Introduction

People today are consumed by the passionate pursuit of happiness. Self-help books, motivational speakers, and advice columnists claim to offer the key to happiness, but for many people the door remains locked. Unable to control their circumstances, they find themselves instead controlled by their circumstances. When their job, relationship, or house (or, in the case of Christians, church) fails to make them happy, they dump it and look for a new one. But on the merry-go-round of life, they can never quite seem to reach the brass ring. Having fruitlessly pursued happiness through pleasure and self-gratification, they arrive at the jaded view of life expressed by the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2:“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

But if happiness, the fleeting feeling of exhilaration, is elusive, joy is not. Biblical joy, the settled conviction that God sovereignly controls the events of life for believers’ good and His glory, is available to all who obey Him. In fact, God commands believers to rejoice (2:18; 3:1; 4:4; cf. 2 Cor. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:16). That divine joy is the theme of Philippians; the Greek word for joy, in both its noun and verb forms, appears more than a dozen times in its four chapters (1:4,18,25;2:2,17,18,28,29;3:1;4:1,4,10).

The circumstances of both the writer and the recipients of this brief epistle were not those that would be expected to produce joy and happiness. When the apostle Paul wrote this letter to his beloved Philippian congregation, he was a prisoner in Rome. Little in his tumultuous life since his dramatic conversion on the Damascus Road three decades earlier would have been expected to produce joy. He had faced fierce and unrelenting opposition, both from Gentiles and from his unbelieving Jewish countrymen (cf. 2 Cor. 11:23–30).

Immediately after his conversion, Paul’s bold, fearless proclamation of the gospel aroused the ire of Damascus’s Jewish population. They sought to kill him, and he was forced to flee the city by being lowered from the city wall at night in a basket (Acts 9:20–25). Later he was forced to flee from Iconium (Acts 14:5–6); was pelted with stones and left for dead at Lystra (Acts 14:19–20); was beaten and thrown into jail at Philippi (Acts 16:16–40); was forced to flee from Thessalonica after his preaching touched off a riot (Acts 17:5–9); went from there to Berea, from where he was also forced to flee (Acts 17:13–14); was mocked and ridiculed by Greek philosophers at Athens (Acts 17:16–34); was hauled before the Roman proconsul at Corinth (Acts 18:12–17); and faced both Jewish opposition (Acts 19:9; cf. 20:18–19) and rioting Gentiles at Ephesus (Acts 19:21–41; cf. 1 Cor. 15:32). As he was about to sail from Greece to Palestine, a Jewish plot against his life forced him to change his travel plans (Acts 20:3). On the way to Jerusalem, he met the Ephesian elders at Miletus and declared to them, “Bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:22–23). When he got to Jerusalem, he was recognized in the temple by Jews from Asia Minor, savagely beaten by a frenzied mob, and saved from certain death when Roman soldiers arrived on the scene and arrested him (Acts 21:27–36). While Paul was in custody at Jerusalem, the Jews formed yet another plot against his life, prompting the Roman commander to send him under heavy guard to the governor at Caesarea (Acts 23:12–35). After his case dragged on without resolution for two years and two Roman governors, Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:10–11). After an eventful trip, which included being shipwrecked in a violent storm, Paul arrived at Rome (Acts 27,28). As he wrote Philippians, the apostle was in his fourth year of Roman custody, awaiting Emperor Nero’s final decision in his case.

The Philippian church also had its share of problems. Its members were desperately poor, so much so that Paul was surprised at their contribution to the offering he was collecting for the poor in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:1–5). Like Paul, they were being persecuted for the cause of Christ (1:27–30). Worse, they were being attacked by false teachers (3:2, 18–19). On top of everything else, a feud between two prominent women in the congregation threatened to shatter the unity of the church (4:2–3; cf. 2:1–4,14).

Yet despite the circumstances of both writer and recipients, joy permeates Philippians, so much so that it may be called “the epistle of joy.” R. C. H. Lenski wrote, “Joy is the music that runs through this epistle, the sunshine that spreads over all of it. The whole epistle radiates joy and happiness” (The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961], 691). Those who study its teaching and apply its principles will, like its human author, learn the secret of having joy, peace, and contentment in every circumstance (4:11–13).

THE CITY OF PHILIPPI

Philippi was an important city in eastern Macedonia (northeastern Greece). It was located on the fertile alluvial plain of the Strymon River, near the deep, swift-flowing stream known as the Gangites (cf. Acts 16:13). Philippi owed its importance in ancient times to its strategic location (it commanded the land route to Asia Minor). In Paul’s day the important Roman road known as the Via Egnatia ran through Philippi. The city was also important because of the gold mines in the nearby mountains.

It was those gold mines that attracted the interest of Philip II of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great). He annexed the region in 356 B.C. and fortified the small village of Krenides (“the little fountains”; so named because of the nearby springs), renaming it Philippi (“city of Philip”) after himself. After the Romans conquered Macedonia in the second century B.C., Philippi was incorporated into the Roman province of that name. The city languished in relative obscurity for more than a century, until in 42 B.C. it became the site of one of the most crucial battles in Roman history. In that battle, known to history as the battle of Philippi, the forces of Antony and Octavian (“Caesar Augustus”; Luke 2:1) defeated the republican forces of Brutus and Cassius. The battle marked the end of the Roman republic and the beginning of the empire (the senate declared Octavian emperor in 29 B.C., after he defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in 31 B.C.). Antony and Octavian settled many of their army veterans at Philippi, which was given the coveted status of a Roman colony (cf. Acts 16:12). Later, other Roman army veterans settled there.

As a colony, Philippi had the same legal status as cities in Italy. Citizens of Philippi were Roman citizens, were exempt from paying certain taxes, and were not subject to the authority of the provincial governor. The Philippians copied Roman architecture and style of dress, their coins bore Roman inscriptions, and Latin was the city’s official language (although Greek was also spoken).

THE CHURCH AT PHILIPPI

The Philippian church was the first church Paul founded in Europe. The apostle came to Philippi on his second missionary journey, being directed there by the Holy Spirit in a most dramatic way:

A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:9–10)

Though the initial converts were Jews or Jewish proselytes (Acts 16:13–15), Gentiles made up the majority of the congregation. That there was no synagogue in Philippi (or else the women Paul initially encountered would not have been meeting outside the city on the Sabbath) is evidence that the city’s Jewish population was small. Two dramatic conversions, those of the wealthy proselyte Lydia (Acts 16:13–15) and the jailor (Acts 16:25–34), marked the church’s birth. (For a description of the events surrounding the founding of the Philippian church, see chapter 18 of this volume.)

The Philippians had a deep affection for Paul, as he did for them. Though they were poor, they alone supported him financially at one stage of his ministry (4:15). Now, after many years, they had once again sent the apostle a generous gift in his time of need. (For a further discussion of the Philippians’ financial support of Paul, see chapter 20 of this volume.) Half a century later, the Philippian church would show the same generosity to the church father Ignatius, who passed through their city on his way to martyrdom at Rome.

Paul penned this letter to his beloved Philippian congregation to thank them for their generous gift (4:10–19), explain why he was sending Epaphroditus back to them (2:25–30), inform them of his circumstances (1:12–26), and warn them about the danger of false teachers (3:2,18–19).

AUTHOR

The divinely inspired text of Philippians introduces Paul as the author (1:1), thus making his authorship indisputable. In fact, except for a few radical nineteenth-century critics, the Pauline authorship of Philippians has never been questioned. Today most scholars, no matter what their theological persuasion, accept it as a genuine Pauline epistle. J. B. Lightfoot notes,

Internal evidence will appear to most readers to place the genuineness of the Epistle to the Philippians beyond the reach of doubt. This evidence is of two kinds, positive and negative. On the one hand, the epistle completely reflects St. Paul’s mind and character, even in their finest shades. On the other, it offers no motive which could have led to a forgery. Only as the natural outpouring of personal feeling, called forth by immediate circumstances, is it in any way conceivable. A forger would not have produced a work so aimless (for aimless in his case it must have been), and could not have produced one so inartificial. (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1953], 74)

DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING

Paul wrote Philippians, along with Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon, from prison. Until the end of the eighteenth century, the church accepted that the four Prison Epistles were written during the apostle’s imprisonment at Rome (Acts 28:14–31). In recent times, however, both Caesarea and Ephesus have been proposed as alternative locations.

The evidence that Paul wrote Philippians from Rome is impressive. The terms “praetorian guard” (1:13) and “Caesar’s household” (4:22) are most naturally understood as references to the emperor’s bodyguard and servants stationed in Rome. The details of Paul’s imprisonment as recorded in Acts harmonize well with those in Philippians. Paul was guarded by soldiers (Acts 28:16; Phil. 1:13–14), allowed visitors (Acts 28:30; Phil. 4:18), and was free to preach the gospel (Acts 28:31; Phil. 1:12–14). That there was a large church in the city from which Paul wrote (cf. 1:12–14) also favors Rome. The church in the Imperial capital was undoubtedly much larger than that in either Ephesus or, especially, Caesarea.

Two primary objections have been raised to the traditional view that Paul wrote Philippians from Rome. First, some argue that while Paul intended to visit Spain after visiting Rome (Rom. 15:24, 28), the Prison Epistles record his plans to visit Philippi (2:24) and Colossae (Philem. 22) after his release. Therefore, they maintain, Philippians (and Colossians) must have been written before Paul reached Rome. While it is true that Paul had originally planned to visit Spain after visiting Rome, two facts caused him to change his plans. Paul had not anticipated arriving in Rome as a prisoner. He had spent four years in Roman custody, and during that time problems had arisen in the churches of Greece and Asia Minor. Paul therefore decided to revisit those churches before heading for Spain. Further, the fact that the Roman church was not united in support of him (cf. 1:14–17) caused the apostle to delay his visit to Spain (cf. Rom. 15:24).

Second, some believe that several trips between Philippi and the city from which Paul wrote are implied in Philippians. Because of the great distance between Rome and Philippi, they believe that those trips cannot have all taken place during Paul’s Roman imprisonment. On the other hand, Ephesus was much closer to Philippi. (It should be noted that, if valid, that argument would be equally telling against a Caesarean origin of Philippians. Caesarea was not significantly closer to Philippi than was Rome.)

That argument, however, is not valid. Moises Silva notes that:

It is quite possible to fit those three journeys [between Rome and Philippi] into a period of four to six months. But even if we allow a very generous two months for each of these journeys, far less than a year is necessary to account for them (and nothing in the data requires us to say that less than a year must have elapsed from Paul’s arrival in Rome to his writing of Philippians). It is very difficult to understand why this argument against a Roman origin continues to be taken seriously. The matter should be dropped from any further consideration. If we do so, however, then the only clear argument against the traditional view [that Paul wrote Philippians from Rome] disappears. (Philippians, The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1988], 7. Italics in original.)

The most convincing argument that Paul wrote Philippians from Rome lies in the decisive nature of the verdict the apostle expected. He would either be set free, as he confidently hoped (1:19, 24–26; 2:24), or executed (1:20–21, 23). Either way, the decision in his case would be final, and there would be no appeal. That fact appears to rule out both Caesarea and Ephesus, since as a Roman citizen Paul could (and did—Acts 25:11–12) exercise his right to appeal to the emperor (what one writer referred to as Paul’s “trump card”) from those cities.

The theories that Paul wrote Philippians from Caesarea or Ephesus face additional significant difficulties. Proponents of the Caesarean view note that the same Greek word translated “praetorian guard” in 1:13 is used in the Gospels and Acts to speak of the governor’s palaces in Jerusalem (Matt. 27:27; Mark 15:16; John 18:28, 33; 19:9) and Caesarea (Acts 23:35). But the phrase “and to everyone else” (1:13) indicates that Paul was referring to the troops of the praetorian guard, not to a building. Paul’s failure to mention Philip the Evangelist is puzzling if he wrote the Prison Epistles from Caesarea, since he lived in that city and provided hospitality to Paul and his party (Acts 21:8). Further, Acts does not record a widespread preaching of the gospel in Caesarea such as that recorded in 1:12–18. Finally, Paul’s expectation of a quick release (cf. 1:25; 2:24) does not fit the circumstances of his imprisonment in Caesarea. There the apostle’s only hope of release was either to bribe Felix, or acquiesce to Festus’s request that he return to Jerusalem for trial. Naturally, Paul refused either alternative and remained a prisoner in Caesarea until his appeal to the emperor.

The theory that Paul wrote Philippians (and the other Prison Epistles) from Ephesus, though a more popular alternative than Caesarea, also faces serious difficulties. The most obvious and serious one is that there is no record in Acts that Paul was ever in prison at Ephesus. That silence is particularly significant, since Luke devotes an entire chapter (Acts 19) to Paul’s three-year ministry there. Further, Paul’s declaration to the elders of the Ephesian church, “Night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears” (Acts 20:31), implies that his ministry in their city was continuous, not interrupted by a prolonged imprisonment. Another significant omission is Paul’s failure to mention in the Prison Epistles the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem—a collection he referred to in the epistles he wrote during the time of his stay in Ephesus (e.g., Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians). Paul’s failure to mention Gaius and Aristarchus to the Philippians is also strange if he wrote from Ephesus, since they were with him there (Acts 19:29). The church from which Paul wrote Philippians was not united in its support of him (1:14–17; cf. 2:20–21). That, however, was not true of the Ephesian church (cf. Acts 20:36–38). Nor is it likely that the Philippians would have felt the need to send a gift to Paul at Ephesus, where the apostle enjoyed the support both of the church and of close friends, such as Aquila and Prisca (cf. 1 Cor. 16:19; 1 Corinthians was written from Ephesus). Finally, while Luke was with Paul when he penned the Prison Epistles (Col. 4:14), he apparently was not with Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19 is not one of the “we passages” in Acts that indicate Luke’s presence with Paul).

Since Rome fits the known facts of Paul’s imprisonment, and Caesarea and Ephesus do not, there is no reason to reject the traditional view that Paul wrote Philippians near the end of his first Roman imprisonment (C.A.D.61).

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