Philippians 2:21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. I. THINGS OF A DIFFERENT SORT SPOKEN OF. 1. Their own things — the things of this life; so called — (1) Because they belonged to them by providential disposal and civil right. (2) Some might call them so by a new covenant tenure so far as they used them to just and laudable purposes. (3) 'Twas well if others did not make them their own in a criminal sense, using them only for themselves, for self-indulgence. 2. The things of Jesus Christ: things of His kingdom. (1) The things of His glory, of which He is the object. (2) The things of our salvation, of which He is the author. II. A SINFUL DISPOSITION WITH REGARD TO THESE THINGS. "Seek" indicates the temper of the soul in contrivances and desires, and the actings of the life in its endeavours. 1. Some sought their own things, and not at all the things of Christ. 2. Others sought their own more than His. III. THE SUBJECT OF THIS DISPOSITION. "All" has special but not exclusive reference to ministers: for carnality in ministers usually spreads its contagion among the people; and the apostle afterwards speaks of both ministers and people as deeply infected with it when at the first summons of his second imprisonment they were so fearful of their secular interests that none dared publicly to own him (2 Timothy 4:16). (J. Guyse, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.WEB: For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. |
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