Philippians Study 2022: Background and context

[joey_the_ox]

This is a thread for discussion of the first section given in the schedule I proposed in the Bible Study Proposal thread: background and context.

Here is the full schedule for context:

• Background and context
• 1:1-11
• 1:12-26
• 1:27- 2:18
• 2:19-30
• 3:1-21
• 4:1-9
• 4:10-23

You may interpret "background and context" as you like and provide whatever material you find useful in the thread. I'm planning on reading through the entire book a few times using different translations during the next two weeks. I'll also try to gather some historical context (such as what the city of Philippi was like at the time) and look at Paul's previous interaction with the city.

I'll plan to start the next thread on Thursday, July 7 (two weeks from today). That doesn't mean that discussion on this thread needs to stop at that time - it can keep going if still productive.

[Sudsy]

It would appear that Bible study is still not a 'hot topic' to say the least. What does it say when you look down the list of what forums and topics get the greatest participation ? How 'of this world' are we ? Seems like the summer time argument isn't true for all.

I am waiting for your background post on this book (as perhaps, I hope, others are). But if you will be awhile to get this together, I will start giving some of my thoughts on the text.

Hang in there.

[joey_the_ox]

It would appear that Bible study is still not a 'hot topic' to say the least. What does it say when you look down the list of what forums and topics get the greatest participation ? How 'of this world' are we ? Seems like the summer time argument isn't true for all.

I am waiting for your background post on this book (as perhaps, I hope, others are). But if you will be awhile to get this together, I will start giving some of my thoughts on the text.

Hang in there.

Feel free to start giving your own thoughts! I will post something eventually .

[ohio jones]

PEOPLE! This thread is for the background and context of the book. Joey wasn't going to start actually discussing the first section of the text until July 7, but if you absolutely can't wait for him, there's a thread here that you can jump into. Let's try to keep the bunny trails to a minimum so we can have a profitable, in-depth discussion.

I would suggest that a Bible study thread should be moderated with a pretty heavy hand to keep it on topic. The text itself will naturally bring up topics for discussion. I propose that those discussions should adhere to the topic as it relates to the text at hand. There may well be a worthy discussion that strays from that, in which case it should be spun out into its own topic. And, of course, unworthy topics would be sent to the briar patch. I would hate to open a thread on Obadiah only to find the discussion has already reached the point of demands to clarify one’s position on transgender school lunch seating again.

[Sudsy]

PEOPLE! This thread is for the background and context of the book. Joey wasn't going to start actually discussing the first section of the text until July 7, but if you absolutely can't wait for him, there's a thread here that you can jump into. Let's try to keep the bunny trails to a minimum so we can have a profitable, in-depth discussion.

I would suggest that a Bible study thread should be moderated with a pretty heavy hand to keep it on topic. The text itself will naturally bring up topics for discussion. I propose that those discussions should adhere to the topic as it relates to the text at hand. There may well be a worthy discussion that strays from that, in which case it should be spun out into its own topic. And, of course, unworthy topics would be sent to the briar patch. I would hate to open a thread on Obadiah only to find the discussion has already reached the point of demands to clarify one’s position on transgender school lunch seating again.

Sorry, I misunderstood and thought this was all going to be under a single thread. My mistake.

[ohio jones]

Here is the account from Acts 16 of Paul's visit to Philippi on his second missionary journey, around 50 AD give or take a year.

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

[joey_the_ox]

I took down the following notes about Philippi from the entry on the city in the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary:

• The city was originally founded by Greek colonists, and came under Macedonian rule around 356 BC.
• At the time Philippians was written, the city was a Roman colony, and many veterans of the Roman army received land allotments in the area.
• Looking ahead in time, one of the earliest known church buildings in Greece was built in Philippi, and was dedicated to Paul.
• "At the time of Paul‘s visit, the population of the colony would have included a relatively privileged core of Roman veterans and their descendants; Greeks descended from the inhabitants of the earlier Hellenistic cities (Krenides and Philippi) and from other Greek settlements in the area (e.g., Amphipolis, Maroneia, and Neapolis); Greeks involved in commerce who had migrated from Asia Minor (exemplified by the figure of Lydia of Thyatira mentioned in Acts 16:14); and native Thracians. Most of the colony‘s inhabitants probably lived in agrarian rural settlements, including those Roman veterans who established agricultural estates with slave work forces in the countryside."

Some other notes of my own:

Paul visited Philippi again after his first visit which established the church there (described in the Acts 16 account posted by ohio jones above). Acts 20:1-2:

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

Since in Acts 16 Luke writes that Philippi "is a leading city of the district of Macedonia," it is likely that this trip through Macedonia included a visit to Philippi. Then on the way back Luke explicitly states that Paul went through Philippi (Acts 20:3b-6):

... he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

I would guess that the Philippians are included in Paul's praise in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5:

We want you to know, brothers,about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

More to come as I have time!

[joey_the_ox]

An open question I have that I will keep my eye open to answers for as I read: Were there any Jews in Philippi at the time of Paul's first visit? Were there any at the time Philippians was written roughly a decade later?

A related question is the meaning of "a place of prayer" that Paul and his companions expected to be at the riverside in Acts 16. Did they expect to find a synagogue outside of Philippi? Acts 13:14b says "And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down." And Acts 16:13 says "And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together."

[joey_the_ox]

An open question I have that I will keep my eye open to answers for as I read: Were there any Jews in Philippi at the time of Paul's first visit? Were there any at the time Philippians was written roughly a decade later?

A related question is the meaning of "a place of prayer" that Paul and his companions expected to be at the riverside in Acts 16. Did they expect to find a synagogue outside of Philippi? Acts 13:14b says "And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down." And Acts 16:13 says "And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together."

From the behavior of the owners of the slave girl, the crowd and the magistrates in Acts 16, it certainly seems that there was some anti-Jewish sentiment in Philippi.

[ohio jones]

An open question I have that I will keep my eye open to answers for as I read: Were there any Jews in Philippi at the time of Paul's first visit? Were there any at the time Philippians was written roughly a decade later?

A related question is the meaning of "a place of prayer" that Paul and his companions expected to be at the riverside in Acts 16. Did they expect to find a synagogue outside of Philippi? Acts 13:14b says "And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down." And Acts 16:13 says "And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together."

Matthew Harmon puts it this way:

A final issue to discuss is the presence (or lack thereof) of Jews in Philippi. Since Luke refers to a “place of prayer” (Acts 16:13) rather than a synagogue, it appears that the Jewish population in Philippi was extremely small. According to Jewish tradition (Mishnah Megilah 3b, 5a), ten Jewish men were required to form a synagogue. Thus it would seem there were not enough Jews in Philippi to meet even this minimal threshold. In fact, Luke goes out of his way to emphasize that Paul and his companions spoke “to the women who had assembled” alongside the river (Acts 16:13). And Lydia, the woman singled out as the initial convert, is identified as a “worshiper of God” (sebomenē), a term that refers to a Gentile worshiper of Yahweh! Every piece of available evidence indicates a negligible Jewish presence in Philippi.