I believe that after reading the above verses from the book of Philippians, we can sense that the words are so sweet and precious. These precious words involve two aspects; the first aspect concerns us and the second aspect concerns the Lord. Concerning our side, the human side, Paul refers to the matter of “bowels.” He says that if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of spirit, if any tenderheartedness (literally, bowels) and compassions, we should think the same thing, have the same love, being joined in soul, and think the one thing. Furthermore, on the negative side, Paul tells us that we should not do anything out of selfish ambition or vainglory, but that in lowliness of mind each one should consider others more excellent than himself. Then in 4:8, Paul gives us six virtues with two additional items as a summation. These six virtues are truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, loveliness, and being well spoken of. The two items of summation are virtue and praise. Paul wants us to consider these things.
The book of Philippians also presents the aspect concerning the Lord. The aspect concerning us is easy to comprehend. However, the aspect concerning the Lord is too extraordinary and therefore is more difficult to comprehend. Philippians 1:19 says, “Through...the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”; 3:10 says, “To know...the power of His resurrection”; 4:13 says, “In Him who empowers me”; lastly, 4:9 says, “The God of peace.” These words are not easy to comprehend because they are transcendent and uncommon. However, in the verses of our Scripture reading, some of the wordings show us that the two aspects are connected. For example, in the phrase the bowels of Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus involves the Lord, who is transcendent, while bowels involves us, who are human. These two aspects become one in Christ. Another example, the verse concerning taking the mind of Jesus Christ as our mind (2:5), also joins Christ Jesus and us together.
Many people in Christianity preach from the book of Philippians, especially concerning the human aspect. We can hear this kind of preaching in almost all Christian congregations. However, few speak about the transcendent aspect of the Lord. Among us, however, we always speak about the transcendent aspect of the Lord. We constantly preach concerning the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the power of the resurrection of Christ, Christ as the One who empowers us, and the enjoyment of the God of peace. When I was young, I heard much preaching on the book of Philippians in relation to man, but after I became older, I began to preach concerning the transcendent aspect of the Lord.
However, the Lord has shown me in recent years that it is not right to speak only about the transcendent aspect of the Lord and put the human aspect behind. I did what I did because I received a negative impression from Christianity when I was young. Because most Christians are not clear about the truths concerning the human aspect in the book of Philippians, when they hear someone speaking about human virtues, such as tenderheartedness, kindness, compassion, humility, being without vainglory, truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, loveliness, and being well spoken of, they question in their heart, “Aren’t these the same as the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, and other philosophers?” Therefore, since I came to America, I have been speaking specifically concerning the transcendent aspect of the Lord. For this reason some people misunderstood me and thought that I speak only about the Spirit and not about ethics. In fact, the Christian virtues referred to in the Bible are far superior to the ethics taught by Confucius and Mencius. The believers’ virtues taught in the Bible are lived out by Christ from within the believers. We Christians are precious in that we have God in us, we have the Spirit of Jesus Christ as our bountiful supply, we have the resurrection power of Christ operating in us, and we have Christ empowering us. Such a God in us becomes our peace and our daily enjoyment. Therefore, we spontaneously live out the surpassing human virtues.
I have already spoken a number of times on the book of Philippians. During the 1980 Summer Training on the Life-study of Philippians, I gave thirty messages; soon thereafter I gave another series of more than thirty messages. Those messages were combined into a printed volume of sixty-two messages. However, in all those messages I did not point out this particular subject-living out Christ in human virtues. I feel that it is a great advancement to point out this subject. Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me, to live is Christ.” This statement should not be considered alone. To understand this statement, we have to understand the entire book of Philippians because this statement is a summary of the entire book. We want to see from this statement what it means to “live out Christ in human virtues.”
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