Background to the Letter

Living Rock Church

Background to the Letter

Part 2

Christopher Alton

One of the first things we must remember about Philippians is that it is a letter from a man to his beloved friends and disciples. The WORD of God is like the living WORD of God – Jesus; it is fully human as well as fully divine. The WORD of God was written by men who were as real as us and who were men just like us.

In light of that we need to look at the man who wrote the letter and the people he wrote it to. Such investigation is warranted when looking at any correspondence between people. Let us start with finding out about the church in Philippi.

Aims of the Module

Christopher Alton

This module is an expository Bible study on the letter of Philippians. We shall start by looking at the historical and social context in which the letter was written. We will then take an overview of the letter, like a reconnaissance plane performing a flyover. We will look at the main themes raised in the letter as well as the issues Paul chooses to address. We shall then go back for a more detailed look at some parts of the letter, to examine key passages. At the same time we will try to address some of the more difficult passages within the letter which can be hard to understand or interpret, where necessary, returning to the original language (Greek) of the letter to shed some light.

Overview Part 1

Christopher Alton

The first section of the letter deals with Paul’s opening greetings which follow the same pattern as his other letters. It is from here that Paul launches straight into thanks for his dearest friends. He cannot help but break out in thanks for them and each thanksgiving is as Peterson puts it, “… a trigger to prayer” Ever since that day he came across women meeting in the town and he preached the gospel to them at the cost of his own freedom, Paul was a father to the saints at Philippi. They were always in his heart no matter where he was.

Overview Part 2

Christopher Alton

In the last section, against the background of the persecution which Paul and the Philippians shared together, we looked at one of the Bible’s central themes of the Seed and the serpent. You will recall that Paul tells the Philippians that unity is their best weapon and a signal to the enemy of the saints that his head will be crushed. As we start with the second chapter of Philippians we see Paul goes on to outline exactly how they are to express this unity together. We have seen that it was gospel-centric, a bi-product of the persecution they suffered. But it also needed walking out and here is where Paul gets practical in exactly how they should walk it out: -