Orthodoxy (3)
make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Philippians 2:2 NASB
Being of the same mind – What do you suppose Paul means with the plea “by being of the same mind”? Are we to read this as “thinking the same things”? Or is that a Western conceptualization based on our idea that “mind” means “cognition”? What would Paul mean if we read him as a Jew with an Eastern point of view? And why do we care? What’s so important about determining the difference between a Western and an Eastern interpretation of the text?
Let’s try to answer this last question first. Texts like this one are often employed in arguments that believers must have the same cognitive understanding in order to experience the true faith. In fact, systematic theology and doctrinal education is principally based on this assumption. Certainly apologetics is dependent on this view. And that isn’t too surprising. Orthodoxy has been fundamental to Christian thought since the 2nd Century, and orthodoxy requires conformity. Orthodoxy means authorized and accepted, whether it’s religious doctrine and practice or medical treatments or legal determinations. Orthodoxy requires a standard set by some body for the collective whole. If this is what Paul has in mind, then he is encouraging these Philippians to get their thinking and behavior in line with an approved code. For Westerners, this means believing the right things (and, perhaps, practicing them). You can see why this seems so important.
Now let’s look at Paul’s Greek. The phrase is hína tó phronéte. The first thing to note is the expanded use of hína in Rabbinic and Pauline thought. Usually translated “in order that,” this word actually entails a complete vision of God’s ultimate purposes. Stauffer writes:
Final clauses in Paul also refer to the divine goals for us (1 Cor. 9:22ff.; 9:12ff.). Since these goals demand supreme self-sacrifice, utilitarianism is excluded. We are not just to pursue personal salvation. In a hierarchy of goals, the glorifying of God is again supreme (2 Cor. 4:15 etc.). This transcends our own ability; hence NT ethics is an ethics of prayer. Exhortations merge into blessings and petitions that are introduced by hína (cf. Jesus in Lk. 22:32; 21:36, and Paul in Col. 4:3–4; 1:9ff.). It is not just a stylistic device that Paul’s epistles begin with requests and thanksgivings and close with blessings, for the apostle has more trust in God than in human goodwill or power. That God may be glorified is again the final goal of our ways as well as God’s.[1]
Is Paul simply giving instructions about getting along, or even requiring conformity of thought? He is pressing the point that God’s purposes are involved in like-mindedness. There is something eschatological here, something that reaches beyond our human behavior. What that implies is bound up in the word phronéte. The first thing we notice about this Greek word is that there is no direct parallel in Hebrew. The second thing we notice is its connection with the divine mystery of God.
God’s phrónēsis is unsearchable (Is. 40:28). By it he has set up the world. It is parallel to his power and wisdom. In us phrónēsis, which is from God, goes with sophía and aísthēsis (“understanding, wisdom, and knowledge”). The three constitute a unity as practical wisdom with a religious slant. phrónēsis is the principle of creation, and God gives us a share in it.[2]
When Paul uses the term applicable to the believing community, he is not advocating standardization, but rather appreciation of the mysteries of God Himself. He is suggesting that awe is the basis of community, its privileged status the direct result of God’s unfathomable graciousness. To be in like mind is to stand in holy wonder before a God who shows Himself compassionate, and to absorb what that means for the treatment of others. This is, pace the Church fathers, not a declaration of a common creed but rather full-orbed gratitude toward God. Of course, this experience lies beneath religious ritual, prayer and proclamation, but those behaviors are derivative, not primary. When we are in “like-mind” we may find considerable differences in our understanding and interpretation, but we will discover that we stand before the holy God together.
Topical Index: hína tó phronéte, in like mind, orthodoxy, Philippians 2:2
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 368). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] E. Stauffer in Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 1278). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
