Philippi City
The City of Philippi was located towards the North of Greece which is modern Macedonia, by Philipp II. He was the father of Alexander the Great. Establishment of the Church in Philippi can be attributed to Alexander the Great and his father Philipp who established it as Greek empire. Several centuries later, the Greek empire was transformed into the famous Roman Empire. The Greek empire played a huge role in uniting several nations 1 . The cohesion of many world countries under the empire was achieved through the use of common culture and language. The cohesion formed the background for the ultimate spread of the gospel from this city.
The City of Philippi became a Roman colony. Every activity in the city was a representation of everything happening in Rome but on a smaller scale. The cultural activities and physical appearance of the city resembled that of Rome. The city inhabitants lived like Romans because they enjoyed all the rights and privileges that the Roman citizens had. They also welcomed the idea of being Romans with a lot of pride. The city of Philippi would have had a large Roman army of veteran soldiers. The army veterans were granted land by the emperor upon retirement.
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Importance of the Philippi History
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul made several statements that can be understood within the Philippi’s historical context. Some of the statements include:
From his Roman prison, Paul wrote to the Philippians about the progress of the gospel among the Praetorian Guard. The message had a special meaning to the people of Philippi because there is no other place where the guard is mentioned.
Paul wrote to the Philippians urging them to exercise their Roman citizenship in a manner the respected the gospel of Christ. The Philippi Roman citizens would have experienced a better picture and experience of their heavenly citizenship by being members of the great Roman Empire 2 . The analogies used to write this statement could be understood well among his readers.
In his letter, Paul also talked to Philippians about suffering. There was an emerging powerful emperor cult who wanted the Romans to declare and recognize Caesar as lord. The believers from Philippi would, therefore, receive some backlash and endure suffering by refusing to recognize Caesar.
The Philippian believes they were under immense pressure to extol Caesar divinity. Paul used this opportunity to make a strong case for the divinity of Christ 3 .
Caesar’s household is mentioned in the letter to Philippians, and there is no other letter where it is mentioned.
The Church at Philippi
For a better understanding of the Church at Philippi, it is advisable to make references to Luke’s historical account recorded in Acts 16. The most significant fact about the Church is that it was the first to be established in Europe. Paul’s attempt to take the gospel eastwards to Asia did not succeed. Instead, the spirit of Jesus directed Paul to go west, and this led to the establishment of churches in western countries. It is believed that since the first Church in Philippi, the gospel continued to spread westward and will continue to spread until it gets back to the point of origin which is the Middle East.
The call to take the gospel to the west was received in a night vision. The vision came to Paul in the form of a man of Macedonia who was standing before him and begging. “Come over to Macedonia and help us 4 ” On seeing the vision, Paul got ready at once and left for Macedonia after concluding that it was God who had called him to preach to the people 5 . It is believed that the man in the Macedonian vision was the same jailer who played a role in the Philippian mission. However, there is no Biblical account to prove this as a fact.
From the vision of Macedonia, it is important to note that Paul and his team used their instincts and at once, they began the journey to Macedonia. After seeing the vision, the team had a conclusion that it was the will of God that they preach somewhere. Before they had been trying to go and preach in other places, but they faced resistance. This vision, therefore, revealed to them that there is a place where they could be welcomed, and God wanted them to be there. Even though Paul was the only person who saw the man begging, every member of the team saw a vision that night. They did not even pray over it as they immediately set out to go and preach. Even to this moment, Christians believe that God is talking to them through vision, and some people go out to do what the vision wanted them to accomplish.
In the first Philippi Church, there was no synagogue. On Sabbaths and prayer days, the church members had a place of prayer by the river where they would go to pray. According to Jewish law, any place where there were ten or more males had reached a threshold for forming a synagogue. This would mean that there were no Jews in Philippi. The Jews were taking precautions in Rome, and perhaps the same was also taking place in Roman colonies. Paul knew where to look for and get God-fearing people praying. He would go to these places and preach the gospel to the people.
The first covert in Paul’s mission was called Lydia. She was a dealer in purple cloth. The cloth was made using a dye coming from the throat of a local shellfish, and this made the cloth very expensive. Each fish had just a drop of this purple dye. This would mean that Lydia was very wealthy from the business. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to Paul’s message. In this conversion, there were three people involved; the Lord, Lydia, and Paul 6 . The Lord used Paul to preach the gospel to Lydia. Paul then delivered the message, and Lydia decided to convert after the Lord had opened her heart to receive and respond to the message. Therefore, salvation is a process that is not dependent on one person but needs a team effort.
After conversion, Lydia prevailed upon Paul and the team to stay at her house. During this time, it can be assumed that many other people were converted and together with Paul they would go to the river to pray. On his way to the river, Paul also came across a slave-girl with a python, which meant the Greek word for divination spirit. The girl was declared a truth that Paul and the team were “bondservants of the Highest God.” Paul got annoyed, and he eventually cast the divination spirit out of the girl. From the story of the girl, we learn that the issue here is not the truth; everyone has a perception of what the truth is. What matters is the source of the truth. Both the slave-girl and Lydia had a truth. However, the girl had a truth from the devil while Lydia’s truth was from God. Paul could not allow the demonic truth to continue and he cast it out.
The action of casting the spirit of divination from this girl was the source of problems for Paul and his team. The first trouble for them was economic rather than spiritual. The slave-girl had owners who used her divination to make money. After casting out her revelation powers, the girl had no use for the owners, and they lost their source of income. This made them angry, and they had to drag Paul and Silas before the magistrate. The crowd began to strip and beat the two before they were put in prison. They were entrusted to the care of a Philippian jailer who is believed to have been a Roman veteran. At midnight as Paul and Silas were singing hymns, an earthquake occurred. The earthquake made the irons and shackles used to tie the prisoners’ arms and legs to fell off letting them free 7 . On seeing what had happened, the jailer assumed that the prisoners had escaped and he was preparing to kill himself from fear of what the authorities would do to him. However, Paul urged him to restrain his hand, and from there, the jailer and his household began to follow Jesus. Paul was flogged the following day without trial, and together with his team, they bid farewell to Lydia’s church and went to Philippi.
Philippians the Epistle
Ten years after the events recorded in Acts 16, Paul was in jail again, for a longer period in Rome. This jail term gave him a break from his traveling schedule, and he used the time to write the prison epistles which include Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians, and Colossians. They were written nearly ten years after Paul had formed the Philippian church. From his letter to the Philippians, some things stand out. First, it is noticed that Paul was vulnerable and honest to the church. He had a great love and intimacy for the church. Paul shared his thoughts and feelings towards ministry, suffering, death, finances, and Jesus through writing. The Philippian letter was different from the others because it did not contain the rebukes, chastisement, and concern seen in others. This was a letter addressed to friends and coworkers from Philippi.
Another visible issue in the letter is joy in Paul as he writes the letter. Even though Paul was in prison, considered to be living in poor conditions and suffering, he encouraged the Philippians in the letter. Paul said in the letter that there was joy in suffering because God was using his imprisonment to spread the gospel further. He encouraged the people of Philippi to continue rejoicing to the Lord all the time. There is no point in Paul’s letter that he tried to complain about his sufferings in prison or any attempt to gain sympathy. He wanted to let the Philippians know that his condition was fine and that the Lord’s work was continuing even when he was in prison. Paul had disdain for anybody who tried to undermine or destroy his efforts towards building the church.
Conclusion
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we get to know all of his sides as the apostle, the pastor, and as the prisoner. The letter to Philippians was an address to his favorite church on the benefits of serving the Lord as a leader and planter. The letter addressed to all the people from the church also mentioned the leaders to share various secrets about godly and successful leadership. The letter by Paul also depicts joyous noble service despite the pressures and suffering that the church would be subjected to. This is a good lesson for believers because, despite all the troubles, there is always joy and happiness in serving the Lord.
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