The goal of the Christian life should not just be wanting to get ourselves to heaven. No, it should be that of honoring God by seeking to be more like Jesus. That’s clearly what Paul was seeking as he wrote to the Philippians from his Roman imprisonment.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
Many regard this as an early Christian hymn because of its literary elegance and poetic rhythm. It is a major theological statement, as it describes first, Jesus’ humiliation (“even death on a cross”), and then second, His exaltation (“highly exalted Him”). That is the pattern we can expect in our lives: first being humbled as we struggle with sin in this present evil age, and then second as the Father promises to raise us up in exalted glory in the heavens.
We know that we will not be saved on the basis of our following Jesus’ example. That’s the false gospel of liberalism, seeking to have a faith LIKE Jesus (that’s salvation by works). No, we are saved by having faith IN Jesus (that’s salvation by grace). But having affirmed that, we see that the Christian life of those who have been saved by faith should be a life that imitates the holiness exemplified in Jesus’ earthly life. That’s the sanctification that follows justification. The theology in this passage reminds us of the words we find in Hebrews 12:12 about “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” We look to Him as the one whose payment on Calvary paid for our sin (His “passive obedience”), and also the one whose life sets the pattern toward which we earnestly strive (His “active obedience”).
In regard to the latter of those two, here in Philippians 2, Paul has written that it should be our goal to earnestly strive to have those spiritual qualities evident in Jesus’ life being increasingly formed in us as His disciples, consciously striving to cultivate those dimensions of the fruit of the Spirit that we see in Him. That’s the goal of the Christian life: that He might live in us, that people might see Him in us, that the will of God might be accomplished in us.
“May the Mind of Christ My Savior” is a hymn that wonderful expresses this, and develops the theme even beyond the mind to touch every aspect of our being. It is clearly based on the second chapter of Philippians, and its six stanzas almost sound like a six-point sermon outline based on verses 5-11. The text was written some time prior to 1912 by Kate Barclay Wilkinson (1859-1928) and then first published in the 1925 “Golden Bells Hymnal,” just three years before her death. She intended for each one of those six stanzas to be used each day of the week, leading up to Sunday. The hymn has become well-known in America as a popular song with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s triennial Urbana Missions Conference, and in IVP songbooks.
Born in Cheshire, England, she was the daughter of a mechanical engineer, William Becket Johnson. Using the nickname Katie, she married Frederick Barclay Wilkinson, a cashier, at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Timperley near Altrincham, Cheshire, in 1891. He survived her by nine years. We have no picture of her, and little is known about her apart from her having authored this hymn. She worked with girls and young women in west London in the Children’s Special Service Mission beach meetings in Colwyn Bay in North Wales from 1895 to 1898, and then St. Leonard’s-on-the-Sea on the south coast from 1900 to 1902. She raised funds for such worthy causes as Barnardo’s Homes and the Church Missionary Society. She and her husband engaged in aid work during World War I. She died at home in South Kensington.
She was apparently actively involved in the Keswick Deeper Life Convention movement, also known as the Higher Life Movement. Keswick is a market town and urban district in Cumberland, England. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Keswick was the site of a series of meetings designed to promote more devotion to Christ in the Church of England. It grew out of Wesleyan Arminian theology, and spread into the holiness theology of some branches of Pentecostalism, espousing what is sometimes called “entire sanctification,” teaching that one should seek a “second blessing” of being filled with the Holy Spirit so that one is enabled to live a life less influenced by sin, and some teaching even that this would enable one to “let go and let go,” and thereby live a sinless life.
This was believed by most Protestantism to be an unhealthy understanding of spiritual life. Princeton’s Reformed theologian B. B. Warfield and Liverpool’s Anglican bishop J. C. Ryle both opposed this view. More recently, J. I. Packer has also pointed out its errors. Ryle’s famous book, “Holiness,” was written as an alternative to this Keswick theology. Keswick was well-intentioned to promote godly living, but it missed the mark in serious ways. Nonetheless, Wilkinson’s hymn avoids any of the dangers of that faulty theology.
The language of the text is not so much a prayer to God, as it is an expression of the longing of the heart. Like some of the Psalms (as in Psalm 103, “Bless the LORD, O my soul”), its first person singular form of address is a way of speaking to our own hearts and souls. Each stanza begins with the words, “May I.” But as we sing, we are virtually asking that the Lord would grant what we hope for. And in each stanza, one for each day leading up to the Lord’s Day, we long for another dimension of Jesus’ character to be formed within us, His mind, His word, His peace, His love, His endurance, and His beauty. And throughout the text, we find one scriptural allusion after another.
In stanza 1, we need the mind of Christ so that our minds can be renewed to do His will (Romans 12.1-2). Also, we need to seek the mind of Christ from day to day because we must take up our cross daily and follow Him Luke 9:23). The result will be that by His love and power He will be controlling all we do and say so that others will see Christ living in us (Galatians 2.20).
May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me from day to day,
by His love and pow’r controlling all I do and say.
In stanza 2, we need the word of Christ dwelling in us. The mind of Christ lives in us to the extent that His word dwells in us richly (Colossians 3.16). Thus, we need to have the word of Christ in us from hour to hour so that it is our meditation all the day (Psalm 119.97). Only by allowing the word of Christ to dwell in us can we have the triumph that is in Christ by His power (2 Corinthians 2.14).
May the word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph only through His pow’r.
In stanza 3, we need the peace of God ruling our hearts. As the result of the word of Christ dwelling in us, we can have the peace of God in our hearts (Philippians 4.7). However, it is not enough just to have the peace of God; we need to have it rule our lives in everything (Colossians 3:15). The result will be that as we experience God’s peace comforting us, we can in turn comfort others (2 Corinthians 1.3-4).
May the peace of God my Father rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort sick and sorrowing.
In stanza 4, we need the love of Jesus filling us. When we live so that we are at peace with God, then His love is perfected in us (1 John 2.5). When we understand this love, we will exalt Him and deny ourselves (Matthew 16.24). Because of His love, we can have the victory that genuine faith brings (1 John 5.4).
May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing: this is victory.
In stanza 5, we need strength from the Lord to face the foe. When the love of Jesus fills us, we will recognize that there is a race that we must run (1 Corinthians 9.24). However, just as running a physical race requires one to be physically strong, so running the spiritual race requires one to be spiritually strong to face whatever foes or obstacles that we might face (Ephesians 6.10). This strength comes from looking unto Jesus (Hebrews 12.1).
May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus as I onward go.
In stanza 6, we need the beauty of Christ resting upon us. If we are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, then our lives will be having the right kind of influence on others whom we meet (Matthew 5.16). It should be our desire to win the lost, just as the one whom we follow came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19.10). In so doing, however, we must never preach ourselves but only Christ Jesus the Lord so that others see Christ in us, the hope of glory (2 Corinthians 4.5; Colossians 1.27).
May His beauty rest upon me as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel, seeing only Him.
While one of the things Paul wrote about in Philippians is that we should live with contentment, yet we should never be content with our progress thus far in our spiritual maturity. Paul wrote in chapter 4 that we must press on.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
We should always want more holiness, more of Jesus, more of each of these dimensions of His character.
The tune (ST LEONARDS) was composed by Arthur Cyril Barnham-Gould (1891-1953). After attending Ridley Hall at Cambridge, he became an Anglican minister in 1927, serving All Souls’ Church at Langham Place from 1927 to 1929 (the church where John Stott would serve from 1945 to 1975, as well as Richard Bewes [“Book by Book” series], and where Rico Tice has also been associated as part of the ministry staff), Holy Trinity Church in Brompton from 1932 to 1936, and St. Paul’s Church at Onslow Square from 1936 until his death in 1953. Text and tune were first published together in the 1925 “Golden Bells Hymnal.”
Here is a congregational singing of this magnificent hymn.