Philippians 4:4 to 9 · Passage · Peace
The Peace That Surpasses All Understanding
The passage closes the body of Paul's letter to the Philippians.
Two women of the church at Philippi had quarrelled, and Paul's promise of peace comes a few lines after his plea to them (Philippians 4:2).
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
- The passage
- Philippians 4:4 to 9
- Book
- Philippians
- Hold in memory
- Philippians 4:6 to 7, Isaiah 26:3
Summary
In Philippians 4:4 to 9 Paul gives a run of commands, to rejoice, to be gentle, to pray instead of worrying, to think on what is good and to practise what he taught. Two promises stand among them. Those who bring their requests to God with thanksgiving will have the peace of God guarding their hearts and minds, and those who practise what they learned will have the God of peace with them.
- Paul's verb in verse 7, phrouresei, is a future indicative, and the lexicon defines its root as to mount guard as a sentinel.
- Paul wrote the letter in chains, and he says the whole palace guard knew he was in chains for Christ (Philippians 1:13).
- Verse 8 names eight things to think on, from whatever is true to whatever is praiseworthy.
Rejoice, the Lord Is Near
Philippians 4 gathers Paul's closing commands to the church.
The Peace That Surpasses All Understanding studies Philippians 4:4 to 9, where Paul joins prayer and right thinking to the peace God gives. It belongs to the value of peace, because it teaches how God's peace reaches a believer's heart and mind in the middle of worry.
The question the study answers is what Paul promises in verse 7 and what he asks of the church before and after it. Teachers since the fourth century have read the promise of a guard over the heart in two ways.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near.Paul commands joy twice and gentleness toward everyone, and he grounds both in the nearness of the Lord.
John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), wrote on verse 5 that people of rough temper are good natured to some, "a Christian, to all".
Charles Spurgeon preached on Philippians 4:6 in his sermon Prayer, The Cure for Care. He warned against the care that tries "to wrest from the hand of God that office of Providence which belongs to Him and not to ourselves".
The thanksgiving of verse 6 and the move from rejoicing to peace are taught in the gratitude family, with the research on anxiety in a study of its own. Jesus' command not to worry about tomorrow has its study too.
From Rejoicing to the God of Peace
Paul's words run from joy and gentleness to prayer, thought and practice.
Paul's commands in Philippians 4:4 to 9 lead twice to a promise of peace, the peace of God after prayer and the God of peace after practice.
| Step | Command or promise | The Berean words | Verse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rejoice | "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" | Philippians 4:4 |
| 2 | Be gentle | "Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near." | Philippians 4:5 |
| 3 | Do not be anxious | "Be anxious for nothing" | Philippians 4:6 |
| 4 | Pray | "in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" | Philippians 4:6 |
| 5 | The first promise of peace | "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." | Philippians 4:7 |
| 6 | Think | "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable" and "think on these things" | Philippians 4:8 |
| 7 | Practise | "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice." | Philippians 4:9 |
| 8 | The second promise of peace | "And the God of peace will be with you." | Philippians 4:9 |
7, 8
The Guard over Heart and Mind
Paul chose a verb that the New Testament uses for guarding a city, keeping people in custody and shielding believers.
The verb phroureo stands four times in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 11:32 it describes the governor of Damascus who "secured the city" to arrest Paul, and in Galatians 3:23 people "held in custody under the law".
who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.Peter uses the same verb for believers shielded by God's power, the nearest use to Paul's in Philippians 4:7.
John Chrysostom (died 407), in his fourteenth homily on Philippians, read the peace of verse 7 as the reconciliation God made with His enemies. He asked, "who could have hoped, that such good things would have come?", and named this peace "the reconciliation, the love of God".
Perfect Peace in Isaiah
Isaiah 26 gives the Old Testament background to Paul's promise.
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.Isaiah ties a kept peace to a mind fixed on the LORD, the same pairing of peace and mind that Paul makes in Philippians 4:7.
Where the Berean text reads "perfect peace", the Hebrew repeats the word, shalom shalom. The verb before it, rendered "keep", is natsar, a word of watching and guarding.
Two Promises of Peace
Verse 9 follows thinking with doing and adds a second promise.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.The second promise rests on the life Paul had lived before them.
Paul's letters keep two phrases apart. Peace with God is the standing a believer has once he is justified: "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). The peace of God is the guard given again and again to those who pray.
Paul gives the peace of Christ a ruling place in the hearts of the church at Colossae: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15).
Jesus gave His own peace to His disciples on the night before His death, and a separate study sets the research on stress and rest beside the promise.
A Guard or a Felt Calm
Commentators differ on whether verse 7 promises protection whatever the believer feels or a calm the believer can sense.
Both readings take the verse as a promise to those who pray, and they part over what the reader should expect to notice.
Protection whatever is feltJamieson, Fausset and Brown; Adam Clarke
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, in their Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871), wrote that "There shall be peace secure within, whatever outward troubles may besiege". Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, explained the verb as keeping the heart "as in a strong place or castle".
The objection: Paul says the peace surpasses all understanding, which assumes that the believer is aware of it.
A calm the believer feelsAlbert Barnes; Matthew Henry
Albert Barnes, in his Notes, Explanatory and Practical (1832 to 1869), wrote that the peace is "that which is felt when we have no anxious care about the supply of our needs". Matthew Henry wrote that it will "keep us calm and sedate, without discomposure of passion, and with inward satisfaction".
The objection: Paul's word names a guard set over the heart, and a guard stands whether or not calm is felt.
The Lord of Peace Himself
Paul ended his second letter to the Thessalonians with a prayer to the Lord of peace.
Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.Paul asks the Lord who is the source of peace to give it in every circumstance, the same presence that Philippians 4:9 promises.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament and Translators Amalgamated Hebrew Old Testament, the tagged texts (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- STEP Bible TBESG and TBESH lexicons of Extended Strongs for Greek and Hebrew (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, the Greek based on Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922)
- John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians, Homily 14, on Philippians 4:7 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 13)
- John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on Philippians 4:5.
- Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2351, Prayer, The Cure for Care, on Philippians 4:6 (CCEL edition)
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Philippians 4:7.
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on Philippians 4:7.
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832 to 1869), on Philippians 4:7.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710), on Philippians 4:7.
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