Chapter 1
To the Philippians…Love, Paul
For just a moment, imagine that you are one of the early Christians in the church at Philippi. The whole concept of “the church” is somewhat new to everyone. You don’t have a Bible. The only Scriptures in existence are the Jewish Old Testament writings, and copies of those are rare and hard to come by. There are no Christian books to read, no blogs to peruse and comment on, no radio or television programs to turn to for encouragement. You and your brothers and sisters in Christ are virtually cut off from contact with other believers. Oh sure, once in awhile news of other churches and believers reaches your city, but even then it is usually bad news: Christians are being persecuted, imprisoned, and even put to death for their faith in Christ. Perhaps you experience a moment of fear as you hear the news; maybe tears well up in your eyes as you remember the beloved Apostle Paul, the founder of your church, who now is standing on trial for his preaching of the gospel.
But
today…today is different! Today, your good friend and coworker in gospel
ministry, Epaphroditus, returns from his trip to assist the apostle during his
imprisonment in Rome. Long ago your church family had sent Epaphroditus out on
this mission. But shortly after his departure, you learned that he had become
deathly ill along the way, and you had no idea if he ever even made it to Rome.
Your church joyfully gathers to welcome him home and to hear stories of his
journey. You are especially excited to learn how Paul is doing and if his trial
is going well. But what Ephaphroditus holds in his hand is even better! He
stretches out a scroll filled with the sentimental emotions often found in
letters. There it is…at the top of the letter…“Paul and Timothy, servants of
Christ Jesus to all of the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, along
with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.”[1]
The Author: Paul
Paul clearly identified himself as the author of this “love letter” in the very first verse. He included Timothy’s name, which probably did not mean that Timothy was directly involved in the writing of the letter (i.e., as a “co-author”), but that he was with the apostle when he wrote it. Timothy, who was a well-known Christian leader at the time of writing, had been present when the church at Philippi was founded (Acts 16) and had continued to serve the Lord in that region (Acts 19).
The great apostle and author of at
least thirteen New Testament (NT) letters betrayed a sense of humility in introducing
Timothy and himself as “servants of
Christ Jesus.” This word “servant” described a slave who was owned by someone
else and whose life was entirely submitted to the wishes of his owner. Since
slavery was common in the NT era, the meaning and implications of this word
could not be missed by his readers. Paul viewed himself and Timothy as
belonging to Jesus Christ, and everything in their lives was entirely submitted
to serving Him alone. He may also have had in mind the Old Testament (OT) title
reserved for prophets, priests, and kings: “servant of the Lord.” As such, Paul
realized that he was filling an honored position in service to the King of
kings and Lord of lords. So he was responsible to carry out his duties both
humbly and faithfully. He was called by God to the privileged position of
carrying the torch of the gospel to the darkest reaches of the earth—a calling
and mission to which all believers were appointed by Jesus Christ (Matthew
28:19-20). Yet he dare not carry out that mission arrogantly promoting himself
and exalting his own position, for he and Timothy were mere bondservants, owned
by their Lord who had sent them.
We must see here a reflection of our
position in Christ as well. Although we are not “apostles,” in the same sense
as Paul, we have nonetheless been commissioned by Christ as His ambassadors (1
Corinthians 5:20). You and I hold a privileged position, much like the OT
prophet, priest, or king, in which we act as representatives for the true King
of the universe. We must take care to fulfill our responsibilities of
evangelism and discipleship faithfully and diligently, realizing that this is
the mission to which we have been called. At the same time, this honored role
should never become a source of conceit or selfishness. We are owned by our
Lord and are merely workers in His field (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). It is He who
produces the harvest and who is worthy of all the credit.
The Place: House Arrest in Rome
As we have already noted, Paul was
in prison while writing this letter (1:7, 13-14). Although Paul was in prison
on several occasions, this epistle was probably written towards the end of his first
imprisonment in Rome, which was actually more of a “house arrest” (Acts 28:16,
30-31). You may recall that towards the end of the Book of Acts, Paul was
arrested while preaching in the temple at Jerusalem (Acts 21:17-36). After
several attempts on his life, he had multiple opportunities to defend the
gospel and share his faith before Governors Felix (Acts 24:10-27) and Festus
(Acts 25:1-12), and before King Agrippa and his wife (Acts 25:13-27). It was
during those hearings that he felt compelled to appeal to Caesar for a trial in
Rome (Acts 11-12). In chapters 27 and 28 of Acts, we read of the apostle’s
hazardous voyage to capital city, which included a shipwreck on the Island of
Malta. At the end of Luke’s record of Paul’s journeys, we find him in the city
of Rome, where he was under guard, but was allowed to rent his own quarters,
from which he still had a somewhat limited freedom to preach the gospel for
about two years (Acts 28:30-31).
The
apostle would eventually face a second imprisonment in Rome, during which he
wrote 2 Timothy and expected eventually to be executed at the hands of the
tyrannical Roman Emperor, Nero (2 Timothy 4:6-8). But the result of his trial
that he anticipated was the polar opposite when writing this letter to the Philippians.
He fully expected that his trial would end favorably and he would be released
(1:19, 25-26; 2:23-24). This seems to point, then, to his first imprisonment
for the writing of Philippians, which would place the date for writing this
letter around the early part of a.d.
63.
The Readers: The Church at Philippi
The City of Philippi
The city of Philippi was a
fortified, military city near the Thracian border in Macedonia, about ten miles
from the Aegean Sea (see map). It was
located on the famous Via Egnatia ("Egnatian Way") which ran
through the city itself, dividing it into two parts: Upper Town and Lower Town.
Its ancient name was Krenides (or Crenides), meaning “The Little Fountains,”
due to the existence of numerous springs throughout the region.
Originally,
the city was settled by Greek colonists from the nearby island of Thasos
(359-60 b.c.). Realizing the
city’s strategic military importance, Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander
the Great) enlarged and fortified the city, and then named it after himself
(356 b.c.). He was particularly
interested in the gold and silver mines in the neighboring city of Pangaeus
As a Roman colony, the inhabitants
of the city relished their Roman citizenship and privileges and meticulously
mimicked the capital city, so much so that the city was sometimes referred to
as a “Miniature Rome.” It was primarily made up of Roman colonists, including
many war veterans, but also included the older Macedonian populace and a
considerable blend of Orientals. Its citizens spoke both Latin and Greek and
regularly wore Roman clothing. They were open to various forms of worship of false
gods and cults. Their attitude towards religion was essentially “whatever god
works!” There were very few Jews in the city; in fact, there were not even enough
for them to have a Jewish synagogue, so they maintained their worship at a
“place of prayer” outside the city (cf. Acts 16:12 -13 ).
The Church at Philippi
The church at
Paul
normally began his missionary work in a city by preaching at the local
synagogue to the Jewish population. But since there was no synagogue in
Philippi, he went to their place of prayer by the river, where Lydia became the
first convert to Christ from Philippi (Acts 16:13-14). After her conversion,
those in her household also responded to the gospel, and her home became the
base for Paul’s missionary work in the area and the place of assembly for the
church at Philippi (Acts 16:15).
Paul's
ministry there generated somewhat of a stir when he cast out a demonic spirit from
a slave-girl whose fortune-telling had made her masters rather wealthy (Acts
16:16-21). As a result of this conflict, Paul and Silas were beaten and ended
up in prison, which provided the setting for the well-known account of the
earthquake and the conversion of the Philippian jailer and his family (Acts
16:22-26). It appears that when Paul and his other companions left Philippi , he left Luke behind to assist with the newborn
church there.[2]
The vast majority of the membership
of the church was Gentile (non-Jewish), but there were a few Jewish converts. This
body of believers held a special place in the apostle's heart and would be
visited by him on at least two other occasions (2 Corinthians 2:12-13; Acts 20:6 ). Apart from the biblical record,
there is little known about the church at Philippi, except that they were later
visited by the Christian martyr Ignatius and were commended for their treatment
of him in a letter from his friend Polycarp.
The Message of the Letter
Why Did Paul Write This Letter?
What prompted the apostle to write this letter right now? We learn towards the end of the letter that the Philippians had sent a financial gift to Paul for which he desired to offer his thanks as well as to express his warm feelings for them (4:10-20). We also know that, in spite of his severe illness, Epaphroditus had successfully reached Paul and ministered to him in Rome. Now it would be necessary to send him back home so the church would know that he had recovered from his life-threatening sickness. Sending Epaphroditus home would provide an opportunity for the apostle to pen a letter to his dear friends in Philippi (2:25-30).
What Did Paul Want to Say?
So what did God want to communicate through the apostle to his friends at Philippi? We can see from the content of the letter that Paul wanted to let the Philippians know about his present circumstances and give them a report on God's work in Rome. He wanted to tell them about the generally satisfactory results of his imprisonment (1:12-20) and that he was still awaiting the verdict of his appeal to Caesar (2:23). Once that verdict was handed down, he planned to send Timothy to them (2:19-23), and then would eventually make a visit himself (2:24).
Paul
also sought to express to the Philippians his own affection for them and the
joy that they had inspired in his heart (1:3-11). It could be said that the prevailing
mood of his letter was joy. “Paul's Letter to the Philippians is like an
open window into the Apostle's very heart. In it we have the artless outpouring
of his unrestrained love for and his unalloyed joy in his devoted and loyal
Philippian friends. It is the most intimate and spontaneous of his writings.”[3]
Paul also felt
compelled to warn the church about two groups of false teachers: Judaizers
(3:2-16) and Antinomians (3:17-4:1). Judaizers were those who demanded
that Gentile believers must submit themselves to the Mosaic Law and other
Jewish customs and rituals. Antinomians, in a sense, were the exact
opposite. They taught that because of God’s grace they had absolute freedom
from any kind of law and could therefore do whatever they wanted—sinful or not.
Apparently the danger from these teachers was from outside the church rather than
from within, since Paul did not directly address the teachers themselves, but
warned the church family to beware of them. Paul often attacked these two
groups in his epistles, especially the Judaizers. It is likely that he heard
about the impeding danger to the Philippian church from Epaphroditus.
Finally, there were apparently seeds
of disunity beginning to sprout within the church which needed Paul's gentle
correction. Again, his knowledge of this issue resulted from his contact with
Epaphroditus. It would seem that the problem was not yet full-blown since Paul
did not directly confront and rebuke their disunity (e.g., 4:2-3). Instead, he
encouraged unity in ministry (1:27-29) and selfless attitudes that would
produce such unity (2:1-11).
In a Nutshell…
Here, in this small letter, we truly get a glimpse of Paul’s devotion to the gospel and love for the churches that he had started. He loved them; he prayed for them; he longed to be with them; he warned them; he encouraged them; and he invested not just his time, but his very life in seeing them grow into Christ-likeness (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). Even more, the apostle desired that this same devotion and love be imitated by the members of Christ’s body as well. They must selflessly love each other deeply and fervently, and they must be bound together by their devotion to the gospel and commit their very lives to advancing it. This was the mission that Jesus Christ had given to Paul and to the Philippian believers. This is the mission that our Lord has given to us today!
[1]All
Scripture citations, unless otherwise noted, are based on the author’s own
translation.
[2]Luke,
the author of the Book of Acts, stops using “we” in reference to Paul’s
missionary group and begins using “they” (cf. Acts 17:1). So it seems that Luke
was no longer with the group.
[3]D. Edmond
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