In chapter thirteen Paul speaks about love. Paul speaks so seriously about love in chapter thirteen because only love is contrary to divisions. Love unites; love does not divide. In Corinth there were envy and strife; so Paul said that love does not envy, does not seek its own things or take account of evil, and does not divide or separate. Paul exhorted the believers in Corinth to at least love one another in the locality of Corinth.
Today a certain kind of condition prevails in the church: People preach the doctrine of loving one another, but they forget about locality. They feel that the locality is not important. Brothers, it is easy to be idealistic when we preach about loving one another but to forget the matter of locality. It is easy to say, “All the brothers and sisters are lovable except the few in Shanghai!” What should we do? The brothers in Shanghai feel this way; the brothers in Nanking also feel that the brothers are good except for the ones in Nanking. Let me tell you that God says to the brothers in Shanghai: Love the brothers in Shanghai first and the brothers in Nanking later. God also says to the brothers in Nanking: Love the brothers in Nanking first and the brothers in Shanghai later. The brothers in Corinth needed to love the brothers in Corinth first and then they could ascend into heaven to see the Body of Christ. First they needed to descend to see the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians before they could ascend to see it in Ephesians. They needed to descend to see the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians because it is much more practical.
If we cannot love the brothers whom we see, how can we love the brothers whom we cannot see? The apostle John said, “He who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Today we need to add one more word: “If we cannot love the brothers whom we see, we cannot love the brothers whom we cannot see.” Many do not love the brothers whom they see; they only love the unseen ones. This is what is called “spiritual” fellowship because everything that cannot be seen is “spiritual.” If we stand in this position, great difficulties will befall the church. The fellowship among the children of God, the love for one another among the children of God, the care for one another among the children of God, and the oneness among the children of God must start from the locality. Locality is the minimum requirement.
In the book of Philippians Paul also exhorted the brothers to be one: “For your fellowship [oneness] unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now” (1:5). Later, Paul spoke of another aspect in verses 15 and 17: “Some preach Christ even because of envy and strife....others announce Christ out of selfish ambition.” This was not a universal condition of the church but a local matter in Philippi. Some brothers preached Christ in oneness, while some preached Christ out of envy, saying, “If you can preach, I can too. If you can do it, why cannot I?” So they also preached.
In Philippians 2:2 Paul exhorted, “Think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing.” I would like to point out the phrase that you think the same thing. This does not refer to the universal church. Although the universal church can learn from this instance, this word especially refers to the Philippians, since Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians. The Christians, the brothers, in Philippi needed to think the same thing. It is useless for them to think the same thing as the brothers in the church in Shanghai or the brothers in the church in Lanchow. They have to think the same thing as the brothers in Philippi. This is the commandment of the Bible. Thinking the same thing must have locality as its minimum requirement. If this is lacking, all doctrines are idealistic and imaginary. It is amazing that many brothers are very spiritual in the heavens, but fleshly on earth. Their idea is very spiritual but their practice is fleshly.
Following this, Paul said that if they thought the same thing, had the same love, were joined in soul, and thought the one thing, his joy would be made full.
“Doing nothing by way of selfish ambition” (v. 3a). This word was spoken to the Philippians. The Philippians should not have done anything by way of selfish ambition. Paul brought out the reason for doing things by selfish ambition: Some covet vainglory. These seekers of vainglory are easily separated from the brothers. Those who desire to have glory before man get into trouble with others. Some are proud and esteem themselves highly; they are unable to be one with others. “But in lowliness of mind considering one another more excellent than yourselves” (v. 3b). This will enable us to be one with others. Some care only for their own things and are very selfish; so it is also easy for them to cause trouble. Paul continued, “Not regarding each his own virtues, but each the virtues of others also” (v. 4). This is the reason that many people cannot think the same thing, cannot have the same love, cannot be joined in soul, cannot be one with others. Some care only for themselves, some are proud, some seek glory and desire others to applaud them. These kinds of people can never be one with others. We must learn to be humble, not seeking glory from man, and we must learn to take care of others. Then we can be one with other children of God. This is the scriptural principle, and we need to follow it accordingly.
Paul praised the Philippians for their fellowship (oneness) in preaching the gospel, but in fact, they had contentions. This made the exhortation in chapter two necessary. There were contentions in Philippi not only among the brothers but also among the sisters. In chapter four Paul especially mentioned two sisters: “I exhort Euodias, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord” (v. 2). These two names are feminine. We do not know how much of a story lies behind this word; Paul did not reveal this to us. He only said, “I exhort Euodias, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord.” This correction shows us on the one hand that there was strife in Philippi, and on the other hand that this strife was limited to this locality because of the names he mentioned. By now I think we should see at least one thing: The unity of the Body or the unity of the Holy Spirit in the Bible refers to the unity in locality. Unity apart from locality is entirely vain. We cannot say that we are able to be one everywhere except in our own locality.
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