Php_1:1 f. Salutation. Associating his assistant Timothy with him as fellow-slave in the service of Christ Jesus, Paul addresses his letter to all the members of the church at Philippi under the name of saints, which means people consecrated to God, not necessarily persons of exceptional holiness, and is therefore applied in NT to all Christians. The apostle associates with the church members, for special mention, their bishops and deacons, two orders of the ministry and a plurality in each order, if we are to take the words officially, and in that case as the earliest NT reference to the titles. But perhaps we should translate these words more generally as those who have oversight and those who serve (cf. p. 646).

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