AS FRANK THIELMAN’S commentary shows, Paul’s letter to the Philippians manages to take the everyday experiences of Christian living and make them seem as important as the peaks of spiritual euphoria and the valleys of despair. True, our life in Christ may be punctuated with the exclamation points of weddings and the question marks of funerals, but it is mostly made up of the words and sentences that describe what it means to be a child of God. It is on the smooth, satisfying hum of everyday language that this letter to the Christians in Philippi resides.
Paul refers here to some of the highs and lows, to be sure. Persecution, for example, gets representative treatment. But Philippians is mostly written to church people who are doing pretty well. It is not a letter from a parent to a prodigal, but a letter to that delightful child who has always obeyed and, although by no means perfect, is at least giving the straight and narrow path a try. Paul does not have to rail against heresy in the church (as he does in some other letters), and he does not try to write a mini-systematic theology. He is writing to people he likes, people who have been with him for the long haul. Thus, one of the lessons we can learn from Philippians is how to encourage people who are doing pretty well.
Actually, the first lesson is that one should write such a letter. It is the nature of things that the squeaking wheels get the grease. But the truth of pastoral work is that those of us slogging along in the spiritual trenches need attention too. From his prison cell, Paul practices what we might call ordinary pastoral care, affirming the faithful and encouraging the true-hearted.
The message of Philippians, therefore, is that maintenance of the healthy is as crucial as surgery on the ill. And as Paul demonstrates, preventive medicine has a character all its own. First, it shows gratitude (“I thank God every time I remember you,” 1:3). Second, it rewards good work with encouragement. Third, it does not shirk its duty to be careful. Paul warns even his faithful children against the Judaizers and the perfectionists. Warnings against potential mistakes is a sign of love, if done in a loving way.
Like members of even good families, the Philippians did have their problems, Apparently they argued, and Paul warns against division. It is easy to come away from reading this letter and miss the deeper theological implications for today’s church on Paul’s teaching on unity in chapters 1 and 2. Fortunately, Frank Thielman doesn’t let this happen. He shows how Paul’s prescription for health—unity—applied to the original church at Philippi and how it applies to all the faithful, if slightly contentious churches today.
Neither does Professor Thielman let us miss any of the other implications of this rich, encouraging letter for the church today. The best guard against a faithful church becoming a problem church is to “rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). That is a truth that has applied across the centuries.
Terry C. Muck