Philippians — Week 1

This opening study of Philippians sets the letter against the dramatic founding of the Philippian church in Acts 16 . Philippi was a Roman colony, and that civic status shapes everything that follows, from Lydia's conversion at the riverside to the midnight earthquake that frees Paul and Silas from prison. The history yields a string of nuggets rather than one theme: obedience does not require complete understanding, since Paul went to Macedonia though it was not his first choice; God, not the messenger's eloquence, opens hearts; and Paul's humanity surfaces in his annoyance with the slave girl even as his joy endures in the jail cell. The letter opens not with apostolic authority but with thanksgiving and partnership, and it presses the reader to be not only encouraged but an encourager who breathes life into others.