The next several articles are from the fourth chapter of the book of Philippians in the Bible. When I looked up Philippians 4 in my Bible app, I found that it has a big block of content that I had highlighted: Verses 4 and 5 are highlighted in green, verses 6-7 are highlighted in blue, and verse 8 is highlighted in yellow. So, apparently this is a chapter with plenty of good verses that I wanted to remember again in the future.
Rather than jumping straight to chapter 4, though, let’s start with some background on Philippians. The first verse of the first chapter sets up the “to” and “from” of this letter:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
Philippians 1:1 NIV
https://philippians.bible/philippians-1-1
So, while we normally think of Paul as writing a lot of the epistles (or letters) that became books of the Bible, this one is from both Paul and Timothy, although it seems that the writer is mostly considered to be Paul [ref. Ash, p21-22]. In the same way, my wife may include the entire family’s names when sending out Christmas cards, but she does most – or all – of the work!
And, this letter is to people in the ancient city of Philippi (hence the name, Philippians), but not just random people from the city. Specifically, it is to “God’s holy people” (NIV) or “all the saints in Christ Jesus” (NASB).
Looking up some information about Philippi from other sources, we find that:
- Philippi is located in the Macedonian section of Greece, where it has been preserved as an archaeological site.
- Philippi was founded by Phillip II of Macedonia (or Macedon), Alexander the Great’s father.
- It was set up like a “mini Rome”.
(Archaeological Site of Philippi – UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Philippi – Bible Odyssey,
Paul had visited Philippi, as described in Acts 16:11-40, where he met a merchant woman (who seems to have been pretty well off) named Lydia. Philippi is also where Paul cast out an evil spirit from a servant / slave girl, causing her masters to get angry because she had been telling the future (and apparently, her masters expected profit from that). This is where Paul and Silas get thrown into prison, only to have God send an earthquake to free them. Then, when they didn’t run away (sparing the jailer from taking his own life), the jailer and his household believed in God and were baptized. There’s also a “gotcha” moment when leaders in Philippi realize that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, and therefore were not supposed to have taken certain punitive actions against them.
I didn’t catch it myself, but a commentary [Ash, p.10-11], probably comparing the second vs. third person grammar in Acts, points out that Luke may have been left at Philippi for a while after Paul and Silas left that city.
So, that’s the context for the book. I encourage you to read Philippians 4 (or just read the entire book – it’s not that long) before the next article is published.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for September 17, 2023
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press Commentary, Philippians Colossians & Philemon, by Anthony L. Ash. College Press Publishing Company, © 1994.
Those Who Sin Differently 