Paul has much to boast about in his Jewish/Pharisaic successes (3:4-6). But when he comes to believe Jesus as the Christ, he starts to accurately perceive them as entirely worthless. What he thought was a gain actually wound up being a loss! With this accounting language of gain and loss, Paul reveals to us the two sides of this spiritual ledger: Christ as gain and everything else as loss.

Paul ends the previous section with the command: "rejoice in the Lord" (3:1a). And with this, he calls us to be a community of joyful saints, rid of the interpersonal conflicts so common in the world. Paul then in 3:1b moves on to a new topic to guard us against the foolish practice of trusting in the flesh.

After Paul explains his near-term plans for Timothy and his own future visit to Philippi, he brings up Epaphroditus whose coming is without delay.

Paul ends the section on holiness (2:12-16a) with a reference to a shared joy among God's people. This is the joy gospel ministers have as they serve God's church. And this is the joy the church has as they receive their loving service.

Paul calls us to selfless unity (1:27-2:4) and shows the example of Christ (2:5), who gave Himself up in deference to the Father (2:6-8) and did not exalt Himself (but the Father did!) (2:9-11). Then, in 2:12, Paul signals a conclusion to this section with the words "so then." Here, he harkens back to the ideas of 1:27 and adds two commands: one serious and one practical.

As Paul exhorts the Philippian church to Christian unity (1:27-2:4), he calls them to selflessness. This is because unity always requires the loss of self for the benefit of the group. It is at this point that Paul gives us the apex of all examples of selflessness—Christ. He calls us to tune our minds to His actions of self-denial, self-sacrifice, self-humiliation and non-self-exaltation.