is altogether and always not only the helper, or agent, but the property and implement of his Master; having no rights whatever as against Him. Only, the Master being what He is, this real bondage is transfigured always into the "perfect freedom" of the regenerate and loving heart.

of Jesus Christ] Better, on documentary evidence, of Christ Jesus. This order of our blessed Lord's Name and Title is almost peculiar to St Paul, and is the most frequent of the two orders in his writings. It is calculated that he uses it (assuming the latest researches in the Greek text to shew right results) 87 times, and "Jesus Christ" 78 (see The Expositor, May, 1888). The slight emphasis on "Christ" is suggestive of a special reference of thought to the Lord in glory.

the saints] Holy ones; men separated from sin to God. The word takes the man, or the community, on profession; as being what they ought to be. This is not to lower the native meaning of the word, but to use a well-understood hypothesis in the application of it. A saint is not merely a professing follower of Christ, but a professing follower assumed to be what he professes. He who is not this is in name only and not in deed a saint, faithful, a child of God, and the like. See Appendix B.

in Christ Jesus] Holy ones, because united in Life and Covenant, by grace, to the Holy One of God. See further on Eph. i. 1, and below, on ver. 8.

Philippi] See Introduction, p. 10, &c.

with the bishops and deacons] In this address the laity come before the clergy." With," because these persons, though merely some of "the saints" as men, were differenced from the others by office. Apart from all questions in detail on the Christian Ministry, observe this primeval testimony to some already established and recognized order and regimen in a young Church; to a special "oversight" and "service" committed to not all but some.-The "bishop" (episcopus) of this passage is identical with the "presbyter" of e.g. Acts xx. 17, called episcopus there, ver. 28. For further remarks on the offices here

mentioned, see Appendix C.

2.

Grace be unto you, &c.] See, on the whole verse, the notes in this Series on Eph. i. 2, where the wording is identical.-" Grace," as a