Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:
Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore, God highly honored him
and gave him a name above all names,
so that at the name of Jesus everyone
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my loved ones, just as you always obey me, not just when I am present but now even more while I am away, carry out your own salvation with fear and trembling. God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes. (Philippians 2:1-13, CEB)
Got to love translations.
‘thinking the same way’, ‘agreeing with each other’, and ‘Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus’ all have the same word in them from the Greek. φρονέω a derivative of φρον which means thoughtful thinking means “to employ one’s faculty for thoughtful planning, with emphasis upon the underlying disposition or attitude — ‘to have an attitude, to think in a particular manner.’” And the scholars who translated this text where Paul uses the word three times decided to use a different way each time. Be of the same mind is the NRSV and it is close with the second of one mind, and the third is same mind. At least the NRSV always uses mind with a sub of one and same. Which is close. Unlike the CEB above.
All of this is to say what is Paul really getting at here? We need to have an attitude that we will always do what Jesus is guiding us even when people aren’t looking. Even when it won’t get us anything. Even when it is just us we get to impress. We should have the attitude of Jesus, who stepped down from the throne and became just like us. So he could show us how to live. In any moral dilemma, there is a correct answer. And that is what we do regardless of who is watching.
aSacredRebel 