The Letter to the Philippians

In the final section of Paul's letter to the Philippians, Paul addresses the touchy subject of money. He reframes his financial relationship with the Philippian church away from the idea of a patron/client relationship, instead seeing them as partners in the ministry that he is doing. Paul shows how our material life is bound up…

In Philippians 4:5-9, Paul gives the believers in Philippi some sage advice about assimilating into the kingdom of God. He almost serves as a settled immigrant, offering sage advice to new immigrants about the culture, its unique values and priorities, so they can succeed. Paul focuses on three ways in which the culture of God's…

In Philippians 3, Paul's prescription for church unity is to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord means finding our joy, our security and our status in what Jesus has done for us rather than in what we've done for Jesus. When we all share equallyin God's grace, we all stand on level ground,…

While we tend to celebrate people's accomplishments, Paul celebrates the character of people who selflessly serve according to the example of Jesus. He commends Timothy and Epaphroditus because of their character, showing us that evaluating success looks different from heaven's perspective than it does from earth's.

The unity and diversity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are meant to be mirrored by the unity and diversity in the church. Like the humble God, this is only possible by a humble church, so cultivating humility is necessary for the church's mission.

While Paul's life has been tremendously difficult during his imprisonment, he maintains a boundless optimism grounded in God's faithfulness. He has confidence that God is working in his trials, and he has confidence that God will deliver him. He knows that the Philippian church can have that same confidence and that it will allow them…

The church described in Philippians 1 is a community with a new life—marked out by humility and love; a new power—God's grace mediated to us in community; and a new family—a diverse group of people who mentor us in the faith and a common mission and sense of purpose hold that together. We don't become…