Citizens of God's Kingdom: The Philippians' Dedication

As citizens of God's kingdom, living in the fellowship or partnership with the Gospel, we must have a dedication to God and to his work. That kind of dedication was a character of the church at Philippi. Paul's letter to them begins (after the opening salutation) with a message of commendation, recognizing them for their dedication to God and His kingdom--a message of commendation which is also a prayer.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:3-11)

The first thing to note is just how much Paul cared about the Philippians. These were people that meant a lot to him. In these verses he reiterates this point several times--he says that he thanked God for them every time he thought about them, that he prayed for them with joy, that he had them in his heart, that he longed deeply for them--even calling in God as his witness to his longing for them. This is something that comes across in several of Paul's letters--he was a man with a large heart, a man who cared deeply about the people to whom he ministered, a man who was not afraid to admit the depths of his feelings.

The second thing to note is the nature of the apostle's prayer life. Prayer seems to have been an intrinsic part of Paul's life. Notice how casually Paul speaks of his prayers for the Philippians in verse 3-4 and then goes on to offer a prayer for them in verses 9-11. There are parallels in the other Prison Epistles. Prayer was simply a way of life for Paul.

The third thing to note is the general outline because this is something you see elsewhere in the Prison Epistles--both in the opening of Philemon and of Colossians. Paul first gives a word of commendation followed immediately by a hope or a prayer. To Paul, the fact that someone is doing well always leads instinctively to the desire that they do better. “Good, better, best, never let it rest/Til your good is better and your better best.” This was Paul's fundamental attitude. (Bear this in mind because it relates to another passage we will get to much later in Philippians.)

The key verse of this passage is Philippians 1:5, in which Paul explains why he always prayed for them in joy: “For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” He repeats this thought in verse 7, saying that he had them in his heart (i.e., cared deeply about them) because “as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.” That phrase “partakers of my grace” means that they were partaking of the same grace that Paul partook of, they were eating from the same table, drinking from the same well. The NET Bible translates it: “All of you became partners in God's grace together with me.” This is the theme we mentioned before--Paul and the people at Philippi were united by their common fellowship, partnership in the gospel. But this means more than simply that they were all Christians. This was not a passive fellowship but an active fellowship. That is why I am calling it “dedication.” Because the Philippians had received the gospel, they were working for the sake of the gospel; because they had fellowship with Paul, they worked together with Paul. They were partners in the grace of God and worked together for the grace of God. This is clear in verse 7 where Paul speaks of them partnering together with him “both in my bonds, and in the defence [term for a legal defense; had they helped him in his trial in some way?] and confirmation of the gospel.” The Philippians had helped Paul during his time in prison. We learn later that Epaphroditus was with Paul because the Philippians had sent him to help Paul with his needs while in prison. And it seems that they had several times sent financial help to Paul. We don't know exactly what else they had done for him, but it is clear that they had been proactive in helping Paul in his work for God, even at a cost to themselves.

That is where the Philippians were--dedicated to the work of the gospel, partners with Paul in his work, co-citizens of God's kingdom. And then there is Paul's assertion in Philippians 1:6: “Being confident [fully persuaded, absolutely certain] of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it [will bring it to completion] until the day of Jesus Christ.” The reason that the Philippians could be at work for God was because God was at work in the Philippians. God had begun a good work in them. God is a working God; He is always doing something--and He had done something for the Christians at Philippi.

That was why Paul could make his requests with joy--because he knew that God is always able to finish what He starts. There was no doubt, no question about that. As humans, we often begin something and never finish it--we simply run of out interest in it, run into a snag we hadn't planned on, or are forced by circumstance to turn our attention to something else. But God never loses interest, runs into unforeseen problems, or has conflicts of interest. If God begins something, there is no reason why He couldn't finish it. What God was doing in the lives of the Philippians was something that would go until it was completed. Citizenship is a concept that goes two ways.  A citizen has a duty to be dedicated to and loyal to his country, to work for it and, if necessary, to fight for it. But a country also has certain duties to its citizens. We have work to do because we belong to God, but because we belong to God we also know that God is doing a work in us. As Paul will say later in this letter, we can work because it is God that worketh in us. And if God is at work in us, we have no reason to fear the outcome.

Paul made his requests with joy because he knew what God had done in their lives and what God was doing. That caused him joy because of the bond of affection he had with them, because of the “fellowship” between them. But what exactly was it that he prayed for?

(1) “That your love may abound yet more and more.” Adam Clarke: “This is the substance of all my prayers for you, that your love to God, to one another, and to all mankind, may abound yet more and more... that it may be like a river, perpetually fed with rain and fresh streams so that it continues to swell and increase till it fills all its banks...” (Commentary, Philippians 1:9) Though Paul may have had a particular reason to mention love--given that there was disunity within the church at Philippi--love was always an important topic for Paul, as for the other New Testament writers. God is love and as we become like God, then His love is shed abroad in our hearts. Barnes comments: “We cannot wish and pray for a better thing for our Christian friends, than that they may abound in love.” (Commentary, Philippians 1:9)

But it is not love alone. Paul prays that this love may abound (2) “in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent.” Robertson pictures the love abounding like a river with knowledge and judgment (perception) being the banks which hold it in place. We can never have too much love, but love without knowledge and perception may prove unfruitful. A doctor may truly love his patients and sincerely want to help them, and he may still do more harm than good if he does not have the proper knowledge of medicine. As Christians, we need knowledge and discernment in order for our love to operate effectively. Knowledge seems to mean doctrine, knowing facts, while judgment (discernment, sense) means knowing how to apply those facts in practice. Both skills are needed. And if we have them, we will be able to approve things that are excellent. A more literal rendering of the Greek in verse 10 is “That ye may try things that differ.” (Barnes, 1:10) It like when men would pan for gold. They would take a quantity of dirt into a strainer and use water to rinse out all the small particles of dirt, leaving only the larger pieces of rock and, hopefully, gold.  What Paul is saying is that as Christians, we should be able to shift through the different things in life and find that which is the best. There are things we can do, can be a part of, can partake of, can support which are not sins, are not intrinsically immoral, but are nevertheless not the best which God has for us. Our love for God and for each other demands that we have the knowledge and discernment, not just to avoid sin, but to find the best that there is to find.

(3) “That ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.” According to Clarke, the word sincere in Greek literally means: judged by the sun. If you want to see something clearly, if you want to judge its quality, what do you do? Hold it up to a bright light so you can actually get a good look at it. To be sincere means to pass inspection, not in darkness but in the full light of the sun. This what Paul wanted the Philippians to have--complete and unimpeachable purity, to be able to stand in the severest test, the closest examination, to be pure and holy.

The word offense means stumbling and in this verse can either mean one of two things. First, it could mean that Paul is praying that they will run their Christian race without stumbling, without tripping and falling, without being entrapped and ensnared by temptation. Second, it could mean that Paul is praying that they will not be a stumbling block to others--that they will not, by their actions, set up roadblocks in the way of other Christians, not cause others to trip and fall, to turn out of the way. In either case, what Paul is praying for here is for them to have a pure life, a life which does not fall or cause others to fall (the two things often go together in practice.) This was the kind of life Paul wanted them to lead from the moment he wrote to them until the day that they saw the Lord at the end of life.

(4) “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” This seems to be a summary of all Paul is praying for. The Fruit of Righteousness would include everything that God has done, is doing, and will do for His people in their Christian walk. In other words, Paul is praying that they be filled with God and His work. Thayer defined righteousness as “The state of him who is as he ought to be.” That is what Paul is asking. Note, though, that this righteousness comes not from us but from Jesus Christ. He is our source and the empowerment for righteousness. That is why all the glory and praise go to God--because it is only through Him that any of this is possible. We do not give praise to God because He needs it but because He deserves it.

The Philippians were dedicated to serving the Gospel, to serving God, to partnering together with Paul to advance the cause of Christ. And that was why Paul offered this prayer for them, a prayer for an increase in their dedication and their ability to follow God.