Interpretation of Philippians 2:1-13



Interpretation of Philippians 2:1-13

Introduction

The apostle Paul addresses the saints of city Phillip in the second chapter of book “Philippians”. The purpose of the Paul is call upon the saints of the city for intimating Christ's incarnation. This is the reason why Christians apply the spirit of Christ's incarnation in their daily life. The verses aim to motivate people for good deeds through depicting the actions, behavior and attitude of Christ. Christ depicted extreme humility and obedience in his action, despite of the fact that he was the form of God; if some one else would be at his position, he must have established a sense of pride and tried to be equal to God; in contrast, as the Christ appeared on earth in the form of human, he chose the way of humility and nature of servant hood. In the verses under consideration, Paul suggested that people should try to think in the way which was used by Christ, to achieve success in the worldly affairs as well as to win a good position in the eyes of God

This paper interprets Philippians 2:1-13 critically and imaginatively. A dialogue with major theoretical hermeneutical model is also included which characterizes the Urban Ministry.

Interpretation of Philippians 2:1-13

Philippians 2:1-6 reminds the people about the Christ's actions and attitude when he left to the eternal state, in order to die vicariously and assumed humanity. Verses 2:1-2 suggested that the people should think like Jesus, while they think for the relation between them and God. Since every behavior of a person is directly related to his thought behind his action, if any one needs to change his life, he should change the way he think. Paul wanted to teach the fact in these verses that God had told us this fact hundreds of years before when the psychologists became able to understand the relationship between the thoughts and behaviors of people. Thus, if we begin to think in the way which Christ used to think, we would be able to get a better position in the world, as well as in the eyes of God.

The verses 2:1-4, Paul emphasized the need of proper attitudes, and the exhortation is repeated in 2:5. The importance of proper attitude is aimed to be established, by repeating exhort. Particularly, 2:5 involves two fundamental questions; what is the main aim of Paul while saying that the attitude of the people should be same as Christ and what is the aim behind saying that the people to have the mind which was in Christ. It can be interpreted as Paul wanted to say that the people should think in the way in which Christ used to think. Paul used the examples of Christ's disposition of attitude and actions for commending in verses (2:6) and (2:7) respectively. 2:6 deals with the concepts of servant hood and humility, as it mentions that Christ did never think of being equal to God, despite the fact that he was a ...