What does it mean to stand firm in one “spirit”?

Explanation:

What does Paul mean by in one spirit? We can deduce from the context that he likely has in mind standing firm in the Holy Spirit. We can deduce this for two reasons. First in Philippians 1:19, after having explained the hardship he faces, Paul says that he knows things will turn out for his deliverance by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.¹ So the Spirit is on Paul’s mind. Then, following his call for the Philippians to stand firm in one spirit, he reiterates the need to be united in the Spirit in Philippians 2:1–2.² There Paul says that if there is any participation in the Spirit, the Philippians ought to be of one mind. Between Philippians 1:19 and Philippians 2:1–2 we have Paul’s call for the Philippians to be in one spirit. Given that he has in mind throughout this section the power of the Holy Spirit to assist the believers, most likely one spirit refers to the Holy Spirit.

Counterargument:

The argument holds that Paul is on a theme regarding the power of the Holy Spirit, so when he refers to the one spirit in Philippians 1:27, we should take him to refer to the Holy Spirit. The problem is that there is a stronger theme running through Philippians 1:27–2:4, which is that the Philippians be united.³ Paul knows that the Philippians will face adversity for their faith, and since believers can persevere more readily as a community, it is important that the community stand firm together. Thus, Paul calls on the Philippians to stand firm as one spirit, united in mind (Philippians 1:27). This unity is a sign to the opponent of their destruction (Phil 1:28). Paul reiterates the importance of unity in Philippians 2:2 where he calls the Philippians to have the same love and be of one mind.

Response to counterargument:

While it is true that unity is an important theme for Paul in this section, his theology underlies his call to unity, and he knows that unity is achieved in the Holy Spirit.⁴ Thus, when unity as a Christian community is a theme of his train of thought, we ought to remember that underlying this call to unity is that unity happens through the power of the Holy Spirit. And in fact, in the case of Philippians 1:27 and Philippians 2:1–2, Paul indicates this specifically by calling for unity in the Holy Spirit.

Explanation:

We can understand what Paul means by one spirit because in one spirit is a familiar phrase for him. That is, he uses the same phrase in two other passages, and in both passages, it is clear that Paul has the Holy Spirit in mind. First, in 1 Corinthians 12:13 he reminds the Corinthians that in one Spirit they were baptized into one body. Second, in Ephesians 2:18 he writes that the Ephesians both access to one Father in one Spirit. Clearly in both 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Ephesians 2:18 Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. Likewise, when Paul uses the phrase in one spirit in Philippians 1:27 he likely uses the phrase in the same way and has in mind standing firm in the Holy Spirit.

Counterargument:

That Paul uses the phrase in one spirit to denote the Holy Spirit in other passages does not mean that that is how he uses it in every passage. He may be calling the Philippians to stand firm as a community, so he calls them to stand firm in one spirit and one mind. The fact is there is only so many ways to communicate the notion of standing together as a community, and it may just so happen that the same phrase is used to denote standing in the one spirit as a community and standing in one Spirit as in the Holy Spirit.

Response to counterargument:

While it may be true that the phrase in the spirit could be used to denote being one in spirit, that a phrase could be used a certain way does not mean that it is used that way. Rather, we have to consider the context to detect what Paul likely means. In the case of Philippians 1:27 we not only have Paul using the same phrase in two other letters to refer to the Holy Spirit, but he also discusses the Holy Spirit in both Philippians 1:19 and Philippians 2:1. Further, when we reach Philippians 4:1, he once again calls the Philippians to stand firm, but instead of calling them to stand firm in one spirit, he calls them to stand firm in the Lord. In other words, the Philippians ought to stand firm in the supernatural power of God to overcome their adversity in the world.

One weakness of this view is that it is not clear how Paul would hear that the Philippians stand firm in one Spirit, as in the Holy Spirit. That is, he says that when he is absent, he wants to hear that they stand firm in one spirit. It seems easier to testify that the community stands as one spirit, as in, they get along well, than that they stand in one Spirit, as in, they all stand in the Holy Spirit.

Explanation:

When Paul called the Philippians to stand firm (in one spirit, he follows this up with the phrase in one mind. Given that he repeats one with two different phrases, it is likely that he uses parallelism here.⁹ That is, it is likely that he repeats not just the term one but the whole phrase. Now it is clear that when Paul refers to one mind, he is in mind a united community. And since we know that Paul repeats himself using parallelism, the initial phrase must also mean something like a united community. Thus, when Paul calls the Philippians to stand firm in one spirit, he likely has in mind one spirit as in one human spirit.

Counterargument:

This view overlooks the fact that there are various types of Hebrew parallelism. Hebrew parallelism could be used to repeat the same phrase in a different way, but it could also be used to contrast two ideas, to strengthen two ideas, or in a sort of rhythmic fashion when the two ideas are not necessarily related.¹⁰ In the case of Philippians 1:27, Paul may be deploying parallelism of subordination.¹¹ In parallelism of subordination, an author introduces a concept and the follow-up phrase strengthens and completes it.¹² In this case we have Paul calling the Philippians to stand firm in the Holy Spirit, and then he follows up what this means by stating this has to do with being of one mind. Thus, the second phrase, in one mind, offers a fuller explanation of how the first is accomplished.

Explanation:

Paul calls the Philippians to stand firm in one spirit and mind as a prelude to Philippians 2:2 and Philippians 2:5. Specifically, when he calls them to one spirit and mind, he is calling them to have a united attitude.¹³ He is warming them up to his comments in Philippians 2:2 where he repeats this, asking them to complete his love by being of one mind. Then in Philippians 2:5 he explains that they should have a mind among themselves to care for each other’s needs. So we can see that there is a theme to Paul’s train of thought, which is that the Philippians be united in mind. So when he refers to standing firm in one spirit, he likely means they stand firm in one attitude.¹⁴

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that it asks us to take it that because Paul has the theme of unity in mind as he writes, we should take the phrase in one spirit to mean unity of mind. Of course, all that this argument establishes is that Paul often encourages the Philippians to be united in mind by specifically telling them to be united in mind. So why should Paul use the phrase in one spirit to call the Philippians to be united in mind, when he will specifically tell them to be united of mind on four other occasions (Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:2(2x); Philippians 2:5)? Further, there is no evidence from ancient texts that the notion of one spirit had anything to do with a united community.¹⁵ Thus, we are better off to conclude that when Paul wants to encourage the Philippians to be united in mind, he will call them to be united in mind. Added to this, he wants them to be in one spirit and because spirit is not used in ancient sources to refer to being united but is used by Paul to refer to the Holy Spirit, being in one Spirit has to do with being in the Holy Spirit.

The weakness of this view is that it is common for Paul to refer to standing in one Spirit, and when he does it refers to standing in the Holy Spirit. Thus, one needs to make a strong case to show that Paul does not use the term Spirit in this way, but based on the context, it is just as plausible, or more, that Paul means Holy Spirit. Thus, there’s just not enough reason to think that Paul goes against his normal usage of referring to the Holy Spirit with the phrase, in one spirit.