Philippians 1:1-2
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What you might notice first is that this letter seems to have two authors. Paul and Timothy are both listed as servants of Jesus and authors of this letter. So why is it that usually only Paul is associated with the authorship of this letter? Paul was very close to Timothy and Timothy provided support for Paul and very well would have visited places in Paul’s absence. Thus, the Philippians were well acquainted with Timothy and knew him well. There is no indication Timothy had any part in writing the letter but he was well connected with its recipients so that is why Paul lists him here.
The letter is addressed to all believers in Philippi and there is a certain group that is called out among the rest: the elders and deacons. This is the only time this occurs in Paul’s letters but there must have been some reason Paul wanted to call out this group.
He greets them with grace and peace and makes a distinction between the Father and the Son. They are two distinct persons but considered one in the Godhead.
Philippians 1:3
I thank my God every time I remember you.
What great joy these people must have brought to Paul. Do we have someone in our life like this? Someone who we just care so much for that we thank God they are in our life. Better yet, do we think about our church family this way? I believe we should. These people brought so much joy to Paul he gave God a thanks for them every time they came up in his mind. To build up thankfulness, this is what we need to start doing. Start thanking God for the great people he has placed in our lives and we will start to see a change in the way we view them.
Philippians 1:4-5
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
Paul prays for the Philippians regularly and does so with great joy because they responded to his gospel message with joy and decided to not only respond inwardly but respond outwardly with helping Paul’s gospel efforts elsewhere. They have continued this partnership even through Paul’s imprisonment which might sound like a good time to abandon a mission, but they didn’t. They continued to help and serve Paul and the gospel in any way and this brought great joy to Paul. As local churches, we need to make sure we are not only doing what is best for our local family but for the gospel as a whole.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Paul can pray with joy because he is confident that God will complete the good work that was started when they responded to the gospel. The day of Jesus Christ is therefore the completion, the day when Jesus returns and salvation is fully realized. We all have good work to do if we have responded to the gospel. This means that we are to continually pray that God will continue to bring about that work and that we remain faithful as we wait for Jesus’ return.
Philippians 1:7-8
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Paul knows that no matter his present circumstances, the believers in Philippi will be there for him in Spirit and action. He wants them to know how deeply he longs to see them and visit them with a brotherly love like Jesus had. It is important for us to share in God’s grace with our brothers and sisters who are doing good work for the gospel. Sharing in God’s grace means we are living life with them through the good times and the bad and never giving up on them just as God never gives up on them. This should not be on one person in the church, but rather the church has a whole responsibility and the privilege to help out its members.
Philippians 1:9-11
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Paul’s prayer is a touching witness to the love we should have for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul prays for their love to abound more in knowledge (certainly related to spiritual things) and moral discernment which is a better translation than depth of insight. This is because the point is that they know the right choice to make when the moment comes so that when judgment comes they may be found without blame and covered by Christ. He also prays for their spiritual fruitfulness (fruit of the Spirit) that they may be filled with it. Being filled with the fruit means we are showing the fruit daily in our lives and not just a few hours on Sunday. All of these things point us all to Christ and the day of his return.
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