New Testament · Letter · book 50 of 66 · 1 min read
The book of Philippians
A thank-you letter written from custody that mentions joy fourteen times, and contains an early hymn about someone giving up status voluntarily.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
At a glance
- Chapters
- 4
- Author
- Paul
- Written
- Around 60 to 62 AD, from prison
- Written for
- A church that had supported him financially for years
- Themes
- joy, humility, contentment, partnership
What it is about
Philippi was Paul's first European congregation and evidently his favourite. The letter is warm, personal and written from prison, which is what makes its repeated language of joy notable rather than sentimental.
Chapter 2 contains what most scholars think is a pre-existing hymn, quoted by Paul: a description of someone who did not grasp at equality with God but emptied himself, took a servant's form and was obedient to death. It is the earliest high statement about Christ in the New Testament.
Chapter 4 supplies two of the most quoted verses in the Bible, both of which are routinely detached from what surrounds them.
Where to start
Chapter 2, for the hymn, then chapter 4 for the passage about anxiety and contentment.
The chapters worth knowing
- Philippians 1 — To live is Christ and to die is gain, written by a man genuinely uncertain which was coming.
- Philippians 2 — The hymn about emptying and obedience, probably older than the letter that quotes it.
- Philippians 4 — Anxiety, contentment, and the two most quoted verses in the letter.
What people get wrong about it
That 4:13 is about achievement. The preceding verse lists the all things — being filled and being hungry, abounding and being in need — so it is a claim about handling both ends of a circumstance, written from custody.
From this book
- Philippians 4:13, and what the “all things” areIt is painted on gym walls and written on wristbands. Two verses earlier Paul says what he has learned to do: be content, hungry or full, from a prison cell.
- Philippians 4:6–7, which is not an order to feel differentlyThe anxiety verse people are handed most often. It does not tell you to stop being anxious — it tells you what to do with it, which is a possible instruction at 3am.
- Bible verses about peaceTen passages from the World English Bible, with a note on each — because scripture means at least three different things by peace, and mixing them up is why some disappoint.
Questions
Why is Philippians called the letter of joy?
Because joy and rejoicing appear about fourteen times in four chapters, written by a man in custody with an uncertain outcome — which is what gives the word its weight here.
What does Philippians 4:13 actually mean?
Read with verse 12, it is about being able to handle both plenty and need rather than about accomplishing whatever you attempt. Paul is describing contentment learned in extremes.