Compared to some of Paul’s
other letters,
his message to the church
at Philippi jumps all over the place.
Sadly, his more focused an organized letters are organized so out of the
necessity of providing teaching and correction to troubled churches. Happily, the Philippians seemed to need
little of this. Paul writes this letter
mostly to share news and encourage a church he had not visited in years.
Paul founded the church in
Philippi, a city in what is now Greece,
possibly the first European
church. Early on, they had been
supporters of his mission, though it appears they had not been in contact for
several years.
The arrival of Epaphroditus,
a messenger from the Philippian church, prompted Paul to write. They had heard of his imprisonment and
hardships and, though they had long been out of contact with the planter of
their congregation, they wanted to take care of him. Paul doesn’t say what they sent, but it seems
that Epaphroditus spent some time in Rome
seeing to Paul’s needs before Paul sent him back with Timothy
and this letter.
The only note of correction
in the book is and admonishment to be humble.
He also wanted a couple of prominent women in the church to settle their
differences.
Much of the letter is
encouragement. Paul encourages the
Philippians to continue faithfully in the Gospel,
assured of their home in heaven. In
spite of his troubles, Paul is joyful and he wants them to be full of joy,
too. He praises their generosity.
A special point of joy is
that the Gospel was advancing. Paul was
happy to endure imprisonment because it gave him opportunity to preach the
Gospel. Even people working in Caesar’s
palace had become Christians.
The reason for all of this
is Christ. The salvation, assurance, and power to live a
new life, for the Philippians and all believers to this day, are from Jesus
Christ. The best a man be on his own is
little compared to the perfect righteousness of Christ, which God
freely imparts to us His gift. The
temporary hardships of this life, with which Paul was very familiar, were
nothing compare to the eternal joy and perfection God has in store for His
people.
In many of his letters, Paul
opposes those who preach something other than the Gospel. Often it was Judaizers,
but it was sometimes Gnostics
or others who would twist the Gospel into something else. He strongly objected to teachers of false
doctrine. In this letter, though, he
mentions people who preach the Gospel for selfish reasons—even to hurt
him. This doesn’t seem to bother him
much, his main concern being that the truth of Christ be proclaimed.
Paul also wrote
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