Philippians 4:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Do these things,” not only speak them, but also do them. “And the God of peace will be with you.”

That is, if you keep these things in this way and have peace among yourselves, you will remain in calm and great security. You will experience nothing unpleasant and nothing contrary to your desires.

If we have peace with God, and we have it through virtue, much more will He abide with us. He loved us so much that He came even to those who did not desire His coming.

Will He not show His love much more when He sees people turning to Him? [...]

If we have peace among ourselves, God will also be with us. But if we raise up war, the God of peace will not be with us.

Nothing is so hostile to the soul as vice. Conversely, nothing makes it so secure as peace and virtue.

Therefore one must begin with what depends on us, and then we shall draw God to ourselves. God is not the God of enmity and war.

Therefore leave enmity and war, both with God and with your neighbor. Live peaceably with all. Consider whom God saves.

“Blessed,” He says, “are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9). Such people continually imitate the Son of God.

You also imitate Him. Live peaceably. The more your brother is at enmity with you, the greater the reward that awaits you.

Listen to what the prophet says: “My soul has long dwelt with those who hate peace” (Ps 119:6). This is virtue. This is beyond the human mind.

This brings one near to God. Nothing is so pleasing to God as refusal to remember wrongs. It frees you from sins and blots out your offenses.

But when we quarrel and fight, we distance ourselves from God. From disputes comes enmity, and from enmity comes remembrance of wrongs.

Cut the root, and there will be no fruit. Thus we shall learn to despise worldly things.

There truly is no struggle over spiritual things. But everything you see happening, whether conflict, envy, or whatever one may name, happens because of worldly things.

Every conflict has its beginning either in covetousness, envy, or vainglory. Therefore, if we live peaceably, we shall also learn to despise earthly things.

Has someone taken your property? He has not injured you at all, provided he has not taken the riches above.

Has he hindered your glory? Provided it is not glory with God, it is insignificant glory. Strictly speaking, it is not glory, but only the name of glory, or rather dishonor.

Has he taken honor from you? He has not taken it from you, but from himself. Just as the offender injures not another but himself, so one who plots against his neighbor first destroys himself.

Whoever digs a pit for his neighbor falls into it himself. Therefore let us not plot against others, so that we may not harm ourselves.

When we begin to overthrow the glory of others, let us remember that we are harming ourselves. We are plotting more against ourselves.

Indeed, even if by overcoming an enemy we harm him before people, we injure ourselves before God, having provoked Him.

Therefore let us not harm ourselves. Just as we injure ourselves by injuring our neighbors, so by doing them good we benefit ourselves.

Therefore, when an enemy has harmed you, consider that he has benefited you. If you are prudent, you will not only avoid repaying him with equal evil, but will even do him good.

But you will say: the blow is very painful. Then think that you are not only doing no good to your enemy, but even punishing him, while benefiting yourself.

Then you will immediately begin to do good. What then? You will ask, should one do good with such an intention?

One should not do it with such an intention. But when your heart cannot bear the offense, bend it at least in this way.

Soon you will decide to abandon enmity. After this you will do good to your enemy as to a friend. In this way you will receive the blessings to come.

May we all be counted worthy to attain them in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

He who examines his inner life and, outwardly exhorting by his example, edifies others, dips the reed in the heart of the tongue. Thus he writes outwardly by word for his neighbors from within. Therefore the wondrous preacher, after saying many things in exhortation to his disciples, had no contradiction within himself from his conscience. Thus he safely added: “If there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do; and the God of peace will be with you.”

If He spared us when we were far from Him, will He not much more show His love for us when He sees us turning to Him?” According to the thought of our recent interpreter, “what in verse 8 the Apostle considers as the object of thoughts and desires, in verse 9 he presents as the object of action. The connection between the two is clear. Since an action presupposes a thought about it, the thought that called it forth must be pure if the action is to be pure in moral character. Therefore, on the path to moral perfection, man must first be concerned with purifying his thoughts and his heart. For from there, according to the word of the Lord, evil thoughts proceed (Mt 15:19). By requiring the realization of good thoughts, the Apostle shows that thoughts without application to deeds do not constitute perfection. The placing of this demand after verse 7, where it is said that the peace of God will guard your hearts, shows that, in assimilating grace, man must actively participate in the building up of his salvation” (Nazarevsky).

“By words I taught you this, and in deeds I showed you the same” (Blessed Theodoret). “Here is a beautiful instruction. In all his exhortations the Apostle presents himself as an example. As above he says, ‘You have us as an example’ (cf. Phil 3:17), so he says here: ‘you heard and saw in me.’ From words, actions, and manner of life you learned. Since it was impossible to speak in detail about everything, he spoke briefly and generally: ‘you heard and saw in me,’ that is, when I was with you. It is as though he said: I guided you by words and by deeds. Do the same” (St. Chrysostom). “And the God of peace will be with you.” God is everywhere, but He is not with all and not in all, because not all are with Him. Self-pleasing and the passions distance us from God, even to the point that we forget Him altogether. But as soon as we choose to please God instead of ourselves, and virtues instead of passions, then we begin to be with God. God has long been with us. Only sins separated us. As soon as sins are removed, He is present. Through repentance and the promise to please God, we are reconciled with Him. He receives us when we turn to Him, graciously covers us with His love, and fills us with every power. “When we have peace with God, then all the more will He abide with us. If He spared us when we had withdrawn from Him, will He not much more show His love for us when He sees us turning to Him?” (St. Chrysostom).