Help Right Where You Are
What God has Done
This epistle, one of Paul’s four “Prison Epistles,” was written during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (A.D. 61–63), probably in the Spring of A.D. 63, since Paul’s case was about to be heard before the Roman Emperor Nero at the time the letter was written and this hearing took place in the Spring of A.D. 63.
A. PAUL WRITES TO GIVE THE PHILIPPIANS INFORMATION CONCERNING HIMSELF—The Philippians have heard that Paul’s case is finally coming to trial. They are anxious to hear the latest developments. Paul writes to tell them that his case is about to be heard, that he expects a favorable outcome, that he hopes to dispatch Timothy shortly with more news, and that he himself hopes to be released soon and to personally visit them.
B. PAUL WRITES TO TELL THE PHILIPPIANS OF HIS WARM AFFECTION FOR THEM—Paul tells the Philippians of his thankfulness for them, of his concern for them, of his prayers for them, and of his yearning to see them. See 4:1.
C. PAUL WRITES TO WARN THE PHILIPPIANS TO BE ON GUARD AGAINST TEACHERS OF ERROR—He warns them against those who teach legalism and those who teach antinomianism. There is no evidence that such teachers were at work in Philippi or that such teachers were on their way to Philippi but Paul knows from experience that such teachers are on the loose in the Roman Empire and that they are dangerous men and so should be constantly guarded against.
D. PAUL WRITES TO EXHORT THE PHILIPPIANS TO DEVELOP CHRISTIAN GRACES—He urges them to cultivate unity, humility, joy, and steadfastness.
His exhortation to unity is the most prominent exhortation and is several times repeated. Paul knows that incipient divisions in the local church may grow and eventually destroy that church.
IT IS INFORMAL IN ITS STYLE—It is not a formal epistle, but an informal letter.
B. IT IS WARM AND INTIMATE IN ITS APPROACH—It glows with love and affection. Paul calls the readers “brethren” six times and “beloved” three times. Note the multiple terms of endearment in 4:1.
C. IT IS SPONTANEOUS AND AIMLESS IN ITS COMPOSITION—Paul is not developing a doctrinal treatise, so he follows no outline or rigid form but rather, he allows his thoughts to flow freely. This makes the epistle pleasant to read but difficult to outline.
In its lack of system and order, Philippians reminds us of Second Corinthians, for it too is an epistle written in a state of high emotions.
D. IT IS PRACTICAL IN ITS NATURE—Almost everything in the epistle may be applied to our lives in a practical way.
E. IT IS JOYFUL IN ITS TONE—A summary of the epistle is “I rejoice, rejoice ye” (Paul uses the words “joy” and “rejoice” seventeen times in this four-chapter epistle). Paul’s joy is the more striking when we consider his circumstances at the time of his writing this epistle (Christian joy is better than Christian happiness for the former is not dependent upon what happens to us but upon our knowledge of our personal relationship to Jesus Christ).
F. IT IS RELATIVELY BRIEF IN ITS MESSAGE—It is one of the shortest of Paul’s church epistles. Paul apparently intended to make it even more brief for he at least two times attempts to close the epistle before he actually does so. See 3:1 and 4:8.
The founding of the church at Philippi is recorded in Acts 16:9–40. The church was founded in the year A.D. 52 while Paul was on his second missionary journey.
When Paul, Silas, Luke and Timothy arrived in Philippi from Neapolis, they, on the first Sabbath day after their arrival, spoke the gospel to a group of Jewish women gathered for prayer by the Gangites riverside. A Jewish-proselyte business woman, Lydia, after having her heart opened by the Lord, believed and was baptized along with her whole family. Her hospitality to the missionaries set the pattern of warmth and hospitality which later was followed by the Philippian church. Next a slave girl was won to the Lord, resulting in the beating and imprisonment of Paul and Silas by the city’s magistrates (Praetors). After the missionaries’ imprisonment, the Roman Philippian jailor and his family, through an earthquake and the preaching of Paul, became believers and were baptized. The next morning Paul and Silas were released from prison but felt it wise to leave Philippi. Luke and apparently Timothy were left in Philippi to care for the infant church in Philippi, a church made up of Orientals, Greeks, and Romans (as is revealed in the conversion of Lydia, the slave girl, and the Philippian jailer).
During the following five years, Paul stayed in contact with his beloved church at Philippi, the most unswervingly loyal of all of his churches, through Silas (Acts 18:5), Timothy (Acts 19:22), Luke (Acts 17:1; 20:6), and possibly others. The church at Philippi kept in contact with their beloved founder by sending him love gifts, Phil. 4:15, 16; 2 Cor. 11:8; Acts 18:5.
In the Summer of A.D. 57, Paul visited the church at Philippi, 1 Cor. 16:5; 2 Cor. 7:5 (at this time, Second Corinthians was written, probably from Philippi). Then again, in the Spring of A.D. 58, as Paul was returning to Jerusalem from his third missionary journey, he visited the Philippian church, Acts 20:6, keeping the Passover season with them. Paul, as far as the record goes, had no further contact with the Philippians during the following three or four years but at some point in Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, the Philippians heard of Paul’s imprisonment in Rome and sent one of their members, Epaphroditus, to minister to Paul and to present him with a love gift from the Philippian church, Phil. 2:25–30, 4:10–19.
What God is Doing
THE OCCASION FOR THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK—The return of Epaphroditus to Philippi
The occasion was not Paul’s knowledge of some doctrinal or moral error existing in the Philippian church, for we find nothing in the epistle indicating that a problem existed in the Philippian church which needed Paul’s urgent attention. Even the differences between two female members of the church, 4:2, 3, seem to have been somewhat minor in their nature. Again, the occasion was not Paul’s reception of the love gift from the Philippians, 4:10–19,and his desire to thank them for that gift,for Epaphroditus had brought this gift some time before and no doubt Paul had already thanked the Philippians for it.
The immediate occasion for the writing of the epistle was the return of Epaphroditus to Philippi after his recovery from a serious illness contracted while ministering to Paul in Rome. Paul uses Epaphroditus’ return to Philippi, 2:25–30, as the occasion to send with him a love letter to his dear friends in Philippi.
What God wants to do
PAUL’S SALUTATION TO THE PHILIPPIANS (1:1–8)
A. THE WRITERS (1:1a)
1. Their names
a. Paul—Paul (meaning “little”), formerly known as Saul (meaning “to pray”), had founded the church at Philippi during his second missionary journey, A.D. 50–53, and had personally visited this church in the Summer of A.D. 57 and again in the Spring of A.D. 58. Now he addresses this church, A.D. 63, from his hired-house prison in Rome.
b. Timotheus—Timotheus (meaning “he who honors God”) is not the co-author of this letter to the Philippians but in his salutation Paul associates Timothy with himself for three reasons: (1) Timothy is with Paul in his Roman prison as Paul writes; (2) Timothy is in hearty agreement with all that Paul writes; and (3) Timothy has had former close association with the Christians at Philippi (he helped to found the church at Philippi, Acts, chapter 16, and he visited the church during Paul’s third missionary journey, Acts 19:22). He plans to visit them again in the near future, 2:19.
2. Their office
They are “servants (Greek, douloi, love-slaves) of Jesus Christ.” They are by choice love-slaves of Jesus, living to do His will, trusting Him to supply all of their needs.
Paul does not refer to his apostleship for he is addressing beloved brethren who will readily obey any instructions that he gives them and so an appeal to his authority is not at all necessary. Paul does not refer to his apostleship in any of his three Macedonian epistles (Philippians, I Thessalonians or II Thessalonians).
B. THE READERS (1:1b)
1. “The saints at Philippi”—Note (1) that all believers (and not just the especially holy ones) are “saints” (set-apart ones); (2) that all believers are now “saints” (and not at some time after their death); and (3) that the saints addressed are in two places, in Christ Jesus in (not “at”) Philippi. The Philippian saints were both safe and supplied in Philippi because they were in Christ in Philippi.
2. “The bishops and the deacons”—In the early days of the Christian church, each local church had two sets of officials: (1) elders (bishops, overseers, presbyters, shepherds, pastors) and (2) deacons (servants, ministers). Elders cared for the spiritual needs of the saints and deacons ministered to the temporal needs of the saints.
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, mentions the bishops and the deacons at Philippi because probably it was they who had taken the lead in collecting and sending the love gift recently brought to Paul by Epaphroditus from the Philippian church, 4:18.
C. THE WISH (1:2)
Paul wishes the Philippians sanctifying grace (Greek, charis) and heartfelt peace (Greek, eirene). Sanctifying grace is God’s love in action toward His former enemies. Experiential peace is a feeling of well-being which comes from a knowledge that our lives are surrendered to God and that all of our needs can be and will be met by Him.