Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Church at Philippi, in what is today northern Greece, about 30 years after Jesus was executed, via crucifixion, by a cheap, brutish, ugly, superficial, violent Roman Empire, led by priggish, insecure, authoritarian white men who likened themselves to gods but paid homage to religion when it suited their pursuit of power.
When Paul wrote these words, he was a designated enemy of the state, and though it hadn’t killed him yet, it surely sought his humanity. They called him an agitator and a rioter, a dangerous foreigner who practiced a minority faith. More than once Paul had to prove his citizenship in order to evade Roman pursuit, and still he wrote most of his letters in chains, on house arrest or in prison, until they finally executed him, via beheading, around five years after he wrote those words.
So Paul’s command here is no flowery platitude, nor an excuse to look away from carnage and blood and bullet holes and stuffed animals and orphaned children. Rather, his truth and honor and justice and purity and pleasure and commendation and excellence and praise are reserved for what they rooted in reality, pain, sacrifice, and hard-fought grace. Kristin Du Mez
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