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Paul Greets His Gospel Partners

February 11, 2018 Speaker: Brian Wilbur Series: Philippians

Passage: Philippians 1:1–2

PAUL GREETS HIS GOSPEL PARTNERS

An Exposition of Philippians 1:1-2

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   February 11, 2018

Series: Philippians: Gospel Partnership on Mission in the World

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

INTRODUCTION

As most of you now know, we are on the front end of a sermon series through Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.

In the first sermon, we reflected on Acts 16:6-40, which tells us about how the gospel got to Philippi in the first place! In that passage we saw the Holy Spirit leading the apostle Paul and his missionary team to cross the Aegean Sea and take the gospel to the region known as Macedonia, in modern-day Greece. Paul preached the gospel in the city of Philippi and through that preaching some residents of Philippi were converted to Christ and thus a new congregation was born.

In the second sermon, we reflected on the fellowship-partnership theme that runs through the letter. As Christians we are fellowship partners one with another. This fellowship partnership is centered, of course, upon our fellowship with Jesus. Our fellowship is “in the gospel.” (Philippians 1:5) The gospel creates our fellowship partnership, shapes the way that fellowship partners relate to one another, and drives the partnership into mission. This gospel-centered fellowship includes missionary partnerships such as the Philippian congregation had with the apostle Paul: they participated with him in gospel mission and supported his missionary work with prayer and financial support.

With these first two sermons functioning as background and overview to the sermon series, we are now ready to begin the exposition of the letter at chapter 1, verses 1-2. Paul and his team had planted the Philippian congregation around the year 50ad. At the time Paul wrote this letter, several years had passed and Paul himself was in prison, probably in Rome. I recall the evangelist Wendell Calder referring to Philippians as ‘joy from a jailhouse’ or ‘praise from a prison’ because the imprisoned Paul, who was suffering for the sake of the gospel, exudes joy throughout the letter. Which shouldn’t surprise us, because when we studied Acts 16:6-40 we learned that Paul and his co-laborer Silas spent a night in jail in Philippi, and what did they do while they were locked in the inner prison? They prayed and sang to God. The joy of the Lord is a gift that no one and no circumstance can take away from us.

In prison again several years later, the apostle Paul, with joy in his heart and his colleague Timothy at his side, sat down and started writing to his beloved friends in Philippi.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:1-2)

ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER IN CHRIST

What we have in verses 1-2 is an introduction to the letter. Philippians is a real letter: it has an author, a recipient, and a purpose.

Over in Colossians the apostle Paul wrote that “all things hold together” in Christ. (Colossians 1:17) That Christ holds all things together is especially evident in the first two verses of Philippians. If you were to take Jesus – along with the reference to the Father – out of the equation, what would you have?

Paul and Timothy, servants,

To all the saints who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Grace to you and peace.

And if that’s what we had, then we might as well scrap the letter. For in that case we would just have two guys over here sending off a letter to some folks over there, accompanied with some good wishes for their happiness. All we would have is a humanistic script, with merely human sentiment, for a man-centered purpose. Such letters are a dime a dozen, no big deal, and certainly not worth the attention of a sermon. But of course, Jesus holds together the introduction, and He would also hold together our attention to it. What the text actually says is:

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (italics mine)

Jesus Christ our Lord, whose supreme worth and saving work is the Good News of the Gospel, stands at the center of this letter and at the center of the introduction to this letter. Everything else finds its meaning in relation to Him. Which means, by the way, that if you don’t know what your relation to Him is, then you really don’t know what the true meaning of your life is. If you are not “in Christ Jesus” and you are not receiving grace and peace from Him and the Father, then you are adrift and at peril upon a chaotic sea. 

PAUL AND TIMOTHY ARE SERVANTS OF CHRIST JESUS

The letter begins in the customary style of that time, with the authors and senders of the letter identifying themselves. Paul, of course, is the apostle Paul who was formerly an opponent of the gospel and persecutor of the church. But the Lord Jesus took hold of Paul and transformed him into a preacher of the gospel and builder of the church. As a missionary, Paul took the gospel throughout the Roman world, including to the city of Philippi, and Paul wrote several letters that are part of the sacred New Testament writings.

As we read the letter, we clearly understand that Paul himself is the primary author of the letter. But Paul’s colleague Timothy joined Paul as a co-sender of the letter. Timothy as a child had learned the Scriptures from his mother and grandmother, and in due course he became a faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul rubbed shoulders with Timothy in the early stages of his second missionary journey, and he successfully recruited Timothy to join his team. Timothy was with Paul when Paul took the gospel to Philippi. In chapter 2 Paul writes that the believers in Philippi “know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” (Philippians 2:22) Timothy wasn’t just a colleague of Paul’s; Timothy was a son and student to Paul, and Paul was a father figure and spiritual mentor to the young man.

All that said, we must notice that Paul identifies himself and Timothy as “servants of Christ Jesus.” We hear this word “servants” with a lot of sweetener mixed into the cup, but the reality is that Paul and Timothy were bondservants – slaves of Christ Jesus. They recognized rightly that Jesus is Lord and Master, and they were His humble slaves. They understood that Jesus is worth everything, and they owed everything to Him. They were completely indebted to the One who had rescued them from slavery to sin and transformed them into slaves of righteousness, which is true freedom and true joy. As ministers of the gospel, Paul and Timothy were not doing their own thing; they were not making up their own agenda; they were not following their own natural preferences and feelings. They were following Jesus with their whole hearts and with joy. They were joyfully constrained by the Master’s will: they would only say what He had authorized them to say, they would only do what He had assigned them to do, they would only go where He had appointed them to go. Being true bondservants of Jesus, they were clothed in humility. They knew that the Lord of glory had humbled himself as an obedient servant who willingly suffered the shame of the cross. As servants of the preeminent Servant, they could not help but imitate the Lord’s humble service.

In identifying himself as a slave of Jesus, Paul was adopting an attitude of humility not only before the Lord, but also before his brothers and sisters in Philippi. Notice what he does: Paul calls himself a servant, but what does he call the Philippians? He calls them saints – holy ones – which we will reflect on momentarily. Though he carried the rank of apostle, Paul knew that greatness in God’s kingdom meant humble service to everyone else. For Jesus had told His disciples: “… let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” (Luke 22:26)

In the same spirit as his Lord, Paul willingly humbled himself, calling himself a slave, and at the same time he honored the Philippians, calling them saints and even giving a shout out to their leaders – the overseers and deacons. We also should be quick to lower ourselves, and equally quick to lift others up, which is the complete opposite of what sinners naturally want to do. But when we receive the gospel, a radical turnaround takes place, and haughty sinners become humble saints.

CHRISTIANS ARE SAINTS IN CHRIST JESUS

Which leads us straight into the next part of the introduction: “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.” Paul refers to local congregations in a variety of ways throughout his letters, including “beloved of God” (Romans 1:7), “the church of God” (1 Corinthians 1:2; cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:1), “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and “faithful brethren” (Colossians 1:2). But clearly “saints” is one of his most common designations, occurring several times (see Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 2 Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 1:2). “Saints” is a very important concept that we need to understand and apply to our lives. 

Dear Christian, I don’t know if you see yourself as a saint, or if you see your fellow Christians as saints, but you should, and for the right reason. One of the problems that we have is that the “saints” terminology has a lot of unhelpful baggage attached to it.

Misconceptions About What It Means To Be A Saint

For some people, there is the baggage of “sainthood” in Roman Catholicism. If you stand out from the crowd of ordinary church members, if you have an exceptional track record as a church leader or as a theologian or as someone who cares for the poor, then the Roman Catholic Church might officially recognize or canonize you as a saint after you die. Pope John Paul II served as the head of the Roman Catholic Church for twenty-six years, died in 2005, and was canonized as a saint in 2014. Mother Teresa served the poor and sick in Calcutta, India for many years, died in 1997, and was canonized as a saint in 2016. In this way of looking at things, sainthood is an honor conferred upon a person after his or her life is over, on the basis of exceptional character and service. In other words, sainthood is a status that you achieve.

For other people, there is the baggage of “super-saints” in the way we think about especially mature Christians. When we look at ourselves, we see the blemishes and wrinkles all around, and we are not impressed, and therefore we conclude that we certainly do not qualify as saints. Someday perhaps, but not today. But when we think about our dear grandmother Lois praying long hours at her bedside and speaking wisdom whenever she speaks, or our favorite Aunt Milly with her gentle and quiet spirit who is always baking goodies for the neighborhood kids, or that precious older man Jerome who shows so much warmth and kindness to others and can often be heard saying ‘Amen’ during the worship service – we are impressed, and we are quite happy to think of them as saints. Grandma Lois, she is a true saint! Aunt Milly, she is a real saint! Mr. Jerome, he is a saint if there ever was one! Frankly, this way of looking at things is not so different from the Roman Catholic approach, for we are conferring sainthood on people who stand out in terms of character and service. Here again, sainthood is a status that you achieve.

One or both kinds of baggage can be so ingrained in our thinking, that we have a hard time receiving and processing the clear teaching of Scripture. But we must receive the truth about sainthood and let it transform our minds.

True Biblical Sainthood

When Paul refers to his fellow Christians as saints, that description is not based on their character, maturity, piety, or service. The little child who believes the gospel, the foolish young man who was converted yesterday, the exhausted parent who is holding onto Jesus, the recovering alcoholic who has been walking with the Lord for ten years but had a short relapse last week, and the elderly woman who has been in church all her life and loves Jesus with all he heart – all of these people are equally saints. For sainthood is not a status that you achieve, but a gift that you receive.

The word “saint” is tied very closely to the concept of holiness, and “saint” carries the meaning of ‘holy one.’ So when Paul addresses the Philippian believers as “saints,” he is calling them ‘holy ones,’ ‘holy people.’ Not surprisingly, people make the same mistake with holiness as they do with sainthood. When many people think of holiness, their first thought is moral purity. But that should not be your first thought when you think about holiness – your second or third thought, yes, but not your first thought.

The fundamental meaning of holiness is to be set apart from the ordinary, run-of-the-mill stuff. Our houses are full of ordinary, run-of-the-mill plates, bowls, cups, and paper napkins. Some people, however, have some fine china, crystal glassware, elegant serving bowls, and beautiful cloth napkins. All this dinnerware is holy, so to speak, and set apart for special use during the holidays. Which, interestingly enough, affords us another example of holiness, for holidays are essentially holy-days, special days that are set apart from all the other ordinary days.

God is Uniquely Holy

Now in the fullest and truest sense, holiness must be understood in relation to God. When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord, he was overwhelmed by His holiness. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 6 that the seraphim declared back and forth to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

The idea here is that God is set apart from the ordinary and mundane; God is altogether different; He is utterly unique in terms of His sovereign power and majestic glory; He far surpasses the light of the sun, the grandeur of the mountains, the beauty of the flowers, and the intelligence of human beings. God is the Creator of all things, and everything else is part of the creation. God is not like us! God is not like the things that He made! He is one-of-a-kind, in a class by Himself, without equal! He is the incomparably great God: “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One.” (Isaiah 40:25) Our only sensible response is bow low in humble admiration:

“Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,

Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see;

Only thou art holy, there is none beside thee,

Perfect in power, in love, and purity.”

In the most basic sense, God alone is holy. 

God Confers Holiness on His People

Remarkably, however, as we read through Scripture we learn that the Holy God bestows holiness on certain people, places, or things. The idea here is that God takes the initiative to set apart a person, place, or thing from ordinary, run-of-the-mill usage and at the same time to set apart that person, place, or thing for a special, divine purpose. In terms of the Old Testament, the nation of Israel would have been an ordinary, run-of-the-mill nation like every other nation. But what did God do? He chose Israel out of all the other nations; He set apart Israel from all the other nations; He set apart Israel for Himself and His purpose. Therefore Israel was a holy people – not because they had achieved a particular quality of character and conduct, but because they had been separated from all the other nations and placed into divine service.

When God designates people or things as holy, this means that these people or things have been set apart by God and for God. The issue is first and foremost belonging, not behavior;  possession, not performance; whose we are, not what we do. To be a saint means to belong to God, to be set apart from ordinary, run-of-the-mill sinners who are racing toward destruction, and to be set apart for relationship with Him and participation in His kingdom. At the very moment a sinner is born again and trusts Jesus for salvation, he becomes a holy person. If you are a Christian, you became holy at the very beginning of your Christian life on the basis of God’s mighty work in saving you and bringing you into His family. Therefore, true biblical sainthood is not an honor conferred upon you after you have lived well for many years as a Christian – it not a degree that you earn and for which you receive a diploma. Rather, true biblical sainthood is a privileged status given to you before you have lived ten seconds as a Christian – it is the Holy Spirit enfolding you into the holy fellowship of the Father and the Son. You are holy because you are His, not because of what you have done. In the words of the apostle Peter:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Our sainthood, as Paul says, is “in Christ Jesus.” Jesus laid down His life for us, made peace through His blood, paid our debts, purchased us out of our slavery to sin, washed away our guilty stains, covered us with His perfection and righteousness, brought us into fellowship with the Father, and bestowed His Spirit upon us – and all this before we ever took a single step in godly living. Everyone who has a true faith in Jesus is a saint, and we enjoy this holy status by grace and grace alone.

Application #1: Dear Christian, do you understand that you are a saint?

There are probably some of us in this sanctuary today who are caught in a performance mindset about the Christian life. You reflect on your Christian walk and you are always thinking about how you don’t measure up, how you struggle with sin or succumb to temptation, how you have unrighteous thoughts or selfish deeds, and therefore you conclude that you are a partial saint, or a quarter-saint, or maybe a half-saint at best. At the end of the day, you think that your relationship with God depends on your performance – and since you know that your performance is never quite up to par, you conclude that while Lois, Milly, and Jerome might be saints, you are certainly not. Or at least you won’t be until you pray more, read more, memorize more, obey more, witness more, serve more, and indulge less. Then perhaps you will become a saint!

Do you see how utterly flawed this reasoning is? If you are stuck in the performance trap, then deep down you think that saintliness is all about your level of spiritual maturity! Instead, you ought to be stunned that when you were lost in sin and far from God, God brought you near to Him through the blood of Christ and placed the mantle of holiness as a crown upon your head. Now you are a holy son or holy daughter of the holy King! You didn’t deserve this holy status, you didn’t earn it, and you can’t pay it back, but it is yours as a free gift.

Does this holy status affect your behavior and conduct? Of course! God’s holy people, transformed by grace and indwelt by the Spirit, cannot help but start living in accordance with their holy status. As Paul says in Philippians 1, we are to live in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Our holy status gets lived out in a holy lifestyle. It is in this sense that the Bible calls us to be holy, because our God is holy – to practice holiness, to pursue holiness, to make progress in holiness. Yes! Yes! Yes! Let’s be a people who display our sainthood in an abundance of holy and pure conduct.

Nevertheless, we need to understand that how our holy attitudes and actions are not the basis of our holy status. All our best efforts to follow Jesus in everyday discipleship are not the basis of our saintliness. It rather works the other way: we are so humbled and transformed by this gift of salvation, by this gift of sainthood, by this gift of adoption into God’s holy family, that we rise up on our feet and start to follow the One who gave us everything. We live a ‘set apart’ life because God has already ‘set us apart’. It is this decisive, definitive conferral of sainthood on the new convert that governs and guides him into a holy way of life.

The tragedy for people who think that becoming a saint is something they have to earn is that they end up relying on themselves, and self-reliance always leads away from God, no matter how well the empty shell is decorated on the outside. But people who know that they have received ‘the wonderful grace of Jesus’ know that Jesus is everything, and they want stay close to Him and abide in His love and live for His kingdom.

Application #2: Dear Christian, do you see all of your fellow Christians as saints?

One more thing about saints. If God has called us His holy ones, and if the dear apostle looks out at the Philippian congregation and sees a congregation of saints, then we must learn to look at each other as saints. How do we see each other? We are accustomed to seeing each other from a merely human perspective: old, young; rich, poor; while-collar, blue-collar; male, female; married, single, divorced, widowed; public schooling, private schooling, home schooling. Then we add things like personality, giftedness, and season of life into our visual framework. Now we don’t need to play dumb: it is okay to observe and be aware of the various personal, social, and economic characteristics of people’s lives. But if we aren’t careful, we will make this merely human perspective the main perspective, and then we put everyone in a box, and then we form cliques with people who are in our box, and before you know it we think pretty highly of our little box, and tend to ignore the others who are in other boxes over there. Well guess what? If I may borrow a line of thought from C. S. Lewis, if you are ignoring your fellow Christians, then you are ignoring, neglecting, dismissing, overlooking, and slighting who? God’s holy ones, God’s precious possession, God’s saints!

What difference would it make if we saw each as we truly are, as people who belong to God, as people who have been set apart by God and for God? What difference would it make if I saw the mantle of holiness as a crown on your head, because God put it there. What attitudes would we cultivate, what conversations would we have, what relationships would we develop, who would we invite into our home, if we realized the saintly status of each one of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us see one another as we really are – as saints.

OVERSEERS AND DEACONS

After addressing “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi,” Paul immediately adds “with the overseers and deacons.” Here is an act of Christian courtesy, to recognize the servant leaders who stand among the saints. It is worth highlighting the fact that he mentions “the saints” first, for that refers to our primary identity as Christians and is more important than any particular role of service that we may have within the church. Overseers are saints before they are overseers; deacons are saints before they are deacons. The overseers and deacons are among the saints, not above the saints.

Paul’s reference to “the overseers and deacons” reflects the two-office model of church leadership that he sets forth in 1 Timothy 3. First, there are “overseers” who are also identified as “elders” in other parts of the New Testament. These overseers or elders are a team of godly men who are appointed to watch over the flock, and to give pastoral instruction and care. Second, there are “deacons” who are appointed to assist the elders with some of the practical ministry functions.

All this shows us that congregations are not meant to be an undefined, unorganized group of disciples that are making things up as they go along. The church doesn’t need to be a large organization with complex structures, but a certain amount of organization is necessary and good. That’s why we have elders with assigned tasks, and that’s why we have deacons with assigned tasks – to pay attention to congregational life and keep us moving in the right direction. It has been rightly said that the church is an ‘organized organism,’ and that’s what we see here in terms of church leadership.

GRACE AND PEACE

Finally, we come to verse two:

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is a customary Christian greeting in which the one speaking conveys a benediction, or a word of blessing, to his brothers and sisters.

The word “grace” calls attention to the undeserved favor that God pours out upon His people. God’s grace saves us, renews us, preserves us, and transforms us. God’s grace is the generous fountain of divine favor that so fills our cup that we become conduits of grace to others: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) We can be a gracious congregation for one reason and one reason only: God’s grace is all over us, from top to bottom and all the way around.

The word “peace” calls attention to wholeness in our overall experience of life and relationships. At the most foundational level, we have peace with God and enjoy fellowship with Him. This peace that we have with God generates peace in our hearts: the God of peace is with us, writes Paul in Philippians 4, and His peace guards are hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Further, this peace of God in which we now live necessarily gets worked out in peaceable, agreeable, and harmonious relations with each other. Paul calls upon the Philippians and upon us to be a unified congregation sharing the same love and serving one another. We can have relational harmony and togetherness as a congregation for one reason and one reason only: God’s peace is all over us, working all the angles and filling every nook and cranny.

This “grace” and “peace” that is extended to every Christian congregation is not a gift from the human messengers. It is true that Paul speaks forth the words of benediction, but as a servant of King Jesus he is expressing the settled disposition of our King. And the settled disposition of our King is to be an inexhaustible fountain of grace and peace to all of His saints, His holy ones. So we see that this grace and peace is “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The great love that God has for us originates in the heart of “God our Father.” Almighty God, the Holy One who dwells in unapproachable light, is “Father” to His people. Those of us who believe are His dearly loved children. He is large-hearted toward us, He cares for us, and He provides for us. The clearest and fullest demonstration of the Father’s love is the gift of His dear and eternal Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

And so it is that God’s grace and peace are not theological abstractions or mere emotional sentiments, but are solid realities that were secured for the saints by the death and resurrection of Jesus. The grace and peace of heaven flow to us not in a direct airdrop out of the sky, but through the bloody cross and empty tomb. At the wonderful cross, God’s justice was satisfied, the demonic powers were disarmed, and our sins were forgiven. Our Lord’s resurrection is the guarantee that sin and death have been vanquished forever. Now our risen and ascended Lord, who is seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, pours out His Spirit on everyone who believes, and thereby grace and peace are supplied to us in generous portions.  

Final Application: Are you living in the delightful atmosphere of God’s grace and peace?

This leads us to a final and very important application. When Paul speaks forth this word of blessing and reminds the Philippians that divine grace and peace are flowing to them from the Father and the Son, he is saying that the entirety of our lives is meant to take place in an environment of grace and peace. Everything that Paul writes to the Philippians is intended to convey grace and peace. Everything that the Philippians do in their life together is meant to be the outflow of the grace and peace that they have received and continue to receive. Grace and peace are flowing into our lives, and thus grace and peace are flowing out of our lives in terms of how we relate to one another. As God’s holy people, every conversation that we have, every relationship that we develop, every task that we undertake, should bear the marks of grace and peace.

Therefore, I ask you: Is the Lord’s grace and peace the conscious and delightful atmosphere in which you regularly live? Do you go through your day with the awareness that the Father’s smile is upon you? Or are you stuck?

The anxious heart cannot reach beyond the pressures and stresses. The shameful heart cannot reach beyond the failures and shortcomings. The critical heart cannot reach beyond other people’s failures and shortcomings. The impatient heart cannot reach beyond the impulses and reactions. The annoyed heart cannot reach beyond the petty disagreements and grievances. The isolated heart cannot reach beyond the need for predictability and control, and so withdraws from fellowship altogether. The dull heart cannot see beyond the horizons of this present world, and cannot imagine that there is a Father who cares for him, a Lord who loves him, and a Spirit who is near to help him.

Brothers and sisters, God’s grace is not afar off, that you should be famished; and God’s peace is not worlds away, that you should be troubled. But here they are, multiplied to you in abundance, to replenish and strengthen you as God’s holy people, that you might worship the Lord with grace in your hearts, walk together in peace and joy, and bear witness to the world about God’s wonderful salvation. Receive this grace and peace, abide therein, and bless one another in like manner. 

Let us pray.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTE: My inclusion of a bibliography reflects my interaction with other teachers in the preparation of my sermon. While the main part of my preparation involves my direct interaction with the biblical text, I find it helpful to invite other “discussion partners” into my preparation process. My mention of these teachers (writers, speakers, etc.) does not imply any particular level of agreement with them, nor does it constitute an endorsement of their work. That said, I am appreciative of those – past and present – who are seeking to faithfully teach God’s Word, and I am happy to benefit from their labor.

Hansen, G. Walter. The Letter to the Philippians (Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Hellerman, Joseph H. Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why It Matters Today. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2013.

Lewis, C. S. The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses.

Silva, Moisés. Philippians: Second Edition (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Sproul, R. C. The Holiness of God.

More in Philippians

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Abiding in the Benediction

May 5, 2019

Greeting Every Saint

April 28, 2019

To Our Great God Belongs Eternal Glory