Philippians · A Devotional Study

Unity via Humility

We step into chapter 2: the resources for unity, then the secret of it

Lesson 10 · Philippians 2:1–4
1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.Philippians 2:1–4

We are over the threshold into chapter 2. In L9 Paul commanded a life "worthy of the gospel," and its first mark was standing firm together (1:27). The obvious question was, how does a pressured, divided church actually do that? Paul answers in two movements here. First he names the resources for unity (2:1). Then he names the secret of unity (2:3–4). And sandwiched between is his personal stake: their unity would complete his joy (2:2).

1. The resources: four gifts already yours

Paul begins not with a demand but with an inventory. "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy" (2:1). The "if" here is not doubtful; it means "since." He is listing what is already true of them. Four riches: encouragement in Christ, comfort from his love, koinōnia (partnership) in the Spirit, and real affection and sympathy for one another.

Notice the order. Paul does not say "be unified so that you can have the Spirit's comfort." He says "since you have all this, therefore be unified." Unity is not something we manufacture from scratch; it is something we live out from what God has already poured in. Murray calls every united church "a miracle of grace" (Murray, "Church Unity via Christian Humility," on 2:1–4). The miracle has already happened. The work is to stop hiding it.

Notice thisUnity is sourced in what you already have in Christ, not in what you must gin up. When you feel unity slipping, the first move is not to try harder at niceness. It is to go back and remember: encouragement in Christ, comfort from love, fellowship of the Spirit. You already have the fuel. You are forgetting to burn it.

2. The secret: humility that counts others higher

Then the secret, in one command: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (2:3–4). Murray boils it down: "Unity is sourced in humility and humility serves unity." The two disunities named here, selfish ambition and conceit, are exactly the rot Paul diagnosed in his rivals back in 1:17. Now he tells the church to cut the same rot out of themselves.

"Count others more significant than yourselves" is the line that makes us flinch. It does not mean others are factually better than you, or that you become a doormat. The word count is a choice of the mind, a deliberate phroneō decision. You reckon the other person's interests as weightier than your own, and you act accordingly. Murray gives a sharp test of this in real arguments: enter "preferring to be proven wrong rather than proven right," aiming "to win our opponents' hearts rather than beating our opponents' heads."

The secret in one breathUnity is not the absence of disagreement. It is humility in the middle of it, the decision to count the person across from you as more significant than yourself, and to look to their interests and not only your own. That, and only that, is what holds a church together.

3. The one who modelled it first

You can feel the limit of a command like 2:3–4 the moment you try to obey it. Count others more significant than myself? In my home? In this conflict? The bar is impossibly high, and Paul knows it. That is exactly why he does not leave the command standing alone. In the very next breath he points to the one person who lived it perfectly: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus" (2:5). He is about to hand them Christ himself as the pattern of humility (L11).

So hold two things together as we go on. The command of 2:3–4 tells you what to do. The Christ of 2:5–11 tells you it can be done, because it has been done, by the Lord of glory himself. The secret of unity is humility, and the secret of humility is looking at Jesus.

Try this (5 minutes)Murray's test is concrete: in a real disagreement, do you enter "preferring to be proven wrong rather than proven right"? Pick one current tension, with a spouse, a coworker, a church member. For the next encounter, set one aim: to understand and carry their interest before you defend your own. You are not abandoning truth; you are counting them significant, which is exactly what 2:3 asks. Notice how much of your usual energy that frees for actual love.

Now to the heart of the chapter. Paul has commanded humility and told us it is possible. He will now show us where humility comes from, by walking us through the greatest descent in history.

Check your understanding
In 2:1, how does Paul describe the resources for Christian unity?
Check your understanding
What does 2:3 command as the secret of unity?
Check your understanding
According to the lesson, why does Paul point to Christ in 2:5 right after the command?
Read for the next lessonPhil 2:5–8: the first half of the Christ-hymn. "Have this mind among yourselves..." Christ in the form of God, emptying himself, taking the form of a servant, "obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." This is the most exalted Christology and the most practical humility in the New Testament, in one passage.
Primary source: David Murray, devotion 13, "Our Right to Give Up Our Rights" (Phil 2:5–8); for verse detail, Guzik's commentary on Philippians 2; Adrian Rogers, "Who Is Jesus? The God-Man" (sermon 10, on 2:5–11). Cross-reference kenosis in the glossary.