Bill Adler in his book entitled, Dear Pastor, shared some letters that were written by children of various ages to their pastor. I want to share a few of those with you.
q From eleven year old Ralph, “Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was finished.”
q From ten year old Anthony, “Dear Pastor, I would like you to marry me and my girlfriend when we get married someday.” Then he added this postscript, I’ll let you know when I find a girlfriend.”
q From nine year old Susan, Dear Pastor, please say a prayer for my teacher. She is sick and if you say a prayer, she would get better and come back to school.” Then she added this postscript, The other kids in my class said I shouldn’t write this letter.”
Nothing is more enjoyable than receiving a letter from a friend or family member. A letter is an intimate expression of the feelings and desires and interests of one person to another. The book of Philippians is most assuredly a warm personal letter from the Apostle Paul to his dear friends in Philippi. What makes this letter special is that its contents are inspired by the very Spirit of God and a part of the Canon of Scripture.
One of the first things you’ll notice is that New Testament letters differ from those today in the pattern they follow. For example, today we end our letters with the name of the sender – but in Paul’s day the name of the sender is mentioned first. After the name of the sender was mentioned, then the name of the recipient(s), followed by the greeting or salutation. This was the letter pattern as it existed in the polite society of Paul’s day.
In writing his letters Paul took this secular format and poured into it decidedly Christian content. As we examine his opening statement we will be looking closely at three key elements, the writer, the readers and the greeting.
The Writer – v.1a
Paul…
Who is Paul? We first meet him in the book of Acts as a devoted Jew known as “Saul of Tarsus.” Saul is a Hebrew name that means “to ask or pray.” He was Pharisee who had sat at the feet of Gamaliel – who at the time was considered one of the greatest of Pharisees.
During this time Saul saw the Church and Christianity as a threat to the Jewish faith. Because of this he set out to destroy them (Acts 8:1-3). However, on his way to Damascus to persecute the Saints there, he had a dramatic encounter with Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 9 – Paul recounts the story of his conversion in Acts 22 & 26).
In that dramatic “Damascus Road experience” he was transformed from an “Apostle of the Sanhedrin” into an “Apostle of Jesus Christ.”
After some time, probably three or four years we find Saul in the Church at Antioch where the Holy Spirit calls him out along with Barnabas for their first missionary journey into Asia Minor (Acts 13:1-14:28).
It is during this time that he began to be referred to as Paul (Acts 13:9) “Paul” is a Latin name that means “little” (in stature). Since the world was controlled politically by Rome and culturally by Greece it would be natural for him to use his Gentile name as he went out to minister in a largely Gentile world.
It was on his second missionary journey that he was called to leave Asia Minor and to go over into Europe. His first church established in Europe was in Philippi (Acts 15:36-18:22) (his third missionary journey is recorded for us in Acts 18:23-20:38). Determined to go to Jerusalem he is ultimately arrested and sent to Rome (Acts 21-28), It is from there that he writes the letter to the Philippians. Having been acquitted he is released, but later is arrested again and martyred under Nero. Paul’s name however, does not stand alone in the opening of this letter…..
and Timothy...
Timothy is mentioned some 24 times in the New Testament. Paul referred to him as his “true son in the faith” (1 Tim. 1:2). Timothy was a young man with a mixed heritage who became Paul’s special emissary (his mother was Jewish and his father Greek).
Why did Paul mention Timothy here?
Timothy was with Paul when they first preached the gospel to the Philippians (Acts 16:1-3ff) and had been sent by Paul to visit the Philippians on several occasions (Acts 19:21-22; 20:3-6), so they knew him well. Evidently, Paul was planning to send Timothy to them once again (Phil. 2:19-23).
The point is that Paul and Timothy were co-workers in the ministry and Paul wanted to affirm his confidence in his young protégé.
They represented the same cause – the proclamation of the gospel.
Does this mean that Timothy was co-author of the letter? Not likely – note the use of the first person singular in v.3,4,6,7,8,9,12,13,14 etc.
It has been suggested by some that Timothy was Paul’s secretary and that Paul dictated his letters to Timothy.
bond-servants of Christ Jesus …
A bondservant (doulos) was an indentured slave. This designation is interesting because of the implications of the term. What does the term imply?
¨ It implied a legal bond…
A bondslave was one who was owned and totally possessed by his master. He had no personal rights whatsoever. A bondslave existed for his master and no other reason. He existed to serve the master. He was at his master’s disposal 24 hours a day. Paul and Timothy existed only for Christ, they lived only to serve Him, hour by hour, day by day. They were purchased and possessed by Jesus Christ.
¨ It implied a lifelong relationship…
Most bondslaves were born into slavery. They were born into a servant / master relationship that could only be broken by death. At their first birth Paul and Timothy were born into the slavery of sin and at their second birth they willingly gave themselves to be loving bondslaves of the master Jesus Christ.
¨ It implied a subjugated will…
A bondslave’s will was to be completely subjugated to the will of the master. A bondslave disregarded all interests and ambitions and their identity was derived from the one to whom they belonged. Paul and Timothy sought only to obey the will of the Master. They willingly subjugated their interests and ambitions to those of Jesus Christ.
It is unique that Paul would take on the term “bondslave.” A Greek or Roman would never have called themselves “doulos” and to the Jew, the term was an insult. But Paul opens this letter calling himself a “doulos of Jesus Christ.” He had so lost himself in the identity of his Master that he saw everything in his life through the lens of his slavery to Christ. To Paul, the term “doulos” was a title of dignity and honor.
David Jeremiah said, “We would do well to remember that God did not save us to become sensations; but to become servants.” How do we view ourselves? It is something to think about!
There is one positive benefit to bondslavery – bondslaves had no worries about the necessities of life. His clothing, food, medical treatment, housing and so on was provided for him by his master. To be a slave of Jesus Christ brings a sense of contentment and being cared for (Phil. 4:11-19).
There is one other thing I want to mention about this opening section of Paul’s letter to the Philippians and it has to do with what is not there. In every one of Paul’s letters with the exception of Philippians, Thessalonians and Philemon Paul mentions his Apostleship. Why does he not mention it here? It has to do with the nature of the letter.
In other epistles he mentions his apostleship because he needed to assert his authority because he was dealing with heresy or some specific type(s) of ungodly behavior. Those letters demanded a declaration of his authority and position. Not so with the Philippians, they had an intimate personal relationship with Paul and his authority stood as a standing fact with them. There were no great heresies in the Philippian church and his position with them was unassailed and unchallenged.
The Readers – v.1b
to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons
We already have addressed the background concerning the recipients of the letter, but I want to point out the three different groups that are mentioned in his opening statement.
Þ saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi
The word “saint” (hagios) means to set apart. In the Old Teatament as well as in the pagan Greek culture, things were “set apart” – consecrated for religious purposes – these places and objects became sacred. In the New Testament, the word became a designation for Christians – “saints.” Saints are believing sinners, who have been set apart from sin to holiness; set apart from Satan to God.
Bryan Harbour puts it this way. “Saints are unholy people who have been singled out, claimed, requisitioned and then set aside by God for His control and use.”
The words saint, sanctify and holy all come from the same Greek root word and they all speak of absolute separation from evil and dedication to God.
Notice Paul writes to the saints in Christ Jesus. The Christians at Philippi could be called saints, not because they were perfect or without sin or better than everyone else, but because they were “in Christ Jesus.” They were ordinary people to whom something extraordinary happened. They were common people whose lives had been changed by an uncommon Savior.
Notice also these saints were in [at] Philippi. In other words, they were not isolated from the world. They did not live in a Christian subdivision physically set apart from the world. Philippi was like any other Pagan culture – unclean and sinful and although this was the location in which these saints lived it was not the sphere of their lives! They were at Philippi but they were in Christ!
Þ including the overseers
The word overseers (episkopos) can also be translated as bishop. It is synonymous with the terms elder and pastor / shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-4; Acts 20:17, 28). The term elder refers to dignity and authority of the office; the word overseer refers to function or responsibility of the office; and the word pastor or shepherd refers to the specific ministry.
Notice the use of the plural “overseers.” The fact that Paul uses the plural form of the word could refer to the different pastors in the various house churches or more likely that each church had a plurality of leaders called “overseers.”
Þ and deacons
The term deacon (diakonos) refers to a servant or minister. The word is used here in a technical sense to refer to the office of Deacon (Acts 6:1-6). The ministry of the Deacon was to be primarily a physical one, while the ministry of the Overseer was to be primarily a spiritual one. This does not mean that deacon’s were not to be spiritual men (Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 3 prove the point) but only that the focus of their ministries would be different.
Notice the word “including” – including the bishops and deacons. How blessed is the church where the leaders and the followers are together in mind and ministry! Someone has said: “If we had designed the structure, the leaders would be the saints and the followers would be the servants. However, Scripture calls the followers saints and the leaders servants!”
The Greeting – v.2
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace is the Western/Greek greeting. Grace is what man needs but does not deserve. Grace is God’s active unmerited favor by which He bestows His greatest gift on those who deserve the greatest punishment (Ephesians 2:1-4).
As Martin Luther once said, “Grace is God’s middle name!” There is an acrostic I learned in Evangelism Explosion that goes like this…
God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense
Grace is the whole sum of blessing that comes to men from God through Christ. Paul wanted the saints at Philippi to understand and experience the fullness of God’s grace.
Peace is the Eastern/Hebrew greeting. Peace is what comes as a result of God’s grace….peace with God (Rom. 5:1-2) and the peace of God (Phil. 4:7)
Because of God’s grace we know our past is pardoned by God and that in turn gives us a sense of peace. Because of God’s grace we know our present is empowered by God and that gives us a sense of peace. Because of God’s grace we know our future is secure in God and that gives us a sense of peace. Paul wanted the saints at Philippi to understand and experience real peace.
Dr. Alva J. McClain said, “You may search the Word of God but you will never find peace first-—it is always “grace and peace” never “peace and grace.” They are the Siamese twins of the Bible. You cannot have peace until you first have had grace. A man may search and seek until the end of his life, but until he receives grace through Christ, he can never have peace.”
Here is the blessing…..when we do find God’s grace or rather when God’s grace finds us, we can have real peace!
And let us never forget where these two blessings come from! “From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 8:32-39).
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