INTRODUCTION
TO THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
The Letter to the Saints at Philippi differs in some
respects from any of the preceding letters of the Apostle Paul. It contains
less logic and more of the heart. It is distinguished by the absence of
didactical reasoning, and by the presence of a tender friendship and fatherly
affection which is more apparent than in other Pauline letters to the churches.
The letter to the Romans in the profoundest logic; those to the Corinthians
were designed to rebuke certain prevalent sins and necessarily contain more or
less censure; that to the Galatians rebukes a dangerous heresy which threatened
the welfare of the Galatian churches; that to the Ephesians is a sublime
unfolding of the mystery of God in reference to the Gentiles, but this letter
is the outpouring of the love of the founder of the Philippian Church towards
one of the most affectionate, faithful and self-forgetful of all congregations
which he had planted. It has been remarked that there is no breath of censure
for the Philippian saints, except in so far as it is implied in the tender
exhortation to Euodias and Syntyche found in chap. 4:2. The history of the
origin of the church and the memory of the loving remembrances of the
Philippians help to explain the affectionate tenderness of the letter.
The account of the founding of the church at Philippi, which
occurred in a.d. 50 or 51, is
given in the sixteenth chapter of Acts. Led by a vision at Troas the apostle,
on his second great missionary journey, crossed into Europe, landing at
Neapolis, and proceeding from thence at once to Philippi, which was “the chief
city of that part of Macedonia.” This city had already some claims to a place
in history. It received its name from Philip of Macedon, the father of
Alexander the Great, who added to his dominions the little Thracian town which
existed there before, rebuilt and fortified it, and gave it its new name in the
year b.c. 358. In b.c. 42, about ninety-two years before
Paul visited it, it was the field of the decisive battle between Brutus and
Cassius, the leaders of the Republicans, and the Triumvirate of Imperialists,
one of whom was subsequently Augustus Cæsar. But the place has a higher interest
to the Christian world from the fact that here was planted the first
congregation of Christians that ever existed on the soil of Europe.
It was not only the scene of gospel triumphs but of
suffering for the cross of Christ. Here it was that Paul and Silas were beaten,
cast into the stocks in the inner prison, by the grace of God converted and
baptized their jailer and his household before the dawn, and were honorably
released by the magistrates in the morning, as Roman citizens, unjustly beaten
and imprisoned. When Paul continued his journey westward, the recently founded
Philippian church followed him with support, contributing more than once to his
necessities (4:15, 16), and when the tidings came that he was a prisoner in
Rome their old affection showed itself still again by sending one of their
members, Epaphroditus, with the offerings of the church as a provision for his
wants (2:25; 4:10–18). It seems to have been the return of Epaphroditus from
this ministration of their love, to which we are indebted for this letter.
It was written from the city of Rome, during the first
imprisonment of Paul, and probably towards its close, perhaps in the year a.d. 63. The mention of his bonds
(1:12), of the Prætorian camp (see Revision in 1:13) of Cæsar’s household
(4:22), as well as other allusions (1:25; 2:24) all show that Paul was in
the Roman capital at the time of writing. I will not take space to discuss the
reasons which seem to point to near the close of his first imprisonment as its
date.
Concerning the genuineness of this epistle, there has never
been any reasonable doubt. It has always been accepted by the church, is
Pauline in doctrine, and in diction, abounds probably to a greater extent than
other epistles in personal details, and is in full agreement with all the
historical facts which can be gathered from the history of the times, and from
the allusions in Acts and the other epistles. It bears every mark of having
been written by Paul from the scene of his imprisonment to the beloved church
which he had planted and for which he had suffered. It is not only contained in
the Canon of Scripture dated a.d.
170, but is mentioned definitely by Polycarp, born in a.d. 69, in his own Epistle to the Philippians, and is
quoted from in an Epistle of Ignatius of about a.d.
107.
Excerpt from:
A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
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