We have spent eleven months on Paul’s letter to the Philippians and I have written 118 Bible Gems on what Paul wrote. It is for sure that I have written more words about Paul’s letter than what Paul wrote in his letter. I remember Jeffrey Rachmat, my pastor in JPCC, asking me, “Why is David Pawson’s book Unlocking the Bible fatter than the Bible itself?” Simply because the Bible is like that; it’s deep. I began the Gems on Philippians at the beginning of February this year. What could I have missed out that there would still be a hidden secret we have not covered?
- We have already looked in depth at Paul’s stated Secret – Being Content in all Circumstances (Phil 4:12)
- What did I miss? What is the second secret?
I skipped Paul’s second secret when I was writing 1981. I thought I would receive a storm of protest at the time but I didn’t. Everybody missed the subtlety. I didn’t call it a secret (like Paul does in Phil 4:12). But it is! A REALLY BIG ONE! You can find it in Philippians 3:16 and if you had your wits about you, you would have seen that I introduced it in Gem 1981 but then in the following Gem passed on to the following verse Phil 3:17.
In Gem 1981 I wrote:
Now I have one final thing to do before we can move on. That is to explain the rather puzzling last verse in this segment (3:16). Especially as it is translated in the ASV, a literal version.
only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.
Phil 3:16
Allow me to spell out the meaning by using the versions as I so often recommend you do.
- (ERV) But we should continue following the truth we already have.
- (ESV) Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
- (GNB) However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.
- (GW) However, we should be guided by what we have learned so far.
- (NET) Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.
- (NLT) But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
Or in the Literal Expanded Ian Vail Version (LEIVV)
by that (level of understanding) to which we have reached (attained to); to the extent we have grasped it, let us walk.
At that point I smoke screened any explanation and with the next statement set the scene for the new section with the following comment.
“Notice we have now stopped running and started walking. Running the race of life and walking the life are Bible metaphors for living out the truth we have seen. I am sure it won’t come as a surprise to you when we leave this passage in the next Gem and move to the next segment, to see Paul’s thoughts are still connected.“
I then left it at that and waited for someone to comment, but NO ONE DID?
I skipped explaining Paul’s second secret at that point. I decided to leave it until the end. Sometimes I do tricky things to keep you on your toes. I did another in Gem 869 which I numbered surreptitiously 888 to suck you in to prosperity doctrine – pretending I believed that. I had a few people make comment. This time, related to Paul’s hidden secret, I got away with it, without anyone commenting or questioning further. I thought it best to hold the explanation until I had finished Philippians to make the point of Phil 3:16 clear.
Now let’s explore Paul’s hidden secret further with a new expansive translation to make the point clearer still.
Now let us grasp and live up to that which we have attained or had revealed to us. Phil 3:16 (in the Amplified Ian Vail Version)
I won’t classify this new verse as an official unpublished Bible version; it is not. I simply came up with it to make Paul’s secret clear.
Often when teaching Deeper Bible I make a comment about how we make something ours! Some of us take notes during a sermon or a particularly good Podcast, a good Online seminar or a great book we have just read. Then what do we do? Nothing! Absolutely Nothing! We never look at our notes again. I tell DBers they should store their notes between their ears, not on paper, nor on their iPad or tablet or even in their phone or in the cloud. Because the truth is we don’t look back at those notes again. We need to internalise something important in order to make it ours. Imagine going to a doctor to seek help for a troubling physical problem we have and (s)he asks their questions and then goes to look at a medical manual on the shelf, while saying, “Well this book indicates it could be X.” Your well informed doc then goes to another book and reads what it says there for 5 minutes and finally says, “But this book suggests it could be Y. Mmmm, I think we will try this idea, what do you think?” I think I would look for another doctor. I am sure you get my point without the need for further explanation.
What do we do now that we have “finished” Paul’s letter to the Philippians? This is my favourite book in the Bible. I have spent almost a year applying all I have been taught to this incredible letter. Now what will I do? I will go back over all the Gems I have written on Philippians and review them to make the new insights I have gained my own. But hang on a moment – it is my own; I wrote the Gems on Philippians. So why would I go back over them and review Paul’s letter to the saints in Philippi again? Because God has shown me some new truths or shown to me the hidden depth which can be found in many of the verses of Philippians. Now I want to go back and review what He drew my attention to and inspired me to write. Doing that helps me cement these new revelations in my mind so that I can hang on to them and remember them. If I don’t, I too will quickly lose them or become like the doctor I described above. Easy come; easy go!
Lying in bed in the early hours before I wrote the last Gem I was reminded that I had not finished Phil 3:16. I looked back and remembered I had left any explanation of Paul’s second secret until I had finished gemming Philippians. I was reminded by the LORD of a principle my mother, Prof Brown (my Greek teacher) and Dick Hemmings (my first pastor) each stated in different ways. What do those three have in common? My mother used to say over and over:
“Ian, if you are going to learn something you have to make it yours. You have to do the work.” When I tried to take a short cut she would say, “Go and look it up in the dictionary, atlas or encyclopaedia. Make it yours son; appropriate it.”
Alice Vail
Prof Brown used to say:
“Class, there’s gold here but you have to dig for it; you have to do the work in order to make it yours.”
Dr Basil Brown
Dick Hemmings used to say:
“You can’t get the Rhema (the quickened Word of God to you personally) unless you are in the Logos (the written Word of God) daily.”
Dick Hemmings
Paul’s second major point or hidden secret is to come up to that to which we have grasped, but in order to attain to it we have to make it ours. My strong suggestion, as I do at the end of every book I gem, is to tell the Gem readers to read back through the book I have gemmed in order to review it. As I have covered Philippians I have come across some new insights that I didn’t know before. But to make them mine so I will remember them into the future I have to review them and take careful note of those new insights in order to remember them. Then I must walk them out, or run with them to the finish line to use Paul’s own words. That’s what the review process is all about. I am not suggesting you note every single thing I wrote. Skim read if you don’t get a particular part or don’t agree with something I have said. Take that which is helpful and make it yours by reviewing it.
- A thought or concept must become a fact or principle.
- The fact or principle must be remembered or reviewed.
- That which we have grasped must be practised.
- What we practise must become a habit.
- Anything we do habitually becomes part of who we are.
The letter to the Philippians is a perfect example to review. It is a short book. There are only four chapters. What should we do? Read through Philippians Chapter 1 and see what you can recall of the detail I covered. Following that read back through the Gems I wrote to pick up on the new input you gained or any Gems you missed reading. Review and note down the key points that struck you. Many people comment on the fact that I go up all sorts of bunny trails with the Gems. I look at things they think are irrelevant. That may be, but in doing so I find the treasures. To use an analogy: in order to find the gold you need to remove the overburden, the waste rock above it. So going back over Paul’s letter to the Philippians puts the highlights back in your memory for you to hang on to for longer. That is what I do and it helps me cement the highlights of the Book I have just gemmed in my mind. I suggest you do the same. This is especially true if you have only been an occasional reader of the Bible Gems. I have been amazed at what God has shown me in this short letter when I applied Deeper Bible principles to this book for the first time, even though I have read this favourite book of the Bible far more times than I can count. Well over 50! Yet still I found some precious new insights or things which emphasised known ideas a little stronger.
So come with me on this journey through Philippians over the next month. Read each chapter and then read the Gems on that chapter. Skim read if you want, but read it enough to cover the main points. If the Gem I have written on one part is too technical to understand in its entirety, don’t worry. Just read it for the overview, the main point and get that in your mind. I will make a summary at the end and pull out all the sparkling Gems after my review and I will share the highlights with you. I won’t be posting the links on social media (FB, IG and Twitter) as I usually do with the Gems. I will only do this for those who are keen to learn more. The final Gem will then be posted on the website for you to have access to. So if what I suggest above is too much for you to bother doing over the next month, don’t worry. I will email a summary of the highlights to those of who have signed up to get Gems by email through the website. When I have finished my own review of Philippians in final Gem, which will include the links to key ideas and connections. However, the best thing to do to really make it yours is to do the work yourself.
I write Bible Gems for two reasons
- To sharpen my own understanding and awareness of the Word of God at a deeper level.
- As working examples of the Deeper Bible process so those who do Deeper Bible can have something to show them how to do the things I suggest. DB principles are approaches I practise myself.
Often I write Gems on the amazingly deep things that God has shown me in the text of the Bible and rather than readers seeing how deep something is, the things they tweet, share or copy are the frivolous, trite, inconsequential things. Does that upset me? No. not in the least. Primarily I write the Gems for myself and happen to share them with you. I also write them to share the deeper things with those who are doing Deeper Bible or have done DB. It just makes me smile inwardly when someone shares the “funny” or the “trivial” but misses the “gem”. It’s like Steven Curtis Chapman put in the lyrics of the song “See the Glory”.
I never did like the word mediocre
I never wanted it to be said of me, oh, no
Just point me to the job and I’d go over, over
Looking for the very best that could be
So what is this thing I see
Going on inside of me?
When it comes to the grace of God
Sometimes it’s like
I’m playing Game Boy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon
I’m eating candy sittin’ at a gourmet feast
I’m wading in a pond when I could be swimming in the ocean
Tell me what’s the deal with me
Wake up and see the glory
Every star in the sky tells His story, oh
And every breeze is singing His song
All of creation is imploring
Hey, come see this grand phenomenon
The wonder of His grace
Should take my breath away
I miss so many things when I’m content with
Playing Game Boy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon
I’m eating candy sittin’ at a gourmet feast
Or wading in a pond when I could be swimming in the ocean
Tell me what’s the deal with me
Wake up and see the glory
How could I trivialize it
This awesome gift of God’s grace?
Once I have come to realize it
I should be speechless and amazed
Wake up and see the glory
Open your eyes and take it in
Wake up and be amazed
Over and over again
God’s love is calling to you and to me
Wake up, wake up
Open your eyes
Now let us live up to and grasp that which we have attained or had revealed to us. (Phil 3:16 in the EIVV)
It’s like I’m playing Game Boy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon or eating candy sittin’ at a gourmet feast or wading in a pond when I could be swimming in the ocean. Tell me what’s the deal with me!
Steven Curtis Chapman
Wake up and see the glory in the Word of God. There is no other book on planet earth like it.
Ian Vail
This is the last Gem for Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. I will spend the next month reviewing all I have written on Philippians in order to make it my own. I suggest you do the same. Re-read Paul’s letter to the saints in Philippi chapter by chapter and follow the Gems I have written on each chapter as you read to consolidate your understanding of the letter.
“The Bible doesn’t need to be re-translated but it does need to be re-read.” Eli Lizorkin Eyezenberg (Israel Bible Center)
The Philippian Gems start at Gem 1899 and finish with this one (2016).
I will post a final summary Gem (2017) when I have finished my review process. You can easily find any Gem you want via the search system. Each Gem concludes with a link to the “Previous” and the “Next” Gem.
What book will I Gem next? You, my readers, can give your suggestions as to what the next Gem focus book will be.
I’m sure that you must have read the Wycliffe book, “Into the Glory”, where Doug Hunt’s story is told. Pilots marvel about their first experience of coming “into the glory”, where the magnificence of the light overwhelms them. Could be worth combining with Scriptural insights….
It could be Kevin, when the Lord inspires me to do so.