Posts Tagged ‘ day of Christ ’

Epistle to the Philippians Chapter 1: Paul’s Admonition to the Brethren

Nov 2nd, 2009 | By | Category: Philippians, Verse by Verse --Studies led by Br. Frank Shallieu (Click on Book name)

Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians while he was under house arrest in Rome. The epistle was from both Paul and Timothy, for Timothy was with him when the letter was written to the elders, the deacons, and the rest of the church at Philippi. A chief city of Macedonia, Philippi was a stopping-off point in the land route to Athens, Corinth, and Rome. This land route was especially used at certain times of the year when the sea route was treacherous. Philippi was an established ecclesia with bishops (elders) and deacons (plural). By including them in the salutation, Paul showed that he knew them personally. There were several reasons for this personal touch, as follows:

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Philippians Chapter 2: Serving One another as Christ did

Nov 2nd, 2009 | By | Category: Philippians, Verse by Verse --Studies led by Br. Frank Shallieu (Click on Book name)

Paul started this second chapter by urging the Philippians to all be of one mind. Then he introduced Jesus as the best example of like-mindedness. He traced Jesus’ attitude as a way of telling the brethren in Philippi that their attitudes should be similar. He ended up by saying the Father has decreed that Jesus is to be honored. In the present life, the Philippians were to be like Jesus before his exaltation. After his exaltation, every knee will bow to Jesus, but before that, he had a different spirit, a spirit of humility. The point was, now that Jesus had been exalted, he should also be exalted in their efforts. Then whatever the class did would honor the name of Christ. Jesus is preeminent, and all else should be subservient to that cause. As far as possible, the brethren were to serve with one mind and unity of spirit in honor of Jesus (rather than to serve individual personalities in the class). The danger there was a party spirit.

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