Philippians 1:1

Philippians 1:1-2. Greeting

1. Paul See Acts 13:9. The Apostle probably bore, from infancy, both the two names, Saul (Saoul, Saulus) and Paul. See on Ephesians 1:1, and Romans, p. 8, in this Series.

Timotheus Named 24 times in N. T. See Acts 16:1 for his parentage and early home, and for indications of his character as man and Christian cp. 1 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 16:10-11; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:4-5; and especially below, Philippians 2:19-22. His association with St Paul was intimate and endeared, and his connexion with the Philippian Church was close. See Acts 16, where it is clearly implied that with Silas he accompanied St Paul on his first visit to Philippi (cp. Acts 17:14, and below, Philippians 2:22), though for unknown reasons he did not share the maltreatment of his friends. Later, Acts 20:4, he appears accompanying St Paul from Macedonia to Asia Minor, and the mention of Philippi, Acts 20:6, makes it practically certain that by then Philippi had been visited again. With Macedonia generally, including of course Thessalonica, we find his name often connected; see mentions of him in Acts 17 and Acts 19:22; Acts 2 Cor. (written in Macedonia) Philippians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:6. His name is associated as here with St Paul's 2 Corinthians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1Th 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1. In this Epistle the association begins and ends with this verse, and the Apostle writes at once in the singular number. It is otherwise in 2 Cor., Col., and Thess.

the servants Bondservants, slaves. The word is used by St Paul of himself (with or without his missionary brethren), Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10; Titus 1:1. Cp. Acts 20:19; Acts 27:23; Galatians 6:17. He was a bondservant, in the absolute possession of his redeeming Lord, not only as an apostle but as a Christian; but he loves to emphasize the fact in connexion with his special mode of service. On the principles and conditions of the believer's sacred and happy bondservice see e.g. Matthew 6:24; Luke 17:7-10; Romans 6:19; Rom 7:6; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:7; 2 Timothy 2:24. The word with its imagery conveys the truth that the spiritual bondservant is altogether and always not only the helper, or agent, but the property and implement of his Master; having no rights whatever as against Him. Only, the Master being what He is, this real bondage is transfigured always into the "perfect freedom" of the regenerate and loving heart.

of Jesus Christ Better, on documentary evidence, of Christ Jesus. This order of our blessed Lord's Name and Title is almost peculiar to St Paul, and is the most frequent of the two orders in his writings. It is calculated that he uses it (assuming the latest researches in the Greek text to shew right results) 87 times, and "Jesus Christ"78 (see The Expositor, May, 1888). The slight emphasis on "Christ"is suggestive of a special reference of thought to the Lord in glory.

the saints Holy ones; men separated from sin to God. The word takes the man, or the community, on profession; as being what they ought to be. This is not to lower the native meaning of the word, but to use a well-understood hypothesis in the application of it. A saint is not merely a professing follower of Christ, but a professing follower assumed to be what he professes. He who is not this is in name only and not in deed a saint, faithful, a child of God, and the like. See Appendix B.

in Christ Jesus Holy ones, because united in Life and Covenant, by grace, to the Holy One of God. See further on Ephesians 1:1, and below, on Philippians 1:8.

Philippi See Introduction, p. 10, &c.

with the bishops and deacons In this address the laity come before the clergy. "With," because these persons, though merely some of "the saints" as men, were differenced from the others by office. Apart from all questions in detail on the Christian Ministry, observe this primeval testimony to somealready established and recognized order and regimen in a young Church; to a special "oversight" and "service" committed to not all but some. The "bishop" (episcopus) of this passage is identical with the "presbyter" of e.g. Acts 20:17, called episcopusthere, Philippians 1:28. For further remarks on the offices here mentioned, see Appendix C.

B. "SAINTS AND FAITHFUL BRETHREN." (Ch. Philippians 1:1)

"It is universally admitted … that Scripture makes use of presumptive or hypothetical language.… It is generally allowed that when all Christians are addressed in the New Testament as -saints," -dead to sin," -alive unto God," -risen with Christ," -having their conversation in heaven," and in other like modes, they are addressed so hypothetically, and not to express the literal fact that all the individuals so addressed were of this character; which would not have been true.… Some divines have indeed preferred as a theological arrangement a secondary sense of [such terms] to the hypothetical application of it in its true sense. But what is this secondary sense when we examine it? It is itselfno more than the true sense hypothetically applied.… Divines have … maintained a Scriptural secondary sense of the term - saint," as -saint by outward vocation and charitable presumption" (Pearson on the Creed, Art. ix.); but this is in very terms only the real sense of the term applied hypothetically."

J. B. Mozley: Review of Baptismal Controversy, p. 74 (ed. 1862).

C. BISHOPS AND DEACONS. (Ch. Philippians 1:1)

These words have suggested to Bp Lightfoot an Essay on the rise, development, and character, of the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on the Epistle (pp. 189 269). The Essay is in fact a treatise, of the greatest value, calling for the careful and repeated study of every reader to whom it is accessible. Along with it may be usefully studied a paper on the Christian Ministry in The Expositorfor July, 1887, by the Rev. G. Salmon, D.D., now Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.

All we do here is to discuss briefly the two official titles of the Philippian ministry, and to add a few words on the Christian Ministry in general.

Bishops, Episcopi, i.e. Overseers. The word occurs here, and Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7; besides 1 Peter 2:25, where it is used of our Lord. The cognate noun, episcopê, occurs Acts 1:20 (in a quotation from the O.T.); 1 Timothy 3:1; and in three other places not in point. The cognate verb, episcopeîn, occurs Hebrews 12:15 (in a connexion not in point); 1 Peter 5:2.

On examination of these passages it appears that within the lifetime of SS. Peter and Paul there existed, at least very widely, a normal order of Church-officers called Episcopi, Superintendents. They were charged no doubt with many varied duties, some probably semi-secular. But above all they had spiritual oversight of the flock. They were appointed not by mere popular vote, certainly not by self-designation, but in some special sense "by the Holy Ghost" (Acts 20:28). This phrase may perhaps be illustrated by the mode of appointment of the first "deacons" (Acts 6:3), who were presented by the Church to the Apostles, for confirmatory ordination, as men already (among other marks of fitness) "full of the Holy Ghost."

The episcopuswas evidently not an official comparatively rare; there were more episcopithan one in the not very large community of Philippi.

Meanwhile we find another designation of Church-officers who are evidently in the same way shepherds and leaders of the flock; Presbyteri, Elders. They are mentioned first, without comment, at the time of the martyrdom of James the Great. See Acts 11:30; Acts 14:23; Acts 15:2; Acts 15:4; Acts 15:6; Acts 15:22-23; Acts 16:4; Acts 20:17; Act 21:18; 1 Timothy 5:1; 1Ti 5:17; 1 Timothy 5:19; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1 (and perhaps 5). See also 2Jn 1:1; 3 John 1:1. These elders appear Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; as "constituted" in local congregations by an Apostle, or by his immediate delegate.

It is clear that the N.T. episcopusand presbyterusare in fact the same official under differing designations; episcopus, a term borrowed mainly from the Gentiles, with whom it signified a superintending commissioner; presbyterus, from the "Eldership" of the Jews. This appears from Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28, where St Paul, addressing the Ephesian "elders," says that they have been appointed "bishops" of the flock. In the Pastoral Epistles it is similarly plain that the titles coincide. See also 1 Peter 5:1-2, in the Greek.

Whether both titles were from the first in use everywhere we cannot be sure. But it is not improbable. In the very earliest post-apostolic writings we find "presbyters" at Corinth (Clem. Rom. to the Corinthians, i. cc. 42, 44), and "bishops" (with "deacons,"as in Philippians 1:1) in the further East (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, c. 15).

We trace the same spiritual officials under more general designations, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:17; and perhaps 1 Corinthians 12:28 (" governments"), and Ephesians 4:11 (" pastors and teachers").

Deacons, Diaconi, i.e., Workers. The title does not occur in the Acts, nor anywhere earlier than this Epistle, except Romans 16:1, where Phœbeis called a diaconusof the church at Cenchreæ [35]. Here only and in 1 Timothy 3:8; 1 Timothy 3:12, is the word plainly used of a whole ministerial order. But in Acts 6 we find described the institution of an office which in all likelihood was the diaconate. The functions of the Seven are just those which have been ever since in history, even till now, assigned to deacons. And tradition, from cent. 2 onwards, is quite unanimous in calling the Seven by that title.

[35] There is evidence of the existence in apostolic times of an organized class of female helpers in sacred work (see 1 Timothy 5:3-16). A little later the famous letter of Pliny to Trajan shews that such helpers (ministrœ) were known in the Churches of Asia Minor. The order was abolished before cent. 12.

Deacons are very possibly indicated by the word "helps" in 1 Corinthians 12:28.

The deacon thus appears to have been primarily the officer ordained to deal with the temporal needs of the congregation. But he was assumed to be a "spiritual man," and he was capable of direct commissioned spiritual work.

It thus appears then that during the lifetime of SS. Peter and Paul the word episcopusdid not yet designate a minister presiding over and ruling other ministers; a "bishop" in the later and present sense. The episcopuswas an "overseer" of not the shepherds but simply the flock, and might be (as at Philippi) one of several such in the same place.

This fact, however, leaves quite open the question whether such a presiding ministry, however designated at first, did exist in apostolic times and under apostolic sanction. That it did so may be inferred from the following evidence, very briefly stated.

It is certain that by the close of cent. 2 a definite presidential "episcopacy" (to which the word episcopuswas then already appropriated, seemingly without the knowledge that it had once been otherwise) appears everywhere in the Church. As early probably as a.d. 110 we find it, in the Epistles of St Ignatius, a prominent and important fact of Church life, at least in the large circle of Churches with which Ignatius corresponded [36]. Later Church history presents us with the same constitution, though occasionally details of system vary [37], and the conceptions of function and power were highly developed, not always legitimately. Now between Ignatius and St John, and even St Paul, the interval is not great; 30 or 50 years at the most. It seems, to say the least, unlikely that so large a Church institution, over whose rise we have no clear trace of controversy or opposition, should have arisen quite out of connexion with apostolic precedent. Such precedent we find in the N.T., (a) in the presidency of Apostles during their lifetime, though strictly speaking their unique office had no "successors"; (b) in the presidency of their immediate delegates or commissioners (perhaps appointed only pro tempore), as Timothy and Titus; (c) in the presidency of St James the Less in the mother-church of Christendom; a presidency more akin to later episcopacy than anything else in the N.T.

[36] He does not mention the bishop in writing to the RomanChurch. But there is other good evidence for the then presence of a bishop at Rome.

[37] At Alexandria, till at least a.d. 260, the bishop was chosen and ordained by the presbyters. In the Church of Patrick (cent. 5) in Ireland and Columba (cent. 6) in Scotland, the bishop was an ordainer, but not a diocesan ruler. See Boultbee, Hist. of the Church of England, p. 25.

We find further that all early history points to Asia Minor as the scene of the fullest development of primitive episcopacy, and it consistently indicates St John, at Ephesus, as in a sense its fountain-head. It is at least possible that St John, when he finally took up his abode in Asia, originated or developed there the régimehe had known so well at Jerusalem.

Meanwhile there is every reason to think that the episcopate, in this latter sense, rather grew out of the presbyterate than otherwise. The primeval bishop was primus inter pares. He was not so much one of another order as the first of his order, for special purposes of government and ministration. Such, even cent. 5, is St Jerome's statement of the theory. And St Jerome regards the bishop as being what he is not by direct Divine institution, but by custom of the Church.

Not till late cent. 2 do we find the sacerdotal [38] idea familiarly attached to the Christian ministry, and not till cent. 3, the age of Cyprian, do we find the formidable theory developed that the bishop is the channel of grace to the lower clergy and to the people.

[38] It will be remembered that the word ἱ ερε ὺ ς, sacerdos,is never in N.T. a designation of the Christian minister.

On the whole, the indications of the N. T. and of the next earliest records confirm the statement of the Preface to the English Ordinal that "from the Apostles" time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." On the other hand, having regard to the essentially and sublimely spiritual character of the Church in its true idea, and to the revealed immediate union of each member with the Head, by faith, we are not authorized to regard even apostolic organization as a matter of the first order in such a sense as that we should look on a duly ordained ministry as the indispensable channel of grace, or should venture to unchurch Christian communities, holding the apostolic faith concerning God in Christ, but differently organized from what we believe to be on the whole the apostolic model [39]. On the other hand, no thoughtful Christian will wish to forget the sacred obligations and benefits of external harmony and unity of organization, things meant to yield only to the yet greater claims of the highest spiritual truth.

[39] This was fully owned by the great Anglican writers of cent 17. See Bp Andrewes writing to Du Moulin; Bp Cosin to Basire; and Bp Hall's Peace Maker, § 6. Cp. J. J. 5. Perowne, D.D., Church, Ministry, and Sacraments, pp. 6, 7.