Philippians 2:1-4 – Cultivate an attitude of humility

Paul underscored the importance to stay united by reminding the Philippians that they were facing a world that was hostile to the Gospel. And they shared in Paul’s belief and suffering, he told them that they must be bold in the face of the hostility. So the key was unity to harmonious living, that Paul now delved deeper into the subject.

He began by providing the bases for unity. There are four certainties in verse 1. Each of these certainties begins with the word “if.” This word “if” used here four times would better be translated with the word “since.” For they provided the four bases for Paul’s appeal to the Philippians. Replacing the word if with the word since will help to clarify Paul’s thought. So verses 1-2 should read like this: “Since there is encouragement for being in Christ, since there is great incentive of comfort from his love, since there is fellowship in the Spirit, and since there is tenderness and compassion, make my (Paul) joy complete and full by being likeminded, demonstrating mutual love for each other, always be in total agreement sharing a similar purpose.”

Evidently, there were some self-centered and self-conceited believers present among them. Paul felt the need to address this category of people. So here in these two verses, he exhorted them to go for harmonious living. He set forth two of his exhortations in the negative before giving them one in the positive. He told them not to do anything for selfish reasons or personal ambition, for such a behavior stemmed from the flesh. And he also told them not to do anything out of conceit. In addressing all believers, his intention was to garner personal and individual responsibility regarding harmonious living. In this exhortation, Paul was dealing with two aspects of the believers’ lives – the motive and the estimation of themselves.

Having dealt with wrong motives and wrong estimation of self, Paul now turned to show them the right way to view oneself. He promulgated an attitude of humility and considerateness for others. Paul advocated that one should begin with the premise of esteeming others better than oneself. Instead of being self-focused or self-absorbed, a believer should be concerned for the needs and interests of fellow brethren. Humility, Paul said, is an inward attitude.

To experience unity, we all know that we need to humble ourselves and put the concerns of others before ours. When the attitude of humility pervades a fellowship, joy will be made complete. True joy can be garnered when Jesus is placed first; the self is placed last; and others are placed in between. JOY - J stands for Jesus, O for others and Y for yourself. Here’s a reminder from the song JOY sung to the tune of Jingle Bells:

J O Y, 
J O Y, 
This is what it means.

Jesus first, 

Yourself last,
Others in-between.