Section II The Fellowship of the Gospel

Philippians 1:3-11

A. THE PRAYER OF PRAISE, 1:3-8

With thanksgiving and joy (charas, 4) Paul offers his praise, I thank my God (3), for the Philippians. In the Christian life thanksgiving and joy go together, for “what we have the comfort of, God must have the glory of.”¹ My God indicates the personal quality of the thanksgiving (cf. Acts 27:23). The fact that Paul is genuinely Christ's “slave” (1) entitles him to refer intimately to his Master. Thanksgiving and joy are qualities of the spirit and not the result of outward circumstances. Joy is deeper than happiness, which is dependent on what happens. Paul's circumstances are unpleasant and yet the joy of the Lord is his strength. His is the joy promised and provided by Christ (John 15:11; 17:13), a true fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is the norm of the Christian life (Col. 1: 11).

1. The Joy of Remembrance (1:3)

Upon every remembrance of you is literally “on account of the whole remembrance of you.” Paul is not expressing thanks for disconnected recollections, but for his total past experience with the Philippians. The unbroken remembrance resulted in unbroken thanksgiving and joy. It has been said that memory is the fine art of forgetting. Paul is the recipient of this noble gift. He has been granted the power to forget the harsh experiences of imprisonment and suffering at Philippi, save as they enriched his relationship to God and to the Philippians. He remembers with gratitude their conversion (Acts 16) and subsequent thoughtfulness on several occasions, even quite recently (4:15-18).

2. The Joy of Supplication (1:4)

Paul's love for the Philippians is expressed in genuine intercession to God for their welfare, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy (4). He does not pray from a sense of duty, nor out of an attempt to forget his own circumstances. His prayers are intercessory. The word translated prayer is deesei and indicates an intense request for a necessary gift (Jas. 5:16). His prayer is for all (panton) the congregation, because the welfare of each affects all.

3. The Joy of Participation (1:5)

In the expression your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now (5), koinonia (fellowship) literally indicates “participation.” It has at least three meanings: (a) the fellowship of Christians with one another; (b) the fellowship of Christians with Christ or the Holy Spirit; (c) the sharing of possessions (Acts 2:42; Rom. 15:26; II Cor. 8:4; 9:13; Heb. 13:16; Philem. 6).² Paul may well have had all three meanings in mind. The word speaks of the vital, living relationship of the apostle and the Philippians to Christ, and thus to each other—a relationship that had found expression and enrichment in their offerings to him at various times.

In (eis) is used technically in such contexts to indicate destination of money payments.³ Paul evidently is referring to the Philippians' “participation” with him, and gifts to him, in the spread of the gospel since the first day he preached to them. The gospel is furthered wherever fellowship is created. In fact the work of Christ or the gospel is the only true basis for love and fellowship. This was an inward fellowship which had deepened across the years. The Philippians had first “given themselves” (II Cor. 8:5); then they wanted to see the gospel succeed though it meant suffering and sacrifice. Consequently, they gave of their possessions, becoming “workers together” with Paul for Christ and the gospel. They understood the nature of the Church as being a “workshop, not a dormitory.”⁴ Thus Paul refers to them as “fellow partakers” (sugkoinonous, 7) of God's grace. Because they have shared in the furtherance of the gospel they will participate in the rewards with Paul also. Even in the secular contests, “the crown is not only for him that striveth, but for the trainer, and the attendant, and all that help to prepare the athlete. For they that strengthen him … may fairly participate in his victory.”⁵

4. The Joy of Assurance (1:6)

The expression being confident of this very thing (6) indicates a firm persuasion, the strong assurance of an intent mind. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it means literally “will go on completing it.” The good work may refer in part to the cooperation of the Philippians with the apostle, but it cannot be restricted to this meaning. “Fellowship” (koinonia) has a broader meaning than the sharing of possessions. The good work or “the fellowship in the gospel” must also refer to the fellowship of the Philippians with Christ and with each other. There is no definite article in the Greek, but it should be supplied in the English. “The” good work, as in The New English Bible, is better, since the chief reference is to the work of salvation.

Consequently, Paul can say it is God who has begun this good work. Enarxamenos (began) is also used in Gal. 3:3 to attribute the beginnings of the Christian life in the Galatian Christians to God the Holy Spirit (cf. II Cor. 8:6). In classical Greek begun is a word of ritual. The verb from which it comes is enarchomai, and was used to describe the ritual at the beginning of a Greek sacrifice. The verb used for completing the sacrifice was epitelein (to perfect or consummate). Paul seems to be suggesting that the Christian life is a continuous sacrifice to Christ (Rom. 12:1) .⁶ Until the day of Jesus Christ would be the day of Christ's parousia or coming. The phrase suggests the idea of a day of testing. Old Testament prophets spoke of the “day of the Lord” as a time of judgment as well as redemption. Paul is confident that God will advance the Philippians in grace, so that they may be constantly prepared to meet the day of trial.⁷ Consequently, for the Christian it will be a day of light and victory (I Thess. 1:10).

Paul's confidence is not based primarily on any empirical evidence, though it is buttressed by his past experience; rather, it is born of a personal relationship to God, on whose character and work the persuasion rests. The biblical doctrine of perseverance is a confidence in God. The Christian confides in the infinitude of the Father's love, the infinitude of the Saviour's merit, and in the infinitude of the Spirit's power.⁸ “He is able to guard until that Day what I have entrusted to Him” (II Tim. 1:12, RSV). However, one must not draw any hard and fast doctrine of eternal security from this verse. In fact, Paul admonishes the Philippians lest his work among them be “in vain” (2:14-16; cf. Col. 1:19-23). Yet God will bring to perfection or completion the work He has initiated by His Spirit. He will “evermore put His finishing touches to it.”⁹ Both the beginning and the ending are His work. He is both the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

And every virtue we possess,

   And every victory won,

And every thought oj holiness,

   Are His alone.

—HARRIET AUBER

5. The Joy of Christlike Affection (1:7-8)

Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all (7) may be literally translated “as it is right [dikaion] for me to care [phronein] as to you all.” Because I have you in my heart has sometimes been rendered “because you have me in your heart.” Though either rendering would accurately describe Paul and the Philippians, the latter, considering the construction, is improbable. “Open my heart,” wrote Robert Browning, “and you will see graven on it, ‘Italy.’ ” Such human affection characterizes Paul and the Philippians. The apostle declares, Both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. Paul is not on trial; the gospel is on trial. His bonds (desmois) are a defence and confirmation of the glad tidings. Confirmation (bebaiosei) was the obligation under which the seller came to the buyer to guarantee against all claims his right to what he had purchased.¹⁰ Paul's defense then is a guarantee of the gospel, and the Philippians are partakers (sugkoinonous) of grace and of this confirmation.

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ (8). The oldest manuscripts read “Christ Jesus.” Some have suggested that the Philippians imagined some lack of cordiality in Paul's reception of their gift, thereby accounting for the strong phrase that God is his record (witness). Bowels (splangchnois) refers to the upper intestine, liver, or lungs. These, so the Greeks believed, were the seat of the emotions and affections. Thus the bowels of Jesus Christ indicates the “affection of Christ Jesus.” This is a powerful metaphor describing perfect union with Christ. Combined with the genuine human affection toward the Philippians (7) is divine love. Christ is the Source of Paul's life, the Heart of his love. Christ's heart has become his, so that he can love the Philippians with the very love of Christ. “The believer has no yearnings apart from his Lord; his pulse beats with the pulse of Christ; his heart throbs with the heart of Christ”¹¹ (cf. 2:5 ff.; also Rom. 12:10). Could the transforming power of the gospel be more strikingly revealed than in the union or fellowship of these two unlikely parties—a former devotee of Pharisaism on the one hand, and on the other a group whose total life had been formed by the proud atmosphere of a Roman colony!

B. THE PRAYER OF PETITION, 1:9-11

And this I pray (9). Paul has spoken of his prayers for the Philippians (4) —prayers of thanksgiving and praise. Now he states the petition that is included in his prayers for them.

1. The Nature of the Petition (1:9)

That your love may abound yet more and more. The word used here is not eros or philia, types of human love, but agape, divine love. Your love then means “God's love in you.” One in whom the love of God dwells loves those whom God loves (I John 5:20-21). Evidently Paul is referring to love for one another. To the Romans he had once written, “Owe no man any thing but to love one another” (Rom. 13:8). Love is continuous, for it is always owing, always conscious of its debt. It is a possibility only because God “first loved us.” May abound (perisseue) is the present tense, expressing continuous growth and advancement. “The spiritual prosperity of believers should be measured not so much by the point they have reached, but by the fact and measure of the progress they are making.”¹² Literally, perisseue can be rendered “may keep on overflowing.” Thus Paul is praying “that your love for one another will never be doled out in parsimonious pinches, but will rather tumble forth like some magnificent cascade.”¹³ To underscore his meaning, he adds the superlatives more and more.

Growth and progress in love are not the apostle's only concern, however. Love must grow in knowledge and … judgment if the Christian is to be well-rounded and symmetrical. Knowledge (epignosis) suggests a thorough, full understanding of general moral principles. Judgment or “discernment” (aisthesei) refers to the practical ability to apply the general principles in particular situations. It is a spiritual and moral sense or feeling. Hence, “that ye may not only know but feel that you are of God, by the Spirit which he has given you; and that your feeling may become more exercised in Divine things, so that it may be increasingly sensible and refined.”¹⁴ All (pase) discernment probably means all kinds of discernment. Did the genuine spirit of love of the Philippians lack discernment, so that they had misunderstandings over insignificant matters (4:2) ? The more love grows, the more sensitive the moral sense becomes. It has been said that Venus' glass would sliver into fragments if poison were poured into the cup. Likewise, the growth of the love of God within the Christian makes him increasingly sensitive to all forms of evil. Love is the only basis for discrimination. But love must be nourished by truth. This is why Jesus rebuked Peter, who forbade the Master to die (Matt. 16:21-23). His love was unenlightened.

2. The Immediate Purpose of the Petition (1:10)

That ye may approve things that are excellent (10). The word approve (dokimazein) is the verb used for assaying metals to detect any flaw or alloy.¹⁵ Excellent (pheronta) indicates the superior, the best among things that are good, of which only those of more advanced spiritual maturity are able to detect the superiority. Moffatt translates this clause, “enabling you to have a sense of what is vital.” That ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. Sincere and without offence correspond to “knowledge” and “judgment” in verse 9. This portion of the prayer is both positive, that ye may be sincere, and negative without offence (stumbling). Sincere in its derivation points to honey without wax, implying unmixed motives or single-mindedness (Jas. 1:8). Elikrineis (sincere or pure) comes from eile (the splendor of the sun) and krino (I judge). That which is sincere is that which may be examined in the clearest and strongest light, without a single flaw or imperfection being revealed. Paul's language here comes from the practice of holding up cloth against the sun to see if there be any fault. Sincerity is perfect openness to God, and is thus as strong a word as perfection itself. “The soul that is sincere is the soul that is without sin.”¹⁶ Without offence (“void of offense,” ASV) describes the character of the man who walks without stumbling, who overcomes obstacles, though unexpected. It is the image of the traveller who in spite of hindrances arrives in good time at his journey's end.¹⁷ Such a one will be ready “for” (eis), not till (archis), the day of Christ (cf. 1:6; Eph. 5:27; Jude 24). The emphasis here seems to be on the readiness for this day, whereas 6 stresses God's continuous work in achieving this state of preparedness.

3. The Ultimate Aim of the Petition (1:11)

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God (11). The oldest manuscripts read “fruit” (singular, karpon) of righteousness (cf. Rom. 6:22; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9; Heb. 12:11; Jas. 3:18). The righteousness here pictured is that which is by Jesus Christ, in contrast to the righteousness which is by the law (3:9). Without this righteousness which is in Christ, no fruit is possible (cf. John 15:4). Glory (doxan) is the manifestation of God's power and grace; praise (epainon) is the recognition by men of these divine attributes. As a tree filled with fruit honors the gardener, so a person with the fruit of righteousness brings glory and praise to God.

Verses 9-11 speak of “The Fruit of Righteousness,” which includes: (1) A love that is abounding and informed, 9; (2) A capacity for making proper moral distinctions, 10a; (3) A motivation which seeks the glory of God, 10b.

W. E. McCumber finds in verses 3-11 “The Prayer for Transparent Holiness.” The object of Paul's prayer is your love, 9. (1) The education of love, 9; (2) The regulation of love, 10a; (3) The perfection of love, 10b; (4) The manifestation of love, llab; (5) The consummation of love, till the day of Christ, 10c (Holiness in the Prayers of St. Paul).