PURPLE PASSAGES IN PHILIPPIANS

  I borrow the term "purple passage" from William Neil, a British scholar of a previous generation. These were to him those lines in Scripture with special significance – striking statements that frame the context. Purple passages sometimes surprise us in that they say more than is expected, even more than seems necessary. They are often weighty theology in a context that does not necessarily call for heavy artillery.

  I used that term – "purple passages" – in taking a class at Garden Ridge Church of Christ in Lewisville, Texas through the book of Philippians. We decided, however, that it is a letter and not a book, and a very intimate letter from an apostle to a congregation that he himself had planted and that was dear to him – "my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown," he wrote of them.

  In this course I suggested a more aggressive approach to biblical study. I told them a story that has circulated around Harvard about a colorful professor of a bygone era – Professor Aggasis and the fish. The professor assigned one of his resourceful students to explore the wonders of a particular kind of fish. The student diligently pursued his task, and after sometime placed his meticulous and detailed drawings before his teacher. "A splendid beginning," said Aggasis, "now you can start learning about the fish." A beginning!! The student thought his findings were thorough, perhaps even the last word.

  As the story goes, the student kept turning in further findings about the fish – again and again -- only to be told by the professor that he had hardly more than started. The story has it that the student at last – after many years of study – became an authority on that specie of fish.

  I suggested that we study Philippians – a rather small fish in the large sea of biblical study – with "the Aggasis approach." We read all four chapters each week – again and again – asking ourselves different questions each time. The first week we selected our "key" verse in each chapter. Some of them proved to be purple passages. We asked such questions as, What does the writer say about God? About Christ? About himself? What does he say about others? About relationships? Why is he writing? Any particular problems? We read all four chapters asking one question. Then again, asking another question. On and on we went, but as the Harvard professor insisted, we hardly scratched the surface!

  My object was to recommend this "study by intensification and absorption" for all Bible study, and to assure them that it is OK to study Scripture seriously and critically, drawing upon the findings of modern biblical research. We considered, for instance, that the traditional view that Paul wrote the letter from Rome may not be right. From prison, yes, but maybe Ephesus or Ceasarea, which were much nearer to Philippi. Some scholars argue persuasively that with Epaphroditus and Timothy going back and forth as they did – and the Philippians sending gifts now and again – Rome would be too far away.

  I also pointed out that the occasion for the writing of this letter provides a clue as to how the New Testament came about. Had Epaphroditus, who had been sent to Paul by the Philippians with provisions, not become ill – "almost unto death" – we would not have had this letter. The Philippians had heard of his serious illness and were worried about him, and Epaphroditus was homesick. So, the apostle sent him home, along with this lovely letter.

  The same is true of other parts of the New Testament. Paul would not have written to the Thessalonians had not Timothy brought him word while he was in Corinth that the new congregation had some problems that needed attention. It is evident when we read these letters that we are "reading other people’s mail." They were not written to us.

  The writers of the New Testament were not aware that they writing biblical documents – afterwards to be esteemed as Scripture, equal to the Old Testament. The apostles never got together and said, "We must prepare a book for the ongoing church." What they wrote grew out of the contingencies of the time – problems in particular. Yet the church has always believed that the Spirit was at work – and God’s providence was overruling – in order to provide us eventually with what we call the New Testament. In time the church claimed "other people’s mail" as its own Scripture – because it was apostolic.

  The most pronounced purple passage is Philippians is 2:5-11. The theology is as weighty as anything in the New Testament, and yet Paul was not dealing with any serious problem – nothing more serious than pettiness. He appears to be rolling out a canon to shoot a rabbit! But that is what makes it purple. Paul is saying that theology belongs to the church, the rank and file – and even for ordinary situations – so he lays it on them. He talks about Christ being equal with God in eternity, but he did not hold on to this high estate but "emptied" himself and took the form of a slave, and became a man.

  Of what did he empty himself? The scholars seem willing to call it "the kenosis problem" – kenosis meaning empty – and concede that there is no certain answer. But it is a lesson in humility – "Let this mind be in you that was in Christ" (v. 5). Christ was so humble that even though he was in heaven equal with God, he became a man and died on the cross. Be humble like that, the apostle is saying.

   Rather heavy theology for a lesson on humility.

   If that were not enough, he goes on to say such a surprising and astounding thing – something the church has probably never really believed, including us. He says in effect that every person that has ever lived will someday, in God’s eternity, confess or profess that Jesus is Lord – "Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (v. 10-11). That is how high God has exalted him – to the point of universal confession of Lordship – because he took on human likeness and was obedient even unto death on the cross.

  I admit that it is too purple for my comprehension. I am awed by the implications. I think of the likes of Howard Stern. He will one day bow the knee to Christ and confess him to be Lord of glory? To his salvation or his damnation? Paul adds that when one does this, it will be to the glory of God. Would damnation be to the glory of God?

  The apostle goes purple in several other instances in this little letter. Can you imagine any devotee to the gospel saying, "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, and will rejoice" (1:18)? Paul rejoiced even when a hypocrite preached the gospel!

  Then there is, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (1:21). That one is dark purple. How can anything be better than living for Christ? Death, he says. Death would deliver him from suffering and imprisonment. Then he goes on being purple: "I have the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better" (1:23). On planet earth he lived for Christ; when absent from planet earth he is with Christ. That is a wow! Here you have the apostle’s answer to the question as to what happens to the believer immediately after death.

  Then there is that great line, "This one thing I do" (3:13). It introduces the apostle’s resoluteness in soldiering on: "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." We are all tempted to get mired down in the past, brooding over lost opportunities and feeling sorry for ourselves. We sometimes have trouble forgiving ourselves for the sins of our youth that God has long since forgiven. We cry over spilt milk.

  This does not mean that we are to forget the past in the sense that it is erased from our memory – which may be impossible – but in the sense that we do not let it keep us from pressing on toward the goal. Once we believe the goal is real – an inheritance laid up for us in heaven – it is easier to keep a haunting past at bay.

  One last instance of color purple is the apostle’s reference to the community of faith at Philippi as "Our citizenship is in heaven" (3:20). Moffatt renders it, "We are a colony of heaven," which contrasts with the city of Philippi as a colony of Rome – a colony of heaven within a colony of Rome! It becomes even more exciting when the apostle goes on to say, "from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body."

  However much we may prize our national citizenship, we are to be much more focused on our heavenly citizenship. This is why we as "a colony of heaven" are to rise above partisan politics during this very political environment. It is appropriate for us to vote and to have political convictions and preferences, but we must guard against allowing "political talk" – which is divisive -- to compromise our higher calling. It is especially inappropriate for the slightest political bias to be expressed in the pulpit.

  We are to be a people eagerly expectant of our Lord’s coming, believing that when he comes he will transform our earthly body into the likeness of his glorious body. I think this is "the redemption of the purchased possession" that is referenced in Ephesians 1:14. The context indicates that the Holy Spirit is given us as a guarantee that our bodies will one day be redeemed. They are purchased already (I Corinthians 6:19-20), but not yet redeemed. The gift of the Spirit is a kind of "down payment" – or better an earnest (like putting up earnest money) – that redemption will indeed occur, and we will bear Christ’s likeness.

  Little wonder that this letter should be described as an epistle of joy and hope – and colored purple.

  Personal Notes

  For those who may be near enough to be interested I will be with Church In the Falls in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio on October 17. On October 16 I will accompany a bus load of people from that church to a day in Bethany. We will celebrate our heritage in Stone-Campbell, part of which started in that village, with a service in the old Campbell church.

  Ouida and I recently had a great Lord's day with the Greenville Oaks Church of Christ in Allen, Texas, near Dallas. I spoke on "Living Life from the End" to the two successive assemblies in that growing congregation with a new facility -- most of them "so disgustingly young," as I complained to them. What a shame to waste youth on young people!