Philippians

Just as you would not want to receive a letter from apostle with the tone of the letter Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia, we would all welcome one like this letter to the Philippians.

This letter is so upbeat, filled with joy and thanksgiving. Paul wrote it to encourage the church in spite of persecution and hardship and to thank them for their partnership in his ministry.

1:1 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.”

Did you notice something here? Paul doesn’t use his title, “apostle.” This is not a letter from “the boss,” but from a friend.

1:1 “To all the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.”

Did you notice that the titles overseers and deacons are plural? This suggests, along with other plural uses of these titles, that churches were led by more than one overseer or elder. Can you think of any benefits that might be associated with plural leadership?

1:3 “I thank my God every time I remember you.”

Do you think he expressed thankfulness towards the churches in Galatia? He didn’t, but he did in all of his other epistles. What does this say about the churches in Galatia? What does your pastor think about when he hears your name? Does he smile or does he wince?

I’m reminded of the story where a group of pastors were discussing their churches. When asked, “What is the greatest need of your church?” One pastor replied, “About six good funerals.”

1:4-5 “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day.”

This is one of the main purposes of this letter, to thank them for their partnership. No everyone could go with Paul, but everyone could do something to make his mission trips possible.

When Paul refers to “the first day” he is referring to their support going back ten years (Acts 16:15) when Lydia provided him with hospitality, as well as the help from a jailer and his family. Later Paul received gifts from them at Thessalonica (Phil 4:16) and in Corinth (II Cor 11:9).

What does their generosity say about their spiritual maturity? Do you recall the expression that Jesus used, “If your eyes are good” (Matt 6:22)? Having a “good eye” means that you are a generous person. This church had a “good eye.” What kind of shape is your eye?

1:6 “Until the day of Christ Jesus.”

This is the first of several references to the second coming of Jesus (see 1:10, 2:16, and 3:20).

1:9 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”

Paul praises them and hopes that they will continue to grow in love. Love, as we read in Gal 5, is one of the fruit of the Spirit of God.

1:12 “What has happened to me (being under house arrest) has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear through the whole palace guard.”

So Paul is in jail . . . no problem. Though he was a captive, he had a captive audience, the guards. 

Now, can you imagine the response of some when they heard that Paul was under house arrest? “Oh my, poor Paul, what will we do?” But, as he wrote in Rom 8:28, “all things work together for good . . .”

1:14 “Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”

If the officials thought that they could shut down the preaching of the Gospel by putting Paul in jail, they were mistaken. The church just “dug in their heels” and became even bolder. 

But what if Paul’s situation took a sharp turn for the worse?

1:17 “The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way . . . Christ is preached.”

It appears that as long as the antagonism was personal, Paul could deal with it. He would “turn the other cheek.” Some were out to make a name for themselves and to tear down Paul in the process. Paul would tolerate insults, but not any compromise of the Gospel.

I think Harry Truman once said that it is remarkable how much can be accomplished when people don’t care who gets the credit. A lesser person than Paul would probably look upon others as competitors rather than colleagues.

1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 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! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

I find this statement fascinating. Paul was indifferent as to whether he lived or died. Certainly he didn’t fear death. In I Cor 2:9 is says that no one has seen, heard or imagined what God has in store for us. With this in mind, to what extent should we cling to this life through modern medicine? Should we use medicine to improve the quality of our lives, but not necessarily extend it? When we get to heaven will we think, “My word, why did I fight coming here for so long?” What if we get there and we are asked, “What took you so long to get here? We were expecting you two years ago?” What do you think about this?

1:27 “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

Whatever happens to us, we should live a life worthy of the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.

2:1 “If you have any “encouragement” . . .” The work for “encouragement” can mean to exhort or to console.

2:6 “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death . . .”

Having said that we should live a life worthy of the gospel, Paul then goes on to describe the humility of Jesus that we need to imitate. He describes how Jesus did not try to hold onto his position in heaven, but was willing to, as we say today, “downsize.” 

This “downsizing” of Jesus is what the theologians call the Kenosis theory. Jesus did not give up his deity when he came to earth, but he put on humanity (see Col 2:9). “Taking” does not mean that he exchanged divinity for humanity, but rather that he added humanity to his divinity. He was no less God when he became man. If you are an old movie fan, you might recall the classic with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn entitled, Roman Holiday. The movie shows a young princess sneaking out of her palace and living like a commoner for a few days. She was still the princess, but she didn’t take advantage of the privileges of her position.

2:12-13 “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

At first glance this passage might appear to teach that our salvation is by works, rather than “grace through faith.” To better understand this passage we have to recognize that there are several aspects to the word salvation. We have been saved from the penalty of sin; we are being saved from the power of sin and in time, we will be saved from the presence of sin. Once saved, we are to grow and work to overcome the power of sin (with the help of the Holy Spirit). This is the salvation that is referred to here. 

Now the expression, “it is God who works in you to will and to act,” appears to say that we don’t have any free-will and that we are just puppets whose strings are being pulled by God. There has always been a tension between God’s actions and ours. In Lamentations 5:21 it says, “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may return” yet in Zech 1:3 it says, “Return to me,” declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

As one rabbi said, “All is foreseen and free will is given.” God does not interfere with free will, but helps those who already seek to do his will to do it better.

If you recall, Exodus 10:20 tell us that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. But, he only hardened is heart after the Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart (Ex 7:13, 8:15, 8:19). So, as we see here God did not harden his heart initially, directly or against his free will; but only subsequently and indirectly.

2:14 “Do everything without complaining or arguing.”

When were raising our kids we would print out this and other verses and post them on the kids’ walls as reminders. Of course, I’m sure that your kids never complain or argue, so you wouldn’t need to do this.

2:17 “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering.”

This expression is used again by Paul as he faced his last days in II Tim 4:6.

2:25,27,30 “Epaphroditus . . . he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died . . . he almost died for the work of Christ.”

So why didn’t Paul simply lay hands on Epaphroditus and heal him? Did Epaphroditus not have “enough faith” as some so-called faith healers would charge? I know that God is God and that he can heal. Believing that he can is faith. But, when people say, “I know God will heal me,” this is not faith, but presumption. I suggest that you go to the Frequently Asked Questions and read the article entitled, “Does God Heal?” for a discussion on the subject of healing.

3:1 “It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, as it is a safeguard for you.”

Let’s not be too critical of the pastor who preaches on the same subject that you heard some time ago. Paul repeated himself (Rom 15:15) and so did Peter (2 Peter 1:12).

3:2 “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.”

Here Paul is condemning the teaching of those who insisted that Christians had to be circumcised. We discussed this issue in the Book of Galatians and the church resolved this issue in Acts 15.

3:5 “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrews of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

Here Paul is comparing his resume with his critics. What was so special about the tribe of Benjamin? They were a tribe that remained faithful to King David. Israel’s first king (Saul) was from this tribe. By calling himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews may have meant that both his parents were Jewish. Also, Benjamin was the only one born in the Promised Land and the offspring of Jacob’s favorite wife. Besides this, Mordecai, the leader of national deliverance which the feast of Purim commemorates, was of this tribe.

3:13, 14 “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Paul did not allow his past experiences as a persecutor of the church to absorb his attention or impede his ministry. Too often we bring with us all sorts of emotional baggage to church and we continue to dwell on the past, which we can’t change, rather than moving forward in ministry. Paul is saying, “Get over it and move forward.”

In a marriage, have you ever reminded your spouse of something that he or she did in the past? Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitations in marriage? Anything that has been repented and forgiven should not be brought up in an argument. In psychology there is a term, rumination. A ruminant is an animal, such as a cow, that can barf up food from their first stomach and chew on it again. We sometimes do that mentally. We bring to mind some hurt from the past and go over it again and again. I think Paul would make a good psychologist, advising people to move forward, forgetting the past.

3:20 “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Here is another reference to the second coming of Jesus.

4:2 “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers . . .”

Oh my, conflict among some of the women in the church? Can this be? These women have ministered along with Paul. They were probably very highly motivated, strong-willed women who have clashed over some issue. Someone must have whispered in Paul’s ear asking him to write a word or two concerning this issue. Paul may not have known of the details, but did encourage others to help resolve this issue.

4:5 “The Lord is near.”

Here is another reference to the second coming. These ladies should focus on what is really important in light of the return of Jesus. Here again I refer you to the Frequently Asked Questions tab to the article entitled: “How Should We Live in Light of the Imminent Return of Jesus?”

4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Now, for years I’ve been familiar with the term, “peace which transcends all understanding.” Only in recent years did I focus on what comes before this “peace.” It is thanksgiving. When our son died, we would focus on the good memories, giving thanks for them, and this is what preceded the “peace.”

4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true . . . noble . . . right . . . pure . . . lovely . . . is admirable . . . excellent . . . praiseworthy-think about such things . . . and the God of peace will be with you.”

This is more great mental health advice. It is not always what happens to us, but how we perceive it, that leads to our sense of contentment or misery. There’s a story of two little boys, both sitting on huge piles of horse manure. One child is crying, disgusted with his situation. The other one is smiling, laughing and tossing huge fistfuls of manure in the air. The second boy says, “With all this manure here, there must be a pony nearby.”

If we insist on focusing on what is wrong with others and the world, we will never be happy.

What about the way we think about our spouses? Do we focus much on their weaknesses or what is true, noble, right, etc.

4:12 “I have known what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Did you notice that being content, regardless of his situation; was something that even the Apostle Paul had to learn? Being content doesn’t come naturally for us. Paul was no longer dependent upon his situation for his contentment.

There is something called “relative depravation.” If you buy a child a used bicycle, he might be thrilled to have it, until he rides around the block to show a friend and find that he has a new one. All of a sudden he feels deprived. 

4:20 “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Paul ends the letter with a doxology, which means “glory” which is a statement of praise to God.



This is a wonderful letter in that it is so upbeat and practical. There are several suggestions that lead to greater satisfaction in life and in our relationships.