Exalting Christ in Philippians: The Church at Philippi

Last week, we started talking about the context behind Paul's letter to the Philippian church in AD 62, better known as "Philippians" to us. This week, we're going to look at the actual church, based on information given in Exalting Christ in Philippians by Tony Merida and Francis Chan.

Philippi, a Roman colony since 1st century B.C., has the distinction of being the 1st church on European soil, founded in Acts 16.

The story of how this church was founded is fascinating to me, actually. Paul was on his 2nd missionary journey and saw in a vision, a man saying, "Come to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9). Now, that's pretty cool! Paul had no plans of going to Philippi at first. He wanted to go to Asia and Bithynia (verses 6-7), but those doors closed. So he chose to be obedient to the Lord and went to Macedonia. When Paul, Timothy, and Luke got there, they found no believers, so they began to share the Gospel.

So, it's AD 51, and Paul, Timothy, and Luke are in Philippi, which looks exactly like Rome. They goes looking for a synagogue and finds none, and ends up by the river where they sees a women's prayer meeting and approached them humbly (verses 24-25). "Here, in this quiet, non-spectacular event, the first church on European soil came together! The kingdom of God breaks in like this—small, quiet, lowly—but then expands" (page 8).

Lydia was one of these women. The authors note that she was a businesswoman who sold purple cloth, and likely a God-fearer. "But when Paul began teaching, God opened her heart and mind to believe the gospel. She and her household (who apparently also believed) were baptized. After this, she showed hospitality by inviting Paul's team to stay with her. God opened her heart; she opened her home" (page 8).

Then, Paul cast a spirit out from a tormented girl "and she was presumably converted". Her masters were not happy with this (she made them a profit through fortune-telling), so they took Paul and Silas before the magistrates, where they were flogged and imprisoned (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). 

In that prison, Paul and Silas began praying and singing, when God sent an earthquake and the bonds of everyone in the jail broken open. The jailer was terrified he'd be killed if the prisoners escaped. He drew his own sword to kill himself, before Paul said, "Don't do it! We're all still here!" To which, the jailer said, "What must I do to be saved?" And this guy and his family believed and were baptized. Paul and Silas were officially released and asked to leave the city, and the jailer decided to take Paul and Silas to his house to eat and have their wounds cleaned. But on the way, they stopped at Lydia's house to encourage the church meeting there—then they went to the jailer's house.

So, the church at Philippi was made up of Lydia and her friends (who were upper class), a jailer and his family, and a formerly demon-possessed slave girl. Talk about a difference in station! Yet it didn't matter, because at the foot of the cross, all are equal in their sin, and the depth of God's love for them.

This is the context of the church at Philippi that Paul writes to. How cool! How does knowing this add to our understanding of this letter?



That's it for our study on the culture and context of Philippians! I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week!

Exalting Christ in Philippians: Cultural Context of Philippians

Guess what? This week we're going to talk about another New Testament church!

In Exalting Jesus in the Philippians, which is another book in the series of Christ-centered Exposition, authors Tony Merida and Francis Chan begin by providing the reader with a lot of insight into the context of this letter. 

Paul wrote this letter in AD 62, about 10 years after he established the church in Philippi (we'll talk about this in the next post). Just like Ephesians, Paul was in jail in Rome at the time of the writing of this letter, literally chained to Roman guards day and night (can you imagine being chained to Paul? the thought makes me giggle a lot).

This letter to the Philippians was a thank you letter to the church, who had sent a gift with a guy named Epaphroditus to Paul. He writes back to thank them, but also encourage them. The authors  note that "Paul deeply loves this church. But Philippians is more than a mere thank-you letter. Paul also uses the occasion to encourage the believers to persevere together with joy in spite of opposition. Drawing on known military language of the time, Paul exhorts the Christians to advance the Gospel bravely, as fellow servants of the true King, in the face of terrifying opponents. One must not miss this theme of partnership for the advance of the Gospel. It's not just an epistle of joy. It's about fearlessly advancing the Gospel with joy, working together in hardship" (page 4). In fact, the authors state that the word "Gospel" appears in this letter more than any of Paul's others.

The contrast between Paul's situation (in chains in Rome) and the theme of this letter (working together in joy in advancing the Gospel) is unmistakeable and a lesson in and of itself.

photo from here.

Paul, a Roman citizen, is writing to a church that understands what is at stake for the sake of the Gospel, because Philippi was under Roman rule. Founded by Alexander the Great's father, King Philip II, it became a Roman colony in 1st century B.C.

The city itself was like a mini-Rome:

• its streets were set out in a similar pattern
• they used the same architecture and style as Rome
• they used Latin-inscripted Roman coins and spoke Latin
• they dressed in the Roman style.

The city itself also sat on a very important military road that connected the Adriatic Sea to Byzantium, which means the citizens of Philippi would have deeply understood the context of Paul's use of military language (page 7).

Philippi today, photo from here

Now that we've talked about Philippi itself, next week we'll talk about the Philippian church!