“Holy Spirit, we thank you for protecting us from the Adversary. Please guide our thoughts and meditations as we study these Scriptures.”
27 Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; 28 and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear is in me. (World English Bible…link here.) [I chose the WEB translation for this section because the ASB language seemed much more archaic.]
And now St. Paul starts ‘shifting gears’ as he begins to address the situation in Philippi. The Asbury Bible Commentary does a nice job of explaining this in a three short paragraphs. Understanding these four verses is key to understanding the whole letter. After you read the Asbury Commentary, please ask any questions you might have. There’s a lot packed into this rather short essay.
Verse 28 warns about ‘adversaries’ and for the Philippians he must mean the Romans. In the USA today we have “Political Correctness” as an adversary. Just because we know what chapter 2:10 says, just because we know we are saved, we must be careful in how we structure our defiance. While we must “stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” (1:27 NIV) we need to remember to be humble and gracious. For our goal is not that our attackers should reap the reward of Hell, but that they would repent and be saved. We must always remember that we serve our Heavenly Father who created them also.
2 Peter 3:9 9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward [a]us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” NKJV
So, be it a government official or a media personality proclaiming political correctness or some other adversary, we need to remember that we represent Christ and to say and do only that which brings glory to Him.