Commentary on Philippians 4:4-7

Paul regularly ends his letters with some instructions to his addressees. Near the end of his letter to the Philippians, Paul twice commands (the verbs are in the imperative) his readers to rejoice. Given that Paul is writing from prison (1:17) to people who are being persecuted (1:28), this gives one pause. Though Paul suffers and says of his addressees that it has been granted to them not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake (1:29), remarkably, Paul instructs his hearers to rejoice. What is to be noted is not only that Paul directs them to rejoice, but that he expects that this is a possibility for them: He exhorts them to practice joy in the midst of suffering.

Paul regularly expresses joy throughout this letter even while he is in chains (1:18). Despite the difficult circumstances, he sees himself and the Philippians rejoicing together (2:17–18). This includes rejoicing with those Paul sends to them, such as Epaphroditus (2:25–29). He calls the beloved Philippians his joy (4:1). And his desire is not only that the Philippians progress in their faith but that they have joy in it (1:25). Paul’s response to the Philippians’ faith outworked in conformity to Christ is joy (2:2).

While at first there may appear to be a disconnect between the circumstances of suffering and the disposition of joy, deeper meditation reveals that for Paul the two are organically connected—at least for those who, like Paul, suffer in Christ. (Note that in the Greek text Paul writes that his imprisonment is known as being “in Christ”; 1:13). For believers, joy and suffering are companions. This is the case because their rejoicing is, as he emphasizes, “in the Lord”  (4:4; see also 3:1; 4:10).  

Paul’s focus on joy is sourced in another focus of this letter—being “in Christ.” The kind of joy that Paul instructs the believers to know is joy that is “in the Lord.” This echoes Paul’s confidence that he and his fellow believers are united with Christ. All that Paul does is in Christ: For instance, he hopes “in the Lord Jesus” (2:19) and he encourages the Philippians to understand their lives this way also; they are those who “glory in Christ Jesus” (3:3); they are to receive Epaphroditus “in the Lord” ( 2:29). 

As mentioned, the apostle understands his imprisonment as being “in Christ” (1:13—often translated as “for Christ”). He speaks of a variety of states available “in Christ” (encouragement, comfort from love, participation in the Spirit, affection and sympathy [2:1]). Paul claims that those in Christ may have the same mind as Christ (2:5). In one of the most revealing and powerful passages in his letters Paul expresses his personal experience of being “found in Christ” (3:9)—an environment in which the apostle is empowered to share Christ’s own experiences of death and resurrection (3:10) and where he is gifted with Christ’s kind of  righteousness—the righteousness of God (3:9). 

And in our passage, Paul writes that the hearts and minds of the Philippians will be guarded by the peace of God “in Christ Jesus” (4:7).

It is because believers are united with Christ that their suffering can be, indeed must be, suffused with joy. For, like Paul, they may share with the One whose sufferings are enveloped by the power of the resurrection (3:10). Joy is the only fitting response to the wondrous grace of being in Christ, the suffering and resurrected One, whose day will gift believers with glorious Christ-like bodies (3:21).  

In Philippians Paul focuses not only on joy and on being united with Christ, but on Christ’s day, or Christ’s return (2:16; 3:20–21). In our passage, the apostle writes that the Lord is near (4:5).  The Greek word for “near” denotes both time and place. The statement can then mean either that the Lord is temporally near or that he is spatially near. Given Paul’s attention in Philippians both to Christ’s advent and to being united with Christ, we may understand the apostle to be signaling both meanings. Paul is convinced both that Christ will return soon and that presently, believers will live in Christ.  

The advent of Christ will give believers glorious bodies while, until then, life united with him accords them lives of joy. Notably, Paul’s attention to Christ’s second advent is at once attention on the quality of believers’ lives now. The joy of their lives is to be accompanied by reasonableness (to epieikēs), an expression found in another form (epieikeia) in 2 Corinthians 10:1 where it is often translated “gentleness.” Paul instructs the suffering Philippians to let all see their gentle reasonableness, which is evidence of their practice of joy. 

Paul also exhorts this beleaguered church to have no anxiety and to bring to God all their worries. Their honest prayers are to be offered with thanksgiving—a fitting disposition for those who practice joy.  

Paul promises that people who live in union with Christ (“in Christ Jesus”; 4:7) and practice joy will know God’s peace in both heart and mind. For life in Christ allows access to God’s quality of existence—notably, God’s righteousness (3:9)—and the peace by which and in which God lives (4:7). It perhaps goes without saying that God’s peace “surpasses all understanding” (4:7; literally, “which rises above every mind”), but Paul says it anyway. The result of following Paul’s instructions, even amid struggle and suffering, will be peaceful hearts and minds.

Paul’s conviction that the Lord is near—both temporally and spatially—shapes his understanding of the possibilities for life now. Believers are those who can practice joy, again and again, even while in brutal and frightening circumstances. They can be seen as those who, despite their problems, are reasonable and gentle. They can have quiet hearts and minds and can access the kind of peace lived through God.