Philippians 1:1-11
22/5/22
Preach
Questions
What do you think? Why did God not just give us detailed theological essays written by apostles? Why letters, with their lack of context and potential for misunderstanding?
Read the following verses. They are well known. For each one think about the original Jewish, Greek or Roman cultural context. What is the situational context that prompted this letter? What is the unified message of the letter as a whole? This may need some research [see More] or leave a comment and start a conversation or skip this one out!
• For there is no distinction, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 3:22b-23
• For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith[fulness]—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
• I stand at the door and knock! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, indeed I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20 [to the church at Laodicea]
Read…
And YHWH said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
Genesis 12:1-3
How does this support Paul’s conviction that the church, the saints, are a multicultural family?
Read Philippians 1:1-2. For Paul the Christians at Philippi are saints [ἁγίοις]. The LXX, the Greek OT, uses this word for קֹדֶשׁ [qōdeš, “holiness”], קָדוֹשׁ [qād̲ôš, “holy”] and מִקְדָּשׁ [miqdāš, “sanctuary”]. These words apply to God, the temple etc. People were NOT holy from Genesis 3 onwards. This is what separated God from humans. Priests and objects had to be made holy to enter a holy place, through various washings etc. SUDDENLY, this new multicultural family of God at Philippi and elsewhere are HOLY! What has happened?
Is 1:6 this teaching “once saved, always saved” or “the perseverance of the saints”? That’s the problem of ripping things out of context in the letters or elsewhere. Is Paul answering that question here? Is anyone asking that question here?
Some Christians say that “love is not an emotion, it’s a decision”. That is very good advise in specific contexts! But it is correct so say that love is not an emotion? How to we increase our love [1:9-11]?
The heart of the letter is 2:5-11. Just read, mediate and pray. Enjoy! Perhaps you would prefer to read in another translation :-)
Think this in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider being equal with God something to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave,
by becoming in the likeness of people.
And being found in appearance like a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death,
that is, death on a cross.
Therefore also God exalted him
and graciously granted him the name above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow,
of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11
