Philippi was a leading city of the Roman Province of Macedonia (northeast Greece). The modern state of Northern Macedonia is rather smaller than the Roman Province of the same name. The city had the status of a Roman colony in its own right; giving the inhabitants certain legal rights and exemption from certain taxes. This status produced in the population a degree of civic arrogance.
Paul established the church at Philippi on his second missionary journey (AD 50 – AD 53). In response to a vision from God, he left Troas in the province of Asia (Asian Minor i.e., Turkey) and travelled to Macedonia. At Phillipi, he established the first church in Europe. The church which Paul established was from a mixture of ethnicities and cultures (though it maintained a primarily Gentile flavour) and the saints were generally from the poor. But there was a small but significant Jewish element and some upper-class converts. Among the first of these was Lydia who owner a dyeing business, a middle-class Roman jailor (Acts 16: 27 – 34) and a lower-class young woman who had been demon possessed (Acts 16: 16 – 18).
Although Paul had no reason to be fond of the city of Philippi (he and Silas were beaten and imprisoned there), he nevertheless had a great fondness for the believers at Philippi and this comes through in this letter.
Paul apparently visited Philippi twice during his third missionary journey (AD 53 – AD 57); once at the beginning and once at the end.
The Letter to the Philippians may be the last of Paul’s letters to specific churches (rather than to individuals) which we have. He wrote it some five years after his last visit there; ten years after the church had been established. It was written from prison. Paul had received a delegation from Philippi including Epaphroditus. They had come to offer him support in his predicament.
The Philippian assembly had generously supported Paul again and again, and they had supported the needy saints in Jerusalem. Thus, we have one of the most personal and affectionate of Paul’s epistles; we can see the tender bond that existed between Paul and this church.
There is little direct theological instruction in this letter which is essentially joyful. Through his trials, Paul had learned to be content in all circumstances. This is reflected in this letter. Facing an uncertain future, Paul manages to send a “thank you” letter and to express joy in what God was accomplishing through him
Although there was no pressing problem within the church, Paul (being Paul) still offers guidance and support. He indicates that the Philippians were weak in the areas of discernment (1:9) and could grow in knowledge i.e., discernment concerning people and knowledge of God.
There was a need to deal with disunity caused by personal conflict (4: 2) and arguments over theology (3: 1 – 16). The civic pride of Philippi was spilling over into the church. His message is that all believers (no matter how different) are equal in the body of Messiah; all are sinners saved by the grace of God.
We can see prominent themes in the letter: the joy of serving the Lord Yeshua; how God works through all circumstances; fellowship in the gospel; the Lord’s humility as our example: and a warning against false teachers (chapter 3).
We will take four extracts from the letter to examine some of these main themes.
Chapter 1: 19 – 26. The joy in serving Messiah.
“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labour; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful to you. And being confident in this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.”
Verse 19. Paul expresses confidence that God will work through every situation; no matter how difficult that situation may seem to us. Paul talks of his “deliverance”. One way or another he will be freed from his temporary distress.
In the meantime, he had complete confidence in the Holy Spirit. The phrase “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, refers to the boundless supply to enable the believer to stand firm in joy regardless of circumstances.
He also has the prayers of fellow believers. Note the importance Paul places on these prayers along with the support of the Holy Spirit; these are the prayers of ordinary believers.
Verse 20. Paul was committed to ensure that the Lord Yeshua would be ever more conspicuous in his life. He has “earnest expectation” and “hope”. This is not wishful thinking but real confidence. He is determined not to be dishonoured by anything or anyone; his actions would demonstrate right thinking. Messiah would be exalted!
But he was not going to rely on himself but look to the Holy Spirit. There was no difference for Paul if he lived or died as long as Messiah was exalted.
Paul was very confident in and excited by Messiah’s promises. He wanted to be a fearless and outspoken witness for Him. No matter the outcome for himself, he wanted the Lord Yeshua to be esteemed and praised by others.
Verse 21. “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” If he lives (remember Paul was under arrest), he lives to know more of the Lord. He can study His person and learn by that happy experience so that he increases his knowledge of his Lord and Saviour. To know more is to imitate the Lord more, to preach Him more and to enjoy Him more.
“And to die is gain”. Death would free him from all sin and all burdens. He would be able to partake in Messiah’s glory. He would have complete conscious fellowship with the Lord.
Messiah is his reason for living. The only reason to remain in the world was to preach the Lord Yeshua and to build up other believers to do the same. Paul may have been expressing his confidence that since his imprisonment had furthered the gospel, God may use his death to further His kingdom.
Paul did not live for money, fame or worldly pleasure. The object of his life was to love, worship and serve Messiah. He wanted his life to be like that of Messiah. Thus, the Lord would live out His life through him. For Paul death led to the glorious light of Messiah forever.
Verse 22. Paul feels a responsibility to continue to teach the Philippians (and others). He wanted to cut a new path for the Philippians to follow to victory; an increase in their faith would result in the increase in their joy. “To live or to die?” Obviously, the choice is not Paul’s; it is a question of preference. His only valid reason for continuing to live is to aid others to come to the Lord Yeshua.
Verse 23. “For I am hard-pressed between the two having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better.”
“Desire” indicates an intense longing. Paul saw death not as an end but as a time of moving from one home to another. If Paul was considering only his own interests, he would be looking to die and be with Messiah. He wants complete, conscious, intimate, unhindered fellowship with the Lord.
When a believer dies, he/she is immediately with Messiah and later receives a resurrected body.
Verse 24. “Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” For the sake of the Philippians, it was “more needful” for Paul to live on earth a bit longer. He puts aside his own comfort or ease; rather he would do what is best for the cause of Messiah and the welfare of His people.
Verse 25. “And being confident of this, I am confident that I shall remain and continue with you all for the progress and joy of faith …” Paul was not satisfied that the Philippian believers were merely saved; their “progress” was important to him. They must continue to mature in Messiah, and he felt a responsibility to continue to teach them.
“Being confident in this”. Paul believes that he is still needed on earth to instruct, comfort and encourage the saints. He is so close to the Lord that he knows that his death is not imminent (his death did not come for some seven years).
“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him.” (Psalm 25: 14).
By remaining alive, Paul would be able to promote their spiritual progress and increase the joy that was theirs through trusting in the Lord.
Verse 26. We see the phrase, “that your rejoicing for me be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to see you again”. Through him being spared for longer life and service on earth, the Philippians would have added cause for “rejoicing” in the Lord. He would seek to visit them again. To have Paul continue with them would cause overflowing joy for them, not because of anything he himself did by his own ability, but because of Messiah’s working through him.
Our second extract reflects Paul’s thinking on how God is working through his circumstances.
Philippians 1: 12 – 14.
“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become more confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear”.
Verse 12. We have the phrase, “actually turned out”. Paul wanted the Philippians to know that that his imprisonment was advancing and not hindering the gospel. Such words would comfort them; their prayers were answered. The term, “furtherance” indicates a strategic advance for the kingdom. The gospel was penetrating the Roman military and even the royal household, areas that would not normally be open to Paul. Here we see the “benefits of misfortune” i.e., through Paul’s trial and imprisonment. God overrules the wicked plans of demons and the unsaved.
Verse 13. The phrase, “all the rest”, indicates that his visitors also heard the gospel. Some of his visitors were leaders of the Jews in Rome (Acts 28: 17) and palace guards (the praetorian guards). Quite a number of different soldiers would have been allocated to watch him. Although Paul could not go out into the world to preach, in this way God brought the world to him. In an ironic twist, they were the captives and Paul was free to preach.
Paul considered his imprisonment to be “in Christ”; the result of God’s sovereign will. Paul was imprisoned as a result of his testimony for the Lord Yeshua, and it would be clear to all that he was not a criminal or an evil doer. This must surely have made some curious.
Verse 14. Roman believers were emboldened by Paul’s courage to proclaim the message of Messiah “without fear”. Thus, he encouraged other believers. Persecution can have the effect of transforming quiet and bashful believers into courageous witnesses.
Our third extract concerns fellowship in the gospel.
Chapter 2: 14 – 16.
“Do all things without complaining or disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain.”
Some Philippians had been secretly discontented and had been “complaining”. This could easily lead to more serious problems. Grumbling suggests an emotional rejection of God’s providence, will and the circumstances of one’s life.
Verse 15. This verse focuses on the testimony of the church. They should be blameless in the world in terms of attitudes and actions i.e., spotless and “without fault”.
The world around them is described as a “crooked and perverse generation”; the very opposite of what believers should be. They should “shine as lights”; believers should be as stars whose light penetrates the spiritual darkness of a perverted world. They should reflect Mesiah “the light of the world”.
By refraining from complaints and disputes, they may be seen as sincere and guileless. Thus, no charge could be sustained against them. They should stand out all the more clearly against the dark background of this world. Believers cannot create light, but we can reflect the light of the Lord Yeshua.
Verse 16. To have a good testimony, believers should show unity to the world, steadfastly working together with a testimony of life and lips.
The term, “holding fast” also implies “holding forth”, offering the gospel (“the word of life”) which, when believed, produces spiritual and eternal life.
Paul wants to be able to look back on his ministry and see that his efforts were worthwhile (“that I may rejoice”). Paul wants to present every person with whom he has worked as perfect before the Lord Yeshua when he returns (“the day of Christ”). If he can do this, his service has not been “in vain”.
Our final extract shows Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians to be committed to be like the Lord in His humility.
Philippians 2: 5 – 11.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on the earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Verse 5. In this verse we see the phrase, “Let this mind be in you”. All godly action begins with “the renewing of the mind”. Right thinking produces right actions. Thinking and being like Messiah are requirements not only for an individual believer but also for the corporate body of believers. Together we need to think and act like one being; like the person of the Lord.
He is the ultimate example of selfless humility. The “mind” of Messiah epitomises selflessness, sacrifice and service.
Verse 6. The Lord Yeshua did not look on sharing God’s nature as something seized i.e., it was something he already possessed. He was indeed “equal with God” i.e., equal in existence. Messiah was fully God, but he limited himself in such a way that He could be completely human. In the Lord Yeshua, God became man i.e., the Incarnation.
The Lord Yeshua has eternally been God; that is His continuous state/condition. Messiah had all the rights, privileges and honours of deity. He was worthy of these and could never be disqualified from them. But his attitude was not to cling to these things or His position. He was willing to give them up for a season.
He was “equal with God” i.e., exactly the same as God in every sense. This is what He claimed during His earthly ministry.
That He was “in the form of God” does not mean that He resembled God but that He actually is God in the truest sense of the word.
When the world of lost mankind needed to be redeemed, He was willing to relinquish His positional equality with God. He was willing to endure the contradiction of coming into the world He created, to face sinners whom He created, but who would persecute and oppose Him. His mode of existence changed but not His nature.
Verse 7. We see the phrase, “He made Himself of no reputation”. He gave up His privileges as God (but remained completely God) and took upon Himself the existence of a mortal man.
He took on “the form” of a human being with all the essential characteristics of one. He came as a “bondservant”, indicating a person on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Being in “the likeness of men” means not just “like” a man but in reality, a man. The humanity of Messiah was as real as His deity. He was like all human beings except that He was without sin.
The Greek word “kenosis” means that He “emptied” Himself. What the Lord gave up in His Incarnation was five-fold. He temporarily gave up His heavenly glory; He gave up His independent authority (during the Incarnation He completely submitted Himself to the will of the Father); He temporarily gave up His divine prerogatives (He set aside the voluntary display of divine attributes and submitted Himself to the Spirit’s directives); He temporarily gave up His eternal riches (while on earth He was poor and owned very little); and He gave up, at a crucial time, a favourable relationship with God (He experienced God’s wrath for human sin on the cross.) Yet He was still omniscient, still omnipotent and still omnipresent.
He did empty Himself of His positional equality with God and He veiled the glory of deity in a human body. That glory was hidden except at the Transfiguration. There was no moment in His life when He did not possess all the attributes of God. He did lay aside His place in heaven and that only temporarily.
As the Lord Yeshua took on the role of a servant, the saints in Philippi should emulate Him. The contentions among the believers in Philippi would not be taking place if they had “the mind” of the Lord i.e., if they were willing to take the lowly place, to serve others and give their lives as if a sacrifice. There should be no quarrels.
Verse 8. He had the external characteristics of an ordinary man. He had the bearing, the actions and manner of a man. ”He humbled Himself” means that He voluntarily took on the role of a servant; no one forced Him to do it. He was “obedient” to God. Although He never sinned and did not deserve to die, He chose to die so that the sins of the world could be charged to His account. Subsequently He could credit His righteousness to the accounts of all who believed in Him.
His obedience stretched to “even the death of the cross”. This was the depths of the Lord Yeshua’s humiliation. He died by the cruellest form of capital punishment. Crucifixion was an agonising death reserved by the Romans for slaves and foreigners. The Jews viewed death on a cross as a curse from God (Deuteronomy 21: 23).
After the humbling of the Incarnation, the Lord Yeshua further “humbled Himself” in that He did not demand normal human rights but subjected Himself to persecution and suffering at the hands of unbelievers. He was “obedient” even beyond persecution, to the lowest point; execution as a criminal to follow God’s plan.
Verse 9. Having taken a debased state in obedience, God elevates Him to a “highly exalted” status. His reward is to share the honour, glory and power of the Father. God has given Him the highest character and authority.
The Lord’s exaltation is four-fold: the coronation at God’s right hand; his new identity as God-man; His role as interceding High Priest for mankind; and His new name “Lord”, indicating that He is sovereign ruler.
If Messiah humbled Himself, “God has highly exalted Him”. If he did not seek a name for Himself, “God has given Him the name which is above every name.” If He bent the knee in service to others, God has decreed that “every knee” shall bow to Him.
Verse 10. Although all one day will worship Him, only those who put their faith in Messiah in this life will have an everlasting relationship with Him after death.
His new name is “Lord”. The entire intelligent universe is called to worship Messiah; the angels in heaven; the redeemed in heaven; obedient believers on earth; the disobedient rebels on earth; demons; and lost humanity in hell. All are to “confess” him (which means to “acknowledge”, “affirm” or “agree”).
God was so completely satisfied with the redemptive work of Messiah, that He determined that “every knee should bow” to Him; even those “under the earth” (those who had died at the time of Messiah’s return, in contrast to the angels and those still living on the earth). Those who had not willingly bowed the knee to Him, will be compelled to do so. Those who will not be reconciled in the day of grace will be subjugated in the day of judgment.
Verse 11. Everyone will unanimously affirm that Messiah is Lord. That title gives Him the right to rule, mastery over people and property and sovereign authority. The purpose of Messiah’s exaltation is the “glory of God the Father”.
Those who have denied Messiah’s claims will one day be forced to admit they were fools – tragically too late!
Conclusion.
From Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we can take many lessons.
We can emulate Paul’s contentment, even in adverse circumstances, because we know that the Lord holds our futures.
We can have the joy of serving the Lord in whatever service we are called to do.
We can be reassured that the Lord will work through all circumstances even if we cannot see how things are to work out.
In unity, we can enjoy fellowship in the gospel. This will make us a light to a dark world.
We should be striving to be Christ-like in humility; developing the attitudes of Messiah.
AMEN.