Citizens of God's Kingdom: The Fellowship of the Gospel

The city of Philippi is mainly remembered by Christians today as the place where Paul and Silas were placed in jail. In that story, Paul was ultimately vindicated because of the fact that he was a Roman citizen and therefore exempt from the high-handed justice dealt by the Philippian officials. The Philippians were very much aware of the meaning of Roman citizenship for Philippi was a free city of Rome, meaning all those born within it were Roman citizens. For Paul to claim Roman citizenship was a meaningful thing to them.

Paul's Roman citizenship was very important to him. Though Paul had his share of problems, his citizenship did protect him from many things. It was because of his citizenship that he had the right to appeal to Caesar, which is why, following his arrest in Jerusalem, he ended up in Rome and, according to tradition, was ultimately released (something that never could have happened under a Jewish trial in Jerusalem). This fact of Roman citizenship was something that Paul held in common with the people of Philippi.

But as great as Roman citizenship was, it wasn't the only thing Paul had--or the greatest. He was glad for his Roman citizenship--but even more for something else: that he was a citizen of God's kingdom. That is the important thing to understand about the life of St. Paul--that he was not living for himself; he was living as a member of something greater than himself. But not only was this true for Paul, but for the people at Philippi as well--for the church that was founded by Paul's evangelistic efforts and which continued on after he left. Paul had a deep connection with these people which is why, during his time in prison, he wrote them a letter: the letter we know as Philippians. But you must not picture Paul and the Philippians as two separate groups of people who simply happened to have met at one point. They were members of the same body, citizens of the same kingdom.

Three times throughout Philippians Paul uses the word 'koinonia.' The first time it refers to the Philippians' relationship to the gospel (1:5), the second time to the relationship of Christians to one another (2:1), and the third time to Paul's desire to know a full relationship with Christ and His sufferings (3:10). This word has the idea of a common sharing of something. The Greeks would use it to refer to those who came from the same town and so shared in the same common things of life. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Philippians 2:1) Many people translate it as 'partnership' or 'fellowship.' Paul and the individual Christians at Philippi were bound together by a common sharing, a common membership, one might say, a common citizenship, with the gospel and with the God of the Gospel. The word 'fellowship' in modern English is mostly a watered down word for 'friendship,' but the idea of fellowship in the Bible is something more. D. A. Carson writes: “Christian fellowship, then, is self-sacrificing conformity to the gospel. There may be overtones of warmth and intimacy, but the heart of the matter is this shared vision of what is of transcendent importance, a vision that calls forth our commitment.” (Quoted in Kostenberger, Kellum, & Quarles, The Cradle, The Cross, and The Crown, 567) Paul was in prison in Rome, but he was still linked to the people at Philippi and they to him because of their common fellowship with the gospel. They were not just members of the same kingdom, but they were both dedicated to working for that kingdom, living a life that was becoming those who lived according to the Gospel, “standing fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (1:27)

Philippians is one of Paul's prison epistles. Traditional it is believed to have been written from Rome, though there is some debate on the question. While Philemon, Colossians, and Ephesians were probably all written about the same time, Philippians seems to have been written some time earlier. If the other prison epistles were written near the end of his imprisonment, then this was probably written “around the midpoint of the Roman imprisonment in or around the year 59.” (Kostenberger, et al., 563)

There doesn't seem to have been one single thing that prompted Paul to write this letter, rather there was a collection of different reasons. These included (1) disunity within the church, centering on two specific individuals, Euodia and Syntyche, (2) the danger of false teaching, (3) giving them information about his situation and plans, (4) giving an update on the state of Epaphroditus, (5) thanking the Philippians for a gift they had sent him. (See Kostenerger, et al., 567) But behind all these things is this idea of a common membership in the work of the Gospel, a common citizenship in God's kingdom. All Paul's commendation, exhortations, and even news bulletins are built around this reality--that he and the Philippians were working together as citizens of God's kingdom. Because of that, there was a common dedication, unity, and, especially, joy.

As I suppose you've all heard before, the word joy (or related words) is found 16 times throughout this epistle. This is remarkable when we remember that this was written by someone in prison. When you hear the word 'prison' 'joy' is probably not the next word that comes to your mind. And I don't think it would be accurate to say that Paul enjoyed being in prison any more than anyone else would: but he did find a kind of joy there. Robertson observes: “Paul is a happy prisoner as in Philippi when he and Silas sang praises at midnight though in prison.” (Philippians 1:4) The joy Paul had, which he shared with the Philippians, was not born from pleasure but which grew out of their citizenship in God's kingdom. We have joy because we belong to God and are working in His work. 'One should not regard delight in Christ as an “icing on the cake” version of Christianity but as an essential outgrowth of union with Christ in the gospel.' (Kostenerger, et al., 577) Because Paul and the Philippians were united together in the fellowship of the Gospel, they had joy, as a fruit of that partnership.