Philippians is unlike most of the rest of Paul’s letters in that he includes a lot of personal remarks in this letter, almost to the point of being biographical. This week’s passage begins the first such section.

You can see this passage in Philippians 1:12:

This entire paragraph serves to show the Philippian believers that Paul’s circumstances are advancing the message of the gospel. All those around him know just why he is in prison, and that he is in chains for Christ. This proves to be a very encouraging opportunity for others to speak of Christ with boldness.

This paragraph is divided into two sections. This first verse sets up the explanation found in verses 13-14, which we will look at next week.

His first comment however is somewhat cryptic. He wants the Philippians to know something, and the sense of this is that they may have inquired about Paul. And since he is prison, what he is about to share is, in fact, the exact opposite of what anyone would expect. Two things are resulting from his circumstances. First, everyone around knows why he is in chains, and that it is for Christ he is in the situation he’s in. This has given him abundant opportunities to share the gospel with multiple people.

Second, his circumstances serve to encourage others to be bold as they share the gospel. If Paul can do this while in prison, then others can share their faith in their own situations.

In this week’s passage, we finally see the purpose behind Paul’s prayers for the Philippians. He stated in verse three that he prayed for them frequently. Here we see what he prays for.

You can see his prayers for the Philippians in Philippians 1:9-11:

Paul’s prayer is complex. There are at least five different aspects of his prayer for the Philippian church, all of which are connected and build upon one another. The word used here is a different one than he used in verse 4. There, the term was very specific. Here it is a much broader term. This indicates that his concern was for the church as a whole, and a continued prayer that he lifted before God on a regular basis.

His prayer contains several aspects, but each of these fall under the umbrella of the first thing he mentions: love. If the Philippians had an issue that needed to be addressed, it was a lack of love and even dissension that some of the members seemed to suffer from (see 2:3-4 and 4:2). Paul’s prayer is that the church would love, and that would lead into the rest of his desires for them.

Here are the individual aspects of Paul’s prayer:

As Paul moves forward in his letter to the Philippians, we begin to see the deep emotional nature of his love for the church at Philippi, and his love for Christ.

You can see this week’s passage in Philippians 1:7-8:

Paul shows his intense love for the Philippian church and his deep love for Christ quickly throughout this letter, and it begins here.

Even though Paul is in prison, he continues to deeply care for the church that supports him. The phrase, “it is right,” though it sounds somewhat defensive on Paul’s part, is actually a declaration of the depth of his love for these people.

Paul also uses the word “feel” here. This is a significant word in the letter to the Philippians, and he uses it ten times in these short chapters, more than a third of all the uses in the New Testament. This is a sympathetic interest or concern for the people of Philippi. It is an frame of mind, a life direction, but also carries overtones of emotional thought as well. Paul’s concern for the Philippians is deep and solid.

Next, Paul uses a term that is very imaginative. He states that he has the Philippians in his heart. Again, this shows the depth of his love for them. However, commentators are divided on the translation for the phrase. Half feel that it should be as shown here, but the rest translate it as “you hold me in your heart.” Based on the context, the first one is probably the correct translation.

This week’s passage completes the statement began in the previous couple of verses. And there is a lot in this brief sentence that brings encouragement into our lives.

See it for yourself in Philippians 1:5-6:

Paul began this sentence by stating that he is thankful for the Philippians and remembers them in his prayers with joy. The reason for that is given now: It is because they partnered with him in spreading the gospel.

This undoubtedly refers to the Philippians gift to Paul, helping support him and his ministry while he is in prison. But the significance runs deeper than that. The word for “partnership” here is the Greek word koinonia. This certainly includes the generosity of the Philippians, but goes beyond that indicating a partnership in sharing the gospel, or even sharing life in Christ.

The word koinonia is generally used to describe fellowship, but the term carries a much deeper significance. A basic understanding of this word could be stated as “a participation in something with someone,” but the specific definition depends upon the particular context. In this instance, the Philippians have shared, or koinonia-ed, with Paul in the Gospel, and that holds layer upon layer of significance, partly because the Philippians have been such partners from the very beginning.

Paul shifts from what the Philippians have done to what Jesus will do. Though the immediate context was the gift the Philippians sent, and that could be the good gift that God began in them, it makes more sense to see that the entire experience of living in Christ is in mind here.

This principle isn’t to applied only to the Philippians. This holds true for you and me today, as well. The work that God began in us, when we placed Jesus in control of our lives and submitted to his Lordship, will be completed. In other words, we aren’t finished yet. God is working, and will continue to work in our lives to produce in us the righteousness he desires.

This work will continue until Christ returns. The modern church has lost the sense of immediacy of Christ’s return. The New Testament is full of a sense of anticipation that the return of Christ was imminent. Now that we are centuries away from the life of Jesus, we have lost much of that sense of anticipation. We need to recapture that longing for an event that could happen at any given moment.

But that implies an further question or two. Do we really want that? And if so, are we ready for it?

Question: Do you long for the return of Christ? Why or why not? Are you ready? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

There is so much packed into the first few verses of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, that it would be easier to split his first couple of sentences into two separate parts, even though that means dividing it up mid-sentence.

Take a look at the first part in Philippians 1:3-4:

In order to examine this initial part of Paul’s letter, we will break it into four phrases. But before digging into those, it is helpful to understand that Paul follows a very common procedure in his letter writing during the first century, especially in this letter.

Letters in Paul’s day very commonly included an opening section that was filled with statements of thankfulness, or prayer, or even best wishes to the reader. In Paul’s case here, he fills this with thanksgiving for the church at Philippi. But before he is finished, we will see that he is thankful for several reasons. He is thankful for them overall. He is thankful because they remembered and supported him. He was thankful for their partnership in his ministry. He was thankful because God was working in their lives.

All of this comes out in the next few verses. We will look at a portion of this now, and examine the rest next week.

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.