seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons[a]:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[b] that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard[c] and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[d] 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit,[e] striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
a. Philippians 1:1 The word deacons refers here to Christians designated to serve with the overseers/elders of the church in a variety of ways; similarly in Romans 16:1 and 1 Tim. 3:8,12.
b. Philippians 1:12 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in verse 14; and in 3:1, 13, 17; 4:1, 8, 21.
c. Philippians 1:13 Or whole palace
d. Philippians 1:19 Or vindication; or salvation
e. Philippians 1:27 Or in one spirit
This is from the bible-studys.org site.
The city of Philippi. The city was established by and named after, Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. After Octavian defeated Mark Antony's army at Actium (in 31 B.C.), Philippi was designated as a military colony with special privileges of citizenship. This may account for the terminology used (in 1:27 politeuesthe), "to conduct oneself as a citizen"), and (3:20) (politeuma, "citizenship"). Proud of their citizenship, its inhabitants called themselves "Romans" (Acts 16:21). The official language was Latin, but the daily tongue was Greek. According to (Acts 16:12), Philippi was the "chief city of that part of Macedonia." Its importance lay not least in its being a crossroads lying on one of the main routes between Asia and Europe.
We will find many different things about this church at Philippi and the one in Corinth. In fact, the first church meetings here, were held in Lydia's home. Actually, Lydia and her family were the first converts to Christianity here. We will find that Paul had been instructed directly from God to go to this area, because they needed help.
There was no synagogue in this area, and the women were praying out at the river bank where they washed. They were there on the Sabbath, and Paul went there and brought them the good news of the gospel.
This city was said to be a Roman city in Greece. This made this church a Gentile church. There was not the problem with the Jews at this time, because they were not prominent in worship here. Both Latin and Greek were spoken here in Phillip. This was a poor church, but one that gave generously to help Paul. This was the only church that Paul would take help from.
In this church, we see ministry of the women more prominent than in the other churches. Paul, on one occasion, tells the church people to cooperate with the women that had ministered with him.
Paul has, a much more personal approach to this church than to the church in Galatia Ephesus, or the church at Corinth. For some reason, he felt more at ease and personal with these Christians than with any of the others.
All formality was dropped in this letter. This does not mean that Timothy wrote this letter, but that Timothy was in agreement. One notable variation here is that Paul included Timothy’s name because Timothy was an important gospel coworker in and around Philippi and a trusted corroborating witness to the truths Paul expounded.
Bowels in Greek refers to the nobler human entrails or organs; the heart, liver and lungs. By a figure of speech one word “bowels” is changed for another, love, only remotely connected with it; that is, as a man’s entrails are located deep within his body, so his strongest passions (e.g. love), come from deep within.
For Paul to say that he longs for the Philippians with the “bowels of Jesus Christ” is to say that he longs for them with the love of Christ. He is saying that only God knows how much he believes that they will stay with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
“Things that are excellent” means “things that really matter.” This refers to important issues. As the Philippians’ love increases in knowledge and discernment (verse 9), they will be able to accurately distinguish the vital and worthwhile things in life from those that are not.
Contextually, the readers’ love for Paul vexes them as they are anxious over his imprisonment. He wants them to perceive his imprisonment as being among those “things that really matter”, because of the good that God will bring out of it. The purpose for such discrimination is that ye may be sincere or, morally pure, and without offense till the day of Christ.
Waxing confident means “depending on.” The whole verse could be rendered, “And the majority of the brethren, depending on the Lord, because of my imprisonment have much more courage to speak the word fearlessly.”
The Roman believers were aroused by Paul’s bonds and, relying upon the Lord for enablement, were more courageous that before to spread the gospel in and around Rome. The whole church, thus stirred, did more in spreading the Good News that Paul could have done by himself had he not been in jail.
It seemed that the strength Paul showed in chains gave the other brethren more confidence. They felt if Paul loved the Lord enough to suffer imprisonment for Him, they could too. It was as if he were the example of what all believers should be willing to go through, if necessary for Christ.
This is from the easy English site.Paul speaks about their way of life as citizens. He means as citizens of Rome. He also means as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. He speaks directly about their home in heaven in 3:20. To be Roman citizens meant to obey Roman laws. It also meant to enjoy the benefits that they gave. And they could be proud of those benefits too. In the same way, the gospel brings blessings but also responsibilities. The Christians’ behaviour should be of the highest standard. Paul is not yet sure whether he will be able to visit them. And he reminds them about that. His absence should make no difference. He wants to know that his appeal to them has been successful. He wants to know that they are united. And he wants to know that their faith remains strong. They need to fight close together as Roman soldiers did in close lines. They are fighting ‘for’ the gospel. They are not merely defending it. They are also struggling to spread the good news about Christ.
‘afraid of’ comes from a special *Greek word. It describes how horses behave. When something surprises them, they jump up. And they rush away from it. Dangerous things, that they do not expect, may happen to the Christians at Philippi. Even then, they must show courage.
Their ‘opponents’ may have been any or all of these things:
1 Jews who opposed the Christian faith. When Paul first visited Philippi, there were very few Jews in the city. But the situation may have changed and perhaps there were now more Jews in Philippi. They might be causing bad feelings against Christians.
2 Gentiles, including Roman officials, whose attitude to the church was changing. They were just beginning to turn against Christians.
3 False teachers of two kinds:
· Jewish Christians who said that Gentiles must have Jewish circumcision first. And only then could they become Christians (3:23).
· Those who made God’s grace an excuse for allowing all their physical desires to control them (1:6).
‘a sign of their destruction’. Their opponents will see that they are wrong. Paul himself once thought that he was right to attack Christians. He failed. It was their faith in Jesus that made Christians strong. And Paul knew that now.
Well.... it's a new book... and a new theme. This time Paul is writing to the church that started in Lydia's home. Here's a church started by a woman! Wow does that change things. Lydia had been "Christian" to Paul. She didn't hold it against him that he was the one who stood there holding coats while his buddies beat the Disciple Stephen to death. I'm told that there are still countries in this world where Christians are few and far between. They don't have a building to meet in... they don't have the budget. They may also have to hide these meetings in some countries where Christianity is illegal. There are some countries that think the Christian way of doing things is too dangerous... all this forgiveness stuff makes people feel free.... and they need their humans to work... to obey... to stay in line. The whole idea of humans being equal to one another.... well that's just ludicrous to them. Apparently Philippi was like that.... there weren't a lot of Christians and on top of that... a woman was running things.... Paul helped her get started and he was encouraging her.
Now... Paul says being in prison is helping his mission. At first I had a hard time with this. Paul claims being in jail helps the church.. At first I was thinking about the logistics of it all. There was no pony express.... people walked everywhere... or took a boat.... and Paul was a long way from everywhere on foot.... so his letters were not an every day occurrence. Then I figured it was a good thing that Paul was in jail because the jail was like a central location for the church. People knew where Paul was.... so correspondence could be sent to a central location.
The idea that Paul had been jailed for preaching about Christ would have really made the news back then. Here's a short ugly bowl legged bald guy who was no public speaker.... dull ugly boring Paul.... who had been once guilty of the murder of a Disciple of Jesus named Stephen. Now, he had switched sides and he was preaching that a man the Romans crucified on the cross.... lived. The Roman guard at the cross pronounced that Jesus was dead... they pierced his belly and water came out... Jesus was dead.... and they sealed Jesus in a tomb. Yet Paul... was preaching He was alive... like Lazarus... walked right out of the tomb. Oh they couldn't let that get around... those Romans had to keep Paul locked up.... and that made the news and spread the word... locking him up did more harm for the cause of Rome than leaving him alone would have. Now that nogoodnic had a following... from jail....
