peatedly showed his confidence in them by accept- mg at their hands favours which he rcfii.sed from every other church. To Thcssalonica, and again to Corinth, their me.ssengers followed him with the tokens of their love (Ph 4'", 2 Co 11") ; and when he was a jirisoner in Rome, Epajiliroditus of l'hilipi>i made a journey of 700 miles over land and sea to bring him yet another gift, which was ac- knowledged in the most all'cclionate letter St. Paul ever wrote (see PiiiLiri'iAN.s, Epistle to thk).
The prestige of women in the Church of Philippi, as in the other Macedonian churches (Ac 17^" '■') is a striking fact, 'only to be compared with their prominence at an earlier date in the personal ministry of our Lord ' (Lightfoot, op. cit. p. 57). St. Paul's first Philippian audience consisted entirely of women {16") ; his lirst convert was a woman of influence, whose familia was baptized with her, and who became his hostess (vv."- '°) ; and the only element in the Philippian Church which called for reproof in his letter was the variance of two prominent Christian ladies, both of whom he remembered gratefully as his fellow-workers in the gospel (Ph 4'-- '). Ligditfoot {op. cit. p. 56) quotes a number of Macedonian inscriptions which ' seem to assign to the sex a higher social influence than is common among the civilised nations of an- tiquity.'
In the time of Trajan — i.e., before A.D. 117 — Philippi became a stage in the triumphal progress of St. Ignatius from Antioch to Rome, where he was to die in the arena. His visit made so deep an impression on the Philippian Church that they .soon after requested the martyr's young friend Polycarp to write them and send them copies of St. Ignatius' own letters. Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians was the response, and it is still extant. The writer congratulates the Church of Philippi on ' the sturdy root of their faith, famous from the earliest days' (1), warns them against certain doctrinal and practical errors, and sets before them the example of apostles and saints who have gone to their rest. The later history of this remarkable church is almost a blank.
The village of Filibedjik (Little Philippi) is all that remains of the once famous city.
Literature. — W. M. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, 1835, iii. 216-223; J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians*, 1878, p. 47 f. ; Conybeare and Howson, Li,fe and Epistles of St. I'avl, new ed., 1877, i. 341 1. ; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 1895, p. 213 f., The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, p. 168 1. ; C. von Weizsacker, The Apostolic Ai/r <•/ the Christian Church'', Eng. tr-, i. [1S97J 279 ff. ; A. C. McGiffert, Apostolic Age, 1S»~, p. 239 f. JaMES STKAHA.V.
PHILIPPIANS, EPISTLE TO THE.— 1. Author.
— This document purports (1) to be a letter sent from St. Paul and Timothy to the Christian com- munity in Philippi. Although Timothy is men- tioned in the address as joint author, the letter throughout is St. Paul's own. He commences at once in the 1st person singular — evxapiurw ti} 6eip MoC(l') — and continues so throughout. When he does use the plural (1st person), it is not at all clear that he simply means Timothy and himself. Thus in 3^ — Wfis yap icr/xev i] Trepiro/xTj — the meaning seems to be that Christians are the real people of God. Zahn {Introd. to the NT, Eng. tr., i. 538) opposes this view, maintaining that St. Paul and Timothy alone are meant, because they were cir- cumcised ; but his argument is forced and incon- clusive. What St. Paul says is that ' we who worship in the spirit of God and put no confidence in the fle.sh ' are the true circumcision, and this would apply to Pauline Christians generally, not simply to St. Paul and Timothy. Again, in 3", ' Brethren, unitedly imitate me, and mark (approv- ingly) those so walking even as you have us as an example' (/caSws ^x^" rinrov rnxai), other leaders
PHILIPPLLNS, EPISTLE TO THE
PUILIPPIAXS, EPISTLE TO THE 217
are probably included as well as Timothy. And in 316-2W- 4»_ and in those passages of inferior MS authority where the 1st plur. occurs, e.g. V — eyw fiif eOxapiCTu Tiji Kvplifi riiJ.Civ (a readin" approved by Zahn, op. fit. i. 535, and by Haupt in Meyer's A'oot- mentar uber das N'P, in loco, for ditl'orent reasons) — J28. 2» (T)fuv for i/iJuv), the reference is general. Not even in 4-', the linal salutation, where one might naturally expect it, is Timothy mentioned. More- over, he is spoken of in the 3rd person, and his character and intentions are described quite ob- jectively {'2'"'''^) : ' But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy speedily to you, that I may be encouraged, when I come to know your art'airs. For I have none like-minded with him, who will genuinely concern himself about your affairs. For all seek their own, not the things of Christ Jesus. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with a father, he served with me in spreading the gospel. Him then I hope to send at once, whenever I come to know how my atfairs turn out.'
The letter, then, on its face value is St. Paul's own, nor is there any reason for e.xercising false subtlety to account for the presence of Timothy's name in the address. His presence with St. Paul at the time of writing, and especially his intimate relations with the Philippians in the past, and his coming visit are a sufficient explanation. (Timothy was with St. Paul at the founding of the Church [Ac 16'-'''-]- When St. Paul left, he seems to have stayed behind. He was sent to Corinth through Macedonia [Ac 19=^ 1 Co 16"]. When 2 Cor. was written, he was again with St. Paul in Macedonia. ) Nor is there any reason to doubt the genuineness of the letter because of St. Paul's use of the 1st person singular throughout in spite of Timothy's name at the beginning (as W. C. van JIanen, EBi iii. 3705). In Col P, 1 Th P, 2 Th P, and 2 Co V the joint authorship is indeed remembered, but we have a parallel in 1 Co 1', where rt is at once forgotten, as here.