Philippians 4:5a

"Let your moderation be known unto all men."

Paul, here, is asking for just about the impossible. How can you be known for moderation? Extremes get noticed, moderation overlooked. Yet, with Supreme Court nomination hearings about to get underway, Paul's message seems rather appropriate. Moderation wins the day in such a scenario -- you can't please everyone, but you can avoid making them angry.

Still, whether becoming famous for moderation is easy or difficult, moderation itself may have its own rewards. Imagine the energy it takes to be extreme...

Philippians 3:19a

"whose end is destruction..."

Now, in the NIV bible, "end" is translated as "destiny." That's not what I had thought when I first read it. I thought it was more like "goal." Maybe there's a mixture of the two meanings intended. I'd need a commentary. Still, it's the goal part that I want to talk about. Who would have a goal of destruction? That seems like an almost ridiculous proposition. Everyone's goal is some sort of gain for themselves or others, no?

No. It seems that this description must fit the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Is there anything they want besides destruction? I mean, they kill Americans and British and Indonesians and Austrailians. A bomb is indiscriminate destruction - simple destruction - just destruction. When they had their own country in Afghanistan they weren't happy at all. They beheaded and shot people in their own country daily. Daily. They destroyed the Buddha statues with dynamite. Afghanistan under Taliban rule was destruction served fresh daily.In fact, that's all it was. Their end was destruction.

Of course, we see this everyday on a smaller scale. Plenty of destructive and self-destructive behavior in your neighborhood. Plenty. Perhaps even in your own life. Paul of course has an answer for all that. Jesus.

Philippians 2:12b

"work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"

One of the most important messages of the New Testament is that the hard work of salvation has already been done by God himself. Mostly we have to believe. Sounds easy enough. But then, it is ever so difficult as anyone who has ever tried to believe, that is, held a proposition in the mind that requires faith and affirmed it. The hard work has been done, but we are such frail things. The hard work has been done, but what is left to us is not easy. It is work.

I take it that the fact that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling means that we can get it wrong. Why else tremble?

But more importantly, I view the exhortation here to be more of a call to diligence -- don't try to swagger or slink your way into heaven. Take the work seriously though most of the hard bits have been done for you already.

Personally, this bit of a verse has been one of the most important parts of the Bible for me. It tells me that failing is okay as long as one continues working. It tells me that the Christian life is supposed to be difficult. But it also tells me that it is possible. It tells me to expect to continue moving toward perfection. It is a touchstone for me.

The KJV Bible...

I saw a bumper sticker a few days back that declared the King James Version to be the true word of God. Presumably, other versions like the New International (my favorite in many respects) or Today's English (which I find inelegant) are not the word of God according to the driver of the van. Presumably, also, Reina-Valera, the predominant Spanish version is NOT God's word, nor are the Chinese, Russian, Hindi, etc versions any good. In fact, reductio ad absurdum - the original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew as penned by St. Paul or Moses themselves would fall short.

I cannot wrap my head around the idea that the King James Version of the Bible is idolized. Why? The Puritans who landed on Plymouth rock brought along the Geneva version (currently in disfavor). In the nearly 400 years since the KJV made its debut, there has been a mountain of textual scholarship to help improve the understanding of what the was meant by the words and phrases of the original languages. Let us not forget, also, that scads of documents have been found (for instance the Dead Sea Scrolls) in that time -- documents that if not written by St. Paul and Jeremiah were at least written by people who were much closer in time to the original writers than anything the KJV compilers had access to. It is a commonly accepted principle of textual scholarship that in the case of a document that is copied and recopied by hand the closer one can get to the original, the better.

Now mind you, nothing that has been found rewrites the canonical books -- there are minor changes made based on the older (but more recently discovered) scrolls, but nothing that suggests we should really be worshipping Ba'al. Or Dagon, the fish god. Still, however minor the changes are, they should be embraced.

I'm reading from the KJV currently, because it forces me to struggle for understanding. A kind of Bible Bootcamp that is not recommended for everyone. I just want to make clear, however, that I'm NOT relying on the KJV because it's the best out there. It may be the most elegant and poetic (some would debate that) but there are certainly other versions that are as good and some will be better for some readers.

Philippians 2:2-3a

"Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory."

Elsewhere, Paul suggests that if Christ is preeached by some because of vanity, it made no difference - the key was that the message of Christ was proclaimed. But we see here that that is a minimal standard. For obvious reasons. The message may be proclaimed out of discord or hate -- a man may become a preacher to spite his father - but this isn't optimal. If for no other reason than that the person doing the work out of the wrong motives hurts his or her self. That is, the work may get done and others may benefit, but the person doing the work out of discord or to be contrary reaps no reward for themselves.

One may wonder how often a situation like this occurs. How often do people work out of "strife or vainglory." As in every other walk of life, people in churches may certainly work with the intention of hurting others. I don't mean directly, of course. That's obviously wrong. But how about someone who takes over a post with the hope of showing how it ought really to be done and how miserably the predecessor had been doing it? Or the person how does his part in the team effort poorly in order to make the team leader look bad?

Vainglory, of course, is also quite common. After all, who doesn't want to be thought of as better than others? Who doesn't want praise? The sickness, I think, is when a) that is a person's main motive for doing a job and b) when praise is sought or accepted without merit.