Philippians - Introduction

A new book now, and a somewhat shorter one than the last. This isn’t intended as a commentary as such, nor an academic work, but anything useful I may have to say, or insights to give, are built upon the works of others. We should all read widely, and from beyond our own immediate theological stream - as long as it is Bible believing! So if you are from a charismatic background, as I am, read stuff produced by reformed theologians. Conversely, if you are reformed read stuff written by charismatic types. We aren’t all loonies. Eg Wayne Grudem is an excellent theologian. You don’t have to agree with everything someone says to find them helpful. As an example, I don’t fully agree with Tom Wright’s “new perspective”, but he does have a lot of useful things to say and it has given me a better appreciation of Romans and Galatians. In fact, there are some things he says which downright annoy me, but I can still learn from him. My primary reference for Philippians will be Ralph Martin’s Tyndale New Testament Commentary, but what I write will be influenced by many others as well.

Philippi was a Roman colony and was part of Macedonia, but was not the capital.The city was founded by Philip of Macedon around 360 BC. Philip was the father of Alexander the Great. It became part of the Roman Empire in 168 BC. It became a colony of the Roman Empire in 31 BC after Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra. This meant it could function as if it was truly part of Rome, including the use of Roman Law. So it was a favoured and privileged city, and the citizens were considered as Roman citizens. The city would have relatively few Jewish people living there. In fact a feature of the letter is that there are no direct Old Testament quotations.

In Acts 16:6-10 we read of how Paul and his companions came to visit Philippi. The Holy Spirit had kept Paul from preaching the gospel in Asia, and through a vision God called him to Macedonia. In fact the vision was of a man begging him to come to Macedonia. God has sent the gospel out into the world to help people, to set people free.

When Paul got there he went to the river on the Sabbath. There were so few Jews that the city did not have a synagogue, the usual first port of call of Paul. The first convert named is Lydia. It is interesting the leading role that the woman had.

There then follows the incident of the fortune-telling woman and Paul casting the demon out of her. This resulted in Paul and Silas being thrown into prison. This happened because the gospel threatened the money making exploits of some. This was then followed by the famous release from prison following Paul and Silas’ singing of hymns, and the prison guard and his family were saved. After this Paul made play of his own Roman citizenship, something that would have particular impact because Philippi operated as a Roman city.

There is no argument from anyone with more than two brain cells that Paul was the actual author of the letter. The most likely date and occasion of writing is 61 AD while in prison in Rome, though there are some who argue it was written in AD 53-55 during an Ephesian imprisonment. However, the Roman imprisonment is the most likely place. At the time he was more under house arrest than imprisonment.

The primary features of the letter are:

1. The importance of joy in all circumstances
2. The great Christological hymn in chapter 2:5-11.
3. Serving Christ victoriously in a hostile environment