Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 2:3

"[doing] nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself;" — Philippians 2:3 (ASV)

This verse expresses the negative result of this unity of soul—that nothing will be done in “strife,” that is, factiousness (the word used in Philippians 1:17), or “vainglory”—nothing, that is, with the desire either of personal influence or of personal glory.

“For,” he adds, each will esteem other better than himself, or, rather, will hold that his neighbour is worthy of higher consideration and a higher place of dignity than himself (compare the use of the word in Romans 13:1 and 1 Peter 2:13, of temporal dignity). For the idea is of the ascription to others, not of moral superiority, but of higher place and honour. Self-assertion will be entirely overcome. So he teaches us elsewhere that charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own (1 Corinthians 13:4–5).