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📚Paul and Timothy 📖, servants 📖 of Jesus Christ, to all the saints 📖 in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi 📖, together with the overseers 📖 and deacons:2 📚Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s love, prayer, and thanksgiving for the believers in Philippi
3 📚I thank my God at every remembrance of you. 4 📚in every prayer 📖 of mine for all of you I pray with joy 📖, 5 📚because of your fellowship in the gospel 📖 from the first day until now,
1:5 Here is the reason for Paul’s thanksgiving and joy – there had been no break in the fellowship and mutual helpfulness they experienced – Phil 4:14-16. The gospel of Christ had united them in mind, heart, and action.⚜
6 📚being confident 📖 of this very thing, that he who has begun 📖 a good work in you will go on completing it, until the day of Jesus Christ 📖.
7 📚So it is right for me to think this of all of you, because I have you in my heart 📖. For both in my chains 📖 and in the defense 📖 and confirmation of the gospel, you all share with me in God’s grace 📖. 8 📚For God is my witness how greatly I long for you 📖 with the tender affection of Jesus Christ.
1:8 Christ was in Paul and Paul’s loving was Christ loving through him – Gal 2:20. We will not learn to love as he did unless we learn Christ as he did – Eph 3:17-19. Love is a fruit of God’s Spirit in believers who live in obedience to Christ – Gal 5:22.⚜
9 📚And I pray that your love 📖 may overflow still more and more, in knowledge and in complete discernment, 10 📚that you may approve things that are excellent 📖, and that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, 11 📚being filled with the fruits 📖 of righteousness 📖, which are by Jesus Christ 📖, for the glory and praise of God 📖.
1:9-11 Compare Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians – Eph 1:17-19; 3:16-19, and Colossians – Col 1:9-12. In Paul’s prayers, inspired as they were by God’s Spirit and recorded for our instruction, we can learn what God wants to do for us and in us. We can also learn how to pray for others.⚜
Paul’s imprisonment resulted in further spread of the gospel
12 📚I want you to understand, brethren, that the things which happened to me have really turned out for the advancement 📖 of the gospel,
Good and bad motives in preaching
13 📚so that it has become clear among all the palace guard, and every other place, that my chains are for Christ 📖,
1:13 Paul was a witness for Christ to the soldiers who guarded him, soldiers who served the Roman emperor or governor or king as the case may be (we are not sure whether Paul was in prison when he wrote this). So the gospel advanced in places it had not gone before. Compare 2 Tim 2:9.⚜
14 📚and many of the brethren in the Lord, becoming confident because of my chains, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.
1:14 They knew it was a bold thing for Paul to preach to the authorities and guards who held him captive. His example of boldness made them more bold. And this too caused the gospel to advance.⚜
15 📚Some indeed preach Christ out of envy and strife, but some with good will. 16 📚The former preach Christ out of selfish motives, not sincerely, thinking to add trouble to my chains, 17 📚but the latter out of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.
1:15-17 Not everyone then who preached the gospel did so with good motives. Some were envious of Paul’s greatness and success and considered themselves his rivals. Selfishness governed their outlook and ministry. The same is true today also. Some preachers want to be popular, want to succeed for their own sakes, want to put down other preachers and even cause them trouble if they can. But some now as then preach Christ sincerely, out of love for Him and for the souls of men.⚜
18 📚What, then, is the result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is being preached. And in that I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
1:18 Paul did not consider himself in competition with anyone. He wanted Christ and His gospel to be known everywhere. He could rejoice even if those who disliked him and caused him trouble preached Christ, and even if their motives were bad. It was not himself he wanted to see exalted but Christ. There is a great lesson here for all preachers. Of course Paul was referring to those who preached the truth about Christ and His gospel, not to those he warned against in other letters (2 Cor 11:13-15; Gal 1:7-8).⚜
Paul’s confidence that he would be released
19 📚For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance, through your prayer 📖, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ 📖.
1:19 Probably Paul is speaking of deliverance from the accusations against him and so deliverance from death at that time – vs 25,26.⚜
Paul’s aim in living or in dying
20 📚This is in accordance with my earnest expectation and my hope, that I will not be ashamed in anything, but that with complete boldness, now also, as always, Christ will be exalted 📖 in my body 📖, whether by life or by death.
1:20 He was full of hope that he would not lose his boldness to speak for Christ at any time in any situation. Compare Eph 6:19-20.⚜
21 📚For to me, to live is Christ 📖 and to die is gain 📖. 22 📚But if I live on in the body, this will mean fruit from my labour 📖. But I do not know what to choose 📖. 23 📚For I am held between these two: I have a desire to depart and be with Christ 📖, which is far better, 24 📚but to remain in the body is more necessary for you. 25 📚And being convinced of this, I know that I will remain 📖 and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith 📖, 26 📚so that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
Living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ
27 📚Only let your conduct be worthy 📖 of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you, or be absent, I may hear about you that you are standing firmly 📖 in one spirit, with one mind 📖 striving 📖 together for the faith of the gospel, 28 📚and not at all afraid 📖 of your opponents 📖. This is a clear sign 📖 to them of their destruction, but to you of your salvation, and that of God. 29 📚For it has been given to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe 📖 on him, but also to suffer for his sake, 30 📚finding yourselves in the same conflict which you saw in my case 📖, and now hear to be in me.