It is time to start getting back to writing. It has been over a year since I posted to this site because there has been a lot going on in my life (we can get into that in another blog post). My last post was part of my podcast series in the book of Romans. I was going verse by verse in order to help bring full context to Paul’s letter. While I still plan on continuing my podcast through Romans, I am also working through the book of Philippians going verse by verse to provide context to the epistle so that we can fully understand what it is saying to us today. That is what I plan to post about as I get back to writing on this blog while I also continue through Romans in podcast form.
The letter to the Philippians is one of a set known as the “Prison Epistles” (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, & Philemon). Scholars believe it was written somewhere between 60-62 AD during Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome. The city of Phillipi was likely named after the Macedonian King Philip, who was the father of Alexander the Great. The Romans took over the city in the Third Macedonian War in 168 BC. It again played an important role in history after the death of Julius Caesar when Caesar’s heirs, Marc Antony and Octavian (who later became Caesar Augustus), defeated the forces of the assassins, Brutus and Cassius, in 42 BC at the Battle of Philippi. Due to its geographical location and importance to the Roman Empire, Philippi was a place of influence and likely wealth.
Philippi was considered the first European city where Paul preached the gospel. You can find the first experiences of Paul and his fellow workers in Acts 16, which are familiar to most Christians who have grown up in the church. Paul met Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth, baptizing her and her entire household. He healed a slave girl who was possessed by a fortune-telling spirit, which eventually got Paul and Silas through in jail. That same jail was where they were praising God in the night and the jail was shaken and their chains fell off. The jailor who was about to take his life thinking the prisoners escaped gave his life to Christ along with his entire family. That was the beginning of the Philippian church.
The main theme throughout the entire letter is “Joy in the Lord.” The word “joy” is found 5 times in the book while the word “rejoice” is found 9 times. Fourteen times in just 4 short chapters the Apostle mentions some form of joy. The significance of Paul writing about joy while being in prison should not be lost on us. How often do we lose all sense of joy when we are facing hard times in our own lives?
Joy is not the only theme to be found. As I have been studying Philippians and looking at other resources about the book, the subject of humility is also woven through the whole of the letter. We see Paul describe the humility of Christ in chapter 2 along with a few other examples of people being humble. We also see a call from Paul to consider others and their needs above our own.
This should help to lay a foundation for what I will be writing about in coming posts about the letter to the Philippians. Each post will go over 1-3 verses of the text with some explanation of the context and how we can apply it to our lives today.
I look forward to taking this journey through Philippians with you all!
