All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 in total
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...
Episode 6: A divine preposition
To Paul, the Philippians are God’s “holy people” in city of Philippi. But they are not holy in themselves; they are holy “in Christ Jesus” (1:1). Throughout his letter...
Episode 7: Beyond hello
Every culture has its ways of saying “hello” and “goodbye.” Letters and emails may also begin with typical greetings like, “Hi, how are you?” or “I hope you’re doing w...
Episode 8: The people in our lives
One of the purposes of Paul’s letter was to thank the Philippians for their generous gift. But as we’ve seen, he doesn’t do this directly, at least not right away. Wha...
Episode 9: Partners in the gospel
Why was Paul so grateful for the Philippians? In part, of course, it’s because of all the support they’ve given him over the years, including the recent gift they sent...
Episode 10: A work in progress
Paul sees the Philippians as his partners in the gospel, whether that’s because of their tangible support of his work or because of their own evangelistic efforts. Thi...
Episode 11: Sincere and blameless
Paul prays regularly for the Philippians, and he tells them so. But he doesn’t just tell them that he prays, he tells them what he prays, in order to help them broaden...
Episode 12: What really matters
The Philippians loved Paul. They were naturally concerned about his well-being in captivity, and Paul knew that they would be waiting for news. But he doesn’t just tel...
Episode 13: Can good come from bad?
In his letter, Paul reports both good news and bad news. The good news is that his being under house arrest led to more opportunities for the gospel. The bad news, unf...
Episode 14: Beginning at the end
To some, Paul’s situation might have seemed hopeless. To him, however, it was anything but. He expected to eventually be released from Roman custody (and history sugge...
Episode 15: Life after death
What happens to us after we die? The Bible is short on details. Paul believed that if he died, he would go to be with Jesus. But what was even more important was how h...
Episode 16: No matter what
Paul was torn. On the one hand, dying meant being with Jesus; but living, on the other hand, meant more ministry and more time with the Philippians. Surely the Philipp...
Episode 17: The politics of faith
As we’ve seen, Paul instructed the Philippians to “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel” (1:27). But the word translated is “live your life” is one he only ...
Episode 18: Church politics
Anyone who’s been privy to the inner workings of a congregation has probably experienced church politics: the ways power and influence are used, sometimes badly. As we...
Episode 19: The privilege of suffering
The Philippians, as we’ve seen, may have been suffering persecution from their unbelieving neighbors. Paul himself, obviously, has been suffering for the sake of the g...
Episode 20: It’s a sign!
Before we finish chapter 1, we need to circle back to an odd little sentence that I skipped over: “This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you wil...
Episode 21: If
Chapter 2 begins with a long, complicated sentence that uses the word “if” four times. In English, the word often expresses uncertainty. Read that way, it can sound li...
Episode 22: Which way does your compass point?
By using the word “if” or “since” four times, Paul reminds the Philippians of who they already are. And on that basis, he pleads with them to be of the same “mind.” Th...
Episode 23: Ambition and glory
Paul is concerned about the internal unity of the Philippian church, and wants that unity to be embodied in their having a shared moral compass. But what does that loo...
Episode 24: The Lake Wobegon effect
In pointing the Philippians toward humility, Paul tells them to “Think of others as better than yourselves” (2:3). For people who already struggle with low self-esteem...
Episode 25: How would Jesus think?
In counseling the Philippians toward humility, Paul wasn’t telling them to deny their own needs. But they needed to be reminded (especially in situations of conflict!)...
Episode 26: Tragedy, comedy, fairy tale
We love stories. We live stories. And for the Philippians, Paul holds up the story of Jesus so they can point their moral compasses toward his humility. As novelist Fr...
Episode 27: Heavenly humility
Paul wants the Philippians to adopt a humble mindset toward one another, so uses the story of Jesus as an example of sacrificial service—the kind of service that requi...
Episode 28: What’s in a name?
If the story of Jesus had ended with the crucifixion, it would have been a tragic tale. But in the resurrection, the downward movement of humility is reversed; Jesus i...
Episode 29: Working out
Paul is the apostle of grace; he teaches that salvation is a freely given, unearned gift of God. But then he tells the Philippians that they should “work out [their] s...
Episode 30: With fear and trembling
The gospel emphasizes the love of God in Christ; we don’t typically think of our relationship to God in terms of fear. But the “fear of God” is an important theme in t...