Philippians 1:1-11
Well we've put together some information on Philippi and the apostle Paul's work there so now we are ready to delve into the letter he wrote to the church from Rome. It may slip our minds sometimes just what the majority of the books of the Bible written by Paul were actually letters of either encouragement or correction that he wrote to the churches he had helped establish. We also need to remember that these "letters" were not written in the chapter/verse form that we find them in the Bible. Those divisions were added as the scriptures were translated.
The book of Philippians, as we have it, is compiled of four chapters. Those four chapters hold a multitude of different forms of joy.
The first chapter focuses on three, the first one being one that I find extremely important , but that is rather hard for us to do right now in the physical sense--the joy of community (our church family).
Let's look at the first eleven verses.
At the time of it's writing, Paul was imprisoned in Rome. It was common practice to identify oneself at the beginning of letters. In this case Paul names not only himself, but Timotheus or Timothy as well. Let's do a little digging on who Timothy was.
He was first mentioned in Acts 16:1. His name is mentioned six more times in the New Testament as Timothy and seventeen times as Timotheus. When called Timothy, Paul refers to him as brother or son in all but one instance. From Acts we learn that he was a resident of Lystra, apparently, whose father was a Greek and mother a Jewess. The lack of any mention in the Acts or Epistles suggests that he must have died or disappeared during his son's infancy. The care of the boy was done by his mother Eunice and her mother Lois. Under their training his education was without a doubt Jewish.When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Lycaonia, A.D. 44 Timothy and his mother received the gospel message wholeheartedly. During the interval of seven years between the apostle's first and second journeys the boy grew up to manhood and became a well respected missionary and one of Paul's most constant companions.
Paul describes he and Timothy as servants of God. After Paul's conversion, he never again thought of himself above any other person. He recognized his sinful nature and just wanted to serve God in whatever capacity he could, never asking for or wanting any kind of recognition for himself, only glory for God.
The letter is addresses to ALL members of the Philippi church rather they be saints, bishops or deacons We can find the following definitions for these titles on the Blue Letter Bible site under Strong's Concordance and Thayers Lexicon.
Paul didn't just get the churches he worked in started and then forgot about them. They were all on his mind constantly, and in his prayers. He thanked God for them. They were fond in his memories. He also found great joy in being able to make petitions and requests on their behalf.
In verse 5 Paul speaks of a "fellowship in the gospel" he had with the church from it's very start. That fellowship covered a lot of ground. There was their shared faith in the gospel. Those in the Philippian church didn't count on Paul to do all the work. They helped to spread the gospel also. They prayed for him and they financially supported him. They were part of Paul's ministry and he was thankful for every bit of it.
In verse 6 Paul speaks about the good work that Jesus had done in them and how He would continue that good work until the "Day of Jesus Christ". This is speaking about the Lord continuing to work in the lives of those who were converted in Philippi until they are completed. At the rapture we will receive our glorified bodies, but we are still not complete until we have gone before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of what we have done with the time God has given us on earth. We will either be rewarded or suffer loss. After that judgment we are complete.
The work Christ is doing in us is all part of the sanctification process. Through the work of the Holy Spirit God is trying to make us holy and spiritual like Christ. This only works as much as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.
Paul speaks to the Philippians with words of great affection. In verse 7 he says he has them in his heart meaning "I love you". He acknowledges that the church at Philippi was with him throughout his ministry even in the times he was chained and imprisoned for speaking the gospel. The church had sent him money and even human comfort in the form of Epaphroditus. He saw it as the church sharing in the grace God bestowed on Paul during those times.
He goes on to say that as God is his witness, he loves them from his deepest parts. The Greek word for bowels referred to the heart, liver and lungs. Being located deep within the body implicated that man's strongest emotions came from deep within also. That kind of love comes from Christ.
The next three verses contain specific ways that Paul prayed for the Philippians. He prayed that their love would grow even more. He already saw them as a very loving church, but he still wanted them to increase that love through knowledge and discernment. It was important that they had a deep Biblical knowledge and discernment so that they could apply that love correctly. Biblical love is not just empty words that sound good. It is anchored deep in the truth of scripture which must be applied with distinguishment between right and wrong.
Next he prayed that they would make good choices. There were many pressures and temptations bombarding them as a fledgling church. Paul wanted them to make choices that glorified God. It was important that they establish the right priorities so they could stay morally pure. It was vital that they were a genuine reflection of Jesus so that they didn't cause anyone to stumble but instead would be setting an example of godly character to inspire others. Ultimately he prayed that they would glorify their creator.
Here are a couple of questions from this lesson for you to dig into.
Happy studying,
Tracy
The book of Philippians, as we have it, is compiled of four chapters. Those four chapters hold a multitude of different forms of joy.
The first chapter focuses on three, the first one being one that I find extremely important , but that is rather hard for us to do right now in the physical sense--the joy of community (our church family).
Let's look at the first eleven verses.
At the time of it's writing, Paul was imprisoned in Rome. It was common practice to identify oneself at the beginning of letters. In this case Paul names not only himself, but Timotheus or Timothy as well. Let's do a little digging on who Timothy was.
He was first mentioned in Acts 16:1. His name is mentioned six more times in the New Testament as Timothy and seventeen times as Timotheus. When called Timothy, Paul refers to him as brother or son in all but one instance. From Acts we learn that he was a resident of Lystra, apparently, whose father was a Greek and mother a Jewess. The lack of any mention in the Acts or Epistles suggests that he must have died or disappeared during his son's infancy. The care of the boy was done by his mother Eunice and her mother Lois. Under their training his education was without a doubt Jewish.When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Lycaonia, A.D. 44 Timothy and his mother received the gospel message wholeheartedly. During the interval of seven years between the apostle's first and second journeys the boy grew up to manhood and became a well respected missionary and one of Paul's most constant companions.
Paul describes he and Timothy as servants of God. After Paul's conversion, he never again thought of himself above any other person. He recognized his sinful nature and just wanted to serve God in whatever capacity he could, never asking for or wanting any kind of recognition for himself, only glory for God.
The letter is addresses to ALL members of the Philippi church rather they be saints, bishops or deacons We can find the following definitions for these titles on the Blue Letter Bible site under Strong's Concordance and Thayers Lexicon.
saint-set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively his
bishop-an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that
things to be done by others are done rightly
deacon-to minister, i. e. supply food and the necessaries of life
Paul didn't just get the churches he worked in started and then forgot about them. They were all on his mind constantly, and in his prayers. He thanked God for them. They were fond in his memories. He also found great joy in being able to make petitions and requests on their behalf.
In verse 5 Paul speaks of a "fellowship in the gospel" he had with the church from it's very start. That fellowship covered a lot of ground. There was their shared faith in the gospel. Those in the Philippian church didn't count on Paul to do all the work. They helped to spread the gospel also. They prayed for him and they financially supported him. They were part of Paul's ministry and he was thankful for every bit of it.
In verse 6 Paul speaks about the good work that Jesus had done in them and how He would continue that good work until the "Day of Jesus Christ". This is speaking about the Lord continuing to work in the lives of those who were converted in Philippi until they are completed. At the rapture we will receive our glorified bodies, but we are still not complete until we have gone before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of what we have done with the time God has given us on earth. We will either be rewarded or suffer loss. After that judgment we are complete.
The work Christ is doing in us is all part of the sanctification process. Through the work of the Holy Spirit God is trying to make us holy and spiritual like Christ. This only works as much as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.
Paul speaks to the Philippians with words of great affection. In verse 7 he says he has them in his heart meaning "I love you". He acknowledges that the church at Philippi was with him throughout his ministry even in the times he was chained and imprisoned for speaking the gospel. The church had sent him money and even human comfort in the form of Epaphroditus. He saw it as the church sharing in the grace God bestowed on Paul during those times.
He goes on to say that as God is his witness, he loves them from his deepest parts. The Greek word for bowels referred to the heart, liver and lungs. Being located deep within the body implicated that man's strongest emotions came from deep within also. That kind of love comes from Christ.
The next three verses contain specific ways that Paul prayed for the Philippians. He prayed that their love would grow even more. He already saw them as a very loving church, but he still wanted them to increase that love through knowledge and discernment. It was important that they had a deep Biblical knowledge and discernment so that they could apply that love correctly. Biblical love is not just empty words that sound good. It is anchored deep in the truth of scripture which must be applied with distinguishment between right and wrong.
Next he prayed that they would make good choices. There were many pressures and temptations bombarding them as a fledgling church. Paul wanted them to make choices that glorified God. It was important that they establish the right priorities so they could stay morally pure. It was vital that they were a genuine reflection of Jesus so that they didn't cause anyone to stumble but instead would be setting an example of godly character to inspire others. Ultimately he prayed that they would glorify their creator.
Here are a couple of questions from this lesson for you to dig into.
- See what other information you can find on Timothy's life.
- See what other information you can find on saints, bishops, and deacons.
- See what you can find on the origin of the word "sincere".
Happy studying,
Tracy
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