Friday 03 October 2014

Background

Chapter two of the letter begins with a call to unity asking thepeople to take the commandments of Jesus seriously, asking thatthey should be loving and compassionate with one another and of onemind and one determination to be true to the commitment they madewhen they first came to faith.

Paul then spells out the life of Christ in a very poetical form(verses 6-11). Some authorities think that the words here are afragment of a hymn that had come to be used in some of the earliestChristian communities, rather than from Paul himself. If this is soit would seem that Paul is quoting from the hymn, perhaps modifiedslightly, to suit his purposes, to press home the point of hissermon. The theme of the hymn is the humility and obedience ofChrist, not so much as illustrating the activities he undertook inhis earthly life; but more as clues to the understanding of whoJesus was. It reflects to some extent the beginning of John'sGospel (John 1:14) where we read that Christ humbledhimself relinquishing his equality with God to take up humanexistence, exposed to the full experience of a human life beforegoing to his death a humiliating death on a cross.

Verses six to eleven spell out in a very succinct form the verybeing of Christ, but also the whole purpose of his coming into theworld in the way that he did. As he lived amongst the people heshowed the true nature of God, being willing to obediently go tohis death. The very purpose of this was that he should call allpeople to know him and through him glorify God himself.

The last verse of Charles Wesley's hymn Glory be to God on high reminds us thatwe too should rejoice in the life and being of Jesus. "We, earth'schildren, now rejoice, and Prince of Peace proclaim; with heaven'shost lift up our voice and should Immanuel's name; knees and heartsto him we bow; of our flesh and of our bone, Jeus is our brothernow, and God is all our own."

To Ponder

• In the first verses of Chapter 2 Paul is calling on the peopleto be people of unity, and of the same mind. To what extent do youthink that the churches should in our day speak with one voice toenable the world to believe?

• How far do you find that the 'hymn' form of verses 6 to 11 ishelpful as a concise way of spelling out the gospel?

• If you could write your own poem about the person of Jesus howwould it begin?