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Be Reasonable

By American Bible Society

The final chapter of Paul’s joy-filled letter to the Philippians has a flurry of inspiration. Rejoice always. Don’t worry, but pray. God’s peace will guard us. And more: thoughts and strength and contentment—boom, boom, boom—like the last minute of a fireworks display.

It’s easy to miss verse 5. There we find a fascinating Greek word that gets translated in several different ways. “Let your moderation be known unto all men,” says one version, but others have “reasonableness” or “a gentle attitude.” Another says, “Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.”

The Greek term behind all these phrases is epieikes. One commentator calls it “one of the truly great Greek words that is almost untranslatable.” Even Aristotle struggled to explain its meaning. In his masterpiece on ethics, that great philosopher spends multiple paragraphs spelling out the difference between justice and epieikes. While justice is crucial to a society, he writes, this moderation or reasonableness is even more valuable. Rules are necessary, but they need to be applied wisely. A person with epieikes might even bend the rules to accomplish a greater good. The term involves gentleness, consideration, a willingness to understand where people are coming from.

Paul urges the Christians in Philippi to live this way, openly, so their neighbors can observe them.

What do we know about those neighbors? Philippi was a Roman colony, populated largely by army vets, with very little Jewish presence. The church Paul started there would be surrounded by people who were at least indifferent and possibly hostile to their faith.

This context is not a lot different from ours.

Paul invites these Christians (and us) to rejoice always, to pray about everything rather than worrying, to trust the protection of God’s peace. The various things he asks them to “think about” in verse 8 are mostly Greek virtues—qualities admired by Aristotle, among others. Is Paul suggesting that Christians hunt for the praiseworthy elements of the surrounding culture, rather than scolding neighbors for not following God’s rules?

It all falls into place with that strange word from verse 5—moderation, reasonableness, gentleness, consideration, whatever you want to call it. Yes, there are rules, but we live by grace, and that grace spills over to our neighbors.

Why read the Bible? Because it’s the laboratory of grace—for us, and for those we encounter each day.