TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

Philippians 1

Before you read Philippians: who, when, why

BOOK 50 OF 66 · NEW TESTAMENT · LETTER

The Joy Letter

AUTHOR: Paul, with Timothy, 1:1. Almost no scholar doubts that Paul wrote it.
WRITTEN FROM: Prison, 1:7 and 1:13. Most say Rome, because of the palace guard, 1:13, and Caesar's household, 4:22. Some scholars say Ephesus or Caesarea instead.
DATE WRITTEN: About AD 60 to 62. If it was Ephesus, about AD 54 to 55.
WRITTEN TO: The believers in Philippi, with their overseers and deacons, 1:1.
DELIVERED BY: Epaphroditus, their own messenger, who almost died on the trip, 2:25 to 30.
WHY HE WROTE: To say thank you for their gift, 4:10 to 18, to tell them how he was doing, and to call them to joy, unity and humility.
KEY VERSE: Philippians 4:4. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

The Oldest Copy of Philippians

This is a page of Papyrus 46, a book of Paul's letters copied in Egypt about AD 200, now at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. It holds the end of Philippians, 4:14 to 23. Paul thanks them for sharing in his troubles and for their gift by Epaphroditus. The last line of the letter is followed by Amen. THE NEXT LETTER. Under a short line, you can read the title PROS KOLASSAEIS, To the Colossians, and the first words of Colossians. The small note under Amen counts the lines in the letter. Scribes used counts like this to check for missing lines and to figure their pay. WHY IT MATTERS. See the 1 Corinthians title page, for how this book was found. Copied only about 140 years after Paul wrote, it says what our Bibles say today.

The Setting

Philippi sat on the main Roman highway across northern Greece. Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, took the town and named it after himself in 356 BC. In 42 BC Antony and Octavian won a huge battle there, and Rome turned the city into a colony full of retired soldiers. It was a little Rome far from Rome. About AD 49 or 50, Paul crossed from Asia to Europe after a vision of a man from Macedonia and started a church here, Acts 16. The first believers were a businesswoman named Lydia, a slave girl set free from a spirit, and the jailer who had locked Paul up. About ten years later, Paul writes to them from chains.

What Philippi Was Up Against

Suffering. They were being opposed for their faith, just like Paul, 1:28 to 30.
Friction. Some were looking out for themselves, 2:3 to 4, and two leaders could not get along, 4:2.
The Circumcision Teachers. Teachers were saying Gentile believers had to be circumcised, 3:2 to 3.
People of the Belly. Some lived for their appetites and set their minds on earthly things, 3:18 to 19.
Worry. Their friend was in chains and might be killed, and their messenger nearly died, 1:20 and 2:27.

Where to Find Jesus

Philippians 2:7. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. Fulfills Isaiah 49:5 and Isaiah 53:2.
Philippians 2:8 to 9. He humbled Himself to death on a cross, so God highly exalted Him. Fulfills Isaiah 52:13 and Psalm 110:7.
Philippians 2:10 to 11. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Echoes Isaiah 45:23. Still to come in full.
Philippians 3:20 to 21. We await a Savior from heaven, who will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body. Still to come.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

Joy From Jail. The words joy and rejoice show up 16 times in this short letter. Paul wrote it in chains.
An Early Song. Many scholars think 2:6 to 11 was a song the first Christians sang about Jesus, maybe even before Paul wrote it down. Others think Paul wrote it himself.
The First Church in Europe. The first believers Acts tells about in Europe were a rich businesswoman, a slave girl and a Roman jailer, Acts 16. God does not pick a type.
Caesar'S Own Staff. Paul sends greetings from believers in Caesar's household, 4:22, slaves and freedmen who served the emperor. The gospel got into the palace.
The Only One Who Gave. When Paul first left Macedonia, Philippi was the only church that supported him, and they sent help again and again, 4:15 to 16. They were his ministry partners.
Citizens of Heaven. Philippi was proud to be a Roman colony. Paul tells them their real citizenship is in heaven, 3:20.

Did Anybody Listen?

Yes. About AD 110 or a little later, the church leader Polycarp of Smyrna wrote his own letter to the Philippians. He praised them for helping believers in chains, and he reminded them that Paul had written to them. The church in Philippi kept growing. By the AD 300s and 500s it built some of the biggest churches in Greece, and one of the first was dedicated to Paul. Today Philippi is ruins, but its letter still teaches millions to rejoice in hard times.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

Paul is in chains and still smiling. He thanks God for the Philippians, who have been his partners since day one. Prison is not stopping the gospel. It is spreading it, all the way into the palace guard. Live or die, Paul wins: to live is Christ and to die is gain.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyThe Forum of Philippi · after verse 20 Field Notes · ArchaeologyLydia and the Purple Dyers · after verse 21

Greetings from Paul and Timothy// Colossians 1:1–2; Philemon 1:1–3

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

PHIL 1:1[FIELD NOTES]See The Forum of Philippi Field Notes page. For Lydia, the slave girl and the jailer, see Acts 16.

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer// 1 Corinthians 1:4–9; Colossians 1:3–14

³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

PHIL 1:5[FIELD NOTES]See the Lydia and the Purple Dyers Field Notes page.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. For in my chains and in my defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partners in grace with me. ⁸God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s Trials Advance the Gospel// James 1:2–12

¹²Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. ¹⁶The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains.

¹⁸What then is the issue? Just this: that in every way, whether by false motives or true, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance. ²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

PHIL 1:19[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← JOB 13:16

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Forum of Philippi

Philippians 1:1 · Acts 16:19 to 40

The ruins of Philippi seen from the acropolis hill: the forum in the middle and the tall pillars of a later church on the right. Photo Vassiliki Feidopoulou, CC BY SA 4.0.

WHAT IT IS: The ruins of the city of Philippi near Kavala in northern Greece. In the middle is the forum, the main city square, with its paved courtyard, columns, temples and the platform where city leaders judged cases. The Via Egnatia, the Roman highway, ran right along its north side.
HOW OLD IT IS: The forum you see today was rebuilt in marble under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, about AD 161 to 180, about 110 years after Paul. Underneath is an earlier, smaller forum from the time of Claudius, about AD 41 to 54. That is the one Paul saw. The tall pillars on the right are from a church built about AD 550.
PAUL WAS HERE: Acts says the owners of the slave girl dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace before the rulers, Acts 16:19. That was the forum. They were stripped, beaten with rods and thrown in jail. At midnight they sang, an earthquake opened the doors, and the jailer and his family believed, Acts 16:25 to 34.
PAUL'S PRISON?: Visitors are shown a small room near the forum called the prison of Paul. It was really a Roman water tank. Christians began to honor it as Paul's cell around AD 500, when a big church was built beside it. Acts does not say where the jail was, so no one knows.
WHERE IT IS TODAY: About 10 miles north of Kavala, Greece. It became a World Heritage Site in 2016. For the whole story of Paul in Philippi, see Acts 16.
WHAT IT CONFIRMS: Philippi was a real Roman city with a forum and rulers who judged cases in public, just as Acts describes.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: Most of what you see came after Paul. The so called prison of Paul is a tradition, not proof.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE CITY · LOW FOR PAUL'S PRISON

To Live Is Christ

²¹For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. ²³I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. ²⁴But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

PHIL 1:21[NOTABLE]Paul is in chains and might be killed, and he is not afraid. If he lives, he gets more time to serve Jesus. If he dies, he goes to be with Jesus, which is far better, 1:23. He chooses to stay for their sake, 1:24 to 25. See also Absent from the Body, 2 Corinthians 5:8.

Field Notes · Archaeology

Lydia and the Purple Dyers

Philippians 1:5 · Acts 16:13 to 15 · Acts 16:40

Left and middle: both sides of a bronze coin of Thyatira, about AD 54 to 96, with the head of Heracles and the double axe of the city's god. University of Tübingen collection, photo KlassArchTÜ, CC BY SA 4.0. Right: shells of the purple dye murex. Photo H. Zell, CC BY SA 3.0.

WHAT IT IS: A coin from Thyatira, Lydia's hometown in western Turkey, and the sea snail shells that made the famous purple dye. Acts says Lydia was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, Acts 16:14.
HOW OLD IT IS: The coin was made about AD 54 to 96, in Paul and Lydia's own lifetime. The shells are modern, from the same kind of snail used for purple dye for thousands of years.
THE DYERS OF THYATIRA: Stone inscriptions from the first to third centuries AD mention a guild of dyers in Thyatira, a kind of trade union. At Philippi itself, a stone was found that honored Antiochus son of Lykos, a Thyatiran and a leading purple dyer. It was seen in 1872 and is now lost. So dye sellers from Thyatira really did come to Philippi.
SNAILS OR ROOTS?: Real purple came from thousands of crushed sea snails and cost a fortune. Only the rich wore it. Some scholars think inland Thyatira used a cheaper red dye made from madder root. Others think Lydia sold both. Either way, Lydia had money and a house big enough for a church, Acts 16:15 and 16:40.
BY THE RIVER: Paul found Lydia and other women praying by a river outside the city gate, Acts 16:13. Tradition places it at a stream west of Philippi, where a small modern church and outdoor baptism pool were built in 1974. No one knows the exact spot.
FROM THE FIRST DAY: Paul thanks them for their partnership from the first day until now, 1:5. The first day was Lydia's day. The first church in Europe started in a businesswoman's home.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: No find names Lydia herself. It shows that her city, her trade and her travels fit Acts exactly.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE DYE TRADE · NO FIND NAMES LYDIA

²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my coming to you again your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me.

Worthy of the Gospel

²⁷Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending together as one for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, ³⁰since you are encountering the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Philippians 1

The Oldest Copy of Philippians

The Setting

What Philippi Was Up Against

Where to Find Jesus

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

Did Anybody Listen?

Greetings from Paul and Timothy// Colossians 1:1–2; Philemon 1:1–3

Thanksgiving and Prayer// 1 Corinthians 1:4–9; Colossians 1:3–14

Paul’s Trials Advance the Gospel// James 1:2–12

To Live Is Christ

Worthy of the Gospel

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