return of Epaphroditus to Philippi (ch. ii. 28). Prom ch. iv. 15-16 it may be inferred that Paul had frequent communications with the Philippians.'_ The letter before us is evidently the reply to one which Paul had received. The recognition of this gives the proper clue to its interpretation. Dr. Rendel Harris, in a suggestive paper in the Expositor (v., 8, p. 403), advances the hypothesis that “when Paul replied to a letter he held the letter that he was replying to in his hand, and followed closely the points in it that needed attention” (see also Lock, zbid., v., 6, p. 65 ff.). We believe this to be, in large measure, true of Philippians. Traces of a definite reply seem to emerge at i. 12 (where he answers their eager inquiries as to his health and prospects), i. 26 (they had probably spoken of him as their καύχημα, cf. Harris, of. cit., p. 178), Π. 19 (where he reminds them that he is as much concerned to hear good news as they are), ii. 26 (their reference to the illness of Epaphroditus), tii. 2 (the abruptness with which the warning is introduced is best explained by some dis- concerting tidings from Philippi), iv. 10 (they had apologised for their remissness in attending to his wants), and perhaps iv. 14-15 (they may have felt a little doubtful whether Paul would be willing to accept their gift, for here and there in the Epistle we have the slightest hints that he has to disabuse them of a notion that he had not been entirely pleased with them. See notes oni. 3).
It is manifest that the Apostle had received a gift from the Philippian Church through Epaphroditus, who spent some time, at least, in his company at Rome (ch. ii. 30). We cannot tell whether a letter had accompanied this gift, or, if so, whether Paul had acknow- ledged it in any way before. At all events, our Epistle is written considerably later, and presupposes a communication which came to Rome from Philippi while Epaphroditus was still at Paul’s service. This is necessary from ch. ii. 26, ἀδημονῶν διότι ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἠσθένησεν. Perhaps even the order of subjects in the Letter is regulated by the arrangement of topics in that from Philippi. The chief matter involved, the acknowledgment of their gift, is introduced at the beginning (ch. i. 3-5, this is at least a likely interpretation) and end (ch. iv. 10-19) with a graciousness and delicacy of feeling unsurpassed in the annals of letter-writing.
Prace AND Date ΟΕ Writinc. (a) It is all but universally agreed that this Epistle was written from Rome. That is the early
1 No argument, however, can be based on the fact that Polycarp, Ep. ad Philipp., iii., says of Paul: ὃς καὶ ἀπὼν ὑμῖν ἔγραψεν ἐπιστολάς, as the plural is frequently used to describe a single letter. See Lft. ad loc.