Wednesday
Jun212017
Week 1
Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at 2:04PM 
"Who are the Philippians, and why is Paul writing to them?"
Key Texts
Main Ideas
Introduction to Philippians
- The Bible Project introduction to Philippians
- The Bible Project Philippians poster is available for free or for purchase here.
On Philippi & the Philippians
- Read Acts 16:1-40 and note how the city of Philippi is characterized.
- Philippi was a proud Roman colony. Philippians 1:27 & 3:20 use languauge of citizenship (Grk. politeuesthe, politeuma) to reframe their identity.
- Note where Philippi is on Paul's journeys (map is from Bible.org)
- Philippi was on the Via Egnatia (Egnatian Road). Note how often Paul visited them (Acts 16:12; 20:1-6; 1 Cor 8:1-7; 9:1-5). Click here for Dr. Herrick's introduction to Philippi.
On Human Nature & Group Identity
- Asch Conformity Experiment
- Asch Elevator Experiment
- In-group and Out-group
- Out-grouping and online flamewars: CPG Grey, "This Video Will Make You Angry"
- Actor-Observer Assymetry - "You are not stuck in traffic, you are traffic."
- In light of human tendencies toward in-grouping and out-grouping, how does Paul work against division and towards unity among the Philippians and the larger world? How are Christians supposed to find our identity and reflect Christ in the larger world?
Holy People, Overseers, Servers - "To all the saints [Grk. 'holy people'] in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons" (Phil 1:1b)
- Read Exodus 19:1-6 for the background of "saints/holy people." What does this say about the Philippians' new identity in Christ if Paul's use of "saints" is a callback to Exodus 19 and the larger narrative of the OT?
- On the communal reading of Scripture as the basis of Jewish & Christian identity, and therefore the plausibility of "saints" being thick with meaning:
- Bishops (episkopois) and Deacons (diakonois) (1:1)
- Bishop (better translated as overseer, Grk. episkopos) is only used 5 times in the GNT: Acts 20:28; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet 2:25 (used of Jesus).
- "In Acts 20:28, Paul addresses the Ephesian elders as 'overseers' who shepherd both themselves and the church among (not over) whom the Holy Spirit has placed them." (Lynn H. Cohick, The Story of God Bible Commentary: Philippians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 26)
- "Oversight means loving care and concern, a responsibility willingly shouldered; it must never be used for personal aggrandisement. Its meaning is to be seen in Christ's selfless service which was moved by concern for the salvation of men [and women]." (L. Coenen, "Bishop, Presbyter, Elder" NIDNTT 1:192)
- In Phil 1:1, both bishop/overseer and deacons/servants are plural nouns, suggesting that "it is best to see these words as functions of administration and leadership within the Philippian community," without the later formalized connotations of bishop or deacon that developed in the 2d and 3d centuries C.E. (Cohick, 26).
- Deacons (better translated at servant, Grk. diakonos) is used 29 times in the GNT: Matt 20:26; 22:13; 23:11; Mark 9:35; 10:43; John 2:5; 9; 12:26; Rom 13:4; 15:8; 16:1; 1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor 3:6; 6:4; 11:15, 23; Gal 2:17; Eph 3:7; 6:21; Phil 1:1; Col 1:7, 23, 25; 4:7; 1 Tim 3:8, 12; 4:6.
- "The difference between [diakonos] and doulos (slave) is important for our understanding of diakonos. Doulos stresses almost exclusively the Christian's complete subjection to the Lord; diakonos is concerned with service for the church, [for] brothers [and sisters] and fellow [people], [and] for the fellowship, whether this is done by serving at table, with the word, or in some other way." (K. Hess, "Serve, Deacon, Worship" NIDNTT 3:548)
- "In the course of the church's history the office developed a standarized form, though its precise form is not clear from the NT. Nor was it evidently universal in the church. Originally all the manifold functions exercised in the church could be called 'services' or ministries (1 Cor 12:5). Hence, the various office-bearers (apostle, prophet etc., cf. Eph 4:11f.) were 'servants,' diakonoi, of the church (cf. 1 Cor 3:5; Col 1:25)." (Hess, 3:548)
- "This means that for the 'servant' there was always a task for spirit and body expressed by his role in public worship, care of the poor, and administration. The service of God and of the poor were, after all, a unity, as the agape, the common meal implied. Originally it was obvious that all the 'servants' stood in a brotherhood of service..." (Hess, 3:548)
On Greetings - "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (1:2)
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- Hebrew letters began with the formulaic term shalom (Eng., Peace). Paul translates this greeting into the Greek word eirene (Eng. Peace).
- By making "grace and peace" (charis & eirene) his characteristic greeting, Paul signified that Christianity was multicultural from the very start (see Gal 3:25-29; 5:6).
- Bishop (better translated as overseer, Grk. episkopos) is only used 5 times in the GNT: Acts 20:28; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet 2:25 (used of Jesus).
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What does the entire introduction in Philippians 1:1-2 say about Paul's larger goals for this letter? What sort of expectations are set up by Paul's terminology? How did they shape the identity of Christians in Paul's day, and how should they help shape our identity today?
