Commentary on Philippians 1:3-11
Twice in this warm and remarkable thanksgiving section Paul mentions the day of Christ. Most of Paul’s letters contain a section where he gives thanks for those to whom he is writing. Close to the start of a letter Paul almost always details his thankful prayers for his addressees. Sometimes, as in Philippians, he will mention the day of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:9) or, alternatively, the return of Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:10). It is only in Philippians, however, that Paul twice mentions the day of Christ as he records his prayer of thanks.
The thanksgiving or prayer report in Philippians is evidently warm (Paul clearly feels deep affection for “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” [1:1]), and it is also remarkable. Not only do we notice that Christ’s Parousia is mentioned twice, but it is done so by someone who is chained in prison; Paul writes these words while he is imprisoned (1:13) and has been brought face to face with his mortality (1:19–25). Perhaps this particular circumstance goes some way to explain the intensity of feeling in 1:3–11.
Mention of the day of Christ foreshadows a strong theme of Philippians. Throughout the letter Paul shines a light on his conviction, as he says in 4:4, that the Lord is at hand. He mentions the day of Christ at 2:16 and, in one of his most explicit descriptions of the life of faith in Christ, says, “Our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20). Paul’s conviction is that the event of Christ’s return will mean that believers will be given transformed bodies like Christ’s glorious body (3:21). The apostle speaks about this elsewhere as obtaining the resurrection from the dead (3:11).
The import of Christ’s return is, however, not only the wondrous expectation of being given glorious resurrection bodies. It is also, and perhaps primarily, the need to focus on the characters and dispositions of those who will inhabit such bodies. Here Paul echoes what he says in 1 Thessalonians. The saints need to focus on abounding in love, which will, by God’s power, allow them to be “pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (1:10; see also 1 Thessalonians 3:12). In his letter to Philippi the apostle fills out this exhortation in ways that go beyond his words to the Thessalonians.
Paul says that he prays that the Philippians’ love would abound. The Greek word perisseuō signifies great abundance, overflowingness, extreme richness. Paul emphasizes the idea of growth by adding “more and more” to the word “abound.” This is a call for continual and increasing growth in love. Since such growth is initiated by God—the one who began a good work in them (1:6)—and since such growth is enabled by God (hence Paul’s prayer for them; 1:9), we might best understand this to be a prayer that the believers increasingly reflect God’s love.
When in the next chapter Paul describes Christ’s self-giving love (2:6–8)—the opposite of selfish ambition and conceit (2:3)—the apostle clarifies that Christ is the perfect reflection of God’s love. Christ’s humility and obedience (2:8) are signs of his love (2:1). It is this quality of love that Paul asks the Philippians to emulate: “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love” (2:1–2).
The nature of the love Paul calls for is qualified by its being accompanied by knowledge and all understanding (1:9; the Greek word is aisthēsis, which appears only here in the New Testament, though it occurs frequently in Proverbs denoting moral understanding and discernment).
Paul calls for love that is discerning and courageous, not simply tolerating everything in everyone; love that has insight and wisdom; love that reflects the moral character of God as reflected in Christ. Love that, as Paul goes on to say, approves what really matters (ta diapheranta; 1:10). Paul prays that his converts would excel in love that is discerning and focused on what is most important, which, in Paul’s mind, is the achievement of purity and blamelessness—nothing less than the holiness of God.
Paul’s expectation that all in heaven and on earth and under the earth shall bend the knee at the name of Jesus and confess that he is Lord (2:10) is rooted in the apostle’s conviction that God mightily approves of Christ’s humble and obedient love. Essentially, Christ’s triumphant return is vindication of the victory of love. It is in love of this nature that Paul hopes the Philippians will abound so that, at Christ’s return, they are all they can be. Paul’s hope is that when the Philippians receive glorious bodies like Christ’s, their characters also will reflect that of Christ.
The reward of lives lived with such love is that they will be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory of and praise of God” (1:11). Paul expects that he and his converts will flourish in righteousness—not their own righteousness, but that which is sourced in Jesus Christ and is equivalent to the righteousness of God (see also 3:9). The stance of such righteousness on the part of believers is the same as that of Jesus Christ—it is all for the glory of God (1:11; see also 2:11). In other words, Paul expects the Philippians to grow into the likeness of Christ, God’s Son, whose humble and obedient life was entirely focused on doing God’s will.
This letter illuminates the balance Paul perceives of God working in believers (1:6) and believers themselves working out their salvation (2:12) with athletic rigor (3:12–17).
In Philippians Paul is realistic about his mortality and convinced of the bodily immortality that he will share with Christ and fellow believers at Christ’s second advent. He exhorts his converts to prepare for this transformation by participating in God’s salvific work in them—the increase of love which equates to flourishing in the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.
December 8, 2024