Philippians 1:1–11 · WEB Classic
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God whenever I remember you,
4 always in every request of mine on behalf of you all, making my requests with joy, 5 for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now; 6 being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. 9 This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Lydia opens her home. A slave girl loses the spirit that has made her owners money. Paul and Silas receive a beating, spend the night in custody, and find themselves explaining the word of the Lord to the man responsible for keeping them there. Acts 16 gives us an unusual account of a church taking shape. Nobody appears to have conducted a neighborhood survey asking whether Philippi would prefer a sermon series about improving its self-confidence.
The gospel enters households, disturbs a profitable arrangement, and brings people to faith. It also brings opposition. When Paul writes to the Philippians from imprisonment, they already know that allegiance to Christ can make a person unpopular with people who were perfectly satisfied with the previous arrangement. Their church began in a city where Roman authority could be used against the missionaries. A prison letter would not sound like an inexplicable interruption of an otherwise comfortable religious career.
Paul and Timothy introduce themselves as servants of Jesus Christ. The address names all the saints, together with the overseers and servants. The leaders belong within the congregation receiving grace. They have responsibilities among God’s people; they have not become a separate class of people through whom the others must rent access to him. Even before the prayer begins, the greeting places everyone under the same Lord and in need of the same gift.
Saints are people set apart in Christ. Paul can call them that while writing a letter that addresses rivalry, conceit, anxiety, and a disagreement between two women who have served the gospel. Being a saint does not mean the church has run out of things to repent of. It tells us to whom these people belong while they learn to live together.
Partnership has a history
Paul thanks God when he remembers them, and he prays with joy because of their partnership in the gospel. Fellowship can sound like something scheduled immediately after the service, provided somebody has remembered the coffee filters. Here it means sharing in the work and its cost. These believers have remained involved with Paul from the beginning. Their money, prayers, affection, and willingness to identify with a prisoner give the word substance.
Later in the letter, Paul names their gifts and describes Epaphroditus bringing their support. That is part of what he remembers. The relationship has survived geographical distance and circumstances in which friendship with him might offer very little social advantage. They have not treated his imprisonment as an unfortunate public-relations development requiring a quieter name on the ministry letterhead.
This makes the confidence of verse 6 especially warm. God began a good work among these believers, and Paul trusts him to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. The assurance belongs to people sharing in grace and in the gospel. It reaches beyond the arrival of a financial gift, yet the concrete partnership helps us see the work Paul is celebrating. God is making a people whose life together bears the character of the gospel they received.
We diminish the promise when we turn it into a guarantee that every project we begin will succeed. A half-finished business proposal is not automatically the good work of Philippians 1:6. Paul’s confidence rests on God’s saving purpose in Christ, moving toward Christ’s day. That gives believers firmer ground than confidence in their own ability to finish everything they have announced on Facebook.
Nor does this confidence make Paul’s prayer unnecessary. He trusts God and asks God to bring about the growth these people need. Divine faithfulness gives prayer somewhere to stand. It does not leave the apostle wondering what to do with the rest of his morning.
Love needs to learn
Paul wants their love to abound in knowledge and discernment. We sometimes place love on one side of the room and careful judgment on the other, then announce that mature Christians should choose love. Paul asks for love capable of recognizing what is excellent. Affection can be sincere and still need instruction about what actually helps the person receiving it.
A parent can love a child while repeatedly rescuing him from consequences he needs to face. A church can speak tenderly to an abuser while making the injured person carry the cost of preserving the church’s reputation. Warm feelings have not solved either problem. Love must learn to recognize the good of its neighbor under the truth God has given.
Knowledge without love can produce a person who wins every argument and leaves everybody wishing he had stayed home. Love without discernment can supply encouragement to conduct that destroys people. Paul’s prayer brings them together because the fruit he seeks is righteousness through Jesus Christ. The Lord supplies more than information, and he does more than make us agreeable. He forms a people able to recognize and practice what pleases God.
The horizon remains the day of Christ. Their present decisions matter because their lives are moving toward the Lord who will bring his work to completion. Sincerity and freedom from offense concern the integrity of that life. Paul has already called them saints; he now prays that their conduct will bear the fruit fitting that identity.
It is a useful prayer to bring into an ordinary disagreement. We often ask God to help the other person understand what we have already decided. Paul’s prayer asks for love with enough discernment to discover whether our own decision needs correcting. Someone else’s welfare may require more of us than a kind tone and an explanation of why we are right.