It was the talk of the seminary campus for at least a week. In the lunchroom, a friendly discussion on doctrine had escalated past the boiling point, continued outside, and at some juncture one of the students knocked the other student into the bushes by the walk.
Those who saw said it was some punch! Thankfully, it wasn’t returned. The two, both wearing sport jackets and ties, realized that things had gotten out of hand, shook hands and parted amiably, if sheepishly.
Clearly, that’s not the best way to show the courage of your convictions, but it does illustrate what we all know, that sometimes the way we think and feel about something eclipses the issue, and the conflict takes on a life of its own.
I’ve often mused about how Euodias and Syntyche, Paul’s assistants in ministry in Philippi, felt as their names were read aloud, with Paul’s admonition (Philippians 4:2) to “agree in the Lord.” Sense the blush?
But what did Paul mean? When two people disagree, how can they be in agreement? Does one of them have to give in? Do they have to search and discover a compromise that maybe neither of them favors?
Paul already had told them how, back in chapter two. The words “same mind,” match those in 2:2, where he is speaking about our attitudes, not the content of our thoughts. He is not saying that everyone must agree, but that they be agreeable, as followers of Jesus.
We know what he meant because he explains it in the famous passage which follows:
“Your attitude (lit., “mind”) should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (held onto with all his might), but made himself nothing, taking the very form of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6, 7
That attitude led Him first to the Cross, and then to the Crown, as the next verses explain. It is the same for us, if we are listening.
It may seem ironic that while we should be willing to die for essential doctrines, we should not be knocking one another into the rose bushes over how to apply them. But once our zeal for truth (or some small part of it) displaces love, it’s time to crosscheck our attitude.
There is a better path, and Jesus walked it first.
“Father, we pray for your grace to get along, and even when we disagree with one another, to do so lovingly and gently. Help us to have the mind of Jesus, and defer to one another. In the name of our Lord. Amen.