The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (221 page)

OUTLINE OF THE LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS

1. Opening Address (
1:1-11
)

   A. Salutation (
1:1-2
)

   B. Prayer and Thanksgiving (
1:3-11
)

2. Paul's Imprisonment (
1:12-30
)

   A. The Advance of the Gospel (
1:12-18
)

   B. Personal Update (
1:19-26
)

   C. Exhortation to Stand Firm (
1:27-30
)

3. Imitating Jesus Christ (
2:1-18
)

   A. Christ's Humility and Obedience (
2:1-11
)

   B. Living like Christ (
2:12-18
)

4. The Arrival of Timothy and Epaphroditus (
2:19-30
)

5. Striving for the Goal (
3:1-21
)

   A. Warning against Judaizers (
3:1-11
)

   B. Pursuing the Heavenly Prize (
3:12-21
)

6. Final Instructions and Praise (
4:1-20
)

   A. Working for Unity (
4:1-3
)

   B. Rejoicing in the Lord (
4:4-9
)

   C. Gratitude for the Philippians' Assistance (
4:10-20
)

7. Conclusion (4:21-23)

THE LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE

Chapters

1
2
3
4

Salutation

1
 
Paul
and Timothy, servants
^a
of Christ Jesus,

  To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philip'pi, with the bishops
^b
and deacons:

2
 
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's Prayer for the Philippians

3
 
I thank my God
in all my remembrance of you,
⁴
always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with
joy
,
⁵
thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
⁶
And I am sure that he who
began a good work
in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
⁷
It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
⁸
For
God is my witness
, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
⁹
And it is my prayer that your
love
may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
¹⁰
so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
¹¹
filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Paul's Present Circumstances

12
 I want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,
¹³
so that it has become known throughout the whole
praetorian guard
^c
and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ;
¹⁴
and most of the brethren have been made confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment,
 
*
and are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear.

15
 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.
¹⁶
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel;
¹⁷
the former proclaim Christ out of partisanship, not sincerely but
thinking to afflict me
in my imprisonment.
¹⁸
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.

To Live Is Christ

19
 Yes, and I shall rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the
Spirit of Jesus
Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,
²⁰
as it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body,
 
*
whether by life or by death.
²¹
For to me
to live is Christ
, and to die is gain.
²²
If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
²³
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and
be with Christ
, for that is far better.
²⁴
But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
²⁵
Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
²⁶
so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my
coming to you again
.

27
 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
²⁸
and not frightened in anything by
your opponents
. This is a clear omen to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
²⁹
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only
believe in him
but also suffer for his sake,
³⁰
engaged in the same conflict which you saw and now hear to be mine.

Imitating Christ's Humility

2
  
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
²
complete my joy by being of
the same mind
, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
³
Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.
⁴
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
⁵
Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus,
⁶
who
,
though he was
in the form of God,
 
*
did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped
,
⁷
but
emptied himself
,
 
*
taking the form of a servant,
^d
being born in the likeness of men.
⁸
And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
death on a cross
.
⁹
Therefore God has highly
exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
¹⁰
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow
, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹
and every tongue
confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Shining as Lights in the World

12
 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling;
¹³
for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14
 Do all things without grumbling or questioning,
¹⁵
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation
, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
¹⁶
holding fast the word of life, so that in
the day of Christ
I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
¹⁷
Even if I am to be poured
as a libation
upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
¹⁸
Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

19
 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send
Timothy
to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you.
²⁰
I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare.
²¹
They all look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
²²
But Timothy's worth you know, how as a
son with a father
he has served with me in the gospel.
²³
I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me;
²⁴
and I trust in the Lord that shortly
I myself shall come
also.

25
 I have thought it necessary to send to you
Epaphrodi'tus
my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,
²⁶
for he has been longing for you all, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
²⁷
Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
²⁸
I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
²⁹
So receive him in the Lord with all joy; and honor such men,
³⁰
for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete your service to me.

Loss of All to Gain Christ

3
  
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write
the same things
to you is not irksome to me, and is safe for you.

2
 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil-workers, look out for those who
mutilate the flesh
.
³
For we are the
true circumcision
, who worship God in spirit,
^e
and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.
⁴
Though I myself
have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
⁵
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee,
⁶
as to
zeal
a persecutor of the Church, as to righteousness under the law blameless.
⁷
But whatever gain I had,
I counted as loss
for the sake of Christ.
⁸
Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ
⁹
and be found in him, not having a
righteousness
of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith;
¹⁰
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
¹¹
that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing toward the Goal

12
 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has
made me his own
.
 
*
¹³
Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
¹⁴
I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵
Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you.
¹⁶
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

17
 Brethren, join in
imitating me
, and mark those who so walk as you have an example in us.
¹⁸
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as
enemies
of the cross of Christ.
¹⁹
Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
 
§
²⁰
But
our commonwealth
is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
²¹
who will change our lowly body to be
like his glorious body
, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.