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.
This is from the commentary.To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi: The church in Philippi was founded by Paul some eleven years before this letter on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:11-40). This was the first church established on the continent of Europe.
One might simply say that when Paul prayed for the Philippians, he became happy. It is remarkable to see that Paul’s first reference to his own feelings or frame of mind in this letter is that of joy — though he wrote from prison and a possible soon execution.
This is from a site called "Bible Portal". Philippi was a city of Macedonia about nine miles from the sea, to the northwest of the island of Thasos, which is twelve miles distant from its port Neapolis, the modern Kavalla. It was named after Philip of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great), who conquered it about 356 BC and made it into one of one of his frontier strongholds.
The church at Philippi was the first Christian church in Europe, planted by the apostle Paul on his second missionary journey around AD 50 or 51, in response to his Macedonian vision
Timothy... the kid... was with Paul. Timothy's mother was Jewish and his father was Greek. He was a mutt, like Paul. They got along great, apparently. I know a woman who reminds me of the church at Philippi. When she calls, she makes me feel better. Her voice on the phone is just happy. She calls "to check in and give me some news". Oh, we text back and forth... "Hi Love ya... Just checking in". When she calls though, when she has a few minutes in her schedule, the sound of her happy voice just soothes my soul. Oh, we're not so lucky that all of her calls are always happy.... She is human so poop happens... but she gets over it and goes right back to that happy voice! I just love talking to her.
I think that's what Paul is trying to describe here. When he thinks of Philippi, he remembers that happy voice of the Philippians.
Paul had a vision. His vision was "church building". He could cause money and goods to flow between churches. Where there is commerce, there is communication. This church was in a great location. The hat they passed would be full of shiny baubles that Paul could "use". On the good side, the church was in a great location, and whatever Paul preached would spread.
So this is a letter to:
The happy Christians in Philippi!
