All Commentaries on Philippians 2:14 Go To Philippians 2
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Do all things without murmurings and disputings. The devil, when he finds that he has no power to withdraw us from doing right, wishes to spoil our reward by other means. For he has taken occasion to insinuate pride or vainglory, or if none of these things, then murmuring, or, if not this, misgivings. Now then see how Paul sweeps away all these. He said on the subject of humility all that he did say, to overthrow pride; he spoke of vainglory, that is, not as in my presence only; he here speaks of murmuring and disputing. But why, I want to know, when in the case of the Corinthians he was engaged in uprooting this evil tendency, did he remind them of the Israelites, but here has said nothing of the sort, but simply charged them? Because in that case the mischief was already done, for which reason there was need of a more severe stroke and a sharper rebuke; but here he is giving admonitions to prevent its being done. Severe measures then were not called for in order to secure those that had not yet been guilty; as in leading them to humility he did not subjoin the instance in the Gospel, wherein the proud were punished, but laid the charge as from God's lips; Luke 16:23 and 18:14 and he addresses them as free, as children of pure birth, not as servants; for in the practice of virtue a rightminded and generous person is influenced by those who do well, but one of bad principles by those who do not do well; the one by the consideration of honor, the other of punishment. Wherefore also writing to the Hebrews, he said, bringing forward the example of Esau, Who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright Hebrews 12:16; and again, if he shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Hebrews 10:38 And among the Corinthians were many who had been guilty of fornication. Therefore he said, Lest when I come again my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many that have sinned heretofore, and repented not of the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness which they committed. 2 Corinthians 12:21 That you may be blameless, says he, and harmless; i.e. irreproachable, unsullied; for murmuring occasions no slight stain. And what means without disputing? Is it good, or not good? Do not dispute, he says, though it be trouble, or labor, or any thing else whatever. He did not say, that you be not punished, for punishment is reserved for the thing; and this he made evident in the Epistle to the Corinthians; but here he said nothing of the sort; but he says, That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ. Observest thou that he is instructing these not to murmur? So that murmuring is left for unprincipled and graceless slaves. For tell me, what manner of son is that, who murmurs at the very time that he is employed in the affairs of his father, and is working for his own benefit? Consider, he says, that you are laboring for yourself, that it is for yourself that you are laying up; it is for those to murmur, when others profit by their labors, others reap the fruit, while they bear the burden; but he that is gathering for himself, why should he murmur? Because his wealth does not increase? But it is not so. Why does he murmur who acts of free-will, and not by constraint? It is better to do nothing than to do it with murmuring, for even the very thing itself is spoilt. And do you not remark that in our own families we are continually saying this; it were better for these things never to be done, than to have them done with murmuring? And we had often rather be deprived of the services some one owes us, than submit to the inconvenience of his murmuring. For murmuring is intolerable, most intolerable; it borders upon blasphemy. Otherwise why had those men to pay a penalty so severe? It is a proof of ingratitude; the murmurer is ungrateful to God, but whoso is ungrateful to God does thereby become a blasphemer. Now there were at that time, if ever, uninterrupted troubles, and dangers without cessation: there was no pause, no remission: innumerable were the horrors, which pressed upon them from all quarters; but now we have profound peace, a perfect calm.
Wherefore then murmur? Because you are poor? Yet think of Job. Or because sickness is your lot? What then if, with the consciousness of as many excellencies and as high attainments as that holy man, you had been so afflicted? Again reflect on him, how that for a long time he never ceased to breed worms, sitting upon a dunghill and scraping his sores; for the account says that (after a long time had passed,) then said his wife unto him, How long will you persist, saying, Yet a little while I bide in expectation? Speak some word against the Lord, and die. Job 2:9, Septuagint But your child is dead? What then if you had lost all your children, and that by an evil fate, as he did? For you know, you know well, that it is no slight alleviation to take our place beside the sick man, to close the mouth, to shut the eyes, to stroke the beard, to hear the last accents; but that just man was vouchsafed none of these consolations, they all being overwhelmed at once. And what do I say? Had you, your own self, been bidden to slay and offer up your own son, and to see the body consumed, like that blessed Patriarch, what then would you have felt while erecting the altar, laying on the wood, binding the child? But there are some who revile you? What then would be your feelings did your friends, come to administer consolation to you, speak like Job's? For, as it is, innumerable are our sins, and we deserve to be reproached; but in that case he who was true, just, godly, who kept himself from every evil deed, heard the contrary of those laid to his charge by his friends. What then, tell me, if you had heard your wife exclaiming in accents of reproach; I am a vagabond and a servant, wandering from place to place, and from house to house, waiting until the sun goes down, that I may rest from the woes that encompass me. Job 2:9, Septuagint Why do you speak so, O foolish woman? For is your husband to blame for these things? Nay, but the devil. Speak a word against God, she says, and die;— and if thereupon the stricken man had cursed and died, how would you be the better?— No disease you can name is worse than that of his, though you name ten thousand. It was so grievous, that he could no longer be in the house and under cover; such, that all men gave him up. For if he had not been irrecoverably gone, he would never have taken his seat without the city, a more pitiable object than those afflicted with leprosy; for these are both admitted into houses, and they do herd together; but he passing the night in the open air, was naked upon a dunghill, and could not even bear a garment upon his body. How so? Perhaps there would only have been an addition to his pangs. For I melt the clods of the earth, he says, while I scrape off my sore. Job 7:5, Septuagint His flesh bred sores and worms in him, and that continually. Do you see how each one of us sickens at the hearing of these things? But if they are intolerable to hear, is the sight of them more tolerable? And if the sight of them is intolerable, how much more intolerable to undergo them? And yet that righteous man did undergo them, not for two or three days, but for a long while, and he did not sin, not even with his lips. What disease can you describe to me like this, so exquisitely painful? For was not this worse than blindness? I look on my food, he says, as a fetid mass. Job 6:7 And not only this, but that which affords cessation to others, night and sleep, brought no alleviation to him, nay, were worse than any torture. Hear his words: Why do you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions? If it be morning, I say, When will it be evening? Job 7:14, and he murmured not. And there was not only this; but reputation in the eyes of the world was added; for they immediately concluded him to be guilty of endless crimes, judging from all that he suffered. And accordingly this is the consideration, which his friends urged upon him; Know therefore that God exacts less of you than your iniquities deserve. Job 11:6 Wherefore he himself said, But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. Job 30:1 And was not this worse than many deaths? Yet though assaulted on all sides by a flood like this, when there raged around him a fearful storm, clouds, rain, lightnings, whirling winds, and waterspouts, he remained himself unmoved, seated as it were in the midst of this surge, thus awful and overwhelming, as in a perfect calm, and no murmur escaped him; and this before the gift of grace, before that anything was declared concerning a resurrection, before anything concerning hell and punishment and vengeance. Yet we, who hear both Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists speaking to us, and have innumerable examples set before us, and have been taught the tidings of a Resurrection, yet harbor discontent, though no man can say that such a fate as this has been his own. For if one has lost money, yet not all that great number of sons and daughters, or if he has, perchance it was that he had sinned; but for him, he lost them suddenly, in the midst of his sacrifices, in the midst of the service which he was rendering to God. And if any man has at one blow lost property to the same amount, which can never be, yet he has not had the further affliction of a sore all over his body, he has not scraped the humors that covered him; or if this likewise has been his fate, yet he has not had men to upbraid and reproach him, which is above all things calculated to wound the feelings, more than the calamities we suffer. For if when we have persons to cheer and console us in our misfortunes, and to hold out to us fair prospects, we yet despond, consider what it was to have men upbraiding him. If the words, I looked for some to have pity, but there was no man, and for comforters, but I found none Psalm 69:20, describe intolerable misery, how great an aggravation to find revilers instead of comforters! Miserable comforters are you all Job 16:2, he says. If we did but revolve these subjects continually in our minds, if we well weighed them, no ills of this present time could ever have force to disturb our peace, when we turned our eyes to that athlete, that soul of adamant, that spirit impenetrable as brass. For as though he had borne about him a body of brass or stone, he met all events with a noble and constant spirit.
Taking these things to heart, let us do everything without murmuring and disputing. Is it some good work that you have before you, and do you murmur? Wherefore? Are you then forced? For that there are many about you who force you to murmur, I know well, says he. This he intimated by saying, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; but it is this that deserves admiration, that we admit no such feeling when under galling provocation. For the stars too give light in the night, they shine in the dark, and receive no blemish to their own beauty, yea they even shine the brighter; but when light returns, they no longer shine so. Thus thou too dost appear with the greater lustre, while you hold straight in the midst of the crooked. This it is which deserves our admiration, the being blameless; for that they might not urge this plea, he himself set it down by anticipation. What means holding fast the word of life? I.e. being destined to live, being of those that are gaining salvation. Observe how immediately he subjoins the rewards, which are in reserve. Lights [i.e. luminaries], he says, retain the principle of light; so do ye the principle of life. What means the word of life? Having the seed of life, i.e. having pledges of life, holding life itself, i.e. having in yourselves the seed of life, this is what he calls the word of life. Consequently the rest are all dead, for by these words he signified as much; for otherwise those others likewise would have held the word of life. That I may have whereof to glory, he says; what is this? I too participate in your good deeds, he says. So great is your virtue, as not only to save yourselves, but to render me illustrious. Strange kind of boasting, thou blessed Paul! You are scourged, driven about, reviled for our sakes: therefore he adds, in the day of Christ, that I did not run, he says, in vain, nor labored in vain, but I always have a right to glory, he means, that I did not run in vain.
