Paul's Letter To The Philippians

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Philippians is one of Paul’s four prison epistles, whereas like Ephesians, Paul wrote to the Philippians from a Roman prison. He begins his letter in Philippians 1:12-14, “Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news. For everyone here, including the soldiers in the palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here have gained confidence and become bolder in telling others about Christ.” Paul continued to express the seriousness of his circumstances in Philippians 1:19-26, where he speculates about the fate of his future, whether he would live or be executed. While imprisoned in Rome, Paul received a visitor name Epaphroditis. Epaphroditis was a member of the church in Philippi, who was sent to Rome to deliver a financial gift from the church to Paul and to learn of his circumstances and upcoming trial in prison. There are …show more content…

He warns the Philippians that “some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, and they know the Lord brought me here to defend the good news. Those others do not have pure motives. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerity. They intend to make my chains more painful to me.” These opponents were most likely Judaizers who taught that New Gentiles had to be circumcised according to the law, in order to be considered a part of God’s covenant. Early Jewish Christians viewed the covenant relationship as maintaining loyalty to Mosaic Law. Paul responded to his opponents by teaching the Philippians not to instill confidence in flesh, instead place all of their confidence in Jesus Christ. He used his own experience being circumcised on the eight day as meaningless in terms of him knowing

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