“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5, KJV)

Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.  We should adjust our mentality and thinking to align with that of Christ Jesus.  This passage is not talking about copying some of the actions of Jesus, like religious people do when they mimic a few outward deeds that Jesus did.  The point here is an inward change that will affect all our behavior. We need to adopt the same attitude or way of thinking that Jesus had. Paul then delineates exactly what he means by the “mind” or “attitude” of Christ Jesus. 

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“All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.” - Philippians 4:22

Paul wrote Philippians from prison, apparently awaiting trial.  (See Philippians 1:13-14).  Roman prisons were very harsh, dangerous places – probably much worse than prisons today.  He must have been physically uncomfortable.  In addition, he faced false accusations from the religious leaders in Israel, which had caused his imprisonment – and false accusations are very frustrating.  While in prison, he had to worry about the churches he had planted falling under the control of self-centered preachers who would turn the new convert’s Christianity into a competition for keeping religious rules, elevating man, and abandoning revelation for dead traditions. He worried every day about these nascent churches, hoping they would continue in the correct doctrine and practices.  He was unable to visit them and remind them of God’s Word and their previous experiences. 

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Philippians 2:20-21 – “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

At the end of a chapter where Paul discusses the contrast between religion (rules and traditions) and the true Work of the Holy Spirit (Philippians 3), he contrasts the attitude or mindset of people in each category about where they belong. The false Christian has a “mind set on earthly things.”  They belong to this world, to the worldly system that goes its own way and ignores God’s revelation.

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