Philippians 2: 3-11

• According to Gutierrez (Preface), “It follows logically that the Book of Philippians teaches that the reader who desires to know the Mind of Christ must first know…” the Person of Jesus Christ.

Paul's letters to the church, also known as epistles, are considered some of the most important documents in the New Testament. Paul's writings continue to shape and forge church even today. His letters were written in some of the darkest, most intense moments of Paul's life, but they also celebrate the grace, love, and life changing power of Jesus. Paul's journey in faith is shown in raw, unapologetic honesty, and inspires Christians to maintain a forward momentum, and to run the race Paul speaks so passionately about in Hebrews 12:1. Paul is able to write with both confidence and humility as he writes about the Christian journey.

In order to comprehend and gleam the theological insights of Philemon, or any Biblical scripture, it is imperative that, at least, a basic understanding of the historical and cultural principles be present in the mind of the reader. Without a comprehension of these truths, a false understanding or misrepresentation of the text may occur. This is not to say that nothing can be obtained from the scripture in and of itself. However, many deeper details may remain hidden without further exploration. As is stated in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

As I elaborate on the theme, “Equipping Saints for Ministry in the New Millennium”, I will discuss Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 to illustrate

In the first close reading of the text, I discovered Paul articulated his desire for all believers to be of the same attitude or frame of mind as Christ. Creating a sense of relationship with God through the example of the servanthood of Jesus. This study revealed the traits of Christ’s life and character found in verses: “he was formed of God” (2:6), “emptied himself’ (2:7), “in human form” (2:8), “name above every name” (2:9), “every knee should bend” (2:10), and “every tongue confess … glory to God” (2:11). Looking at each verse, challenged me to read between the lines and wonder what might be happening within the church of Philippi. Textual Criticism

The chapters of the book under consideration are chapters one thru five. The book in its’ entirety deals with Luke as well as Paul, but for our study, but we will only deal with the writings of Paul. Kim’s desire is to critically examine scholars and theologians who ascribe to an anti-imperial interpretation of some of Paul’s letters.

Well we have seen in this above with the introduction that this deals with the humility when it is genuinely exercised and the rewards that are awarded by God. Well let’s discuss through this Philippians chapter two, one through eleven. Before going into the deeper first let us discuss what it says in the first five verses of this chapter. Well though it is always good to hear from the scholars. To say that in the verse one it clearly states that this chapter was linked to the previous chapter, because this chapter was started with “Therefore” which indicates that Paul began with the unity that was ended up in 1:27. This shows that it has four clauses which deals with the Philippians sharing and as well as their experiences. These are stated to promote unity especially through experiences in the people of Philippians. Richard R. Melick Jr. stated in his book of Philippians, Colossians, Philemon commentaries that,

Our source of knowledge of the apostolic work of Paul comes first from the Book of Acts. The epistles written by Paul serve to further our knowledge of his mission. These letters were written to churches that he had founded or churches that were known to him. Luke’s account of Paul introduces us to the basic facts about this important biblical figure. A more complete understanding of Paul’s journeys can be gleaned from his letters. These epistles were written almost at the time they occurred and they comprise some of the earliest works contained in the New Testament.

The objective of this paper is to achieve a thorough exegetical analysis of Philippians 2:2-11. To accomplish this objective, the basic contents of this passage will be examined. Furthermore, all relevant issues from this passage will be examined as well. This passage will be made clear in its context so that the content will fit into the overall meaning of the passage. More importantly, a verse by verse analysis of the passage will be given to understand the author’s thoughts.

The Apostle Paul is no stranger to the average Christian; after all, he is responsible for writing the majority of the material listed in the New Testament of the Bible. Thirteen epistles of the New Testament begin with the formula such as “Paul, servant of God” being address to the different audiences, conversely, most scholars believe that Paul was actually only responsible for writing about seven of the epistles. The book that this paper is focused on, Galatians, would be one of those books that is believed to be written by the hand of Paul under the divine guidance of God and the Holy Spirit. This epistle will humble you and challenge your way of thinking as it has done this to millions around the world.

Douglas, J. D., and N. Hillyer. The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity, 1980. Print.

The genre of Ephesians 2:1-10 is an Epistle. The Epistles were letters teaching specific churches or groups of people; often inspired by God. They are split into two categories: Pauline Epistles, written by Paul and traditionally Paul was the first word of the book in Greek, and General Epistles, often referred to as the Catholic epistles and were written to the universal Church. The Pauline Epistles consist of: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The General Epistles consist of: Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. The interpretive principles of this genre are that it is meant to be read as a whole and in one sitting in order to get the main idea of the passage, one must view the paragraphs as the main unit of thought in the passage, one must know the structure to understand the letter, and one must do background reading to fully comprehend the main concept and the history and culture of the setting.

Paul visited Ephesus on his first missionary journey, on the way from Greece to Syria. After his third missionary journey, he stayed there and pastored the Ephesian church for 3 years (Easton, np). “Though Paul was not the first to bring Christianity to Ephesus, for Jews had long lived there, he was the first to make progress against the worship of Diana” (Orr, np). Because of his strong ties to the church, Paul cared deeply about the faith of the believers there (Macarthur, np).

The purpose of this paper is to perform a thorough exegetical analysis of Philippians 2:1-11. In order to accomplish this purpose, the basic contents of the passage will be surveyed. In addition, any relevant issues from the background of the letter will be examined. This passage will be interpreted in its context so that its meaning will fit into the overall meaning of the letter. Most importantly, a verse by verse exposition of the text will be given which will trace the author’s flow of thought. Finally, a summary of this study’s findings will be given along with some points of personal application.

I chose to write my paper on Philippians 3:12-21. Before writing this paper I was not entirely familiar with the reasons for Paul’s letters to the church of Philippi. It was an interesting study once I understood the background and reasoning for Paul’s writings. Paul writes a thank you letter to the Christians at Philippi for their contributions and support in his hour of need, and he uses the occasion to send along some instructions on Christian unity. Paul is also giving them an update on his circumstances. Most of Paul’s letter to the church of Philippi dealt with areas such as joy, rejoice, praise, thankfulness, and attitude.