Bread of Angels by Tessa Afshar

This study of Philippi we just finished reminded me of the novel Bread of Angels by Tessa Afschar, so I wanted to feature it this week.

This beautiful cover makes it pretty clear who this book is about: Lydia at Philippi, the merchant of purple.

A quick summation:
Originally of Thyatira, tragedy and injustice forces Lydia to flee the home that had been in her family for 3 generations and start over in the Roman settlement of Philippi in Macedonia. Because she is an unmarried woman, and not a Roman citizen, it is difficult for her to open her shop and begin to make headway in selling her purple linen. But God begins to slowly make a way (without her realizing that it is Him), until one day, while gathering with her Jewish friend, Rebekah, and others down at the river, they meet four mysterious men named Paul, Silas, Marcus, and Luke. Suddenly... everything changes.

I enjoyed this book, as it was very clearly written and interesting to follow. That time period is particularly interesting to me, as I love reading about the Early Church and the Roman Empire. So if you love Biblical fiction, I definitely recommend this book.

Click here to find it on Amazon!

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!