Biblical Theology XLVI: Philippians

Philippians is one of the epistles called “Prison Epistles.” Paul is thought to have written them from one of four different imprisonments that scholars believe he endured after his establishment of the Philippian church. The letter is written somewhere between A.D. 52-64. In it, Paul uses his own obedience in suffering and humility (as well as that of other workers with him) as an example of living out Christ’s obedience through suffering and humility found in the gospel in an effort to encourage other Christians to do the same.

Theology: Paul will argue that Christ’s life and work is not just substitutionary, but also an example for all Christians to mimic in their lives. In Chapter 2, he argues that Christ’s kenosis “emptying” of Himself in order to be subordinate to the Father and take upon mortality for sinful man is the supreme act of humility on Christ’s part, and that this should cause all of those who have been saved by Christ’s humble act to have the same attitude toward one another. In the kenosis, God the Son holds equality with God the Father. He chooses, however, to set aside this equality of position to take upon the state of a servant in the incarnation. He further humbles Himself by being completely obedient to the Father during His life, even to the point of dying on the cross to complete the Father’s plan of redemption. The emptying is a description of positional honor in the context, not some ontological emptying that is not in view. Although the Son was honored in His state of equality with the Father, He took on the state of a servant instead for our salvation and the Father's glory.

As a result, He obtains salvation for Himself via the resurrection and exaltation above all things, inheriting all things for everyone who is in Him. In other words, by being obedient to the Father in being willing to be humiliated and suffer, He goes from being a servant to Lord of all things, gaining more than He had before by virtue of inherent honor, and now obtaining earned honor, as well as all mankind and creation that had been lost, in the end. Only through His humility toward those who had been his enemies, is this all possible. Peter makes a similar argument in his first epistle. Christ’s humility is an example for all Christians to live out because this is an accurate picture of the gospel. What is ethical, therefore, is theological in that all ethical behavior paints a picture of Christ and His work or it paints a picture of a false Christ and a false gospel.

This is a katergazomai "working out," not a "working for" one's own salvation. In other words, sanctification is directly linked to the salvation that Christ has obtained in His humble obedience. The Christian is to now apply this in his daily life. Sanctification, therefore, is the only worthy response to faith in the gospel. It is the careful, reverant, fearful working out of a salvation already given that cost the Son of God His honorable position as God during the time He was securing it.

Ethics: Paul furthers Christ’s example by sharing examples of how other Christians, including himself, are living out this picture of the gospel. He is suffering in prison for the sake of the gospel, to humble himself, and be obedient to God over retaining his position as a prestigious Pharisee who could be living comfortably and honored as the rest among the religious community. Instead, he has decided to throw off all of that which brought prestige and comfort to his own mind and to other Jews, all the worth that one gains from being considered a good and righteous man by his religious community, and has instead considered it all waste so that he might obtain the reward of Christ, i.e., the resurrection, that only comes through the righteousness of Christ as well. This willingness to be humiliated for the sake of Christ is an accurate picture of what Christ has done for us. Hence, he runs the race to pursue the future reward that Christ has obtained for him, and not the immediate reward of being honored today.

Christ’s example, then, has real life applications for those who have choices to make concerning how they will live their lives. For Epaphroditus, the decision was to deliver life-giving teaching and financial support to those Christians who needed it, even at the cost of his health. For Timothy it was to serve Paul like a son and also spend his life serving the churches. For Euodia and Syntyche, it means humbling themselves to be the servants of one another in love rather than bickering and breaking fellowship with one another. 

Then Paul tells them how they become these humble servants of God and one another. Rather than bicker and each seek his or her own honor, they are to rejoice in what Christ has done (4:4), become reasonable (i.e., not emotional/irrational) people, aware of the presence of Christ among them (4:5), make their concerns known to God in prayer (6-7), likely so that their fears don’t lead to anger, disputes, and bitterness, and so that they set their minds on heavenly concerns rather than emphasizing earthly ones over heavenly ones (3:17-21), which will give the shalom/right order/stability that guards the heart and mind in Christ (4:7). Hence, they are to focus on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, worthy of praise, etc. according to what Paul has taught them, so that their minds are, in fact, set on the right things (4:8-9), displaying that wrong relationship with one another is due to an out-of-focus mindset. Paul ends by arguing that this mindset has allowed him to be content in any circumstance, since it is Christ and His example that strengthens him to endure it

Finally, he gives a last example of the Philippians themselves as those who have suffered to be partners with him in ministry by giving him the financial resources he needed to continue his ministry. 

Hence, Philippians is really about working out one’s salvation with fear and trembling (2:12-13) by presenting a right picture of Christ’s humble work in the gospel. What that phrase really means in context is “live out the salvation Christ secured for you through His obedient humility by becoming obedient and humble yourselves, giving up that which is yours by right to become a servant of God and one another instead.” Christians are to have a humility toward one another as the outworking of the gospel that displays the lives of Christians as lights in the world (2:14-15). All of this is a result of pursuing Christ above our own rights, and even above our own lives (1:20-23) in the service of Christ and one another (1:24-25).