THE APOSTLE'S POSITION AND CIRCUMSTANCES (PHIL. i. 12-20.)
THE CHRISTIAN'S PEACE AND THE CHRISTIAN'S CONSISTENCY (PHIL. i. 21-30.)
UNITY IN SELF-FORGETFULNESS: THE EXAMPLE OF THE LORD (PHIL. ii. 1-11.)
THE LORD'S POWER IN THE DISCIPLE'S LIFE (PHIL. ii. 12-18.)
TIMOTHEUS AND EPAPHRODITUS (PHIL. ii. 19-30.)
JOY IN THE LORD AND ITS PRESERVING INFLUENCE "THAT I MAY KNOW HIM" (PHIL. iii. 1-11.)
CHRISTIAN STANDING AND CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. (PHIL. iii. 12-16.)
THE BLESSED HOPE AND ITS POWER (PHIL. iii. 17-21.)
PURITY AND PEACE IN THE PRESENT LORD (PHIL. iv. 1-9.)
THE COLLECTION FOR ST PAUL: THE FAREWELL (PHIL. iv. 10-23.)
"Holy Scripture is the Letter of God Almighty to His creatures; learn God's heart in God's Words."
GREGORY THE GREAT, _Epist._, iv. 31.
O Gracious GOD and most mercifull Father, which hast vouchsafed us the rich and precious iewell of thy holy worde, assist us with thy Spirit, that it may be written in our hearts to our euerlasting comfort, to reforme us, to renew us according to thine owne image, to build us up, and edifie us into the perfect building of thy Christ, sanctifying and increasing in us all heauenly vertues. Graunt this O heauenly Father, for Iesus Christes sake. Amen.
_From the_ GENEVA BIBLE, 1557.
Characteristics of the Epistle--The Bible is ever young--Littera Scripta Manet--"This Same Jesus"--Philippi--How the mission church had grown--Where was the Epistle written?--When was the Epistle written?--"The word endureth"
The Epistle of St Paul to the Philippians is, to careful and loving Bible-students, one of the fairest and dearest regions of the Book of God. It is true that the Christian who genuinely believes that "every Scripture is God-inspired" (2 Tim. iii. 16), and who realizes that the "Divine _Library_" is nevertheless, and from a higher point of view, One _Book_ all through, will be always on the guard against a mistaken favouritism in his Scripture studies. He will strive to make himself in some sense familiar with the whole Book, _as_ a whole, and to recognize in all its parts the true Author's hand and purpose. Yet it is inevitable that in this supreme Book, as in other books, though all parts are "co-operant to an end," all parts are not equally important for the deepest needs of the reader. The reader therefore will have to be more familiar with some parts than with others. Acquaintance with the whole will indeed deepen insight into the part. But it will not supersede our study, loving and special, of the part which, in a degree and manner peculiar to itself, "is able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
The present simple Studies in the Philippian Epistle will accordingly be pursued with the desire to remember as we go the whole scriptural revelation of God and salvation. But we shall also approach the Epistle as a peculiarly precious Scripture in itself, containing in its few short pages a rare fulness of messages and teachings, meeting the inmost wants of the heart and the life.
Amongst the Epistles of St Paul Philippians shines out with singular light and beauty. In such a comparison we scarcely need consider the great Epistles to Rome and Corinth; their large scale and wide variety of topics set them apart. Nor need we consider Hebrews, with its difficult problem of authorship. Looking at the other Epistles, each with its own divine and also deeply human characteristics, we find Philippians more peaceful than Galatians, more personal and affectionate than Ephesians, less anxiously controversial than Colossians, more deliberate and symmetrical than Thessalonians, and of course larger in its applications than the personal messages to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Meanwhile it is as comprehensive almost as it is brief. It presents more than one important passage of doctrine, some of these passages being revelations of the first order. It is full of pregnant precepts for Christian character and conduct, whether seen in the individual or in the community. It discloses in a way of the utmost interest and significance the circumstances and experiences of the writer, and also, in a measure, of the readers. And the whole is suffused with a singularly sweet light of "joy and peace in believing." It is written by one who was, as he wrote, at once resting and moving in the peace of God which passes understanding, and in the love of Christ which passes knowledge; and what is felt in his soul comes out inevitably on his page. The letter, written in a prison, and addressed to a mission-church always exposed to insult and assault, yet seems in a wonderful way to call us "apart, to rest awhile." "A glory gilds the sacred page," the glory of the presence of the Lord in all His majesty of Godhead and nearness of Manhood; in His finished work, and living power, and wonderful coming again. A peculiar sort of joy, which is impossible without at least the experience, if not the presence, of sorrow, rests and shines over the whole. It is the joy of the heart which has found at length "the secret of the Lord," His hiding-place from the tyranny of circumstances and time; the way how always to be of good cheer, naturally yet also supernaturally, not by a hard-won indifference to life, but by living, amidst everything external, "hidden with Christ in God."