Luke seems to have been their first pastor for about five years after its establishment in Acts Paul directs his letter to the "saints" at Philippi ; cf. DATE : A. The letter was written about the same time as Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. If the imprisonment of Paul began between the years , and ended before the burning of Rome in A.
If Lightfoot is correct, and his arguments are very solid, the letter was probably written before Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, about a year after he arrive in Rome, between 62 and 63 A. The conservative position is that there were two imprisonments with a brief period of freedom to minister between them.
Philippians ; indicates it is a missionary prayer letter thanking the Philippian Church for their gifts and support, sharing with them the outreach in Rome and presenting prayer requests in their joint—participation in the Gospel.
Epaphroditus brought the gift from the Philippians to the apostle at Rome Phil. Paul takes advantage of the opportunity to encourage them to continue in unity and steadfastness ; , 3; , 2; It is written for personal reasons. Paul is over joyed with the encouragement and remembrance of their love for him and his love for them v.
The leading thought of the Letter is joy and gratitude for being in joint-participation in the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Phil. The word " rejoice " or other words of similar meaning, appears sixteen times in the Letter. Paul rises to two great spiritual peaks in where he presents the kenosis—the self-emptying or self-humiliation of Christ, and when he reveals the drive to know the resurrection and the upward call of God in Christ.
The Judaizers, with their legalism, have followed Paul here and there is an echo in chapters one and three of their opposition to Paul. Tragic as it may seem, the fact seems to be that the prominence of the church at Philippi ceased with the life of Paul. There is no more mention of the church until a hundred years after the death of the great apostle. There are only a few references in the primitive history of the ancient church.
Even though the church at Philippi was the first church to be established in Europe it passes by in obscurity. No church existed in Philippi for centuries, nor did the city exist. He then praises the Philippians — not directly, but by thanking God for them v. Not only is this giving credit where it is due, it reminds and encourages the Philippians that God is working in their lives. Paul rejoices that these people have such a zeal for the gospel, and this letter shows them his gratitude that God is using them in this way.
Since the Philippians had begun so well, Paul is confident that they will persevere in the faith — not on their own strength, but because God will continue to work in them. God knows how much I care for you, Paul writes — I care for you as much as Jesus himself does v. The Philippians are concerned about Paul, but here, the man in prison expresses compassion for them.
As we will shortly see, they faced some trials of their own. Follow us:. Listen Now. Paul ministered at Philippi during his second missionary journey, spending about three months in the city.
During this first stay in Philippi—he later briefly visited the city on his third missionary journey —Paul brought to faith in Christ people who would form the core of the burgeoning congregation in the city. Paul sent the other three Prison Epistles—Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon—by the hand of Tychicus, as their destinations were near one another.
However, the letter to the Philippians was to be delivered by Epaphroditus, who had come to Paul in Rome with financial help from the church at Philippi Philippians ; But during his time in Rome, Epaphroditus took ill, which delayed his return home and, therefore, the delivery of the letter — The apostle Paul did not write Philippians in response to a crisis, as he did with Galatians and Colossians.
Instead, he wrote to express his appreciation and affection for the Philippian believers. More than any other church, the believers in Philippi offered Paul material support for his ministry 2 Corinthians ; Philippians —
0コメント