Philippians — Chapter 1

Authorship & Background

Map & Geography

• Philippi (v.1): Roman colony in Macedonia; first European church Paul established.

Places on this map

• Philippinear Krinides, GreeceA Roman colony in Macedonia on the Via Egnatia, the trunk road from the Aegean to the Adriatic, settled with army veterans. That is why its citizens were so conscious of Roman citizenship, and why Paul's own came in useful there. Wikipedia
• Macedonianorthern GreeceThe Roman province north of Greece proper, crossed by the Via Egnatia. Crossing into it from Troas took the gospel from Asia into Europe. Wikipedia

Towns sit on their excavated or traditional site. Regions, rivers and seas are ringed rather than dotted, because for those a single point is only an anchor. Coastlines from Natural Earth.

Deep Dive

Setting: Paul writes from prison, most likely house arrest in Rome around AD 60–62, the situation where Acts ends (Acts 28:30–31). Some scholars place the letter in an earlier, unrecorded imprisonment at Ephesus, and a few in Caesarea, but Rome is the traditional view and the one most readers hold. About ten years earlier, on his second journey, Paul had crossed into Europe after the vision of the man of Macedonia and planted the church at Philippi (Acts 16). Its first members were Lydia the merchant, a slave girl set free from a spirit, and a jailer who was converted after an earthquake opened the prison doors, while Paul and Silas sang hymns at midnight. Philippi was a Roman colony, settled by army veterans and proud of its Roman citizenship. The church there had sent Paul gifts again and again, most recently by Epaphroditus (4:18). This letter is in part a thank-you note, and its key word is joy.

Greeting (vv1–2)

• "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus" (v1). Timothy was with Paul when the church was founded (Acts 16:1–3; 17:14), and the Philippians knew him well (2:19–22). Paul does not call himself an "apostle" here, as he does in most letters. His authority was not in question at Philippi, so he takes the humbler title they share: douloi, slaves or bondservants of Christ. The word sets up chapter 2, where Christ himself takes "the form of a servant" (2:7).
• "To all the saints" (v1). "Saints" (hagioi) means people set apart for God. It is not a rank for the especially holy. It names every believer, because they belong to God through Christ. Notice "all," a word Paul keeps repeating through this chapter ("you all," vv4, 7, 8, 25). There was friction in this church (4:2), and Paul makes a point of leaving no one out.
• "With the overseers and deacons" (v1). This is the only greeting in Paul's letters that names church officers. "Overseers" (episkopoi, the word behind "bishop") were leaders who gave spiritual oversight. In the New Testament they are the same people as "elders" (compare Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5–7). Deacons served the church's practical needs. Both are plural: Philippi had a team of leaders, not one. Churches today differ on how these offices are organized (Episcopal, Presbyterian, congregational), but most agree that here the two words describe one group of shepherds plus a group of servants.
• "Grace to you and peace" (v2). Paul's usual greeting joins the Greek greeting (charis, grace) to the Hebrew one (shalom, peace), and fills both with gospel meaning. Grace is God's undeserved kindness. Peace is the wholeness that comes from being reconciled to him. Both come from the Father and from Jesus together, which quietly puts Jesus on the side of God.
• Commentators: JFB notes that Paul writes "I" through the rest of the letter, so Timothy joins in the greeting rather than co-writing. It also says the omission of "apostle" makes the tone warmer. On the officers it states plainly that "bishops" are "synonymous with 'presbyters' in the apostolical churches." The Tyndale notes add that leaders in the early church gave spiritual guidance and deacons practical care, with no professional clergy class as later centuries knew it.

Thanksgiving and Prayer (vv3–11)

• "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you" (v3). Paul's memories of Philippi included a beating, stocks and a night in jail (Acts 16:22–24). Yet every memory of these people makes him thankful.
• "Making my prayer with joy" (v4). This is the first mention of joy. "Joy" and "rejoice" occur about sixteen times in this short letter, written in chains.
• "Your partnership in the gospel" (v5). The word is koinōnia, usually translated "fellowship." It means sharing something in common, and it can also mean a financial contribution (Rom 15:26; 2 Cor 9:13). Both senses are present here. The Philippians shared Paul's faith, his mission and his costs. They sent money to him in Thessalonica more than once (4:15–16), and they were the only church that did so early on. "From the first day" points back to Lydia opening her home (Acts 16:15).
• "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion" (v6). This is the chapter's best-known promise. The one who began the work is God, not the Philippians and not Paul. "Began" and "bring to completion" are a matched pair of words, used of starting and finishing a task. What God starts, he finishes. "The day of Jesus Christ" is Christ's return, when the work of making believers like him is complete (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2). The cross-references gather other promises of the same kind: "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me" (Ps 138:8), and "it is God who works in you" (2:13). Christians have drawn on this verse in the debate over whether a true believer can finally fall away. Reformed readers see it as a promise that God keeps his own to the end. Arminian and Wesleyan readers agree God is faithful, but hold that the promise works through continued faith, and point to the warnings elsewhere (e.g. Heb 6:4–6). Either way, Paul's confidence rests on God's character, not on the Philippians' track record.
• "I hold you in my heart… partakers with me of grace" (v7). The Greek could also read "you hold me in your heart," but the ESV's order is the more natural. Their gifts and prayers made them partners in his chains and in his "defense and confirmation of the gospel." Those are legal words. Paul is a prisoner awaiting trial, and he treats his court hearing as a chance to defend the gospel itself.
• "The affection of Christ Jesus" (v8). "Affection" is splagchna, literally the inward organs (heart, liver, lungs), which the ancient world thought of as the seat of feeling, much as English speaks of the "heart." Paul's longing for them is Christ's own compassion moving in him.
• "That your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment" (v9). Paul's prayer is not for more love alone. He prays for love with a mind. "Discernment" means moral perception, the ability to see what a situation calls for. Love without knowledge can be sentimental or easily misled.
• "So that you may approve what is excellent" (v10). "Approve" is dokimazō, a word first used for testing metals, to test and then accept what passes. "What is excellent" is literally "the things that differ." The idea is not just choosing good over bad, but discerning what matters most among many good things. Romans 12:2 uses the same verb.
• "Pure and blameless for the day of Christ" (v10). "Pure" faces inward: sincere, without hidden mixture. "Blameless" faces outward: giving no one cause to stumble. The prayer again looks ahead to Christ's day (v6).
• "Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ" (v11). The righteousness is not self-made. It "comes through Jesus Christ," as Paul will spell out in 3:9. Fruit grows from a life joined to him (John 15:4–5), and the whole aim is "the glory and praise of God."
• Commentators: On v6, Henry: "The work of grace will never be perfected till the day of Jesus Christ." JFB puts it more briefly: "Any work that God begins, He will surely finish." Guzik paraphrases the same point, citing Spurgeon's challenge to find any work God started and left half done. He adds that the "day of Jesus Christ" includes the resurrection of the body, since God's work covers the whole person. On v7 JFB adds a line worth keeping: "Bonds do not bind love." On vv9–10 Guzik warns against blind love, and he pairs "sincere" (inner) with "without offense" (outer), arguing that both are needed. JFB reads "excellent" as "the things best among those that are good." Henry: "Those who abound in any grace, need to abound more."

The Advance of the Gospel (vv12–18a)

• "What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel" (v12). The Philippians feared that Paul's arrest had stalled the mission. Paul says the opposite has happened. "Advance" (prokopē) means progress, first of all progress on a journey. Popular studies often say it was used of pioneers clearing a road ahead of an army, but the lexicon gives only "progress" and "advance." Either way, the gospel is moving forward, not stalled.
• "Throughout the whole imperial guard" (v13). The word is praitōrion. In the Gospels it is the governor's residence in Jerusalem (Mark 15:16), but here the lexicon gives it the sense of the Praetorian Guard, the elite soldiers who protected the emperor in Rome. Under house arrest Paul was chained to a soldier around the clock (Acts 28:16, 20), and the guards rotated in shifts. Each one would hear Paul pray, write, teach visitors and explain why he was there. Those who hold the Ephesus view take praitōrion as a governor's headquarters in a province, which the word can also mean. "Those of Caesar's household" in 4:22 points to believers among the imperial staff.
• "My imprisonment is for Christ" (v13). Literally "my chains are in Christ." It became clear to everyone that this was not a criminal case but a matter of faith.
• "Much more bold to speak the word without fear" (v14). Seeing Paul's courage, other believers in Rome lost their fear. One man's chains made a whole church brave.
• "Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry" (v15). Some Christian preachers in Rome resented Paul's reputation. They used his absence to grow their own following, "thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment" (v17). "Selfish ambition" (eritheia) originally meant canvassing for office, and it came to mean a party spirit. Paul warns against the same thing in 2:3.
• "The latter do it out of love" (v16). Others preach because they love Paul and understand that he is "put here" for the gospel's defense. The word means appointed, set in place, as a soldier is posted. Paul does not see himself as stuck in prison by chance. He sees himself as stationed there.
• "Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice" (v18a). This is remarkable. The rivals' motives are bad, but their message is true, and Paul cares more about Christ being preached than about who gets the credit. This is not indifference to doctrine. When the message itself was wrong, as in Galatia, Paul called it "a different gospel" and was fierce (Gal 1:6–9). Here the problem is motive, and he leaves motives to God (1 Cor 4:5).
• Commentators: All three draw the same line between bad motives and false teaching. JFB states it directly: the rivals' fault was in their spirit, not their doctrine. Guzik makes the same point from Galatians 1, and he describes selfish ambition as wanting the image of success rather than true faithfulness before God. Henry on v13: Paul's sufferings "made him known, where he would never have otherwise been known; and led some to inquire after the gospel." JFB identifies the praetorium as "the barrack of the Prætorian guards attached to the palace of Nero." The Tyndale notes take the rivals to be believers who disliked Paul, like the critics he answers in 2 Corinthians 10–13.

To Live Is Christ (vv18b–30)

• "Yes, and I will rejoice" (v18b). Paul has rejoiced in the present. Now he turns to the future and rejoices in that too.
• "This will turn out for my deliverance" (v19). These words match the Greek Old Testament of Job 13:16 almost exactly. Job, falsely accused and suffering, trusted that he would be vindicated before God. "Deliverance" (sōtēria, usually "salvation") could mean release from prison, which Paul expects (vv25–26; 2:24). But it more likely means his final vindication before God, whatever the court decides, since v20 includes the possibility of death. Two means work together: "your prayers" and "the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." The word for "help" (epichorēgia) means a supply or provision. It is built on a word for the patron who paid for a festival chorus, though the lexicon simply gives "supply."
• "That I will not be at all ashamed… Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death" (v20). "Honored" is literally "magnified," made great. A telescope makes a distant star look as large as it really is. Paul's body, in life or in death, will show how great Christ is. His one fear is not death but shame: losing his nerve when it counts.
• "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (v21). This is the heart of the chapter. There are no verbs in the Greek, only "to live, Christ; to die, gain." Life means Christ: knowing him, serving him, showing him. Death means gain, because it brings Paul to him. If anything else filled the first half ("to live is money," "to live is my career"), death would be loss, not gain.
• "Which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two" (vv22–23). "Hard pressed" (synechomai) is the word for being hemmed in or pressed on every side, as the crowd pressed on Jesus (Luke 8:45). Paul is not choosing between good and bad. He is choosing between two goods.
• "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better" (v23). "Depart" is analuō, "to unloose." It was used of a ship loosing its moorings or soldiers striking camp. Death for a believer is breaking camp to go home. "Far better" in Greek piles up comparatives, roughly "much more better." And the departure leads straight to "being with Christ." Most Christians read this, with 2 Corinthians 5:8 ("away from the body and at home with the Lord"), as showing that believers who die are with Christ consciously, while still waiting for the resurrection of the body at his return (3:20–21). Some traditions hold that the dead "sleep" until the resurrection, but this verse is one of the main texts against that view.
• "To remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account" (v24). Paul's own preference loses to the church's need. This is the mind of Christ that chapter 2 will describe: not looking to his own interests but to others' (2:4).
• "I know that I will remain and continue with you all" (v25). Paul is persuaded he will be released, for the sake of their "progress and joy in the faith." "Progress" is the same word as "advance" in v12. The gospel advanced through his chains, and now the believers will advance through his release. Early tradition holds that Paul was freed, traveled further and was later arrested again and executed in Rome under Nero. 2 Timothy reflects that later imprisonment, where he expects to die (2 Tim 4:6).
• "Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel" (v27). The verb is politeuomai, "live as a citizen." Philippi was intensely proud of being a Roman colony. Its citizens lived under Roman law and customs, far from Rome. Paul borrows the idea: they are a colony of heaven (3:20, "our citizenship is in heaven"), and they should live by heaven's ways in Philippi. The lexicon confirms the sense: conduct shaped by citizenship.
• "Standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side" (v27). These are military and athletic pictures. Soldiers hold the line shoulder to shoulder, and athletes compete as a team. "Striving side by side" (synathleō) is the word behind English "athlete." Paul uses it again for Euodia and Syntyche, who "labored side by side with me" and now need to agree (4:2–3). Unity is not a side issue here. It is how a church stands up to pressure.
• "Not frightened in anything by your opponents" (v28). The verb (pturomai) appears only here in the New Testament. It means to be startled, and in classical Greek it was used of a horse shying in panic. The believers' calm in the face of opponents is "a clear sign." To the opponents, it signals their coming ruin, though they may not see it that way. To the believers, it is evidence of salvation, "and that from God." Courage under pressure is not something they produced themselves. It is God's gift and God's mark on them.
• "It has been granted to you… not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (v29). "Granted" (echaristhē) comes from the same root as charis, grace. Faith is a gift of grace, and so, Paul says, is suffering for Christ. That runs against every natural instinct, and it does not mean suffering is good in itself. It means suffering for Christ is an honor, sharing in his own path (3:10; Acts 5:41).
• "The same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have" (v30). "Conflict" is agōn, an athletic contest or struggle, the root of "agony." They "saw" it when Paul and Silas were beaten and jailed in their own city (Acts 16:19–24). They "hear" of it now in Rome. The Philippians face hostility of their own, perhaps from neighbors who saw loyalty to Jesus as disloyalty to Caesar (compare Acts 16:20–21). They are not alone and not forgotten. They are in the same race as Paul.
• Readings differ on v28. As the ESV reads it, the opponents see a sign of their own destruction. The Tyndale notes point out that the Greek could also mean the opponents see the believers' firmness as a sign that the believers will be destroyed, while God sees it as a sign of their salvation, the same event read two ways (compare 2 Cor 2:15–16). Either way, the believers' steadiness is God's evidence.
• Commentators: Henry describes Paul's dilemma as "Not between two evil things, but between two good things; living to Christ and being with him." On v29 he writes: "if we suffer reproach and loss for Christ, we are to reckon them a gift, and prize them accordingly." JFB hears Job 13:16 in v19, glosses "depart" as "to loose anchor," and says "far better" is a double comparative that rules out soul-sleep. It renders v27 "Let your walk as citizens." Guzik also argues that vv21–23 rule out both soul-sleep and purgatory. He insists Paul's longing to depart was not despair but love for Christ. He passes on the image of a startled, stampeding horse for v28, which the lexicon's "be startled, shy" supports. He says suffering in God's hands is a tool, not a sign of abandonment. On "conflict" (agōn) he points out the athletic background and the English words "agony" and "agonize," which the lexicon also supports.

Pointing to Christ

Paul's chains, his rivals and his possible death all point him to the same place: Christ being made great. The chapter opens with God finishing what he began and closes with grace given both to believe and to suffer. In between, "to live is Christ" sums up a life that has been joined to him. What makes the chapter believable is the next one. The Son who "emptied himself" and was "obedient to the point of death" (2:7–8) walked the road of suffering first, and God raised him. That is why Paul can call death "gain" and why a prison cell can become a pulpit.

Commentary

• Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik covers Paul's thanksgiving, his prayer, the furtherance of the gospel through imprisonment, and the "to live is Christ" declaration.
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
• Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Articles

• GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Philippians -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

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Reflection

• God Will Finish What He Started (v.6) — Paul is confident that the good work God began in believers will be carried through to completion. Where in your life do you feel unfinished, and can you trust God is still working there?
• Even Hardship Advances the Gospel (v.12) — Paul sees his imprisonment as something God is using to spread the gospel rather than a setback to it. What difficult circumstance in your life might God be using for a purpose you can't yet see?
• Rejoicing Through Imperfect Motives (v.18) — Paul rejoices that Christ is preached even when some do it out of rivalry rather than sincerity. Can you find joy when God works through imperfect people and situations, or does that steal your peace?
• To Live Is Christ (v.21) — Paul defines his whole life, and even his death, entirely in terms of Christ. If you finished the sentence "for me to live is ___" honestly, what would fill that blank?
• Suffering as a Gift Alongside Faith (v.29) — Paul describes suffering for Christ's sake as something granted, not merely endured. How does viewing suffering as part of your calling rather than random misfortune change how you carry it?