In verse 15 Paul says that if in anything we are otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to us. Being “otherwise minded” is common among Christians today. Christians have hundreds of different ways of thinking, understanding, and realizing matters. Oh, how many minds there are among believers! But Paul encourages us to have one mind, “this mind.”
Sometimes when I was preaching the gospel in China, others accused me of narrow-mindedness. They advised me not to say that Christ alone is the Savior. They claimed that it is too narrow-minded to preach that Jesus Christ is the unique Savior of mankind. I told them that, concerning Christ, I was not yet narrow-minded enough, that I needed to be narrowed down to nothing other than Christ Himself. Christians also have exhorted me not to be narrow-minded. In particular, they urged me not to say that the way we follow in the Lord’s recovery is the right way. I replied, “If this way is not right, I cannot follow it. But if it is the right way, I must both take it myself and encourage others to do so. Otherwise, I shall first cheat myself and then cheat other believers. You consider yourselves to be broad-minded. But actually you are cheating yourselves and others. You do not know the right way and you are not on it.” Concerning spiritual matters, God condemns man’s broad-mindedness. The Lord Jesus said that the gate is narrow and the way is constricted which leads unto life (Matt. 7:14).
According to the Bible, we have one God, one Lord, one Spirit, and one church. The emphasis in the Word is on oneness. There is one Creator and one Savior, and it is utterly devilish to teach otherwise.
The fact that Paul says that if we are otherwise minded, “this also God shall reveal” indicates that to be otherwise minded is to be lacking in revelation. If we are otherwise minded, we need revelation. For this reason, Paul does not say in verse 15 that God will teach us; instead, he says that God will reveal this to us.
Believers cannot have one mind simply by reading the Bible in letters. When the Lord Jesus came, the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament had already been written. But even though the religionists searched the Scriptures, they were not willing to come to Christ that they might have life. In John 5:39 and 40 the Lord Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that testify concerning Me; and you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” If we search the Scriptures without coming to the Lord, we shall have many different minds. Some may prefer Moses and others, Elijah or Jeremiah. Only when we come to Christ, the unique One, can we have one mind.
After His resurrection, the Lord said to His disciples, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). This indicates that in the Scriptures we need to see Christ.
The situation among Christians today is a repetition of that of the religionists when the Lord Jesus was on earth. In fact, today’s situation is worse. Now readers of the Bible have sixty-six books instead of thirty-nine. There are more “Pharisees,” “Sadducees,” and “scribes” today than in the first century, for there are many more readers of the Bible and more believers who are otherwise minded.
Although there are hundreds of different minds among Christians today, it is not our goal to unify the believers. However, when Christ, the unique Person, is revealed to us, we are unified in Him and by Him. In fact, He Himself is our unification.
Not only is it not our aim to try to unify the believers; actually we do not expect that a great number of believers will take the way of the Lord’s recovery. At the end of His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus did not have a large following. According to Acts 1, only one hundred twenty were gathered together in that upper room in Jerusalem. It is not our goal to be warmly welcomed or to have a huge number. At this point, we need to be reminded that Paul did not write the book of Philippians at a time when he was welcomed by the multitudes. On the contrary, this Epistle was written when Paul was rejected, persecuted, and imprisoned.
Probably if millions of Christians took the way of the Lord’s recovery, the recovery would cease to exist. It would be terminated by the many different minds among the believers. The Lord’s recovery truly is a narrow way, a way difficult for most Christians to take. All those in the recovery must heed Paul’s word to have “this mind.”