Letter_to_the_Phillippians

Saint Mary Mother of Jesus

Acts Ist Period 1-7	Acts Ist Period III - IV to conclusion 8-12	Acts 2d Period 2nd mission	Acts 2nd Period 2nd Journey Thessalonians	Acts Third Mission Corinthians	Acts Galaatians	Acts Romans
Acts St Paul Arrest Trial 21 - 28		101 Arrival at Jerusalem		102 Paul arrested in the Temple
'Sicari' (Assassins)		ROMAN_EMPERORS OF_THE_TIME	Roman Provinces Jesus time	The procurator, Antonius Felix, (see Chronology Of The Acts)
The storm and shipwreck 276 persons on board		Viper Bites Paul on Malta	Paul Cures on Malta Publius and others	Saint_Paul_Letters Written_in_Rome
Letter_to_the P hillippians	117 Introduction	118 Christ the supreme example of humility	119 Introduction	120 Universal primacy of Christ	121 Christ associates us with his triumph
122 Lesson In the Christian life	123 Epilogue and greetings	124 Introduction: God’s plan in Christ	St_Paul_Letter_to_the_Colossians	St_Paul_Letter_to_the_Ephesians	St_Paul_Letter_to_the_Colossians

VI. St Paul’s Letters written during his captivity in Rome
From St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

The position of Philippi.

Philippi, so called after Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, was made famous by the victory of Anthony and Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) over Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Julius Caesar, in 42 B.C.
With the Macedonian inhabitants lived many Roman colonists, veterans of the army, whom Augustus settled there with many privileges. It was the first European city evangelised by St Paul, in 50-51 during his second journey (see No. 46). The Apostle returned there twice during the third journey (see No. 65).
The Christian community of Philippi, always full of affection for St Paul, was the only one which gave him no anxieties and the only one from which he accepted material help.
The occasion for the Letter to the Philippians was in fact the sending of financial help by means of Epaphroditus while St Paul was a prisoner in Rome between 61 and 63 A.D. Epaphroditus took the letter when he returned to Philippi. It is entirely an outpouring of paternal affection and gratitude on the part of St Paul who gives news of his captivity, expresses the hope of soon being released so as to be able to see the Philippians again, and takes the opportunity to exhort them to live in peace and beware of the Judaizers.

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Philippi.

The ruins of the ancient ‘agora’ (central market place).

Here St Paul was brought before the magistrates on the charge of having provoked disturbances in the city.

‘These men ... are disturbing our city. They advocate customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or practise’ (Acts 16, 20-21,
No. 46).

The beginning of St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Vatican Codex (fourth century).

117 Introduction

(1, 1-26)

¹ Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
²to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
³I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

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Philippi.
The remains of the ancient Roman theatre.
St Paul arrived at Philippi from the nearby port Neapolis (see No. 46) walking along the Egnatian Way.
It was here that for the first time he preached Christianity on the continent of Europe.

Letter to the Philippians

¹² 1 want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ; ¹⁴ and most of the brethren have been made confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment, and are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear.
¹⁵Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel; ¹⁷ the former proclaim Christ out of partisanship, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.
¹⁹ Yes, and I shall rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, ²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honoured in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

118 Christ the supreme example of humility

(2, 1-13)

¹So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.

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Letter to the Philippians

⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
¹²Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

In order to exhort the Philippians to humility, St Paul quotes the example of Christ, referring to the words of a hymn of the early Church which celebrated the humiliation and consequent exaltation of the Son of God. In this passage of great doctrinal importance the person of Christ is thought of in three successive stages:
1) Before the Incarnation Christ already existed, as Son of God, of
the same nature as God and with all the glory which belongs to the immensity of God.
2) In the Incarnation the Son of God assumed human nature. When he did this he did not require that his humanity should be endowed with the glory that was his by right because it was united in one single person with him who is ‘equal with God’. Christ rejected that glory, being content that his human nature should be of a very humble sort, like that of other men in all ways except sin. Thus on the way of humiliation he was subject not only to God but also to other men, even to the outrages of the passion and finally to death on the cross.

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Letter to the Philippians

3) After the resurrection God has exalted Jesus, pouring down over his transformed humanity the immense splendour of the

Godhead. The ‘name which is above every name’ is Christ’s effective sovereignty over all created beings, which is expressed in the word ‘Lord’ (‘Kyrios’ in Greek). The phrase ‘Christ is Lord’ is an epitome of the Christian faith: it means not only that Christ is God, but that his glorified humanity has dominion over all creatures and has the power to save men from sin and death and to unite them with himself in adoration of the Father.

Philippi. The interior of St Paul’s prison, hewn out of the rock. Here the Apostle was confined after having been scourged (see No. 46).

Ephesus was a seaport and a commercial city of the first importance,
being the junction of two great Roman roads and a port of access to the western part of Asia Minor.
The Christian community at Ephesus was founded by St Paul (see Acts No. 63).

Letter to the Ephesians

2) In this scheme of his we also have a place: each of us has been individually chosen by God ‘before the foundation of the world’ and destined to become ‘holy’, that is consecrated to God, ‘blameless’, that is free from sin, and, adopted ‘sons of God’, ‘heirs’ of God’s blessings which we shall finally enjoy ‘in the heavenly places’.
3) All these blessings come to us from our being united with Christ. This has come about as a result of the redemption wrought by the Son of God, by means of which the Father ‘has bestowed on us’ every grace, that is every free gift. We have received the ‘forgzveness of our trespasses’ and every blessing, not for our merits, but through ‘his blood’, that is through his death offered as a propitiatory sacrifice.
4) At the moment of our adherence to Christ through faith in the glad tidings (the ‘Gospel’) of the divine plan, we were given the Holy Spirit: He is the ‘seal’, that is the pledge, the manifestation of the blessings we have received and the ‘guarantee’ of those which belong to us by ‘inheritance’ but which we are not yet able to enjoy. In thzs way he refers to the inner lzght and charismatic phenomena (see Nos. 78, 90 and 98) which are due to the action of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

124 Introduction: God’s plan in Christ
(1, 1-14)
‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. ‘He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ‘ he lavished upon us. ‘ he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according
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Letter to the Ephesians
to his purpose which he set forth in Christ 10 a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
II In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, 11 who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

125 The Church as the Body of Christ (1, 16-23; 4, 15-16)

1, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ‘3which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.
4, Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 86 whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.

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Letter to the Ephesians
The risen Christ, ‘at the rig/it hand’ of God, that is equal with the Father, not only because of his divine nature but also in the exercise of universal suzerainty, is Lord of angelic spirits (‘all rule and authority and power and dominion’), and is Head of the Church. This is a Body, that is an entity of various parts, each with its own distinct functions, in continual progress towards an ever more perfect assimilation to Christ’s perfection.
Every member of the Church is united to the vital power which
derives from Christ, the Head, so long as he remains attached to the ‘joints’ or members through which the grace of Christ works. But as he receives from other members, so also must he give, in order to grow with the rest and to make the whole Body grow in Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ becciuse it belongs to him and because it is his ‘fulness’, that is to say the space, so to speak, which he fills with his grace (For the Church as the Body of Christ see also Nos. 78, 99 and 120).

126 In the Church Jews people
(2, 4-22)
and pagans become one single
God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly place in Christ Jesus, 7that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—9 not because of works, lest any man should boast. ‘°For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—’2 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. ‘ For he is our peace, who has made

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Letter to the Ephesians
us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;
through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ‘ So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the iornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
One of the effects of Christ’s redemption has been the super- session of the Law of Moses and the annulment of the arrangements which were intended to make Israel a people separated from all others. St Paul makes use of the illustration of a party wall which has been demolished by the death of Christ on the Cross. Salvation comes by faith,
by God’s gift, with no difference between ‘Jews and pagans; united with Christ the two peoples become one people, ‘one new man’, ‘one body, that is the Church.
This is described under the image of a building under construction in which new converts are incorporated as living stones to form the one Temple of God.

1 ‘ 7 The sacred character of marriage
i. .L I (5, 21-33)

• 2! Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord, 23 For the
husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. 24 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. 29 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved

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Letter to the Ephesians
the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ‘7that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 26 so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and1 mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the church; 33however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

The union of a man and woman, hallowed by an unbreakable pact, is a ‘mystery’, which means a sacred reality in the order of salvation. Marriage is the image of the union of Christ with the Church and so of the common life (i.e. grace) which flows between Christ and the Church. Therefore, the Church teaches, marriage according to Christ’s will is an effective means of grace, i.e. a ‘sacrament’. From this doctrine- a very practical conclusion follows: the image must be like its sublime model;
the love of husband and wife must draw its inspiration from Christ, who loved the Church and sacrificed himself for it. Note that this description of the Church as the Bride, and also as the, Body of Christ, makes it clear that the Church’s belonging to Christ as his Body, does not in any way remove the distinction between the Person of Christ, divine by nature, and the individuality of the members of the Church, each of whom is ‘son’ of God by incorporation and by grace and not by nature.

1 8 Duties of fathers and sons, of masters and servants
1 (16,1-9)

‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honour your father and mother” (this is the first command-
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Letter to the Ephesians
Here is another example of the doctrinal formation of Christian morality, Christ is the point of reference for relations among men. One alone is truly Lord; to him must those who call themselves masters on earth render their account, just as those who
perform the duties of servants must serve him. In the letter to Philemon this is brought out very clearly with regard to relations between the master and the Christian slave: ‘In Christ Jesus there is ‘neither slave nor free’ (see No. 89 and No. 129 which follows).
ment with a promise), “that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.” 4Fathers, do not provoke your children to angers but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, n singleness of heart, as to Christ; 6not in the way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good any one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Masters, do the same to them, and forbear threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

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This short Letter, full of warm human feeling, and of lively affection, not without a trace of gentle irony (‘I will repay it — to say nothing of your owing me even your own self’) was written by St Paul as a note to accompany Onesimus the fugitive slave, who was sent back to his master, Philemon at Colossae, together with Tychicus, the bearer of the Letter to the Colossians. It was thus written towards the end of Paul’s captivity (about 62-63 A.D.); in it he expresses the hope of soon being his friend’s guest. Onesimus, the pagan slave of the Christian Philemon, had fled after having done ‘some injury’. When he arrived in Rome he had been converted and baptized by St Paul. The latter did not kcep the fugitive with him, nor does he directly command his friend to free the slave, but he recommends him to receive him ‘no longer as a slave but.., as a beloved
brother’. So he calls Onesimus ‘my child’, ‘my very heart’; he intervenes with the weight of his friendship and of the debts of gratitude which Philemon owes him, in order that the runaway may be pardoned and welcomed with generous kindliness. In this incident may be seen the influence of Christianity on the institutions of the day. It does not take up an external position of hostility to the institution of slavery on which the economy of the GraecoRoman world was based. It does not proclaim an economic and social revolution, but destroys from within the mistaken assumptions of this institution, and replaces them by principles which, once they are understood and welcomed, will cause the collapse of the institution and in the meantime will radically transform relations between freemen and slaves in the bosom of the Christian community.
St Paul’s Letter to Philemon
129
Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother.
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker ‘and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Letter to Philemon
4J thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—1° I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 121 am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13J would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will.
Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, 88 longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that
you will do even more than I say. 22 the same time prepare
a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers
to be granted to you.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings
to you, 24and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my
fellow workers.
2’The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

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