Verse of the Day (September 18, 2020)

Verse of the Day (September 18, 2020) #BMSeminary – Fulfil ye my joy (or, “Make my joy complete”): Paul rejoiced over the Philippians (1:3), but his happiness was incomplete, owing to some disunity and lack of total harmony among them. The Greek equates what, to Paul, constitutes “complete joy” with the readers being likeminded. This means “living in harmony” with one another. That is, the Philippians can “fulfill” the writer’s “joy” by living in harmony among themselves. But what does such harmonious living entail? Beginning in verse 2 and continuing through verse 4, six participles spell out and clearly define what it means to “live in harmony”: (1) having the same love toward one believer as shown toward another, without partiality; (2) being of one accord; that is, they are to be united in spirit; (3) of one mind; that is, the whole church is to have the same values, and goals; (4) let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, for selfish ambition or conceit; (5) let each esteem other better than themselves; that is, each is to regard his fellow Christian as more important than himself; and (6) look . . . every man also on the things of others; that is, each is to be just as concerned for the needs and problems of his brother as he is for his own affairs. [KJV Study Bible, HarperCollins]