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Bible Verses
Phil 2:2 Make my joy full, that you think the same thing,
having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing.
3:8 But moreover I also count all things to be loss on
account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.
Words of Ministry
The way the Philippians could make Paul's joy full was to
think the same thing, even the one thing (2:2). According to
the context of the entire book, the one thing must refer to
the subjective knowledge of Christ and experience of Christ
(1:20-21; 2:5; 3:7-9; 4:13). Christ, and Christ alone, should
be the centrality and universality of our entire being. Our
thinking should be focused on the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ and the experience of Christ. Anything else causes
us.
What troubled Paul in his imprisonment was the dissension
among the Philippians. The saints in Philippi were good, and
the church in that city had been well established. However,
there was dissension among them. Although they were one in
spirit, they were not striving together with one soul.
Although they all loved the Lord, they were not thinking the
same thing. This caused Paul's heart to be heavy. Out of
heaviness of heart, he appealed to the Philippians to make
his joy full by being joined in soul and by thinking the same
thing.
Thinking the same thing is related to having the same love.
Paul's word in verse 2 about "having the same love" indicates
that, because of their dissenting thinking, the Philippian
believers had different levels of love. They did not have the
same love toward all the saints for the keeping of oneness.
It is possible that we in the church life today may not have
different levels. We may love a certain brother much more
than we love another brother. Because we may love a
particular brother only to a small degree, we may not be
inclined to render much service to him. But because we love
another brother to a very high degree, we may serve him too
much and even spoil him by our love. It is possible in the
church life to have different levels of love for different
saints. If this is our situation, our love is not the love
with one soul. We have one kind of soul when we love one
brother, but a different kind of soul when we love another
brother. As a result, instead of practical oneness, there
will be dissension.
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