Chapter 15
Philippians
The History:
In three-fifty-six BC, King Philip II of Macedon conquered the city and renamed it to Philippi. Philip established a mint there on discovery of gold mines near the city Philip was the father of Alexander-the-Great. Philippi was strategic because above it was a range of mountains. It has one main gap through it at Philippi, North to South. It was the point of many battles because of its strategic value.
Recent Archaeological digs have uncovered Philip II tomb full of Gold treasures dug from the hills. The Romans conquered it in one-sixty-eight BC, Antony and Cleopatra were defeated here in thirty-one BC. The apostle Paul was called there by a vision during his second missionary journey, Clearly God had his eye on it, as the Gateway to Europe. Paul contrasts it with a ‘Colony-of-Heaven’222.
This church became Paul’s closes bond, They adopted him as a missionary sending him money gifts. When Paul was in Rome under house arrest they sent Epaphroditus to cook his meals and look after him together with money for his legal expenses.
Accompanied by Silas, Timothy, and possibly Luke, Paul returned to the city,223 then subsequently wrote this letter to them.224 After Paul, the Church came under the jurisdiction of Ephesus, and when the Ephesian church declined, by Polycarp of Smyrna.
The Letter:
Paul writes this letter and three others from Prison.
Alongside other great saints, from Joseph & Daniel, to Bunyan and Calvin, Paul acknowledges he is imprisoned by God’s will, and makes the very most of it. Lesson-one must be, ‘the worst parts of life maybe the best parts of ministry’. Going to Philippi a few years earlier was the first time the Gospel reached Europe by apostolic strategy.
The letter is a thank-you letter It is not a corrective letter like most of the others. There is a bond that has grown up between Paul and Philippi that is not in any other letter. It is a letter about Christian life, moving together in church.
Chapter-one is about the wonder of a church based on love,
Chapter-two is love defined by the person of Jesus, Chapter-three is about a steady pilgrimage forward to the Kingdom of God.
Chapter-four tells of the fruit we produce on the way in joy and peace. Joy is mentioned sixteen-times in this book, written from prison. Paul’s point out happiness is based on happenings, (hap means chance), but Joy carries through the circumstance.
The people:
Paul never planned to go to Philippi. While they were in Antioch he fell out with John Mark and Barnabus. He accused John Mark of being a quitter. Whatever Paul was, he was not a quitter and could not take the risk of travelling with one. So they parted company, Barnabus and Mark went south to Cyprus while Paul took Silas and followed the trade route. This was in line with Paul’s planned strategy to revisit the seven churches in Turkey. His intention was to revisit those churches he had visited to ensure they were going on in faith and to encourage them to widen their mission field. But, as only God can, he has a lesson to learn. He intended to go to South Turkey but The Holy Spirit forbade him to go.225 So Paul suggests they go North but again The Spirit says, No!
Now Paul is at last in a position for God to work. It is not only the steps of a righteous man that God guides but also his stops. If Paul cannot go North and cannot go South, must he go back the way he came as a quitter? Must he go back and eat humble pie? Yes he must, but not just yet. I am sure it was here that the seed of repentance was sown. The next time they meet he will be reconciled. But meantime there is another lesson to learned. His plans have to be abandoned, Europe needs a missionary. The only option Paul has is go West. Paul had the vision of someone beckoning, come over to Macedonia. He will go on to Thessalonica, Berea, Athens then to Corinth, but the first city he comes to is Philippi.
Paul’s first task was to look for the synagogue to see if he could find the man who had invited him over. But there was none. A Synagogue required ten Jewish men before it can be formed, that is the Jewish law. But, by the sea, he found a group of ladies holding the fort with a prayer meeting. So, Paul met with them and was introduced to Lydia their leader. Lydia was not from Philippi but a wealthy business lady from Asia. Then things turned for the worse. Paul was arrested, for depriving a businessman of income when he cast out a familiar spirit from a girl. Everywhere else up to now, it had been Jews opposing him, now it was a gentile.
The jailer and his household become Christians and are baptized. Households are bigger than a family units, they include servants, slaves and often in-laws. The jailer himself may have been a slave as this was the sort of status the job held.
The Church at Philippi is born. Paul continued his journey and finally returns to Jerusalem. Two years later, he is detained under house arrest. While waiting for a boat to take him Rome for trial, it is this little church in Philippi that sent a letter and some money via Epaphras. Paul writes this letter, and gives it to Epaphras to take back.
The first two-chapters are an insight into how Paul thinks:
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.226
Paul knew many people but there was only one person in all of those who is of ‘kindred-spirit’. At this time, in his greatest hour of need, Paul says:
‘I have only one ‘soul-mate’ in all this world, Timothy227, but I will send him to you’.228
Once again, we see those Judaizers muscling in on the Church. At a time when Timothy could be the most comfort to Paul, Paul sees the need of the Church as greater, and he sends Timothy to them. Paul knew Judaizers were skilful arguers and without a clear and firm foundation, this church could be made mincemeat. This was more of a Job for Barnabus who had proved to be the stronger leader, but Barnabus had taken Mark down south. In the meantime Paul warns the Philippians Judaizers will try to preach ‘Gospel-Plus’229, but they must follow the heart of God described in chapter-two, remember their citizenship is in heaven230
222 Philippians 3:20-21
223 AD 56 and 57.
224 AD 61-62
225 This was not a prohibition for all time because he will go there on his ‘Third missionary journey’.
226 Php 1: 12 -14
227 This is the only time in the New Testament this Greek word is used. It means equal -soul.
228 Literal translation of Philippians 2: 19-20
229 Philippians 3: 1-11
230 Philippians 3 :12- 21