1: If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of
love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any affections and mercies 2:
Fulfill my joy that you be likeminded having the same love being of one accord
of one mind [1] 3: Let nothing be done through strife or
vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves 4: Look not everyone to themselves
[only] but each also [to] the others 5: Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus 6: Who existing in the [physical] form of God [2] deemed it not [a] robbery [3] to be equal with God 7: But
[nevertheless] made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a
servant and was made in the likeness of audawm
8: And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death even the death of the cross 9: Wherefore the God
also has highly exalted him and granted to him a name which is above every name
[4] 10:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth 11: And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is LORD [YHWH] [5]
to the glory of God [our] Father 12: Wherefore my beloved as you have
always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling 13: For it is God who
works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure 14: Do all
things without murmurings and disputings 15: That you may be blameless
and harmless the children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world 16: Holding
forth the Word of Life that I may rejoice in the Day of Christ [6]
that I have not run in vain neither labored in vain 17: Yes and if I be
offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoice with you
all 18: For the same cause also do you joy and rejoice with me 19:
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly to you that I also may
be of good comfort when I know your state 20: For I have no one
likeminded who will naturally care for your state 21: For all seek their
own not the things which are Jesus Christ’s 22: But you know the proof
of him that as a son with the father he has served with me in the gospel 23:
Him therefore I hope to send presently so soon as I shall see how it will go
with me [7] 24:
But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly 25: Yet I
supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my
brother and companion in labour and fellowsoldier Ephesians 6:18
but your messenger and he that ministered to my needs 26:
For he longed after you all and was full of heaviness because that you had
heard that he had been sick 27: For indeed he was sick nigh unto death [8] but God had mercy on him and not on him
only but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow 28: I
sent him therefore the more carefully that when you see him again you may
rejoice and that I may be the less sorrowful 29: Receive him therefore
in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation 30: Because
for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death not regarding his life to supply
your lack of service toward me
[1] Unity, being like-minded in the
affection and love of the Holy Spirit is not the same as uniFORMITY. The one is
active and vibrant, while the other is passive and inert.
[2] All the fullness of the Godhead dwelled
in Jesus in physical form Colossians 2:9
[3] One cannot
steal what one already owns. One’s own identity, cannot be considered stolen
property. The Greek word, translated as “robbery,” is the noun harpagmos. A
noun is a person, place, or “thing.” Curiously, though, in Philippians chapter
two, translators consistently render, harpagmos,
as a verb—an action word: e.g., something “to be grasped at” (action), or “robbery”
(action) rather than the already existing thing
(noun) that it is. Jesus, rightly, does not
consider his intrinsic equality and existence as himself, Yahweh, to be ill-gotten-gain,
because there is no hierarchy within the Eternal Godhead. So, equality as
God and with God is, and always has been, intrinsically his. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is not something Jesus acquired at some point in his
existence. It is simply who he is. Paul wrote that the fullness (the absolute
entirety) of the Godhead resides in Jesus in physical form. Jesus is God, and
God never changes. The Godhead never changes. And, at no time, did the WORD, Jesus, ever
give up his eternal existence and identity asYahweh,
the I AM of the Burning
Bush—not even when he entered the kosmos in human flesh.
[4] Ho Theos—the God—refers to the Godhead (of which
all the fullness resides in Jesus in physical form). Within the eternal
councils of the Godhead it is agreed that the man Christ Jesus—YHWH Yeshua—would forever be exalted
as the highest power in existence. Jesus declared this himself in Matthew
28:18, where he said all powers in the heavens and in the earth were
surrendered to him. Jesus, both before and after His incarnation, had all
authority over all things. Satan and his hordes were powerless against Him even
before His resurrection—else He could not cast out devils—and had Satan known
that by orchestrating the death of Christ on the cross, he was orchestrating
his own defeat, he would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. Jesus is
Jehovah; He said so in John 8:24,56-58. However, in order to redeem fallen humanity along with a fallen planet, He
had to conquer death as a man. That
was His entire purpose for becoming one of us. Dr. Walter Martin quotes Matthew
28:18 as reading, “All authority is surrendered to me in heaven and earth.”
(The Kingdom of the Cults, Bethany
House Publishers, Minneapolis, MN, 1997). Revelation uses the same word
(translated “given” in Matthew 28:18) in reference to the sea giving up the
dead, and death and hell delivering up the dead. These enemies were forced to surrender their dead. They had
no choice in the matter. This puts a new twist on the traditional
understanding that power was bestowed on Jesus as a gift from his Father (Luke
names the Holy Spirit as his father). An accurate translation of Matthew 28:18
is, “All powers have surrendered to
me in the heavens and in the earth.” It matters not whether the powers
surrender willingly or no. The word translated “Power” in Matthew 28:18 is also
translated “powers” in Ephesians 6:12 referring to fallen angelic powers. And
the word translated “Heaven” has been
translated in other places as “the heavens.” Rather than referring to a
bestowal of authority, that he already
possessed, Jesus is referring to His victory—as a human—over Satan and his legions, who inhabit the atmosphere and
the space outside of earth’s atmosphere.
[5] This is a quote from Isaiah 45:20-24
where YHWH declares there is no Savior besides Him and that to HIM,
every knew would bow and every tongue would swear. Jesus is YHWH.
[6] Doubtless, Paul had
Psalm 126:5-6 in mind when he wrote of
the Day of Christ. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy They that
go forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing bringing their sheaves with them.” The day he would stand at the
Judgement Seat of Christ, bringing with him as many won souls as possible, and
accounting for how he had fed the lambs and sheep of God’s flock entrusted to
his care, was ever before the great apostle, and before all Christians.
[7] Paul did not know whether his death was
imminent or not, so kept Timotheous close for the
time being (vs 17-23).
[8] Christians have great and precious
promises in the Bible, one of which is the promise of healing. It is given many
times over to those who love the Lord. But God’s people are never instructed to
deny the reality or possibility of sickness—only that when it does strike, to
pray for the sick and trust God to watch over his Word to perform it (I am the
God that healeth thee…My words are life to thee and health to all your flesh…I
will take all sickness from the midst of thee….I will put none of these
diseases…..).
Jocelyn Andersen, is Founder and Pastor of Hungry
Hearts Ministries, since 1992. She teaches biblical truth
without the limitations of culture or tradition, through preaching, teaching,
writing books, and through her 24/7 Bible Talk Radio station, HungryHeartsRadio.com.
She is the author of several Christian books, including the short but powerful
booklet entitled, Jesus, God of the
Burning Bush: Eternal Father & Beloved Son.
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