Philippians 4:1

Love, the sum of every virtue for the Christian, does not fittingly come to pass if the faithful do not stand united as one, thinking in harmony. This is what Paul means here by "Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." We may understand that he wants them to be united in understanding from the fact that he calls them [literally] "most beloved brethren." Mutual love is the result of thinking in unison and standing together in Christ. When all have equal faith in Christ all of us stand together in him.

The constancy of the Philippians is Paul's joy, both for the present and for his future crown. For when his disciples are victorious in the contest, the master rightly receives the crown.

Let us be of the flock of Christ, in all righteousness, and in all holy and unblemished conduct, behaving ourselves with uprightness and sanctity, as is right for believers, and observing those things which are praiseworthy, and pure, and holy, and honourable, and noble; and do ye promote all those things which are profitable. For you are "our joy, and our crown," and our hope, and our life, "if so be that you stand in the Lord." [Philippians 4:1] So be it!

"Wherefore," saith he, "my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved."

"So." How? Unmoved. See how he addeth praise after exhortation, "my joy and my crown," not simply joy but glory too, not simply glory but my crown too. Which glory nought can equal, since it is the crown of Paul. "So stand fast in the Lord, my beloved," i.e. in the hope of God.

So, he says, although you see them rejoicing and being glorified, yet you stand as you have stood, in the hope that we shall be glorified with Christ, and do not retreat from this hope. Notice with what praises he extols them. "Brethren," he says, and not simply, but "beloved," and besides that also "longed for," that is, such ones whom my soul yearns to behold. And further: "joy," and not simply, but also "crown," than which there is nothing more glorious for him. And before the exhortation he praised them, and after it again. They were dear, then, to Paul, if he deems them worthy of such great honor.

Above, he proposed examples for them to follow; here in a moral exhortation he shows how they should conduct themselves: first, how they should act in the future; secondly, he commends them on the past (4:10). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he urges them to persevere in what they already have; secondly, to advance to something better (4:4).

He certifies his affection in five ways: first, by reason of the faith, by showing that he loves them; hence he says, my brethren, i.e., through faith: "You are all brethren" (Mt. 23:8); secondly, by reason of charity; hence he says, whom I love: "My beloved" (1 Cor. 10:14); thirdly, according to desire; hence he says, and long for: "God is my witness, how I yearn for you all" (1:8). And I say long for, because I long for you or because you long for me. Fourthly, by joy; hence he says, my joy, and this because you are good: "A wise son makes a glad father" (Prov. 10:1); fifthly, by reason of future joy; hence he says, and crown: "For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?" (1 Thess. 2:19).

Then when he says, stand firm thus in the Lord, he urges them to persevere, saying, stand firm, i.e., persevere, as I do; or continue as you are: "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Mt. 10:22).