Philippians 1:27 “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
Our “conversation” should “become” “the gospel of Christ” in every aspect of our lives; but, here Paul focuses upon three areas in particular: “ye stand fast in one spirit”, “with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel”, and “in nothing terrified by your adversaries”. The first two have to do with our bond of unity; how we work together, how we share the common purpose, and how we value our Lord first and each other above ourselves. To “stand fast” is to never give up and never back up, but always hold our position no matter how difficult or trying our situations may become. In this case, we are exhorted to “stand fast in one spirit”; that is, do not allow ourselves to become distracted from the unifying “spirit” of brotherly love and love of the Gospel that was given to us by our God-given Spiritual Birth; we must never slip away into selfish carnal motives and means to satisfy our fleshly desires. We are also charged to “stand fast” “with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel”; that is, we must work hard, with all diligence “together for the faith of the gospel”. “together” means, all working in unison, for the same reason and in the same way, all putting forth their best possible effort. The “faith of the gospel” refers to the perfect ‘fidelity’ of the “gospel”; that is, preach it, teach it, and live it just like God gave it. James put it this way, “it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). And, “in nothing terrified by your adversaries”; no matter how hard we try to get along with others, there will always be those who hate the humble Christian. The important thing to remember is that the Lord knows exactly who they are, where they are, and what they are doing; and we should also remember our Lord’s comforting exhortation, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). Thus, we are charged to “be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58)!