First Episodes
Episode 1: A letter between friends
What we know as the “book” of Philippians is actually a letter, as most of the books of the New Testament are. But is letter-writing becoming a lost art in today’s wor...
Episode 2: In it together
How did Paul and his companions first meet the people of Philippi? How did they plant a church there? Let’s review the story from Acts 16 as a background sketch to int...
Episode 3: Grateful for the gift
One of the reasons for Paul’s letter is to say thank you for a generous gift of support. Strangely, however, he waits until the end of the letter to say it, and even t...
Episode 4: Purposefully unconventional
Personal letters in Paul’s day tended to follow certain conventions, and the letters of the New Testament are no exception. Paul himself adopts such customs and then a...
Episode 5: The holy ones
In his opening greeting, Paul call his friends in Philippi “saints” or “holy ones” (1:1). We know that God is holy, but may have experienced God’s people as anything b...