Bible Study Notes On Philippians Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bible Text

Notes and thoughts

1 ¶ Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 ¶ I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
7 ¶ Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
9 ¶ And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
12 ¶ But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.
18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
21 ¶ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
27 ¶ Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me

Fellowship of the Gospel.
v1-2 Opening greetings to all the Saints at Philippi.
v3-11 Paul prays for the church.
v3-6 I have you in my mind.
See Acts 16:10 - to see some of the events that happened to Paul in Philippi. His time in prison should have given him bad memories but he was full of joy for his position.
"Fellowship" v5 may show their sharing in Paul´s support."The good work" v6 may also show a sharing. Slaves for Christ. A work which God would complete and finish until Jesus comes again. See 1 John 3:2 to see the end result.
v7,8 You are in my heart.
Love for them, shown by his suffering for the Gospel, a prisoner for Christ. It was the love of Christ for them through Paul. See Rom 5:5.
v9-11 You are in my prayers.
A prayer for them to grow in love and knowledge, to be able to know wrong from right, that their lives bring praise to God and do not fail any testing by the world.
Thoughts:
1) Will my life cause others to turn away from Christ?
2) Will I be sad (ashamed) if Jesus returned today?
See Rom 1:13; Rom 6:22; Gal 5:22-23; John 15:5
We should always think Phil 1:21
v12-26 Personal News.
Paul talks of the past(12), present(13-18) and future(19-26) See Acts 21:17-28:31 for details.
v12-14 Paul in Chains.
Putting Paul in prison did not stop the spread of the Gospel, the exact opposite happened:
(1) Daily contact with the Roman soldiers, who were his guards, spread the message through Caesar´s Praetorian Guard.
(2) The possible danger for the nation from belief in this "new Christian" religion brought Paul in contact with Roman officials checking it out.
(3) Many of the "Letters of Paul" were written from prison.
v15-19 Objectors to Paul.
The church of Rome was divided over Paul´s imprisonment, some were preaching for their own selfish benefit. v16 "contention" means ´seek office.´ Paul was not against these people he was just glad the gospel was being preached v18.
v20-26 Paul has a problem.
There was a possibility of Paul being found guilty and sentenced to death. Paul thought about this and says that for him to remain alive was to the benefit of the Philippian´s (v24) but to die and be with Christ was even better for Paul. Paul felt that Christ wanted him to remain alive to help for now, to not depart for heaven. Note v21 a key verse for each of us.
1:27 - 2:18 A call for a united stand.
v27 Walking.
"Conversation" originally meant ´to walk´ Paul is telling them to live as if they were already living in heaven, a bad life will turn people away from God. They must have one mind, one spirit for the gospel, working (striving) together for the faith. See Eph 4:1; Col 1:10; compare 3 John 9; Matt 20:20-28
From Chapter 4 we know there was a split in the Philippi church.
v28-30 The Battle.
Do not be frightened by the enemy, these battles prove we are saved, we must expect suffer for Jesus, he suffered for us, it is a privilege to suffer for him.
v30 Paul reminds them others are also suffering for Jesus.

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Paul´s letter to Philippians