This is the next part of my ongoing series exploring the letter written by St Polycarp to the church in Philippi, collaborating with my friend Adsum Try Ravenhill of the Raven’s Writing Desk.
You can read the previous parts at these links: I; II; III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI.
Dear Adsum
Thank you for your last letter, sobering though it was. I am particularly struck by your desire to react as Christians to those leaders who fall; we should restore them. Not, in the vast majority of cases, to the pastorate or to other prominence, but to the church in line with their repentance.
I’ve been reflecting on my own desires for ‘justice’ or ‘revenge’ that have little to do with the gospel. Equally, in most of the cases I’ve had the misfortune of seeing up close, as well as many I watched from a distance, repentance seems slow to come.
Your careful love for Jesus’ church is a hallmark of your writing; it’s always an encouragement to me. Today we turn to chapter 12 of Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians:
For I trust that you are well versed in the Sacred Scriptures, and that nothing is hid from you; but to me this privilege is not yet granted. It is declared then in these Scriptures, “Be you angry, and sin not,” and, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Happy is he who remembers this, which I believe to be the case with you. But may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Son of God, and our everlasting High Priest, build you up in faith and truth, and in all meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, forbearance, and purity; and may He bestow on you a lot and portion among His saints, and on us with you, and on all that are under heaven, who shall believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His Father, who “raised Him from the dead. Pray for all the saints. Pray also for kings, and potentates, and princes, and for those that persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest to all, and that you may be perfect in Him.
Trusting the Scriptures
Polycarp opens with a sentence praising them for knowing the Scriptures—which you should be praised for too, my friend. Whenever someone praises me along these lines I feel a typically British sense of modesty in response to complement, because I don’t know them that well. This is a silly result, stemming from the false modesty of pride.
My second response though is to realise that I actually don’t know the Bible that well, at least when compared with our forebears, even if I do reasonably in comparison to my peers. This is a good response, because it drives me to know the Scriptures better and be worthy of that praise. I hope that my praise of you does the same for you!
He then makes a confusing statement that I haven’t found anyone to suggest anything beyond, ‘it’s obscure,’ as it appears he’s saying the Philippians know the Bible better than him. We can assume he doesn’t mean that, but I can’t enlighten you as to what he does mean!
Then he quotes Ephesians and refer to it as Scripture. The New Testament’s authority to sit equal to the Old Testament scriptures was attested from the very beginning of the Church’s life. We tend to not even think of this as a question as we’re more likely to doubt whether the Old Testament is really Christian scripture. Usually that’s a sign of our modernism, but for the avoidance of doubt, we can confess that all of it was written by Jesus, about Jesus, and for Jesus.
Don’t Look Back in Anger
His specific concern, though, is to speak to them of particular virtues, starting with Paul’s teaching on anger. Perhaps this is unsurprising after Polycarp has written to the Philippian church about their own Pastor’s behaviour. I referred at the beginning to how I would be tempted to respond in anger to those who fall from governing churches. I’m sure they were tempted too.
Whatever makes us angry, we are told to not be angry. Wait, no. That’s not right. We’re told to ‘be angry and not sin.’ Anger isn’t itself sinful, but it can be sinful. We instead must be righteously angry. If God can be angry, then it cannot always be wrong, even if we’re bad at doing it well.
We should be angry at sin and we should allow God to be the one who has revenge (Romans 12.19-21). Paul and Polycarp both tell us to not let the sun set on our anger. We can learn here about keeping short accounts in marriage, in friendship, and in any other relationships as well.
There’s a deeper lesson too here, I think, for both of us. Our righteous anger needs to be dealt with swiftly with the Lord. It should drive us to action, but we must do so in a way that doesn’t allow the bitterness that anger can fertilise to grow up within the loam of our hearts. I know from experience that this is easier than we might hope.
Forgiveness is a vital, and difficult, topic for us to live Christian lives. Most of the Bible’s talk about forgiveness is relating to reconciliation or restoration, which would follow the repentance of the one who has wounded us. Most Christians talk about a more therapeutic form of forgiveness, which is for our own benefit to ensure we are not bitter by actively saying that God is the judge and avenger, and we are not. It’s in interesting debate about which is better described as ‘forgiveness,’ but all are Biblical concepts.
The way that we allow our anger to dissipate swiftly is not for us to forget about justice or act like wet blankets, rather it’s that we actively rely on God’s justice in all circumstances and trust that we will show vengeance and he will repay. This finds its heart in the cross, where’s God’s vengeance falls on his own Son so that it will not fall on me, or on you.
A day is coming, burning like an oven (Malachi 4.1)), when Yahweh-of-Hosts will defeat the powers and throw every root of Hell’s foul tree into the lake of fire (Revelation 20.14). This is good news and helps with our anger against injustices of all kinds.
Virtue and Prayers
Polycarp prays to Jesus, ‘the eternal high priest,’ that the Philippians would be built up in all truth and in gentleness and in freedom from anger, and in perseverance and endurance and purity. Would you pray that for me too?
It’s gentleness that catches me, for I do not think I have always been a gentle man. I suspect a thorough inventory of my soul would find me lacking in all these areas. I am nearer Christ’s character than I used to be, I think I can honestly claim, and I am therefore more aware of my lack. I suspect I am woefully unaware of my sin. I’m not sure that I want you to pray that I’m more aware of my sin, though I’m sure I should want that. Please do pray that the Lord conforms me to his character, in his kindness.
Then he tells them who to pray for.
Pray for all the saints. For me, for your church, for every other church and believer in the world whatever we might think of them. We’ll think better of them after we pray, anyway, as we catch Jesus’ love for his bride.
Pray for kings and magistrates and rulers. However we judge their effectiveness, pray for those who in the sovereignty of God have been given to rule over us.
Pray for those who persecute and hate you. We pray that the Lord would judge yes, but also that our own hearts would be filled with love for those who hurt us, and that they would repent.
Pray for the enemies of the cross. These seem easier to see today than I think they were ten years ago, but maybe that’s just my eyes sharpening. Either way, we pray the imprecatory Psalms, that God would smash the teeth in the Enemy’s mouth (Psalm 3.7), and that the risen Christ’s victory would shine everywhere.
Do you pray for these people? I feel myself pricked to notice that I mostly pray for myself and for my friends.
Why do we pray for all these people? So that our fruit may be evident among all the people and we could be ‘perfect in him,’ which means ‘maturity.’ Polycarp’s assertion is that these prayers will lead to our virtue.
Keep going, my friend.
T. M. Suffield
Photo by Yogendra Singh on Unsplash
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nuakh 