Is God distant or close to me?
God may indeed be wholly other, supreme, sovereign, set apart from everything else, transcendent, unique. But it is clear from this letter that Paul does not therefore understand God as one who simply created the universe, including humankind and the world, and then proceeded to absent himself from this creation, allowing it to run along on its own, governed solely by the laws he established for it.
Rather, Paul understands God as present within this world, actively sustaining it, interestedly governing its affairs, very much involved in it, and, more importantly, as one who is intimately and kindly involved in the affairs of the people in this world.
He sees God as interested in the immediate and ultimate well-being of these special objects of his creative love and concern, drawing near them, intervening in their histories, giving them things to be thankful for, allowing them to experience pain and problems, setting the highest standards of expectations for them, and actively participating in their lives so that they might reach these expectations.
Notice how Paul gives expression to these ideas.
1. As strange as it may seem, in the light of the awesome majesty of God, Paul makes it clear that individual people, people who believe in God, to be sure, can speak quite personally of him as their God.
Twice over Paul encourages this understanding by his own use of the expression, “my God” (1:3; 4:19). God, then, is not so far removed as to be impersonal. He is in fact so near as to belong to his people. “My God,” therefore, is not a word of arrogance, but the humble recognition that God has willingly entered into a close and intimate relationship with his people. “God is never so far off as even to be near/our hearts are the homes he holds most dear.…”
2. Although Paul perceived God as separate from, above and beyond his creation, he was certain that God was at the same time continuously expressing himself within his creation, at work in the lives of the people he had made, revealing himself both in their individual and corporate histories.
He leaves no doubt about this when he writes the Philippians, “God is at work in you creating both the desire and the drive to promote good will” (2:13).
The church at Philippi was composed of men and women, who, along with their good qualities, had many deficiencies—conceit, pride, selfishness, unconcern for others, harmful ambition, and so on—deficiencies that work destructively within the individual and within the congregation. Paul was concerned that the Philippians change their ways and begin to serve each other following Christ’s example (2:1–11). He begged them to work at bringing about healing (“salvation”) within their ranks, harmony among themselves, and concern for one another, and to keep at this supremely difficult task until it was finished. And he could encourage them like this—to get busy and do their part in restoring harmony to their divided community, because he was confident that they were not on their own in striving to solve their problems. He was certain that God was already doing his part, already at work within them to help them bring to reality the very thing desired of them and by them.
3. Paul makes still more clear his belief that God, though transcendent in character, is actively at work in human history when he recounts his experience with Epaphroditus (2:25–30; 4:18).
The Philippian church had sent to Paul this extraordinary man. He brought their gifts to Paul, making him rich; and Epaphroditus was himself their supreme gift, intended by them to be at hand to take care of the apostle’s every need. He endeared himself to Paul, whom Paul called his “brother,” “fellow worker,” and “fellow soldier” (2:25).
But Epaphroditus fell ill. From Paul’s perspective he most certainly would have died had not God intervened. Paul does not say what the nature of this sickness was, nor does he mention anything of his own prayers for Epaphroditus’s recovery, or the laying on of hands, or the calling of the elders or the doctors, or the use of medicine—although all of these measures may have been employed. That of which Paul was overwhelmingly convinced, and to which he gives sole expression, is that God had stepped in and stopped the sickness. Paul perceived that the healing of his friend was a sovereign, merciful act of God himself. “God,” he wrote, “took pity on him; not only on him but on me as well” (2:27).
4. Because God is not so far above this world that he has no contact with or concern for it, or cannot intervene in human affairs, prayer was for Paul a most meaningful endeavor.
Hence, he was not at all hesitant to encourage his friends to pray, to bring to God in prayer all the things that made them anxious (4:6). When he told them that if they did so, the peace of God would guard their hearts and minds (4:7), he was not saying that God would automatically give his people precisely what they asked for when they asked for it. But he was saying still one more time that God is decidedly at work in the lives of human beings. He is actually present and operative to create within people a peace that will keep guard over their thoughts and feelings whether he answers their prayers in precisely the way they had hoped for or not.
5. This same notion of God as sovereign, supreme, transcendent—who is nevertheless nearby, close to and involved in the histories of individual people and whole communities—gives Paul confidence to tell the Philippian church that God will meet and supply their every need out of his marvelous wealth in Christ Jesus (4:19).
When Paul talks of their “needs” here, he does not have in mind their spiritual needs, or the needs that will be taken care of only when they reach heaven. The needs he has in mind are like those mentioned earlier in verse 16, namely, present material needs that can only be met by present, material resources.
And the God Paul knows is that supreme being who owns the material resources of this world and who is himself active within it to direct the dispensing of these resources. He will supply the needs of his people. It might be argued that the future indicative, “will supply,” should not be taken literally, that is, as a precise statement of what God most certainly will do (who is a human being to say what God will do in a particular situation?). Might that statement be rather a prayer, expressing Paul’s wish for what God will do for the Philippians—“In return for your meeting my needs, I pray that my God may meet all your needs.” Nevertheless, it is a reiteration of Paul’s conviction of what God can do, because God is present and operative within the world he has created (cf. 2 Cor 9:8).
6. God is holy and exalted above all—God most high.
As such he has set the highest standards of expectation for his people. Paul speaks of the “upward call” (anō klēseōs) of God (3:14). The meaning of this expression evades precise explanation, but it may at least give the direction God has set for his people—upward, toward himself, toward goodness and life, not downward, tending toward evil and destruction. It is a call to come up to God.
Hawthorne, G. F. (1987). Philippians (pp. 24–27). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic.
