Philippians 1:7

“even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because. have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace”

“Even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all”: “And. am justified in having this confidence” (Wey). “And. have. right to think this way about you” (Wms). “For this disposition on his part the apostle does not claim any special credit. He says, ‘It is right (morally obligatory) for me to be thus minded (or disposed)'” (Hendriksen p. 56). “His joy over them, his confident expectation of their constant fidelity, are feelings on his part that are justly and rightly due them. To have such thoughts about the Philippians is just as it should be for Paul, and just as the Philippians would have expected of him” (Hawthorne p. 22).

“Because. have you in my heart”: “Continually has (present tense) them in his heart. They are the very center of his affections” (Jackson p. 24). Something is seriously wrong in our spirituality if we have. very weak desire to be with other Christians (Hebrews 10:24). “Inasmuch as”: “Since” (NASV). “Whether” (Wms). The following is what had endeared the Philippians to Paul, and demonstrates why Paul had to feel this way about these brethren.

“Both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me”: The word defense refers to. verbal defense. “A defense against the attacks which come from outside” (Barclay p. 17). “Is the regular term for what the defendant pleads in. court trial or before. judge” (Lenski p. 713) (Acts 22:1; Acts 25:16).

Paul was in Rome to appear before the highest court in the first century world, that is to appear before Caesar. Paul was prepared to give. verbal speech in defense of the gospel that he preached. Every Christian is expected by God to be prepared to defend what they believe (1 Peter 3:15). This infers that the gospel message can be defended with logical arguments, evidence, and Old Testament Scripture. Plenty of ammunition exists for the Christian to use. ”The gospel is never defended with carnal weapons (cf. Ephesians 6:10 ff; 2 Corinthians 10:3), but by persuasive evidence and logical argument. The battle is for the minds of men. Those who support defenders of the truth are partakers with them in the fray!” (Jackson pp. 24-25).

“Confirmation”: “He had defended the gospel by removing doubts and suspicions, and had confirmed it by setting forth its meaning positively” (Hendriksen p. 57). “The gospel message is not merely. philosophy of life; it is. historical system, grounded in miraculous phenomena that confirmed its validity (cf. Mark 16:17; Hebrews 2:3), which demands human attention and acceptance” (Jackson p. 25). “Of the gospel”: “The fate of his person was of the least concern to Paul, the fate of the gospel was everything” (Lenski p. 713). See Acts 20:24; Acts 21:13. “Ye are all partakers with me”: “We have shared together the blessings of God” (Tay).

“And the Philippians had shown that they were deeply concerned in all this. They had prayed for Paul. They had sympathized with him in his experiences--were not their own experiences similar? Were not they engaged in the same conflict? See on 1 Peter 1:29. And they had even sent their personal representative to him with. gift in order to assist him in every possible manner (1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter 4:10; 1 Peter 4:18). At this point we should note: Some contend that the church in Philippi acted as. Sponsoring Church, that is,. congregation that received funds from other congregations and then distributing them to Paul. The question arises (besides “What Scripture(s) actually teaches such. concept?” “Why did Paul fail to express his gratitude for any other congregations in this verse?” It sure looks like Philippi is getting all the credit for the contributions they sent Paul. Was Paul ignorant that most of the money had come from other congregations? Clearly, the church in Philippi was not some sort of “sponsoring church”, rather they were sending to Paul only the funds that came from the members in Philippi.

“Of this grace”: “In the Greek text, ‘grace' is accompanied by the article, thus, ‘the grace'. This may denote the system of grace, i.e., the gospel plan, in which they were common sharers” (Jackson p. 25). It is. privilege to support the spread of the gospel message. Paul viewed all of the above as something in which he had been allowed by the unmerited favor of God to participate. Human beings do not deserve to be able to preach the gospel, but God's unmerited favor "allows" us. All Christians need to realize that we are reading. message that we did not deserve to hear.