July 26 / Philippians 1:1-18

Philippians 1:1-18

Philippians… We now embark on one of Carol’s and my favorite epistles. For me, Philippians was probably my first real connection between the book of Acts and Paul’s writings. I had read Acts well before I read any of Paul’s epistles, so I was aware of his imprisonment with Silas in Philippi (Acts 16). So when Paul writes the following sentiments to the Philippians in today’s reading, …I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel (v. 7b), on my first read of Philippians I was drawn back to Paul’s Philippian imprisonment. So way back then the seed was planted for the study we are doing this year!

I have made our reading program by following The Chronological Study Bible that we have been using since 2010. In placing Philippians here, however, I feel that the authors, editors and writers of this particular chronology have it wrong. Two questions arise – when did Paul write Philippians and where was he when he wrote it? The second question (where) is the more important. Bible scholars have offered three locations: Ephesus, Caesarea, and Rome. Since we know that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter (see above), I rule out Ephesus. There is no indication in Acts or elsewhere that he was ever imprisoned in Ephesus. Second, in Philippians 4:10-14 there is every indication that the Philippians had supported him financially. You will recall that Paul carried funds with him to Jerusalem to support the needy there, having raised those funds from Achaia, Macedonia, Asia, and Galatia. It seems unlikely to me that the Philippians would again be raising funds to support Paul while he was in Jerusalem, having fairly recently contributed to the welfare of the Jerusalem believers. Finally, there is mention throughout this letter of frequent travels from Paul’s prison location (by his friends) to Philippi. Caesarea is much further from Philippi than is Rome – either a long overland journey or many ship crossings. Rome is only one body of water, the Adriatic Sea, and a much shorter land distance. So bottom line, I favor this letter being written from Rome. However, if Philippians is chronologically misplaced in our reading schedule, our next body of readings will finish Acts and Philippians would have been placed right after the end of Acts. So, not a big deal. A long explanation, hopefully not too confusing…!

There are so many quotable verses in Philippians. One oft-quoted from today’s reading is verse 6, but I will let you consider that on your own. For my part I was touched today by verse 18: What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. The preceding verses are important in fully understanding this verse – that not everyone surrounding Paul in his prison state is preaching Jesus from a clean heart. But still “…Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” We have similar situations today with preachers who appear to be getting wealthy from their ministry, with people who follow them “religiously”. Still, Christ is proclaimed… There are also denominations that seem to be misguided from a lot of Biblical truth (from my perspective). Still, Christ is proclaimed… We may disagree with our Christian brothers on a number of our issues, but we agree on our fundamental beliefs as expressed in the Nicene Creed. But if people have difficulties with items in the Nicene Creed, then we are not on the same page! So today, HALLELUJAH, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice!!

Slava Bohu!