Philippians 1:12-18a I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word 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 selfish ambition, 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.
Here at Grace Church we are regularly encouraged by five elders whom we trust can faithfully proclaim God’s Word to us. Thanks be to God. Yet I’m not sure the adjective ‘regularly’ can be applied individually in my case. I began preaching the letter to the Philippians in December 2023 when I was a candidate for elder. I first preached from the middle of the book – one of the highest theological pinnacles in all the Bible – the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2:5-11. Then seven months later I brought us back to the foot of the mountain, to the trailhead, to preach the opening address, thanksgiving, and prayer found in Philippians 1:1-11. I commend to you those two prior sermons. It’s my task now, 14 months later, to briefly reorient you once again to the background and occasion for Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
Background
As told in Acts chapter 16, Philippi was “a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony” (v. 12). Paul went to Macedonia around AD 49 to 50 on his second of three missionary journeys. It was his first foray into the European continent and was no accident, as Luke, the author of Acts, makes clear. He says they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in [the area then known as] Asia”, which is the western region of modern day Turkey – an area included places like Ephesus and Laodicea. So they sought to go north, but Luke says, “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” (v. 7). Then Luke relates what has become known as the Macedonian Call. He says, “A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia 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” (vs. 9-12).
Philippi was not the capital city of Macedonia. That honor belonged to Thessalonica. But as Luke tells us, it enjoyed a more prestigious honor, that of being a “Roman colony”. Being designated a Roman colony meant that Roman citizens living there enjoyed the ius italicum, or Italian Right. This included a number of civic entitlements such as exemption from the imperial tax that was laid on vassal states. In essence, Philippi, though being in Greece, was Italian soil.
Thus, there was a great deal of civic pride amongst Philippian-Roman citizens and it is this pride in citizenship which relates integrally to Paul’s primary admonition in the letter, which is found in 1:27.
There Paul frames the struggle he intends to address in the letter as a matter of patriotism. He admonishes them to “behave as citizens worthy of the gospel of Christ”. Later in 3:20, he reminds them that “our citizenship is in heaven”. That the wider population of Philippi deeply embraced this Roman civic fidelity is evident in Acts 16:21 where their indignation over Paul’s gospel is rooted in his advocation of “customs unlawful for [them] to accept or practice as Roman citizens“. Likewise, after they later had beaten and bound Paul and his companions, they were mortified to discover that they had shamefully deprived fellow Roman citizens of their rights.
Despite the pervading presence of provincial pride, you may recall that the church at Philippi had quite a humble genesis. While Paul often went into a city and began preaching Jesus as the Christ in the synagogue, here there apparently was no synagogue. Nor did they find men to whom they could preach. Rather, they went “outside the gate to the riverside, where [they] supposed there was a place of prayer]” and shared the gospel with the women gathered there (v. 13).
Paul’s letter to the Philippians was likely written around AD 60 while he was imprisoned in Rome, some 10 years after the church was established. The letter is rooted in a rich and affectionate relationship alluded to in the letter itself, but also corroborated by the historical narrative of Acts and elsewhere in Paul’s letters (e.g., 2 Corinthians 8). Paul’s gratitude for their repeated provision of his material needs and support for his ministry, as well as his joy in their partnership in the cause of gospel advance, is evident in the letter and a key aspect to understanding its context. He keenly feels that they are one with him in his all-consuming passion for the magnification of Christ among the nations. This is captured in his opening address where he relates that his joy is founded in their gospel partnership, including their solidarity in his imprisonment and legal defense for Christ.
The Greek word koinonia appears in 1:5 and again in verb form in 4:15, verses that serve as bookends to the letter. It’s often translated “fellowship”, but means much more than a shared interest in salvation, conviction, or experience. Theirs was a practical partnership. There was a mutual benefit. Paul calls it “a partnership in giving and receiving” (4:15). The deep affection and joy that flow from the relationship indicate that Paul experiences their partnership as a kind of communion. They are profoundly united with him in his ministry and his sufferings for the cause of Christ, and that is a source of glad strength.
As such, Philippians is often called the ‘Epistle of Joy’, especially when contrasted with letters like Galatians or those to the Corinthians, both of which contain some sharp rebukes. Indeed, in Philippians there are at least a dozen uses of the word joy or rejoice. But I believe such a title is an oversimplification. While it highlights Paul’s love for the Philippians, it unfortunately obscures the fact that genuine concerns occasioned Paul’s letter. Philippians is more than a ‘Thank You’ card. One author says, “The letter is a document of exhortation in which the apostle, himself facing [potential] martyrdom, rallies his beloved Philippians to share steadfastly with him in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings” (Martin, p. 44).
Epaphroditus, who had been sent to Paul by the Philippians, brought their most recent gift for the relief of his needs. Paul acknowledges their gift gratefully and he commends the faithfulness of their delivery man and messenger. But Epaphroditus also brought news of conditions that concerned him. Namely he told Paul about discouragement, defeat, and disunity. Paul’s chief aim in the letter is therefore to address the manner in which the church was responding to their suffering as partners in the gospel.
What I Want You to Know
As I shared in my previous sermon on the first 11 verses of the letter, Paul’s introduction includes an expression of his gratitude for their gospel partnership and his prayer for their growth in grace. Verse 12 marks a transition to the body of the letter. While Paul’s letter is occasioned by his concerns for the Philippians, he begins here not by admonishing them, but by providing them insight into his own condition. They already know he’s in prison. He now unpacks for them the meaning these circumstances have for his partnership with them in the gospel. That is to say, he wants them to know how his imprisonment has impacted Christ’s interests. It’s fair to say that Paul’s imprisonment was disconcerting, or alarming and unsettling for them. Much like the Apostles after Jesus’ crucifixion, it looked to them like the gospel had hit a dead end. Like hope was lost.
So it would come to them as quite a surprise, when the letter was read to them, that Paul’s imprisonment had “really served to advance the gospel”! The word “really” is translated “actually” in the NIV and “moreso” in the NASB. It means it was an unexpected outcome. Somehow, rather than impeding the gospel, locking up a man who could otherwise have been out preaching and teaching the gospel has furthered its proclamation. Jailing Paul had an ironic result. Have you ever tried popping a flaccid balloon? Maybe your kid’s birthday balloons are still laying around a week later. You step on it or squeeze it – what happens? Or try getting that bit of eggshell out of the cup when you crack an egg to scramble it.
During nursing school I rented in North Branch with a friend who was in paramedic school but had served for several years as a volunteer on the fire department. One day I was heating up some oil in a frying pan to fry some old dumplings I had found in the freezer. I didn’t know enough about frying at the time to know that if you drop what is basically an ice cube into a pool of hot grease, a grease fire explodes in your face. So what was my gut reaction? Throw it in the sink and pour water on it. Because water is the opposite of fire, right? I remember hearing my fire fighter roommate in the background, “not the sink, not the sink!” I never told my landlord, who was my pastor at the time, about that. So this is my confession.
The news Epaphroditus brought of the Philippians, as we will see later in the letter, was that they were downcast by his imprisonment, and that discouragement, defeat, and disunity were cropping up within the church and threatening to bring contempt on Christ. But, in the words of one commentator, what Paul wants the Philippians to know is that “Caesar’s chains released the power of the gospel of Christ”. We’ve seen this before. In the hands of evil men the cross was a weapon to destroy the Son of God, yet by that means he disarmed the cosmic rulers and authorities, putting them to open shame and triumphing over them (Colossians 2:15). Or consider that the persecution of the fledgling church in Jerusalem at the hands of Paul (then known as Saul) served as the impetus to spread the gospel abroad in Asia (Acts 7-8). Locking up the Apostle should have snuffed out the fire, but like the grease fire in my kitchen, Paul’s imprisonment caused an explosion of gospel spread.
What are the circumstances that cause you to despair? What current events smother your hope in the triumph of Christ’s cause? Where do you tell yourself in your heart of hearts, ‘Satan is winning’? Consider some further examples. What about Joseph: sold into slavery by his brothers only to become prime minister of Egypt and save God’s elect (Gen 45:8; 50:20). What about the Apostle John – exiled to Patmos only to be caught up in the Spirit to the throne of God and write Revelation? What about John Bunyan – imprisoned for faithfully preaching the gospel independent of the Church of England only to have the townspeople gathered outside the prison walls to hear him preach, and when they stuffed him further away within the prison, to write Pilgrim’s Progress? What did Jesus say? “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
Paul was shut up. But the gospel was not. This is for two reasons, which we will now consider in verses 13 and 14.
Progress Among Nonbelievers
The first is that Paul wouldn’t shut up until they cut off his head. In verse 13 he says, “it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ”. The Greek word translated “imperial guard” in verse 13 is praitorion. It was used to refer to a provincial governor’s headquarters such as Pilate in Mark 15:16 and Herod’s palace in Acts 23:35.
Most scholars believe that Paul is writing from imprisonment in Rome, where Caesar ruled, which is why ESV translates it “imperial guard”. Caesar’s Palace Guard or bodyguard included some 9000-10,000 men, of whom dozens would likely have taken a turn guarding Paul over the 2 years Luke tells us in Acts 28 that he was imprisoned there.
Regarding being imprisoned, Paul told Timothy, “I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:9). Like a Trojan horse, Paul’s imprisonment has ferried the power of the gospel to the very heart of the most powerful household in the world. The irony is that while Paul was a captive, imprisoned and chained 24/7 to a Roman soldier for two years, they were his captive audience.
What do you suppose these men experienced while being chained to Paul? What impression do you think, as one commentator put it, that his “graciousness, his remarkable patience and perseverance in great affliction, his wisdom, his deep convictions, his genuineness, his humility, and his genuine love and concern for them” (MacArthur, p. 61) had on them?
How do you think your children, your extended family, your co-workers and neighbors are affected by your experience of trials? It’s clear that Paul’s captors didn’t keep it to themselves. His evangelism, conviction, and example had such an effect on them that the word spread all about town. The closing verses of Acts, 28:30-31, record how many people came to him to hear about the kingdom of God and his Christ. And Paul tells us in this letter (4:22) that the word even converted some of Caesar’s household. But the spread of the gospel went beyond just Paul’s preaching…
Progress Among Believers
We’ve seen in verse 13 that Paul’s imprisonment had a surprising effect on unbelievers in Rome. In verse 14 we see a second surprising result of Paul’s imprisonment. He wants the church to know what effect it’s had on the believers around him. You would think his imprisonment would stir them to fear and withdrawal lest they too would be imprisoned and persecuted. But once again it had the opposite effect. They saw that, as one commentator puts it, “Paul used his chains as an opportunity”. Paul says they became, “much more bold to speak the word without fear”. Rather than hole up at home and lock the door, they grew considerably bolder. They became “confident in the Lord by [Paul’s] imprisonment”. They stepped in the gap. His courage was contagious. It steeled their souls, stirring them to patriotic zeal not for the government of Rome but for that of King Jesus – who uses chains and crosses as tools of triumph. Who says, “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart – I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Next, in verses 15-17, Paul makes an aside to acknowledge that while his imprisonment stirred many others to gospel witness, not all do so with the same motives. They are divided in two camps: those who do so out of good will and those from envy and rivalry. What’s interesting is while some seek to love him and others to afflict him, both camps are preaching Christ.
He unpacks the love camp first. In verse 16 he says, ‘They do so because they know I am put here for the defense of the gospel’. The word for put here (keimei) has military connotations. It indicates that Paul sees himself “as much ‘on duty’ as the guards posted to watch over him” (MacArthur). As a soldier for Christ, Paul is stationed at the prison for the gospel duty God has assigned him. He’s been deployed there.
What is your assignment? To what front have you been deployed, or where have you been stationed for defense, in the Cause of Christ? In another place Paul uses the same word for “put here” when he says, “[be not] moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this” (1 Thessalonians 3:3). He says elsewhere, “let each person lead the life that God has assigned” (1 Corinthians 7:17). Your station is not your primary concern; Your gospel faithfulness is.
At my work, I often hear constructive criticism or corrective action referred to as an “opportunity for improvement”. Although certain aspects of our station are a hindrance to our hopes, our happiness, and our health, we are to consider it an opportunity for Christ to be magnified. Sometimes, though, I think – What did Paul have to lose? He was a single man and a missionary. He lived, ate, drank, and breathed ministry. I have a wife and kids, parents, friends, and a career. What do you have to lose? But God doesn’t give us wealth, stability, and family to use for our own ends. Our Christian faith and our church are not a supplement to living for our own ends. We are at our Master’s disposal. We too are “put here for the defense of the gospel”.
When Paul says “defense” it is a legal term, which he uses also in both Acts 24:10 and 26:2, where he says, “I make my defense” before governors and kings. That our words, our character, and our actions should serve as witness in defense of the gospel is evident throughout Paul’s writings. For example, here Philippians 1:28 – Paul says their unity, integrity, and lack of fearful cowardice in their opponents’ presence will testify to the truth of the gospel. Paul also told Timothy (2 Tim 2:25) that gentleness in correcting opponents may lead to their conviction and repentance. And he told Titus (2:7-8) that our good works, [sound] speech, integrity, and dignity will put opponents to shame. By telling them here of the gospel advance through his own life, Paul is tipping his hand, priming the church for the admonition he will deliver later in chapter 1.
In verse 17, Paul moves from talking about those who proclaim Christ out of love for him to elaborate on a second camp – those who “proclaim Christ out of envy and rivalry”. I don’t know about you, but that’s not a category I usually maintain – Christians that aren’t in my camp – maybe don’t even like me, or worse – hate me, but yet they deliver teaching on Christ that is essentially genuine. Commentators agree that these detractors were included in the “brothers” in Christ stirred up in verse 14. As such, though he acknowledged that their motives were bad, Paul implied that he considered the content of their preaching orthodox. Paul elsewhere calls out those who “pervert [or twist] the gospel” such as in Galatians. Later in Philippians he condemns the Judaizers who would bring Christianity under bondage to the Mosaic Law, calling them enemies of the cross (3:1-10). There are those over whom he weeps and warns the church (3:18-19). These he condemns.
But not the rival brothers in verse 17. Their beef is not with Christ, but with Paul. One commentator says, “They must be Christians who bore no love for the apostle personally, who were anxious to see him remain in prison, and who intended to make that imprisonment as galling and irksome as possible” (Martin, p. 73). Paul identifies their goal: “thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment”. Though their teaching is genuine, their motives are sinful. He says they do it out of envy and rivalry, qualities which are listed among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5.
Envy begrudges the success of opponents like Paul and celebrates their misfortunes. “The envious person works to harm and ruin the object of envy” (Hansen). Says another commentator: “One of the most discouraging experiences for a servant of God is that of being falsely accused by fellow believers, especially coworkers in the church. To be maligned by an unbeliever is expected; to be maligned by another believer is unexpected. The pain runs very deep when one’s ministry is slandered, misrepresented, and unjustly criticized… That is precisely the situation Paul faced in Rome, where some [fellow] church leaders, in opposition to him, were preaching Christ, even from envy and strife” (MacArthur).
Paul doesn’t unpack how he processed that experience. He says here that he is aware of brothers – fellow born again Christians – who are intentionally seeking his harm and humiliation. It may be that they hate him, that they’re jealous, or as some translations put it, that they are driven by selfish ambition. There is no doubt that this had to hurt.
Have you ever been hurt in ministry? Maybe you’ve been deeply wounded. Perhaps by an elder. How did you process that? Have you processed it?
It seems clear that Paul did not allow these brothers’ efforts to afflict him to serve as an occasion for bitterness or self-pity. Paul had been let down by fellow believers at other times too and he would be again. He told Timothy, (2 Timothy 4:9-11a, 16-18) “Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me… At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me.” Consider also the intercession of Christ for his enemies, “Father, forgive them”. Or those fellow Jews that bludgeoned Stephen to death with stones, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”.
I Rejoice
In verse 18 Paul evaluates his experience. “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” What perspective frees Paul to glory in Christ in spite of real “suffering in chains as a criminal” (2 Timothy 2:9)? Don’t you read this, like me, and wonder – Really Paul? Don’t you miss your family and friends? Wouldn’t you rather be out there preaching and discipling? I’m sure I would not have responded the same way he did, nor had Christ’s interests first in my mind. But I’m encouraged that I’m not the only one who needs to wrestle with this. I know I’m not alone because Paul wrote Philippians.
It was peculiar and a huge spoiler to begin preaching Philippians to you from the pinnacle of the Christ Hymn of 2:5-11 a year and a half ago. Yet I’m glad we went there, because unpacking the Christ Hymn oriented us to Paul’s perspective on the incomprehensible worth of the Incarnate, once utterly humiliated but now risen and reigning, Christ. And it oriented us to the inestimable glory that awaits citizens of the heavenly kingdom. It’s this perspective that tempered Paul for all of his experiences of suffering and fueled his consuming passion for Christ’s interests.
In unpacking what “I want you to know” in these opening verses of the body of his letter, Paul presents himself, not for the last time, as an example to the Philippians. Later examples will include Timothy, Epaphroditus, and chiefly, the Lord Jesus. He prepares us for the admonition to gospel-worthy citizenship that he will deliver in verse 27 by framing his imprisonment as a strategic stationing. And he is stirring us to encouragement with the ironic news that “Caesar’s chains have released the power of the gospel” to exponential effect.
In closing, let’s acknowledge that sin is the reason we often do not value Christ’s interests above our own when our station involves suffering. “The only certain cause for loss of joy in the believer’s life is sin… Dissatisfaction, bitterness, sullenness, doubt, fear, and negativism (or cynicism) cause joy to be forfeited. Consequently, the only way to restore lost joy is to repent and return to proper worship of and obedience to God” (MacArthur). In light of that, let’s pray.
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Father, grant us to repent from bitterness, sullenness, doubts, fears, and dissatisfaction with where you have put us for your purposes. Give us faith that we may take joy in your peculiar methods of triumph. We worship Christ. We desire above all that his Name be highly exalted above every name and that every knee would bow to Him in heaven and on earth and under the earth, confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. May we say together with Paul, as he does in Acts 20, that though “the Holy Spirit testifies to me [that]… afflictions await me, yet I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may… testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Amen