Bible Discussion Thread

A study in Phillipians

Verses 1-6

Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

2Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

4Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

5For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

I may have done a study in the past on this book but there are always new things to mine in scripture. As we look at the first verse it seems Paul and Timothy are both in jail at this point or it is jointly written. This verse shows that a rather lengthy period of time apparently allowed for bishops and deacons to be established since the first day (verse 5) until then. Paul apparently had been thinking of them and in prayer since its inception; and realized in verse 6 that the Lord would complete the work started would be completed. Verse 6 could seem inaccurate as that church along with all the other ones is technically a historical sight but there are those representing the church in Greece. The churches which are mentioned in Revelation were all in Turkey and were long since destroyed as was virtually all Christian places of worship today in that country. We can be certain a primary meaning of verse 6 is in relation to the Gospel being preached to the surrounding areas where new ones were established thus the spiritual generations still exist in all of us today. Obviously the work in us as individuals ends at death in the case of this church; or until the Rapture possibly for us if indeed we are in the time and season for that.

We should also keep in mind those who may have lived in the city but had home churches they attended as well; although this was the primary place of worship then.