Paul begins perhaps one of the most encouraging letters in the New Testament in a most encouraging way. Using his standard greeting, with a few twists, he manages to convey a strong sense of encouragement to the people at Philippi.

Read it for yourself in Philippians 1:1-2:

As mentioned, there are a few twists to Paul’s greeting in this letter. First of all, he does not introduce himself as an apostle. He doesn’t need to. His apostleship is not in question in Philippi; they know well who Paul is.

Paul also includes Timothy in his greeting. Timothy may have been a big part of planting the church at Philippi, and he certainly was known to them. The implication here is that Timothy was with Paul as this letter was being written. Timothy is also included in the greetings of several other Pauline letters.

Finally, Paul identifies Timothy and himself as servants, or slaves. Paul is offering himself as a servant, and expecting the Philippians to follow his example.

Paul now turns to the recipients of his letter. He addresses “all the saints.” The word used here conveys the sense of being “set apart,” in much the same way as the words “sanctification” and “holiness” do. Paul frequently addresses his letters with the idea of “being in Christ.” In fact, this theme is central throughout all of Paul’s writings, and shows just how deep this understanding was in his own life.

The second twist to Paul’s greeting is that he includes overseers, or bishops, or elders, and deacons in the address. This is the only occurrence of this in all of Paul’s letters, as well as the earliest reference to these two groups found in Christian literature. Why did he address these men here? Perhaps in response to a letter from the Philippians. If so, we have no record of such a letter. Another possibility is that the church in Philippi may have been the first to have such offices filled and functioning.

Finally, Paul ends the greeting with a very common sentiment throughout his letters: “Grace and peace to you.” Paul passes on his desires for God’s grace and blessings to fall upon these dear people, whom he loves, in the church in Philippi. This is because of what God the Father did through the actions of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just like Paul’s greeting in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, this one is full of encouragement if you have eyes to see it. Most of the time, though, we glance over it, thinking there is nothing of value to be found in a simple greeting. But there is significant value here.

I encourage you to take the time to pull the greeting out of all of Paul’s letters. Write them down on index cards and lay them out side by side. Then you will be able to sense the overwhelming love and encouragement from this apostle to the churches he wrote to. And you will be encouraged as well.

Question: Out of these two verses, what stands out to you the most? You can leave a comment by clicking here.