Philipians 2:12ff Study: Relationship

Where have we been in Philippians?

• Background is found in Acts 16:  very Gentile city, on major trade route, northern Greece.
• It is a marvelous book with many verses to memorize.  1:6, 1:20-21; 2:5-11; 2:13.  Why memorize scriptures?  Is it necessary today?
•  An overriding theme is joy.  Several Greek words, one means jump, one celebration.  Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, the second one listed in Galatians 5:22.  Against such there is no law.  Have you ever been joyous, even when something great didn’t just happen?  A time when you just had a bolt from the blue and were full of celebration in your heart, like an explosion?  Or a time when there was an abiding peace?  Because Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (I would say “gift”), it is not natural.  Godly joy comes from the Lord working in our hearts.
•  The second theme is “it’s all about the mission.”  We can and must put aside petty differences for the big picture.  Leadership gives us a vision of the big picture.  Paul could have opponents but as long as they preached the real gospel, he was content with that.  So unity and joy are the two themes.

Verse 12:  Work out your own salvation.  Greek word is energeo, energize.  The idea is to practice, not to get it right but as a lawyer or doctor, to live by the principles one is learning.  This verse bothers some people.  They think salvation is like a scholarship—you get it but have to work to keep it up.  The Bible doesn’t give a list of conditions upon which we get to keep our salvation.  Can a person who has a relationship with God through faith in the death of Christ, and who repents of his sins knowingly, lose his salvation?  No.  However, many people make false confessions of Christ based on peer pressure, lack of knowledge, or emotion.  The parable of the four soils explains it all. 

How do we work out our salvation?  Paul doesn’t give us a list of things to do to “work it out”—tithing, church attendance, Bible study, etc.  He tells us the attitude to take:  fear and trembling because we understand our status before God.

v. 14:  Do all things without grumbling, murmuring or disputing, arguing.  This covers two types of people’s reactions to conditions of life and two attitudes that hurt unity. 

v. 15:  People who grumble and complain and murmur or argue and dispute will not be blameless and lights to those around them.  What will they be?

v. 16-18:  These verses are specific to Paul and his relationship with the Philippians.

v. 19:  Paul has every confidence he’ll get out and see them again.  Very different from his imprisonment later when he writes to Timothy.

v.. 25-30.  I read these verses about Timothy and Epaphroditus and envy the depth of that relationship.  It is not just based on similar experiences alone, but a mutual trust in Christ that makes them trust each other especially in the ministry.  Paul uses the term for Timothy, like-minded, equal-souled.

Paul and Timothy:  “like a son,” wrote two letters to him, sent him when Paul couldn’t, helped Paul write six epistles, including this one, which means Timothy was with Paul in Rome; Paul wanted Timothy there at the end of his life.  “He will genuinely care for your interests the way I do.”  Timothy was not the second team

“All seek their own”:  He doesn’t name names, so it must be that he has no one around him who shares the same level of commitment.  This is where friendship, discipleship, and fellowship meet.  Our culture with its emphasis on individualism and getting ahead makes these types of relationship impossible.  Young people say they want relationship, but they confuse that with sex, codependency, fun, or drama.  The relationship must have a core of something greater than mutual attraction to work. 

I am reading Henri Nouwen a lot, someone I would recommend for his deep understanding of the alienation of humanity and how Christ can transform that, and yet his own realism about the human condition.  Unlike many persons with whom I worship and associate, I read Christian writers from different traditions—Roman Catholic, Anglican, or more liberal Protestant, such as Frederick Buechner, for example.  But I would not recommend that until one has his or her own theology straight, which may take years in some cases.  I would not recommend Nouwen to a new believer, for a variety of reasons I won’t go into here.