Ver. 1. With the bishops and deacons] The word priest is never used at all for a minister of the gospel by the apostles, no, nor by the more ancient Fathers, as Bellarmine himself confesseth. And yet how eager were our late factors for Rome to have priested us all, but that God better provided for us! De Cultu Sanct. lib. iii. cap. 4.
Ver. 2. Grace be to you] [See Trapp on “1Co 1:2”] [See Trapp on “Eph 1:2”]
Ver. 3. Upon every remembrance] And no wonder; for these were those famous Macedonians, that first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to their faithful ministers by the will of God, 2 Corinthians 8:5. [See Trapp on “2Co 8:5”] and compare with Isaiah 50:10.
Ver. 4. Making request with joy] Those that grieve their faithful ministers, and quench the Spirit in them, do it to their own singular disadvantage.
Ver. 5. For your fellowship] A good man cannot tell how to go to heaven alone. No sooner had the Philippians received the gospel, but they were in fellowship to a day. The communion of saints was with them a point of practice as well as an article of belief. The apostles’ creed was anciently briefer than now. The mention of the Father’s being “maker of heaven and earth,” the Son’s death and descending into hell, and the communion of saints, being wholly omitted; haply as implied sufficiently in other articles. But surely if the creed were called Symbolum, as a sign or badge to difference Christians from infidels and wicked people, there was little reason to leave out the communion of saints, this being a main distinctive character; there being no such fellowship as among the saints, Song of Solomon 6:9.
Ver. 6. That he which hath begun a good work] Gr. εναρξαμενος, “That he which hath in-begun a good work in you”; for the work is wholly inward and spiritual, saith an interpreter. So God is said to indwell in his people, 2 Corinthians 6:16, as if he could never have enough communion with them. Will perform it] Or perfect it. God doth not use to do his work by the halves, but goes through-stitch with it, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 Ps 138:8. Only we must pray as Luther was wont to do, “Confirm, O Lord, in us what thou hast wrought, and perfect the work that thou hast begun in us to thy glory. So be it.” And as Queen Elizabeth prayed, “Look upon the wounds of thy hands, and despise not the work of thy hands. Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand; oh, read thine own handwriting, and save me,” &c.
Ver. 7. Partakers of my grace] That is, ye communicate with me in my sufferings, which he here calleth his “grace”; and tells them, Philippians 1:29 “to you it is given,” as an honorary, “to suffer for Christ’s sake.” Crudelitas vestra gloria nostra, Your crulty is our glory, said those primitive martyrs. (Tertull.) I had rather be a martyr than a monarch, saith Ignatius. It is to my loss, if you bate me anything in my sufferings, saith Gordius to his tormentors. Gaudebat Crispina cum tenebatur, cum audiebatur, cum damnabatur, cum ducebatur, saith Augustine: [in Psalms 137] Crispina rejoiced when she was apprehended, convented, condemned, executed.
Ver. 8. I long after you all] Here the apostle practised his own precept of father ly affection, φιλοστοργοι, Romans 12:10. Pray for me, mine own heart root in the Lord, quem in intimis visceribus habeo ad convivendum et commoriendum saith Bradford in a letter to his fellow martyr, Laurence Saunders.
Ver. 9. And in all judgment] Or, sense. The soul also hath her senses as well as the body. And these must be exercised to discern good and evil, Hebrews 5:14, those two learned senses especially (as Aristotle calleth them), the eye and the ear, Job 34:3 Jer 2:31. Further, observe here, that knowledge and sense, or judgment, are two things. Young trees are more sappy, but old trees are more solid.
Ver. 10. Approve the things] Or, try the things that differ, that ye be not cheated, and so undone, as many a man is by purchasing a counterfeit commodity at an unreasonable rate. A Bristol stone looks like a diamond, and many things glister besides gold.
Ver. 11. Being filled with the fruits] The excellency of a Christian is to follow God fully, as Caleb, Numbers 14:24; to have a heart full of goodness, as those, Romans 15:14; a life full of good works, as Tabitha, Acts 9:33. [See Trapp on “Ga 5:22”]
Ver. 12. Rather unto the furtherance] So were Luther’s troubles. Quo magis illi furunt, saith he, eo amplius procedo. The more they rage, the more the gospel spreadeth. It was a pleasant sight (saith one) to have beheld Christ and Antichrist striving for masteries. (Scultet. Annal.) For whatsoever the pope and the emperor attempted against the gospel, Christ turned it all to the furtherance of the gospel. The pope’s bull, the emperor’s thunderbolt, amazed not men, but animated them to embrace the truth; weakened them not, but wakened them rather.