OUR CHRIST IS OUR LIFE OF PERPETUAL EXULTATION This epistle is considered the sweetest of the epistles written by the apostle Paul. It is as though an essay sent by him to the church in all eras, and to every believer in all times, exhorting them to live perpetually exulting, despite any situation prevailing around them; through practicing the new life that knows no idleness, but is on an un-ceasing motion in Christ Jesus. The apostle wrote this epistle to a congregation with which he had a special relationship of love, that made them provide him with gifts to spend on the message of the gospel; whether concerning his necessary needs, or those of the ministers accompanying him; even after his departure from among them to Corinth or to Thessalonica. While in his first imprisonment in Rome, although the apostle was put under house arrest, guarded by Roman soldiers, for the duration of two years, he was banned from traveling to other countries, or cities, or even from going to other houses in the same city to preach the gospel. Yet, as he testified, his chains have led more to the progress of his ministry; were no cause to keep him from testifying to the gospel; nor to make him lose the exulting life in Christ Jesus: (1) The apostle Paul found in his prison a chance to talk to the Roman guards and officials about our Lord Jesus, a unique chance to preach, which he could not let go. Realizing that he was imprisoned for the sake of the Lord Christ and His gospel, the guards got interested to know more about both; which led some of them to believe. The word of God is so strong and capable to transform the hosts of evil of this world of darkness, to confess the greatness of God, and to reveal His exalted work; as it happened when God used the Pharaoh of Egypt, during the Exodus of the children of Israel; Herod, at the time of birth of the Lord Christ; those who 3 mocked and scoffed the Lord during His crucifixion; and the guards on His tomb; (2) The imprisonment provided the apostle Paul with the chance to write to the people beloved by him, about the perpetual life exulted in the Lord. (3) Contrary to those who preached out of envy and ulterior motives, there were others, as well, who preached with faithfulness, love, and holy will. The apostle’s friends, disciples, and a multitude of believers, became stronger in faith, and more daring in preaching without fear, to partake of the apostle’s honor as a captive of the Lord Christ. (4) His enemies worked hard to draw many heathens to faith, with the purpose of stirring up the emperor and the rulers against Paul, and to keep them from setting him free. Some others used the imprisonment of the apostle Paul to appear as though more diligent in preaching the gospel; with the assumption that by so doing, they would belittle his status. Anyway, even those who preached out of envy, in order to add more sorrow to the apostle, made him, on the contrary more exulted for the sake of the growth of the ministry of Lord Christ and the gospel (1: 16-18). 4 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE THE CITY OF PHILIPPI: The name ‘Philippi’ means (a lover of horses or of war). It was considered the most important city in the whole region, on account of that it is the first city reached by a sea traveler to Macedonia. (1) Geographically: Originally known as ‘Krenides’, meaning (wells or springs), it was given the name ‘Philippi’ after king Philip, the second of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. But after the Romans took it over, it became a part of Macedonia. It is located North-east of Macedonia, north of Greece, nine miles away from the Aegean Sea, on a prominent little hill, surrounded by a fertile valley, that made it an agricultural province, beside having mines of gold and silver nearby. (2) Historically: In the year 357 B. C. king Philip the second of Macedonia took over the province of ‘Krenides’ up to the River ‘Nestos’, annexed it it his kingdom; made the city larger by adding more lands to it, and stronger to face any attack by enemies. Yet, it eventually fell under the authority of the Romans, to become a Roman colony instead. And when Octavius became emperor on the Roman empire, and changed his name to ‘August Caesar’, he gave special care to the city of ‘Philippi’, renewed it, made it even larger, and granted it the ‘colonial status’, namely, a free Roman colony, whose inhabitants had the same rights and privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants of Rome, the capital. It started to have a Roman culture more than a Greek one, and adopted the Latin language as its official language. The prevailing religion was idol worship. PREACHING IN PHILIPPI: In the year 50 or 51 A.D. “a vision appeared to the apostle Paul in the night; a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, 5 saying: ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’. Now after he had seen the vision, he immediately sought to go Macedonia , concluding that the lord had called him to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16: 9, 10). Accompanied by Silas, Luke the Evangelist, and Timothy, they went to Philippi, the foremost city in the province of Macedonia, in which Paul took notice of the following points: Paul was a Jew, while the Philippians were Gentiles. Paul was proud of his Jewish origin, while the Philippians were proud of being Romans; although Paul himself had the Roman citizenship. Paul was Asian, while the Philippians were Europeans. Paul’s mother tongue was Hebrew, and he mastered the Greek language, while the Philippians spoke both Latin and Greek. Paul’s heart radiated the faith in Christ, while the Philippians lived in heathen abominations. The apostle Paul visited ‘Philippi’ (Acts 16: 11-40) during his second preaching trip, and there, he established the first Christian church in Europe. Once he arrived there, accompanied by Silas, Luke, and Timothy, they went to the suburbs of the city on the riverside of the River ‘Gengets’, where the Jews used to pray every Sabbath day, and spoke to the women about salvation. Now a certain woman named ‘Lydia’, a rich seller of purple heard the testimony of the apostles, the Lord opened her heart to faith, and she, together with her household, were baptized, and begged and (constrained) the apostle and his company to come and stay in her house. She became the first Christian in all Europe; and Philippi became the first city in Europe to believe in the Christian faith (See Acts 16: 12, 15, 40). St. Luke the Evangelist, in the book of acts (16: 16-40), wrote about how an evil spirit of divination was driven out of certain slave girl, who brought her masters much profit by fortunetelling. That girl followed Paul and his company, crying out, saying: “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who 6 proclaim to us the way of salvation”. Doing that for many days, Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the evil spirit: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her”, which he instantly did (Acts 16: 16-18). Yet, our teacher Paul did not accept that testimony from the devil, the enemy of the Truth; because if he did, all the people present would have accepted all her words. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged, and brought them to the magistrates, and said: “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or to observe”. The magistrates tore all their clothes, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. In this incident, we can notice the following: The charge against them is not new; the devil used it on the tongues of the Jews against the Lord Christ Himself. God, who allows evil and anguish to dwell upon His children, turns evil to good, and anguish into comfort; by which His believers could see His wonders, and experience His love and work in them. Having their clothes torn, Paul and Silas rejoiced because they had before their eyes Jesus Christ bared on the cross to cover our nakedness. That sacrifice done by the two apostles represents the cross of preaching, the cost of the distribution of the gospel, and the salvation of souls from the hold of the devil. It was an opportunity for ‘Saul of Tarsus’ to remember what he has previously done to the innocent Christians of persecution, beating, murder, and imprisonment; … “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9: 16). Despite their suffering of imprisonment, injustice, and persecution, Paul and Silas, at midnight, were praying and singing hymns to God; and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and 7 everyone’s chains were loosed. But Paul and Silas did not escape. Such an earthquake and other later wonders, like the movement of the Mokattam mountain, near Cairo, reveal the limitless strength of the Christian faith that surpasses time, and would never get old. The keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, assuming that the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying: ‘Do yourself no harm for we are all here’. At that the prison keeper fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to his household, who all received the Christian faith. The next day, when the magistrates heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were embarrassed because they have beaten and imprisoned them without trial. In short, the apostle Paul afterwards visited Philippi twice during his third preaching trip in about the years 57 and 58 A.D. (Acts 20: 1, 6). Later, when the Philippians heard about his imprisonment in Rome in the years 61-62 A.D, they sent ‘Epaphroditus’ to him with a gift (4: 10), and to stay to serve him. The Philippians were immensely distressed to hear that Epaphroditus’ fell sick almost unto death; and when he got well, Paul sent him back to the Philippians to rejoice, having been longing to see him. SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHURCH IN PHILIPPI: 1- Because of the small number of Jews in Philippi, bigotry was less felt than in other cities. 2- This church had a special place in Paul’s heart, because he went there according to a heavenly vision. 3- Feeling a great love for the apostle Paul, the Philippians sent to him material support more than once. 4- It was a suffering church, scoffed by adversaries, on account of that they worshipped someone condemned to death. 5- This church represented home where Paul found comfort. 8 THE DATE OF WRITING THIS EPISTLE: This epistle, together with those to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, and to Philemon, were known as the ‘captivity epistles’, written while Paul was in his first captivity, or in prison in Rome (61-63). This epistle was the last of them, and Paul sent it with ‘Epaphroditus’. THE GOAL OF SENDING THIS EPISTLE: The goal of writing this epistle as proclaimed by the divine inspiration, was to support the children of God before the afflictions of this world. It demonstrates to us a portrait of the believer as a saint, who, despite suffering bitter situations, yet he is always rejoicing in the Lord; and that the world cannot deprive us of the comfort in Jesus Christ, or of experiencing the spiritual victory over all the disturbing circumstances. This epistle, indeed, shows us how our behavior in this world, our relationship with one another, and with the others should be: 1-The Philippians worried about their beloved prisoner in Rome. 2- They worried about the preaching of the gospel by the apostle to the Gentiles. 3- This epistle was a call to rejoice in all circumstances; a call to fellowship in preaching the gospel (1: 5); in the grace of Christ (1: 7); in the Spirit of Christ (2: 1); in the passions of Christ (3: 10); in the afflictions for Christ’s sake (4: 14); and in giving (4: 15). 4- He wrote to thank them for their generosity in giving. 5- He wrote to counsel them and to warn them against the false teachers. 6- There were no problems or dissensions worth mentioning; except some non-conformity between two women ministers in the church: ‘Eudia’ and ‘Cyntyche’, that caused some concern by the apostle. FEATURES OF THIS EPISTLE: 1- There are no doctrine debates in this epistle; for the apostle’s mind was wholly absorbed in the heavenly joy. What is 9 proclaimed in this epistle, is the active (dynamic) heavenly life, exulted in our Lord Jesus Christ; as shown in the fellowship in the Lord (4: 1). Joy is the main feature in the relationship of the apostle with the church congregation; it supports the believers to endure the suffering, and to confront the possibility of martyrdom. We practice this joyful life here on this earth, as long as Christ is our life; and for us, to die is gain and a profit (1: 21); as we shall behold Christ face to face at our departure from this world. “Our desire is to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (1: 23). We strive toward “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3: 14). Although “Our citizenship is in heaven” (3: 20), yet St. Paul was not preoccupied with receiving the prize after death, but with preaching the gospel; and with turning his whole life into a glorification of the Lord Christ. If by his death he could glorify Christ, it would be “gain’; as long as the goal of his whole life is to glorify Christ. We anticipate Jesus Christ who will change our weak bodies to the likeness of His glorified body. We honor our bodies, because they will partake of the glories of our souls. The apostle Paul counts the joy and crown of his people as his own (4: 1). The good minister practices the life of fellowship with those he ministers. He rejoices together with them, and suffers when they confront troubles. And according to his words of the apostle Paul, he counts himself “labor in birth for them until Christ is formed in them” (Galatians 4: 19); and in the world to come, he will find them his crown. He counts his ministry as a call for joy: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice” 4: 1). “He counts all things as rubbish, that he may gain Christ” (3: 8); being our sufficiency and our treasure. 10 The apostle repeats the expression: “the day of Jesus Christ” (1: 6, 10); as a joyful day. 2- The apostle Paul refers to the meaning of the incarnation and salvation (2: 6-11). 3- The apostle proclaims his trust in the work of God: “I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly” (2: 24). He has confidence that the Lord will set him free of prison, and bring him back to them. 4- The apostle trusted that God will work in the rulers of that country who were extremely evil and corrupted. 5- Through sanctifying our emotions, the apostle Paul does not only lift us up to see our bodies glorified, and be in the likeness of the body of Jesus Christ risen from the dead; but he indirectly exhorts us not to destroy our emotions, but to enjoy sanctifying them; saying: “I have you in my heart” (1: 7). “How greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ” (1: 8). “Since he (Epaphroditus) was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick almost unto death” (2: 26, 27). “Therefore, if there is any … comfort of love, … if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love being of one accord, of one mind” (2: 1, 2). 6- The cooperation between the divine grace and the will of man; as it is God’s pleasure to work in us; by strengthening and sanctifying our will, and supporting us to work, in case we submit to Him. He wishes for us to be positive toward our salvation: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (2: 12-13). The apostle Paul also wishes for us not to cease striving: “for the prize for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3: 14). 7- The apostle Paul did not only diligently practice the joyful life in the Lord, but he also became the source of joy for those suffering; being “poured out as a drink offering on the 11 sacrifice and service of their faith” (2: 17-18). In the book of Exodus 29: 40, the drink offering refers to the joy through the suffering. Wine, as a symbol of the spiritual joy, is poured on the sacrifice (the suffering), to turn it into an inner joy 8- The apostle Paul refers to the importance of ‘delivery’ (4: 6); which we sometime call ‘tradition’, 9- The positive role of the congregation (the laic), whom he called ‘saints’, to whom he referred even before the bishops and deacons (1: 1). As the main topic of this epistle is life in Christ, reactive (dynamic) and exulting, namely, the heavenly holy life; that is why it is directed to the church as a whole, and particularly to the congregation, called to be saints. It is is the commitment of the bishops and the deacons to do their best to minister to the children of God to become truly saints. 10- The apostle Paul lived his life interceding for others. Even while in prison he used to pray for his friends, saying: “I thank God for every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy” (1: 3-4). THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE: It is established that this epistle is written by the apostle Paul, as confirmed by all the early testimonials, like those of Saints Polycarp, Erinaos, Cyprian, and the scholar Origen, and others; beside the fact that its style, teachings, and principles, all conform to the same in the other epistles written by the apostle Paul. DIVISIONS OF THE EPISTLE: 1- Joy amid the sufferings Chapter 1 2- Joy in the ministry Chapter 2 3- Joy in the Lord Chapter 3 4- Joy in everything Chapter 4
AN INSPRATION FROM THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS YOU ARE MY JOY Heaven so glittered before the eyes of Paul the prisoner, that, He did not see the iron chains around his hands; But saw the splendor of Your glory reflecting on him. He did not even desire to hasten to go out to work to the account of Your gospel; Because the chains have opened up new doors for preaching. The magistrate building turned in his eyes into a podium for the Word. And in his cell, he found a magnificent opportunity to write epistles to his beloved. His soul exulted in him, to offer a praise of thanksgiving. By his prison, the hearts of his beloved were encouraged to preach with more zeal. And even his adversaries found in it an opportunity to minister to spite him; With the assumption that they would by that, add affliction to his chains. And by that, they would steal his glory. But the heart of Paul, the gospel lover, was exulted. When he realized that all things led to the glory of God. His prison became a practical preaching by the life of joy in You. O Source of joy! O my joy and the exultation of my heart.