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Philippians 1 - Peake Arthur S. and Grieve A. J. - Peake's Comment

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Philippians 1

1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

2 grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Heart of the Apostle

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

6 being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

7 even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

10 that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;

13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

14 and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:

16 the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:

17 but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20 according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.

23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

24 nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

26 that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

28 and in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

30 having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

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Philippians 1

Php 1:1 f. Salutation.—Associating his assistant Timothy with him as fellow-slave in the service of Christ Jesus, Paul addresses his letter to all the members of the church at Philippi under the name of “saints,” which means people consecrated to God, not necessarily persons of exceptional holiness, and is therefore applied in NT to all Christians. The apostle associates with the church members, for special mention, their bishops and deacons, two orders of the ministry and a plurality in each order, if we are to take the words officially, and in that case as the earliest NT reference to the titles. But perhaps we should translate these words more generally—as “those who have oversight” and “those who serve” (cf. p. 646).



Php 1:3-11 . Thanksgiving and Intercession.—Paul usually begins his letters with congratulations and thanksgivings, even when he has to follow with complaints and rebukes. In writing to Philippi he has no fault to find with the church, so that his opening sentences are especially glad. At once he sounds a dominant note, the note of joy, which recurs again and again throughout the epistle. He is especially thankful for the fellowship of his readers, their affectionate association for the spread of the gospel; and he is always praying that this may continue, as it has been from the first—a period of ten years. This is a matter of confident prayer because he is sure that He who began the good work in them, that is, God, will go on perfecting it until “the day of Jesus Christ”—the day of the return or manifestation of Christ, the Parousia. This was eagerly expected by the early Christians. The expectation is most keen in the first written of Paul’s epistles. As it was not quickly realised it passed more into the background in course of time. But it was never abandoned. We meet with it five times in this last letter written to one of the apostle’s churches. It is to be observed that he no longer expects to be alive at the time, as was the case when he wrote 1Th 1:5 and perhaps 1Co 15:51 (cf. p. 847). He proceeds to justify his confident prayer on the ground of his affectionate connexion with the Philippians. Referring to his bonds as a prisoner, he thinks of their sympathy with him both in his defence of the gospel before his accusers and in his confirmation of it in the persons of the Roman converts, all due on both sides to the merciful helpfulness of God. He prays, too, that the love which the Philippians show so warmly may be combined with knowledge, and especially that they may have a gift of discernment so that they may “approve the things that are excellent,” or rather, “prove the things that differ” (mg.). This seems preferable, because knowledge and a faculty of discernment are sought. It should be taken with regard to conduct, the higher Christian casuistry, ethical discrimination, not doctrinal, because it is to lead to sincerity and freedom from offence in “the day of Christ”—here mentioned a second time.



Php 1:12-18 . The Apostle’s Present Condition.—Turning from these thoughts about his correspondents Paul informs them of his own condition. His very imprisonment has helped his missionary work instead of hindering it, as might have been expected, because it has given him an opportunity of spreading the gospel among the soldiers of the prætorian guard who have charge of him. These constituted the imperial guard, a body of 1:0 ,000 men. “The rest” would be others with whom he came in contact and who also were being evangelised. It would seem that some of the Judaizers, who objected to his free gospel, were provoked by jealousy to a greater missionary activity. Even that delighted him, so keen was he for the one end of making Christ known.



Php 1:19-26 . His Prospects.—The successful preaching of the gospel will turn to his own salvation. Otherwise he would be put to shame. His desire is that in his person, whether by life or by death, Christ may be glorified. For him life means Christ and death will be gain. Php 1:22 may be variously rendered. RV, repeating “if” before the second clause, leaves some confusion, for Paul would not be in doubt after his fate was settled. Therefore mg. seems preferable—“If to live in the flesh be my lot, this is the fruit of my work.” His perplexity arises from the fact that, while he would choose death for himself as the issue of his approaching trial, his escape would be preferable for the Philippians, and this he confidently expects.



Php 1:27-30 . Encouragements.—The Philippians also are enduring persecution. Whether he is able to come to them again or can only hear of them, Paul trusts that they will live worthily and be united in their faithful efforts, in nothing terrified by their opponents.




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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Cambridge Univ. Press & BFBS
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