Rejoice In The Lord Always, And Be Gentle To All Series

Date: 6/11/19

Lesson #30

Title: REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS, AND BE GENTLE TO ALL

“Special Notes” and “Scripture” are shown as endnotes.

NIV Bible is used throughout unless noted otherwise.

Scripture: (Philippians 4:4-5, NIV)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Introduction

With verse 4, Paul returns to his favorite theme: “Rejoice in the Lord Always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” The repetition must be designed to give emphasis to the command to rejoice and to the many benefits of rejoicing in the Lord.

Disharmony in the church often is the by-product of internal, personal conflicts, and Paul now directs his exhortation to the inner state of peace.

Commentary

(4:4) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Paul discloses to the Philippians two great qualities of the Christian life.

The first quality is JOY. Paul was lying in prison at this time with almost certain death awaiting him; the Philippians were setting out on the Christian way (way of life), and dark days, dangers and persecutions inevitably lay ahead. So Paul says, “I know what I’m saying. I’ve thought of everything that might possibly happen. And still, I say it? Rejoice!” Christian joy is independent of everything else on earth because it has its source in the continual presence of Christ.

The repetition of the word must be designed to convince any who might doubt that Joy can accompany afflictions. could be translated, “Keep on rejoicing in the Lord always,” literally, “Again I will say, keep on rejoicing.” While he wants them to have the joy of the Christian life, their rejoicing will also contribute to peace and harmony in the church and will aid attainment of inner tranquility without which outer peace is an impossibility. The fact that he emphasizes that they should be constantly rejoicing within Christ, and in union with Christ, suggests that they may have had constant reasons for which a carnal person would be depressed or complain. Here he is not saying that they are always happy, but rather he is admonishing them to be rejoicing in Christ, even if their situations and conditions are hard.

Paul goes on to say in verse 5: “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” “Gentleness” is the Greek word (epieikeia) which has also been translated moderation, patience, softness, the patient mind, modesty, forbearance, forbearing spirit, magnanimity, and C. Kingsley Williams has: “Let all the world know that you will meet a man half-way.”

The Geeks themselves explained this word as “justice and something better than justice.” They said that epieikeia ought to come in when strict justice became unjust because of its generality. There may be individual instances where a perfectly just law becomes unjust or where justice is not the same thing as fairness. A man has the quality of epieikeia if he knows when not to apply the strict letter of the law when to relax justice and introduce mercy.

Let us take a simple example from the life of Jesus. The Christian, as Paul sees it, is the man that knows that there is something beyond justice. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Him, Jesus could have applied the letter of the Law according to which she should have been stoned to death; but He went beyond justice.”Let your gentleness be evident to all.” As far as justice goes, there is not one of us who deserves anything other than the condemnation of God, but He goes far beyond justice. Paul asserts that the mark of a Christian in his personal relationships with His fellow-men must be that he knows when to insist on justice and when to remember that there is something beyond justice.

(4:5) Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Why should a man be like this? Why should he have this joy and gracious gentleness in his life? “Because,” says Paul, “the Lord (Christ or Yahweh) is near.” If we remember the coming triumph of Christ, we can never lose our hope and our joy. If we remember that life is short, we will not wish to enforce the stern justice which so often divides men but will wish to deal with men in love, as we hope God will deal with us. Justice is human but epieikeia is divine.

In contrast to the unreasonable demands put upon others which are sometimes voiced by those who do not have the mind of Christ, a Christian should be characterized as one who is gentle and forbearing in his attitude toward others and is reasonable in his demands. The apostle wants this to be well known as a Christian attitude, not only among Christians but by all men.