Whatever is Christian?

4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

When Paul tells the Philippians to embrace whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise, he is not telling them to embrace only what is explicitly Christian. Dr. Gordon Fee says, "The six adjectives and two nouns that make up the sentence are as uncommon in Paul as most of them are common stock to the world of Greco-Roman moralism." The Greek word translated here as "dwell" probably implies taking into account the good things from their own culture and past, as long as it is consistent with Christ.

There is much that is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise that was not the product of Christians who were consciously attempting to glorify God by what they were doing. There is much art and music and architecture and literature and other kinds of work that fits these criteria, even though the human authors/workers were not Christian.

God made man with the ability to create and accomplish beautiful things. These abilities and accomplishments ought not glorify man but God, who created man. Even a baby’s babblings show forth the glory of God:

"From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise." (Psalm 8:2)

One must be very careful on this. There is much that might seem wholesome on the surface which is subtly pernicious. But the God who created all things said that everything was very good. He "richly supplies us with all things to enjoy" (1Tim.6:17).

God can create beautiful music through non-believing composers. He can create wonderful and helpful tools through non-believing inventors. He can show His glory through the lovely voice of a non-Christian singer, or the culinary skills of a non-Christian chef.

"For everything created by God is good." (1Tim.4:4)

"For the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains." (1Cor.10:26)

Something need not be explicitly Christian in order to glorify God, but it must be true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise.

(I don’t mean to say that a non-believing person is pleasing God by the things he does, for "without faith it is impossible to please God" - Heb.11:6. But his accomplishments can still glorify God in the sense that they show what a great God He is to have created man with such remarkable abilities.)

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth over and around us lies,

For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flow’r, sun and moon and stars of light,

For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight,

For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild,

For each perfect gift of thine to our race so freely giv’n,
graces human and divine, flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n,

Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.
(Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1864)

O God, You have created all things, and behold they are very good. The whole earth is full of Your glory! Even man, though he is sinful, is a demonstration of Your remarkable handiwork. Help me to enjoy Your creation. Help me to notice the signs and emblems of Your great talent and skill which are all around me. Help me not to dwell on the evil, Lord, but on Your beauty which is shown on every side. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!