Philippians 4:1
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
By beginning chapter four with the word "Therefore" it seems clear that Paul is furthering his current thought. At the end of chapter three, Paul is discussing "enemies of the cross of Christ" or people who did truly walk with Christ as their minds were ulitmately set on earthly things. Paul also explains that their end is "destruction" or that they will go to hell. Now, at the beginnnig of chapter four Paul is telling his brothers, the followers of Christ to not live this way, and to stand firm in the Lord. By saying "whom I love and long for" Pual seems to be showing that he truly cares for his fellow followers of Christ.
Despite the fact that this part of the versed seem fairly clear, I did not really understand why he called them his "joy and crown". After thinking over it some it seems to me he called them his joy because he found joy in the fact they were also followers of God and were growing in their walk with Christ. It seems as thought Paul finds great joy in knowing that people he has ministered to are growing in their relationship with Christ. As far as "crown" goes the only idea I had was that Paul found it like a high honor to have helped the church at Philippi grow. To make some type of analogy (although perhaps not the best), Paul seemed to look at the church at Philippi the same way a King (or some other royal figure) looks at his crown. I'd like to hear what others think on this forsure though as I'm still not exactly getting the whole crown thing.
All in all, it seems this first verse of chapter four is a conclusion of the last chapter and a beginning to the next as Paul is exhorting them to walk with the Lord, unlike others who were seeking earthly things.
posted by Jake at 6:58 PM
1 Comments:
Jake, I think that you are on the right track. The idea of the "crown" is Pauline language looking ahead to eternity. He looks ahead in Philippians 3:14 with the "goal of the upward call of Gos in Christ Jesus." He talks of running the race in 1 Corinthians 9 and receiving the imperishable wreath. The interesting thing here is that in the context of Philippians 4:1 Paul says that in heaven when he will receive treasures or imperishable wreaths he is actually talking about people. How does this work? 1 Thess 2:19-20 "For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.
So, Jake said that Paul's joy is in the Philippian believers... yes! Also, Paul is saying that in heaven he will have a crown that is really the joy that he has in other believers. He will have his joy set before him with people; people who he labored witha dn he helped lead and now he can share this joy of glorifying Jesus together. Paul does not want material things in heaven. He wants to worship Jesus with people and by worshipping Jesus with other people, his joy is complete.
Post a Comment
<< Home