03.03. LESSON 3
LESSON 3 As Paul faced possible execution by Rome, he wrote the Philippians: “Through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ . . . Christ shall be magnified in my body whether by life or by death.” Paul was so entirely devoted to Christ that he had a holy indifference as to whether he served him by living, or by dying. Greek scholars say that “supplication” and “supply of the spirit” are so intimately related that they are virtually one, as if Paul said, “As your prayers ascend, the Spirit will descend.” In the same circumstances and about the same time, Paul wrote Philemon: “But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.” Who can think that Paul was in error, or insincere, when he wrote his friends that prayer and the Holy Spirit would effect his courage and imprisonment? Why did he think that God hears such prayer and “supplieth . . . the Spirit?” (Galatians 3:5). He knew that availing prayer and the workings of the Spirit were much older than his Bible. Remember, Paul also wrote the Philippians: “These things which ye . . . heard and saw in me, these things do.”
Life or Death
Some men, balancing the comparative desirability of life and death find difficulty in deciding which is preferable. For a worldling it, sooner or later, is a choice between two evils. Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be,” is the classic literary example. To Hamlet, the disadvantages of living, or dying, were so evenly matched that he, true to his basic weakness of character, could not decide, and consequently continued to be dominated by circumstances. Voltaire, a French philosopher and skeptic of two centuries ago, said that he hated life and dreaded death. How different from Paul! To him, neither life nor death was evil. Both were so good that in thinking of a choice of either against the other, he was “in a strait betwixt the two.” To depressed Christians of any time, Paul’s, “For to me, to live, is Christ, and to die is gain,” is a great tonic. Paul was telling the Philippians, if he were freed from prison, he would continue to live a life dead to the flesh in order that Christ might still live in, and express himself through, him; but, if he were executed, instead of serving him on earth in privation and suffering, he would be enjoying him in heaven, which would be “very far better.” Christ’s living in Paul made his life on earth and his life to come in heaven one continuous, undivided life. He was so enlifed with Christ, as a graft with the root, that he was happy serving him on earth, happier in the thought of enduring death that he might go to him beyond death, and happiest in the hope of being with him forever in heaven. To depart was better for him, but since his staying on earth was more needful for them, he, Christlike, was willing to stay.
Paul had already been “caught up into Paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4), and his ignorance as to whether or not his body went along is proof that life apart from the body may continue, as a watch continues to run, removed from the case. The passageway from earth to heaven, the outer and the inner mansions of God’s house, is a very short corridor. The great romantic adventure of death is a new stage in the progress of union and communion with Christ. Paul knows nothing of either purgatory or soul-sleeping. To him death, ushering a Christian into the immediate presence of Christ, is comparable to a change of address. But what can men without the Bible know about death and its gain? Socrates said to the judge who condemned him to death: “If it is true that the souls of just men know felicity after death, let me die, not once, but many times.” One of the last things he said to his friends as the hemlock did its deadly work was: “The time has come for us to part —for me to die and for you to live—but which of us is going to a better thing is uncertain. Socrates, one of the very best pagan minds of all time, died like a philosopher, but without Paul’s living hope and certain gain. The fuel which fed the fire that burned so steadily and brightly in Paul is not to be found among natural men.
Christian Unity
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the gospel: and in nothing affrighted by the adversaries: which is for them an evident token of perdition” (Php 1:27-28). This exhortation consists of three pleas: first, that their conduct be consistent with, and worthy of, the Christian calling; second, that in unity of life, they all stand solidly together, a compact body like the historic “Macedonian Phalanx,” in their fight against the world; third, that they be courageous and fearless of soul, for since both sides cannot win a war, their present success is a Sign of the enemy’s final defeat.
Need it be said that, though all Christians are required to be absolute in their commitment to all fundamental Christian doctrine, conformity and mechanical sameness in secondary matters are not required. Indeed, the manifold diversity of nature and condition found among Christians make such conformity impossible. Furthermore, it is undesirable, because these dissimilarities provide brethren who love each other ideal conditions for mutual study, edification and growth. Christian unity is organic unity in diversity.
Twin Gifts The close of this chapter throws light on the problem, why do good men like Paul suffer. It teaches that both faith in Christ and suffering for Christ are divine gifts “granted” unto men. That suffering is a privilege and an opportunity is a hard lesson for us. Nevertheless, “Whom the Lord loveth he chasterieth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Suffering for Christ makes men patient, kind, compassionate, and neighborly. Had Paul suffered no thorn in his flesh, we would miss the mellowness, the gentle pleading, and the tender wooing that quiver throughout his writings. He, like his adored Master, has a heart as large as his head. In Philippians, as is usual with him, his heart is so full that he cares to keep back nothing. “Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”
QUESTIONS 1. How effective does Paul think prayer is?
2. Does he think that the Holy Spirit will help him to live aright in his trying circumstances?
3. Explain in its setting Paul’s “in a strait betwixt the two.”
4. What consideration made Paul willing to live on earth longer?
5. Contrast Paul’s view of death with Hamlet’s, with Voltaire’s, and with Socrates’, respectively.
6. Show that Paul’s experience of being “caught up into Paradise” proves that man’s soul may live apart from his body.
7. What linked Paul’s life on earth and his life to follow in heaven into one harmonious, happy whole?
8. What does the statement, “Christian unity is organic unity in diversity,” mean?
9. What benefits should Christians get from their sufferings?