God’s Word for You

Philippians 2:3 Humility

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, March 8, 2026

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others to be better than yourselves.

Paul brings us into the realm of things that lie in effect between all of the yes and no items in the law. This is what Luther called the Mitteldinge, or “middle things.” We use a Greek term, adiaphora. It means “things that don’t make any difference,” that is, things that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God.

When people have become aware that their sins are forgiven, and that they are living in the state of grace (Romans 6:14), we will naturally want to guard this wonderful treasure. But when it comes to adiaphora, the “middle things,” we will want to take care that we will not despise a weak brother Christian on account of something he does or fails to do, but at the same time we will want to be careful not to offend a weaker brother or sister Christian on account of our Christian freedom. This is certainly what Paul means when he says here, “in humility consider others to be better than yourselves.” He also said, “Be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9).

There are countless examples of how this might happen. One instance I can certainly relate: In the past couple of decades, we have seen the King James Version replaced by newer translations that use more understandable language. Yet we have fine, believing Christians, who are convinced that only the King James Version is truly the word of God. It is an irrational position, but the time to argue about this or to point out their faults is not while they are on their deathbed. I have happily used the King James Version for deathbed devotions with such individuals. Now, we have an example about this very issue in Scripture. Sometimes, Jesus and his Apostles will quote from the Old Testament giving the Hebrew original in their own translation “on the spot,” as it were (such as Paul’s quote of Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthians 3:19, which follows the Hebrew but is different from the Greek Septuagint). Other times, they will quote from the existing Greek translation that we call the Septuagint (such as Paul’s quote of Psalm 14:1-3 in Romans 3:10-18). So we have two ways of translating God’s Word used side-by-side by the same Christ and the same Apostles. And no one seemed to be troubled by it. But in my deathbed example, I default to Paul’s admonition to “consider others to be better than me,” and just use the five hundred year-old version instead of the ten year-old EHV. Paul’s example was about food that had been sacrificed to an idol: “If what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall” (1 Corinthians 8:13). When something has not been commanded or forbidden, we don’t need to insist on a right or wrong way, nor should we hurt a weaker Christian’s faith because of it. On the other hand, if a Christian who is not a weaker brother should start insisting, then this becomes another matter, because their insistence may well lead to an unscriptural, and therefore a sinful, position, since whatever is contrary to God’s word (such as insisting where there is no insistence is not an adiaphoron, that is, a matter of indifference). Too often these matters have behind them the desire to create a false impression of unity, a desire to say that God’s word and the doctrine of Holy Scripture does not really matter, which is as far from being a matter of indifference as the sun in the sky is from a hole in the ground.

In our Confession we teach: “True adiaphora or things indifferent are in and of themselves no worship of God or even a part of it, but that we should duly distinguish between the two, as it is written, ‘In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the precepts of men’ (Matthew 15:9).”

The prophet Micah summarized this point with quick, memorable words: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). And Zephaniah said, “Seek righteousness, seek humility” (Zephaniah 2:3). True humility will permit the weaker brother to have his way when there is no command from God. The world does not understand this, and scoffs at it. “Humility is an abomination to a proud man.” But Peter says: “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Peter 5:5, Proverbs 3:34).

So the Holy Spirit preaches the law here by exposing our selfish ambition or vain conceit to want everything to go our way when God has not commanded or forbidden many things, those Mitteldinge or “middle things.” For this we repent as ask God to help us to walk humbly in the world, to consider other people, most especially weaker brothers and sisters in Christ, to be better than we ourselves are, for the sake of their souls.

The Gospel is proclaimed because we are yet considered to still be brothers and sisters of these weaker Christians; our sins—even sins of being thoughtless about the souls of others—have been forgiven on the cross. For this we rejoice and ask Jesus to guide us, day by day, encounter by encounter, and to happily give up our preferences for the sake of rescuing, and not stomping on, the faith and the souls of men.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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