Philippi was the first city in Europe where the apostle Paul preached Christ. It was there he was carried by the ship after he had received the vision of the man of Macedonia imploring him to come over and help them. See Acts 16:9-12. There he waited till the Sabbath to get the mind of God as to his work. There he attended the Jewish women’s meeting by the side of the river. There Lydia’s heart was opened to hear the word of God. It was there also that he and Silas got persecuted, beaten and put into prison, for exposing Satan’s wiles, and casting the devil out of a woman who brought great gain to her master by her soothsayings. There the Philippian jailor who guarded the prison was converted, and baptized with his whole family. There the Philippian assembly was planted in weakness, amid suffering and persecution, and Paul and Silas immediately after had to leave and to go to other places. See Acts 16:12 to end.
Two households seem to have composed the assembly at first, but though the apostle had to leave, yet these dear Philippian hearts were ever after continually knit to him, the great instrument of their conversion, and they sent again and again money for his necessity, thus proving indeed that theirs was a faith which was not barren or unfruitful, but which worked by love, a love that had taken hold of their hearts, and produced in them a new nature, whose character was indeed love. This mutual love between the Philippians and Paul seems ever to have continued. Their love followed the apostle to his prison in Rome, and Epaphroditus, their messenger, was the means of conveying to him the proof of it. See Phil. 4:18.
It is very blessed to see in this epistle the yearnings of Christ among the early Christians, and in a day when those holy affections have grown cold and well nigh dried up among many, how sweet to be brought back to the word of God and to hold in our hands a letter from the apostle Paul where these blessed affections of Christians are reproduced, so that our cold hearts may be warmed up by them. Divisions and worldliness in the church have well-nigh destroyed these affections. What can reproduce them but the apprehension over again of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the source of all unity and fellowship (Eph. 1:3). Christ as the head and center of it (Eph. 1:19-23) and the Holy Ghost as the bond of power and unity among the members of Christ one to the other (Eph. 2:22, 4:3, 4). The Lord will then gather those who have come to the apprehension of these blessed truths, back to Himself at the Lord’s Table where the outward symbol of unity, the one loaf is exhibited (1 Cor. 10:16, 17), and we shall there seek to walk together in love showing that love to every member of Christ’s body wherever they are, only remembering that real love is tested by our keeping His commandments. (2 John 5) .
In Phil. 1 we have before us Christ for life and service, as also fellowship with Him in that life and service and sufferings; in Phil. 2 we see Christ come down to the earth to die, as our pattern, and we are called to fellowship with His mind thus exhibited. In Phil. 3 we see Christ in glory as our object in view: and here we are called to fellowship with Paul, who is the great example as to this mind; a man of like passions to us. See ch. 3:15-17. In ch. 4 we see Christ for joy and strength, and a man (Paul) lifted up above all circumstances through fellowship with Him in that strength.
The great subject, then, of the epistle is Christ put before us practically for our life and walk; and the secret of happy fellowship among saints is to be followers of Him, and of His servant Paul. It is the epistle, then, for our walk, the very highest kind of walk. As remarked by another, sin is not mentioned in the epistle, the flesh once, and then as good flesh and not bad flesh. The man who is walking at a Philippian level is a man above sinning, at least habitually in practice, and above circumstances. Paul was in prison but could rejoice that the counsels of God in regard to His Christ were furthered thereby. Death stared him in the face, but he could say, to depart and be with Christ is far better, and truly such a stream of truth flowed out of that prison that has comforted and established the church through all the years since. It was the same with Luther: the enemies headed by the Pope thought to kill him. He was in consequence shut up in the castle of Wartburg by his friends, but forth from that retreat flowed the long pen that the Elector of Saxony had seen in his dream, and spread the Gospel truth of justification by faith far and near. There also the German translation of the Bible went fast ahead which has brought life and liberty to the nation ever since.
The apostle joins himself with Timothy in his address to the Philippians—they were the servants of Jesus Christ. The Philippians are addressed as saints, or those set apart for God’s use, as holy vessels in His sanctuary, separated from Jew and Gentile, according to their position in Christ Jesus. For He was the true saint, God’s separated man. There on high in God’s heavenly sanctuary that golden and silver vessel shines, and it is in Him as partaking of the same life, nature and position, that Christians get their place as saints. It is the common place and title of all believers. In each assembly it was the apostolic custom to appoint elders and deacons, as those qualified to oversee, rule, and minister to the temporal needs of the flock. See 1 Tim. 3, Titus 1, Acts 14. Men with the necessary qualifications were chosen by the apostles to the offices. There were evidently several of these men in every assembly, as here at Philippi. What a different office to that of the present bishop of a diocese! One man is now set over several assemblies instead of several bishops being in one assembly. Elders and bishops were evidently the same office. See Acts 20:28. The Holy Ghost had made the Ephesian elders bishops of the flock. It was only when men began to usurp power in the church, that the title “bishop” began to be applied to the head man of the assembly, and he naturally began to be looked up to by all the country assemblies around. Thus the power of the bishop of Rome began.
But at Philippi and in most of the primitive assemblies there were several bishops and deacons in one assembly—and they were by no means addressed apart from the whole body of saints, in fact they are put second here.
The apostle after saluting the saints with the usual salutation of grace and peace, bursts out in praise to God for his dear Philippians. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day till now. See Phil. 4:15, 16. They had shown their love and fellowship with him in the work from the very first, after his first memorable visit to them. Thus was the good work that God had begun in their souls, manifest by its fruits, and this encouraged the apostle to have hope in the reality of the work, which would assuredly be completed in the Philippians, by the faithfulness of God, at the day of Jesus Christ. Blessed confidence for the servant of Christ for his children in the faith!
It was just for him to think this of them all, because he had them in his heart, inasmuch as in his bonds, as well as in the defence and confirmation of the gospel they were all partakers of the same grace. There was perfect fellowship between the apostle and the Philippians in life, service, and sufferings. How could he feel otherwise than encouraged on their behalf?
The love of Christ, expressed in ver. 8 by His “bowels,” was burning in his heart toward them, and thus he prayed that their love, (fellowship again) might abound yet more, in knowledge and in all judgment, that they might try things that differed, so as to be sincere and without offence, till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which was from Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. This shows how love needs to be regulated by that knowledge of Christ, which, bringing Him in, causes true discernment between good and evil, and prevents love from degenerating into mere fleshly affection. Sincerity and unblameableness would be the result of this test.
This letter thus begins with expressions of thanksgiving, confidence and prayer, which brings out, too, the perfect fellowship the apostle had with these beloved saints, in life, service, love, and suffering. He now proceeds to comfort their hearts by assuring them that what had befallen him in Rome, (namely, in his being put in prison,) had all turned out for the furtherance of the gospel; so that his bonds in Christ were manifest in Nero’s palace and in all other places. And is it not wondrous to see the power of God’s grace working in a poor prisoner’s heart, so that in the most dismal place, when all that earth holds dear was shut out from him, and nothing but death stared him in the face, this wondrous vessel of God’s grace could send forth from his prison letters full of praise, thanksgiving, and heavenly joy, for the comfort of other’s. He knew the Philippians had been grieved when they heard of it, and indeed it was a solemn and sad thing to all appearance for the minister of a dispensation of God, this present dispensation, to be shut up in a prison. But “no,” says the apostle, “do not be grieved, these things have turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.” The testimony was carried on by other hands, some indeed might preach Christ of contention supposing to add affliction to the apostle’s bonds, others of love, knowing that he had been set in defence of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every way, Christ is preached, and therein I rejoice, and will rejoice. For Christ to be preached everywhere, even in the imperial palace of Rome, was no small advance surely, and yet the chief instrument was in prison. How God overrules everything to the advancement of the glory of His Son.
And this gave the apostle confidence, instead of disturbing him. He knew that it would all turn to his salvation through the fellowship of the saints’ prayers, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ according to his own expectation and hope, that in nothing he would be ashamed, but that as always so now Christ might be magnified in his body either by life or death. For him to live was Christ, to die gain.
Let us pause now, dear reader, one moment, and consider these words. The apostle, as we have seen, was already in prison awaiting his trial before Nero, the Roman emperor. There was apparently nothing but death before him, recantation or death, and yet it was his earnest expectation and hope that in nothing he would be ashamed. He had faced human rulers before, had had their scourges on his back, and yet through it all had found Christ’s sufficiency. He trusted then for the future as for the past, and more, he trusted that that Christ who had carried him through the prison house at Philippi, and the hatred of the Jewish nation would be magnified in his body, whether by life or death. He seems as if he had been introduced to our modern telescopes and microscopes, and as if he had put himself in the place of these instruments, so that if only men would come in contact with him and look through the instrument, they would see a Christ very far off to them, or very dimly seen, brought quite near like a magnifying glass magnifies distant objects. And, indeed, dear reader, ought it not so to be with us? Should we not seek so to manifest Christ that He might be magnified in our bodies before our fellow men whether in life or death? The one object of our life to live not ourselves but Christ, to die, gain.
And is it not gain, dear believers? Let us encourage one another by the words of Scripture, for we are none up to the mark as we ought to be as to our actual realized state. Is it not gain to be with Christ, is it not real gain to lose these sinful bodies the only thing that hinders our full enjoyment of Him?
The apostle now seems in a maze; he has here the fruit of his labor, that Christ should be magnified in his body—to live Christ; he has on the other side the prospect of being with Christ; he does not know what to choose, to depart to be with Christ was far better, to remain was more necessary for the saints, and having this confidence, he knew he should remain for their furtherance and joy of faith, that their rejoicing might be more abundant in Jesus Christ for him by his coming to them again.
Only he desired that the Philippians’ general deportment might become the gospel of Christ, that whether present or absent he might hear of their affairs that they stood fast, in one spirit, with one soul, striving together for the faith of the gospel and in nothing terrified by their adversaries, which to them was a manifest token of perdition; but to the Philippians of salvation and that of God. For unto them it was given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on His name, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict (in fellowship) which they saw in the apostle and now heard to be in Him. Blessed fellowship in life, service and suffering.