Philippians E-Book

Andrew M. Davis

• Herausgeber: Lexham Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Planted in the Word
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 240

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

"FOR TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST, AND TO DIE IS GAIN." —PHILIPPIANS 1:21 Paul's attitudes about life and death were transformed by the gospel. Jesus's death and resurrection defeated death and gave us hope. In Paul's letter to the Philippians, he exhorts us to adopt the mind of Christ so that we too can have supernatural hope and joy. Philippians: A 40-Day Bible Study is meditative, gospel-centered, practical, and prayerful. Over forty days, you will: - Read and reflect on Philippians - Meditate on Jesus and the good news - Pray through Philippians - Apply God's word to your life Planted in the Word: Bible studies for individuals or small groups. Each volume provides forty days of guided Bible study written by respected scholars for everyday Christians. Short enough to read in 15 minutes or less, each day includes:  - Reading and meditation on Scripture - Reflection on how the text points to Christ - Application of God's word to our lives - Praying for God's help - Suggestions for further study or discussion.  Each volume includes a reading plan for group study.

Leseprobe

Philippians

A 40-DAY BIBLE STUDY

ANDREW M. DAVIS

Benjamin L. Merkle, Series Editor

Philippians: A 40-Day Bible Study

Planted in the Word, edited by Benjamin L. Merkle

Copyright 2025 Andrew M. Davis

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [email protected].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Print ISBN 9781683597841

Digital ISBN 9781683597858

Library of Congress Control Number 2024946840

Series Editor: Benjamin L. Merkle

Lexham Editorial: Elliot Ritzema, Allisyn Ma, Mandi Newell

Cover Design: Joshua Hunt

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction to Philippians

DAY 1Philippians 1:1–2

DAY 2Philippians 1:3–5

DAY 3Philippians 1:6

DAY 4Philippians 1:7–8

DAY 5Philippians 1:9–11

DAY 6Philippians 1:12

DAY 7Philippians 1:13–14

DAY 8Philippians 1:15–20

DAY 9Philippians 1:21

DAY 10Philippians 1:22–26

DAY 11Philippians 1:27–30

DAY 12Philippians 2:1–4

DAY 13Philippians 2:5–8

DAY 14Philippians 2:9–11

DAY 15Philippians 2:12

DAY 16Philippians 2:13

DAY 17Philippians 2:14–18

DAY 18Philippians 2:19–24

DAY 19Philippians 2:25–28

DAY 20Philippians 2:29–30

DAY 21Philippians 3:1–3

DAY 22Philippians 3:4–7

DAY 23Philippians 3:8–9

DAY 24Philippians 3:10

DAY 25Philippians 3:11

DAY 26Philippians 3:12–14

DAY 27Philippians 3:15–17

DAY 28Philippians 3:18–19

DAY 29Philippians 3:20

DAY 30Philippians 3:21

DAY 31Philippians 4:1

DAY 32Philippians 4:2–3

DAY 33Philippians 4:4

DAY 34Philippians 4:5

DAY 35Philippians 4:6–7

DAY 36Philippians 4:8–9

DAY 37Philippians 4:10–12

DAY 38Philippians 4:13

DAY 39Philippians 4:14–20

DAY 40Philippians 4:21–23

Group Reading Plan

Series Preface

The longest book of the Bible begins by describing someone who is blessed (Ps 1:1–3). Such a person does not walk with the wicked, stand with sinners, or sit with scoffers. Instead, they delight in God’s law, meditating on it day and night. They are further described as a tree that is located in an ideal setting—it is planted by streams of water. Water brings nourishment and sustenance to a tree. Without water, a tree will wither and die. But with sufficient water comes growth, causing the tree to produce its fruit. Where the tree is planted makes all the difference. If it is planted by a stream, it has a continual source of life-giving water.

God’s word is the water that nourishes the soul. Without it, we spiritually wither or shrivel, and in order to continue “life as normal” we are forced to draw sustenance from other places—places that were never designed to give us what only God can. The goal of this series is to help you experience God’s blessing by planting you beside the stream of God’s life-giving word. Each volume consists of forty days of guided Bible study through a particular book (or books) of the New Testament. And each day’s study consists of five components:

1.Read the passage of Scripture.

2.Meditate on the meaning of the text.

3.Reflect on Christ, since all the promises of God are “yes” and “amen” in him (2 Cor 1:20).

4.Apply God’s Word because it is alive and active, and is what God uses to transform us into the image of his Son.

5.Pray, asking for God’s help.

Additionally, the Study It Further section provides a way for you to dig deeper by examining how the Old Testament provides the background for the passage, by looking at a particular word or theme elsewhere in the New Testament, or by encouraging you to consider how the passage relates to you personally.

So, drink deeply from God’s word. Let us not be like those who are influenced by the things of this world, causing us to drift further and further away from God (from walking, to standing, and eventually to sitting with the wicked). Instead, let us be planted in the word, drawing continual nourishment for our souls through the life-giving and fruit-producing words of the living God.

Benjamin L. Merkle

Series Editor

Introduction to Philippians

The night before Christ died, he spoke timeless words to his disciples, preparing them for what was to come. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Just as a branch must stay physically connected to the vine to get the life-giving sap that flows from the root system, so all Christians must stay spiritually connected to the Savior to stay alive and bear eternal fruit for his kingdom. Jesus made it clear in John that we abide in him by having his words abide in our hearts and having our hearts lifted up consistently in prayer (John 15:7). That is where this devotional comes in. The discipline of a daily time in God’s word and prayer is essential to our spiritual life and fruitfulness in Christ. Forty days in Philippians will deeply enrich your soul and prepare you for fruitfulness day after day.

The book of Philippians is brief, only 104 verses. Yet it brings the reader into powerful themes that are indispensable to our full fruitfulness in Christ. More than anything, it is an “attitude” book, pointing the way to a consistently joyful, peaceful, and trusting attitude in Christ. It commands us to have the humble mind of Christ in serving God and others. Again and again it commands joy in Christ, enabling Christians to shine like stars in a world darkened by sin (Phil 2:15). By drinking in the timeless truths locked in these 104 verses over the next forty days, you will be led to an unshakable Christian contentment that will offer hope to a hopeless generation.

PHILIPPI: THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE

Philippi was the most significant city in Macedonia (Acts 16:12), the northernmost part of Greece. It had been named after Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, in 356 BC. It was strategically located at the eastern end of a beautiful, fertile plain, and running through the middle was the Egnatian Way—the major highway that connected Rome with the eastern portions of her empire. Because of its history with various Roman generals and significant battles, the city had been designated a colony of Rome, making all of its inhabitants Roman citizens. This heritage gave rise to a powerful loyalty to the emperor and the common confession that Caesar was “Lord” and “Savior.”

This background of Roman citizenship was undoubtedly on Paul’s mind when he reminded the Philippian Christians that their true Lord was Jesus (Phil 2:11), their true citizenship was in heaven, and the true salvation was resurrection in a glorious body into a perfect world (Phil 3:20–21).

THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH: ITS FOUNDING AND ITS CHALLENGES

The founding of the Philippian church was wrapped in the supernatural power of God. The account is given for us in Acts 16:9–40. It began with God’s guidance to Paul and his missionary team (including Silas, Timothy, and Luke) in the form of a vision of a man of Macedonia begging, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). Paul followed that vision and soon found a group of women, including a wealthy woman named Lydia, who were praying at a river. Paul led Lydia and other members of her household to Christ and used her estate as a base of operations. Persecution arose, however, when Paul and Silas drove a demon out of a slave girl who used to make money for her owners by fortune-telling. Her owners were incensed at the loss of income and dragged Paul and Silas before the Roman judge. He beat them publicly without a trial and threw them in jail, not knowing that they were Roman citizens.

During the night, while Paul and Silas were in the darkened jail with bleeding backs and their feet locked up in the stocks, they began singing praises to the Lord, and all the other prisoners were listening to them. God sent an earthquake, which caused the prison doors to fly open and everyone’s chains to fall off, though no one left the jail. The Philippian jailer was about to kill himself, thinking all his prisoners had escaped. Paul called out to save both this man’s life and his eternal soul when the jailer asked the key question, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas preached the gospel’s answer: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). The jailer and his family received the Lord and were baptized. These events comprise the supernatural founding of the Philippian church, which scholars date around AD 49.

We also learn from this epistle that this church has been lavishly, financially generous to Paul from the time the members became Christians. And they continued to support him, having sent one of their members, Epaphroditus, with their financial gift (Phil 4:18).

But now, they were facing significant challenges. These came in two categories: challenges from outside the church and challenges from within. Of the challenges outside the church, the same hate-filled pagan persecutors who opposed Paul and Silas were still there. Paul says of them, “Their god is their belly” (Phil 3:19). Paul also wants the Philippians to beware of the threat of those who belonged to a party called the Judaizers, who were teaching a false gospel combining faith in Christ with Jewish legalism, beginning with circumcision (Phil 3:1–2). The internal challenges were the sin natures of the Philippians themselves: their selfishness, quarrelling, and disunity (Phil 2:1–3; 4:2–3). But Paul especially zeroes in on their terror of persecution and their fear of death. Combining both aspects—external and internal—Paul says he wants the Philippians to live their daily lives in a manner worthy of the gospel, standing firm in one spirit, contending for the faith of the gospel, not frightened in any way by their enemies (Phil 1:27–28). This is the central exhortation of the book.

THE APOSTLE PAUL: HIS IMPRISONMENT, HIS GRATITUDE, AND HIS PASTORAL HEART

Paul’s own circumstances are dramatic and poignant. Once again, he is in chains for Christ, this time probably in Rome. He mentions the progress of the gospel throughout the whole Praetorian Guard. These were the choicest soldiers in the Roman army primarily entrusted with the task of being Caesar’s bodyguards. Though these elite soldiers were found throughout the empire, the fact that Paul mentions the whole guard (Phil 1:13) strongly implies he was imprisoned in Rome. Scholars estimate the date of the letter to be around AD 62.

Paul writes first and foremost to express deep thanks for the Philippians’ gift but also to teach them an important lesson on Christian contentment. This shows his pastoral heart throughout the epistle. He wants to do everything he can to strengthen the faith of the Philippians. He speaks courageously of his own imprisonment and how it has led to the spread of the gospel. He also speaks clearly of his own drive to know Christ better, especially in suffering, so that he can be perfectly conformed to Christ in all respects.

THE CENTRAL INSIGHT: JOY IN THE JOURNEYS

In this brief epistle, therefore, Paul sets before the Philippian Christians, and indeed the Holy Spirit sets before all Christians in every generation, two infinite journeys. Philippians 1:25 speaks of progress in the gospel—sanctification, or growth into being more like Christ. Philippians 1:12 speaks of the progress of the gospel—through evangelism. The word “progress” (prokopē) implies a journey. The two journeys implied here are the internal journey of growth in Christlike maturity and the external journey of growth in the spread of the gospel to lost people.

But making progress in each of these two journeys is not all Paul has in mind in this beautiful epistle. More than anything, he wants them to display joy in those two journeys: to rejoice in the Lord always, in any and all circumstances, whether in life or even in death. Philippians is an attitude book, instructing and exhorting all Christians to display a supernatural joy that can only be explained by the Spirit of God’s work within them. Twelve times in this brief epistle he displays, mentions, or commands joy (Phil 1:4, 18, 25; 2:2, 17, 18, 28, 29; 4:1, 4, 10 [2x]). In the midst of it all, Paul has the healthiest possible mentality toward both life and death: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). Knowing that Christ’s resurrection has defeated death forever and that eternal joy is waiting for us in heaven enables us to face all dangers without fear.

Day 1

Philippians 1:1–2

READ

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

MEDITATE

Today we begin our exciting forty-day journey through the timeless and perfect epistle of Paul to the Philippians, written almost two thousand years ago but still ready to minister grace to God’s people today! And it is a journey of grace, as all of Paul’s epistles begin with the same phrase, “Grace to you.” Grace begins as a settled determination in the mind of God before the foundation of the world to do his chosen people infinite good, though they deserve infinite wrath. Grace then flows out in numberless tributaries to the hearts, bodies, and circumstances of the elect, completing their salvation and making them maximally fruitful in this world. All of those rivers of grace come from God our Father and have been purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And few of those rivers of grace are as powerful as this epistle to the Philippians.

Paul adds Timothy to the author line, though the letter is clearly from Paul (he uses “I,” “me,” and “my” throughout). But he wants the Philippian Christians to see this gospel work as an amazing collaborative endeavor by all of God’s saints. These first two verses make plain some key conceptions all Christians should have of themselves. We are all “servants of Jesus Christ,” joyfully obligated to obey his every command. We are all “saints in Christ Jesus,” showing our eternal position as holy and blameless through faith in Christ. And we all have some specific location to which God has called us to serve his interests. In the audience’s case, they were “in Philippi.” As you read this, you are almost certainly not “in Philippi,” but you are positioned somewhere in God’s world to serve God’s purposes. This epistle is given as “grace to you” to help finish your own salvation (see 2:12–13) and make you wealthy in “the fruit that increases to your credit” (see 4:17).

My prayer for you is that this forty-day journey in Philippians will do in your life exactly what Paul wanted it to do for the original recipients of his letter: minister “grace to you and peace.” If you are already a Christian, this grace will come to further your sanctification, your holiness in Christ. It has the power to make you joyful in whatever state you are in. It can also convict you to courageously share the gospel to those in your location, and it can give you peace—a feeling of peacefulness that will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. If you are not yet a Christian, it has the power to minister saving grace to your soul, and grant a status of peace with God—the full forgiveness of all your sins. All these blessings can flow to you day by day as you feed on this sweet epistle by faith in Christ Jesus.

REFLECT ON CHRIST

It is vital that we realize, every moment of our lives, that every spiritual blessing we have in this world and the next comes through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. To say that this grace is purchased by the blood of Christ should make us think of the agonies that the Lord endured at Gethsemane and Calvary for us. This sense of the infinite price of our salvation humbles us and makes us ready to serve him sacrificially. We are all so prideful, and our pride rises up daily to challenge God’s will for our lives. Nothing has the power to slay our pride as much as a deep meditation on the sufferings of Christ for our salvation. As you meditate, picture him sweating great drops of blood in Gethsemane. Picture him pierced for our transgressions on Calvary. Then picture him standing before you in resurrection glory, saying, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). This has the power to drive away that selfishness we all have that persuades us that this day is ours to spend as we see fit without first kneeling before our Lord.

APPLY GOD’S WORD

Take a moment to meditate on grace. First, remember that God the Father has loved us with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3) in Christ. That is the foundation of the constant joy that this epistle will mention again and again.

Second, ready your soul for the feast of grace that comes by God’s word. Our salvation is not yet complete. Paul will say plainly, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). That always begins with God’s word flowing into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Realize that you must be in God’s word every single day to keep growing in Christ.

Third, ask the Lord what he would have you do today. Tell him that you are his servant, ready to do his will. Present yourself to him, ready to obey. Ask him to remind you to do that throughout the day—mid-morning, at lunchtime, later in the afternoon, as evening falls, before you turn in at night, and many other times besides. Train yourself to live every moment for his will and watch your joy increase and your fruitfulness abound!

PRAY

Gracious Father, I yearn to please you with the meditations of my heart and the actions of my body. Pour out your grace to me in Christ! Strengthen me, and not me only, but the leaders in my church. May your grace protect them and enable them to lead and to serve for your glory alone! Amen.

STUDY IT FURTHER

1.Read 1 Corinthians 15:10. What does that verse teach about the grace of God in Paul’s life? How does God’s grace cause him to work hard in his Christian life and service but also to realize that apart from Christ he can do nothing? How does that concept help you understand grace better?

2.Paul frequently called himself a “slave” or “servant” of Christ (see Rom 1:1; 2 Cor 4:5; Titus 1:1). Philippians 2:7 calls Jesus a “servant” of God in his incarnation. What does this concept teach you about the Christian life? Why do we find it hard to act like a servant of God and others?

3.What can you learn from Paul’s fatherly relationship with Timothy, especially including him in the heading of this great epistle even though Paul clearly wrote it? How can you develop a similar relationship with a younger person in the church?

Day 2

Philippians 1:3–5

READ

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

MEDITATE

One of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is prayer—the fact that Christ’s death has opened for us “a new and living way” (Heb 10:20) into the very throne room of almighty God. But as Scripture makes plain, we don’t always know what to pray for (Rom 8:26). The Holy Spirit has assisted us by the amazing prayer ministry of the apostle Paul. Enough details of his prayer life flowed through his pen into his epistles that we have a clear idea of some things to pray for. (We will see this more in three days, when we look at verses 9–11 of this chapter.) Here, we learn the importance of constancy and thanksgiving in prayer.

Concerning constancy, Paul speaks of “all my remembrance” of the Philippians. He refers to “every prayer of mine” for them as he prays with joy. Paul bathed people in prayer. He constantly prayed for the churches he planted. He never let up for a single day. He prayed without ceasing, knowing that their spiritual danger was relentless. This is very convicting because we can be tempted to be lazy and minimalist in our prayer lives.

Paul’s theology of thankfulness is also very instructive. He considers God ultimately responsible for everything he thanks God for in prayer. Here, he thanks God for the Philippians themselves—they are all the creation of God, knit together in their mothers’ wombs. He also thanks God for their salvation, for without his sovereign grace in their lives, they would still be living under his wrath. Paul especially thanks God for their “fellowship in the gospel.” By this he means their sacrificial financial support of his ministry from the first days of their faith until now (see 4:15–16), as proven by their new gift through Epaphroditus (4:18). Paul is mostly thankful that their sacrificial gift means their faith in Christ has survived every evil attack from the beginning until this very day. To God alone be the glory for that!

Our faith in Christ is in constant danger. Every moment of every day, the world, the flesh, and the devil conspire to destroy our faith, yet Christ is at the right hand of God interceding for us that our faith will not fail (see Luke 22:32). And the fact that it doesn’t fail is proof of God’s grace, which shields us and sustains us moment by moment. That is why Paul thanks God for the Philippians—because he considers their continued fellowship in the gospel as proof of God’s mighty power to save his people, even though they are living every day spiritually in enemy territory. Only when we get to heaven will we find out how much God alone should be praised for our full salvation.

REFLECT ON CHRIST

Paul’s demeanor of thankfulness in prayer is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross and his confidence in Christ’s intercessory prayer ministry for us. Christ is the perfect mediator for us in the presence of God the Father, and he will get everything he asks from his Father because he always prays according to his Father’s will. Therefore we can come to God in Christ confident and thankful in everything we pray for based on his word. This constant thankfulness in prayer should greatly sweeten our lives day by day. A truly thankful person is a joyful person, buoyant in trials, sweet in friendship, delightful in fellowship, fruitful in evangelism. All of this flows from the ministry of Christ on our behalf.

How can we ever thank God enough for what he has given us in Christ? And how can we thank Christ enough for what he was willing to suffer for us? The more we reflect on the person and work of Christ, the more thankful we will be, and that certainly extends to every Christian we know, because by Christ’s work alone is each one of them saved.

APPLY GOD’S WORD

Do you labor constantly in prayer for others? Or would you say that a pattern of laziness has emerged that cuts off your prayers for Christians in your life? If so, ask God to increase your desire and frequency for prayer for the people God has brought into your world.

Are you a thankful person? Do you express that thankfulness to God regularly in prayer? I find it very convicting to realize how easily I complain to God when something goes wrong and forget to thank him for the limitless blessings I have in Christ. This theology of thankfulness is especially powerful when we apply it to other people. If you need help in this area, you may want to begin by making a list of Christians in your life for whom you are thankful. Then extend it to include Christians whose personalities and problems you find personally challenging. Thank God for them! Thank God for their faith, for their perseverance in the gospel, for the fruit God has worked and will work in their lives. The more consistently you thank God for people you’re having problems with, the sweeter your disposition will be toward them and the readier you will be to serve them in love.

PRAY

O Lord, you are responsible for every good and perfect gift in our lives. Thank you for my salvation. Thank you for sustaining my faith despite the constant attacks from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Please teach me to pray more constantly and more thankfully for the ones you have brought into my life. Amen.

STUDY IT FURTHER

1.Read Romans 6:17. What does Paul thank God for there? What does that teach you about the sovereignty of God in salvation?

2.Read Luke 22:32. What does Jesus pray for concerning Simon Peter? What does this teach you about saving faith? What does it teach you about Jesus’s intercessory life for us all? How does it combine with Hebrews 7:25 to teach us about Jesus’s constant prayers for us?

3.What was the nature of the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel? How does money factor into that? How could that challenge us to support God’s work financially?

Day 3

Philippians 1:6

READ

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

MEDITATE

God planned his work of salvation in our souls before time began, from eternity past—before the first man was formed from the dust, before God created the heavens and the earth, before he said, “Let there be light.” But when Paul speaks of the good work that God began in our souls, he is referring to actual power poured into us, transforming us, preparing us for heaven. Before we even heard the gospel, God did a work of preparation in us, putting key elements in place that would be essential to our salvation. Then, at the right time and in the perfect way, God orchestrated events so we could hear the gospel message of Christ crucified and resurrected in an effective way. At the moment that our eardrums vibrated with the sounds of the gospel, God sent forth his Spirit into our heart, taking out the heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh to respond in faith to the gospel (Ezek 36:26). This mighty work of new birth began our existence as a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). This is what Paul meant when he spoke to the Philippians these words, “He who began a good work in you …”

In every one of his children, from the moment of conversion until he takes them out of this world, God is constantly at work, completing the salvation he began. Salvation is a process that comes to us in stages, as Paul will make plain in 2:12–13 when he commands that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. There he will say that we do this work in mysterious partnership with the same God who is at work in us, both to will and to do for his good pleasure.