Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians when he was near the end of his imprisonment in Rome, c. AD 61. Paul went first to Philippi around AD 53 with Silas, Timothy, and most likely Luke. Luke recorded the visit in Acts 16. After this Paul visited Philippi again as the scriptures in tell us Acts 20:6 . Timotheus is the same Timothy that Paul called his own son in Christ, and to whom he wrote the Epistles, First and Second Timothy. Silas was the preacher Paul chose after his parting with Barnabas and John Mark in Acts 15:36-40 .

It is likely that Timothy was visiting Paul in prison, and was not himself in prison. We do not know why Timothy was there with Paul. We can guess that he was probably there to sustain him and give him moral support.

Philippi was an important Roman Colony on the Roman Road, Via Egnatia (or Ignatia), which was the main road from the eastern provinces back to Rome. Portions of the road still exist today and run near the ruins of ancient Philippi. The city was only ten miles from the Coastal port of Neapolis.

At Philippi, Paul met with the praying women of Acts 16:13 where Lydia heard him and the Spirit opened her heart and she became a believer. At Philippi, the authorities arrested, caned, and placed Paul and Silas in the stocks for casting a demon out of a woman. It was there in that jail that they sang hymns even though they suffered the effects of the whipping and the stocks held them fast in an uncomfortable position. It was there that the jailer and his entire family were converted, becoming early members of the church at Philippi.

Paul writes this letter to thank the church at Philippi for the gift they had sent him during his imprisonment, and to warn them of the legalists and Judaizers that were present at Philippi. It is a very warm, personal letter with much Spiritual truth.

An outline of the Epistle:

Timothy was with Paul at the writing of this letter. Paul includes Timothy in the authorship of the letter. Perhaps Timothy added some things of his own and Paul wrote them. Timothy was with Paul in Philippi when he established the church and had an interest in its success. In 2:19 , Paul tells the Philippians that he will send Timothy to them soon. He addressed the letter to the church members (saints) and the bishops (overseers - επισκοπος, episkopos, 1985) and deacons (servers-διακονος, diakonos, 1249). Note that this is the only place where the Bible mentions bishops and deacons together. We do see the Apostles and deacons together in Acts 6, but not bishops and deacons. Paul addressed this epistle to the entire congregation at Philippi from the elders to the new converts. In addressing it to the saints, we Christians are all included. Thus, Paul addressed the letter also to us. Paul bids them grace and peace in this letter heading, as he does in others. Grace comes from God the Father, peace from belief in Christ his Son.

The word for 'thank', εθχαριστεω, eucharisteo, 2168, means to be grateful, and it specifically means, "to say grace at meals". (It is also the root word for the Eucharist) Paul thanks the Father for his memories of his brothers and sisters at Philippi. He prays with joy when he prays for them and he does so because of the fellowship (κοινωνια, koinonia, 2842) he had with them since he first met them. Recall that after Paul and Silas left prison, they immediately went and "entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed" (Acts 16:40). The Greek makes it clear that Paul and Silas comforted those at the home of Lydia. Paul and Silas comforted them! It should have been Paul and Silas that were comforted. This proves that Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke were welcome in the home of Lydia. That was where the church met and that was where Paul's crew were treated with kindness and had joyous fellowship for their entire stay in Philippi. That fellowship stayed with them from that time onward. Even when Paul was in prison, that fellowship was still true. It is safe to assume that the church at Philippi may have sent emissaries to be with him during his trial before Nero.

God the Father began the good work in them, not Paul. Paul was simply the messenger. Jesus did the good work on the cross-the works that provided for our salvation. Salvation begets good works through Christ. In other words, when we are saved, it completely changes our lives. It causes us to perform good works. Good works, including true religion and piety, are the result of our salvation. Christ will completely fulfill or finish the good work he did in us in the Day of Christ. The Greek word rendered 'perform' is επιτελεσει (epitelesei), which is the indicative future active third person singular verb form of επιτελεω, (epiteleo, to accomplish, to successfully complete, 2005). The indicative tells us that the word gives us knowledge of some event that is not obvious, or not visible. Future is self-explanatory; this event had not yet happened. Third person, tells us that neither Paul nor the recipient would accomplish it, but some third person. In this case, that person is Christ. Singular means only He will accomplish it and verb implies action.

Christ will bring His good work to fruition by the time of His return (see below). When the good work is completed, we will be like Him. We will have immortal bodies, and we will see Him as He really is. We will be in His presence forever. We will no longer suffer pain or tears ( Revelation 21:4 ), and we see clearly. We will have full knowledge of Him as He now has full knowledge of us ( 1 Corinthians 13:12 ).

What is the Day of Christ? Moses and Peter tell us that a day with the Lord is like a thousand years with us. See Psalm 90:4 (Moses wrote this Psalm--this is a prayer) and 2 Peter 3:8 . The Day of Christ is the Millennium. He will perfect our salvation in His day. His day starts when he sets foot on the Mount of Olives.

They were his brethren in Christ and he loved them deeply. He missed them and longed to be with them; see verse 8. It is correct (meet) that he should believe that Christ would accomplish the work He began in them for Paul knew they were saved. That is why they meant so much to him and why he thought on them often (kept them in his heart). When he thought of them, it was with love and joy. They were special to him and it was normal for him to feel as he did about them.

They supported him mightily. They sent Epaphroditus to minister to him in his bonds. They sent him money and other necessities several times. They supported him after he left them and went into Macedonia, both spiritually and substantively. They stood by him when he was in prison in Philippi. They loved and supported him from the day they received the Gospel until the day of the writing of this letter. Therefore, they and he partook of the same grace, the grace of God. They also partook of Paul's own grace, which he felt for them because of their grace to him.

The word, bowels is an idiom for sympathies or affections. When we say "You are pulling my leg," we don't mean literally. We mean "You re fooling me." Bowels means, figuratively, "the deep, inner seat of tender emotions in the whole personality" (Friberg Greek Lexicon). Paul longed after them in all the sympathies or affections of Jesus Christ, felt deeply in the seat of his emotions. In English, we would refer to that seat as the "heart". It is really in the mind, in the Limbic System or the paleopallium (intermediate brain). The Limbic System is the part of our brain directly over the nasal cavity. It provides our sense of smell and our emotions. Therefore, technically, you could say our emotions are in our noses.

For discussion, let us break this sentence into the verses it encompasses.

In English, the phrase "I pray" can mean that one entreats another to some action. For example, one might say, "I pray that you will do the job well." In his example the first person, I, wishes that the second person, you, would do well. The first person is not praying to God but simply stating his desire that the other do well. Even in English, its usual meaning is speaking to God or, in the case of pagans, to entreat a deity.

But in the Greek the word is a specifically religious term applying to speaking to deity. Paul's desire in this subject, which concerns his love for them and their good works in Christ, is manifold. Generally, Paul's desire is that the Philippians be Godly in their actions. Therefore, his prayer to God is that God will grant those things mentioned in this passage to those at Philippi.

Paul has prayed to God that the love that the Philippians had for God, for each other, for strangers, for Paul and Timothy, etc., would continually abound, or grow stronger all the time. Furthermore, if that love grew ever stronger their knowledge in spiritual matters would increase and they would better be able to discern such good things as those mentioned in verses ten and eleven. So when our love for God grows, so does our love for others. As our love grows, so does our knowledge in spiritual matters. As our spiritual knowledge grows, so does our discernment, or ability to correctly understand and act upon moral and ethical matters. Our modern phrase for this increase is "Spiritual Growth."

However, social mores can heavily influence morals and ethics. For example, some circles consider it both moral and ethical to use aborted fśtuses for stem cell research. It is moral because its intent is to save lives and help Alzheimer's patients. It is ethical because many in the medical profession consider it above reproach due to its moral implications. In previous days, it would have been immoral and unethical, and unfathomable to do so. Additionally, modern Americans largely considered some things moral yet unethical. It is moral to pray to God. For example, in some cases, society does not consider it ethical to include a prayer in a court judgment. In fact, on appeal, that is usually grounds for a retrial or a dismissal. Hence, in modern American society, it is moral to pray but not ethical to pray in every situation. That is not the scenario for Christians. As Christians and citizens of this United States, we have every right to pray in any situation. Nevertheless, even though that is what the Constitution guarantees, that is not how the ungodly courts have interpreted it. Their interpretation is the "separation of church and state" (Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 1947). The court's judicial activism has changed the law without referral to the legislature. No longer does the law guarantee that the government may not regulate our free exercise of religion. Now our free exercise of religion is prohibited under certain circumstances, and in certain locations.

Paul is not praying that Philippians have discernment in worldly ethics and morals. He is praying that God will increase their discernment in heavenly ethics and morals. In other words, in works acceptable to God. He lists those works. He speaks of approving "things that are excellent." These are the essential things of God. They are things of great value and import. The only things of great value that matter are those things approved of God. Paul prayed that their increase in love, knowledge and discernment would lead them only to those things that are essential, worthy, great, and pleasing to God. This is the will of God for all His children. We should strive to increase or love, knowledge, and discernment in these things.

Paul then talked about sincerity and giving offense. For sincere, read pure. Paul prayed that they would be pure, unmixed, or, single-minded. They were to be single-minded in their quest for doing God-pleasing works. To be double-minded is to be hypocritical, or two-faced. They were to show no deceit or hypocrisy. Additionally, their purity was to give no offense. To whom were they to give no offense? Paul meant that they were to be blameless. Thus, being blameless, they would give no offense either to God or to others. They were to be blameless and above reproach, as we are to be. We should have nothing the world can use against us to sully our witness for Christ.

We have discussed the Day of Christ in verse 6. It begins the day Christ returns to Earth upon the Mount of Olives, and continues for a thousand years. The Day of Christ is the Millennium. We will not discuss the Millennium here. For more information on the Day of Christ, see the notes on verse 6. In other words, we are to maintain our purity and blamelessness until we die or until Christ returns.

Of course we cannot discuss fruits of righteousness without mentioning the fruit of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galations 5:22-23). The fruit of the Spirit is fruit of righteousness, the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ. Still, Paul has something more in mind here. Here righteousness fills the fruits (plural in the Greek vs. singular in Galations 5:22), or, since these fruits are filled with righteousness, the fruits possess it. They are inseparable from righteousness. These fruits can be nothing but righteous. Therefore, any fruit that is unrighteousness is not the fruit spoken of here.

In the context, the word, 'fruits' means labors or works. Therefore, these righteous fruits are righteous works. Now let us also define righteous. Its worldly meaning is right, upright, virtuous, equitable, etc. However, the meaning of the word 'righteous' in this context is freedom from the guilt of our sin. In the Old Testament, righteousness meant obeying the law. A man that obeyed the entire law was righteous. That is an impossible standard, for he who breaks one law breaks the entire law. No man was ever able to keep the entire law except one-Jesus of Nazareth. So, with the exception of Jesus, all men have broken the whole law. "There is none righteous, no not one" ( Romans 3:10 , Psalm 14:3 , Psalm 53:3 ).

As Christians, being righteous means that God has forgiven our sins; He releases us from the guilt of sin. It is not our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ that He imputes to us. Consequently, any righteous works we do must needs be done in Christ, the Provider of righteousness.

To sum it all up, all of our works are to be righteous works. We may only do righteous works if we are in Christ. Without Christ, all our human works, though righteous according to the world, are as filthy rags in the sight of God ( Isaiah 64:6 ). Those righteous works we are to be full of, are righteous because of the righteousness of Christ. We do these righteous works, not for our own credit, but to glorify and praise God, Who is Holy, Just, and Righteous.

If you are a child of God, things do not occur by chance. There is a reason for everything. God controls everything that happens to you. There are no coincidences with God. Paul could have gone free if he had not appealed to Caesar while at Caesarea (See Acts 25). Instead, he was in bonds, and ultimately the Romans executed him for crimes against Caesar. Nevertheless, this did not stifle the gospel, as the world would have you believe. It furthered the spread of the gospel. This emboldened the preachers of the day giving them confidence to preach the Word boldly, even in the face of adversity, persecution, or imprisonment. God used Paul's ordeals in Rome as a means to spread the Gospel. God's plan and implementation caused Paul to appeal to Caesar. Before he went to Rome and before his travel back to Jerusalem, where the soldiers arrested him, the Spirit revealed to Paul that he was going to Rome ( Acts 23:11 ). His imprisonment and trial in Rome were all in the plan of God.

Paul said that his bonds under the hand of the Roman government were bonds in Christ. Rome bound him because of his relationship to Christ. They imprisoned Paul at the praetorium (KJV: palace) in Rome. A praetor was an elected Roman official. Early in the History of Rome, Caesars were elected to office, but in the time of Christ, they ruled by succession. Technically a Caesar may be a praetor. A praetorium was the hall of a government official. Either they kept Paul in the praetorium of Caesar, or in the praetorium of the Praetorian Guard, which was the cohort of soldiers in charge of prisoners at Rome. While bound there in the praetorium, everyone in the praetorium, that is, all the Officers, soldiers, attendants, and any others there knew about His Christ. It is unlikely that the entire cohort received Christ, but many of them probably did.

It seems that men are more inclined to the Gospel of Christ under adverse circumstances. In America today, where we have every creature comfort available, which a large percentage of the population are able to access these comforts, we are less receptive to the Gospel. In addition to the creature comforts, there is more entertainment available, and more time to participate in entertainment. Television has engrossed us in its web of illusion. We have more money available, and we have to spend less of our time working for that money. We Americans for the most part are extremely prosperous-more prosperous than any other people throughout history. Even the poor (or at least a majority of the poor) in America are rich by the world's standards. God has richly blessed us.

It is precisely because of these blessings that we are ungodly. We have everything, so why do we need God? That is truly the thinking behind our apostasy in America. The church is included. We no longer have time for God or His Christ. They get in the way of our own pursuits, so we put them aside. That is why churches are empty, and why true godly fellowship in our churches has radically declined in the last century or so. That is why we can get no one interested in Christ. The world sees us in the same pursuits as they are involved in and leading the same lifestyles, with the exception that we have to go to church occasionally, which cramps our style for an hour or so a week. So, what's in it for them? They have the same standard of living as we, except that we have the added time consuming burden of going to church occasionally. We seem to have no need for God because of our prosperity. God has blessed us with overwhelming prosperity. That prosperity has separated us form God.

Yet, in the places where Christians are persecuted, or where Christianity is illegal, the church is booming. Growth rates are phenomenal. Fellowship is genuine. People really see the true need for God. Such was Christianity in its infancy, in Paul's day. People saw the real need for God and for Christ and for true worship and true fellowship. The church grew rapidly even in the grip of excessive persecution and tribulation (there's that T word again). I wish that Christianity in America was one tenth as successful here as it is in the places where Christians are persecuted. I hope that we will not have to loose our freedom and our prosperity before we come back into alignment with God. Unfortunately, if history is any indicator, that is what it will take.

This passage needs to be read in its whole. But let us break it into its verses to study it. Read it fully here and then we will study it in parts. The basic premise is that some preached because they were jealous of Paul, others taught because of their good will toward Paul. Some did not like Paul and preached with the hope that their preaching would harm him legally. Even though their motives were not pure, they were preaching the true Gospel. Paul did not care, so long as the good news was spoken.

Some people, literally, 'certain ones' preached Christ for personal reasons. They preached him, not because it was their desire to preach Christ or even to honor him. They did so specifically because they were jealous of Paul. Additionally, because of this jealousy, they sought to promote rivalry with Paul in order to hurt him and his testimony. Others preached Christ because of their love for Paul and their good will toward Him and toward Christ.

Paul expounds on the reason that some preached because of envy in order to promote strife. These preached only for an ulterior motive, that of selfish ambition designed to hurt Paul. If they were able to promote tribulation against Paul because of their preaching Jesus, then perhaps they could affect Paul's treatment in prison. They wanted him silenced. If they could use this preaching to get the Romans to oppress Paul, perhaps this would silence him. That was their plan. This is evident from a reading of the Greek text. The idea here is that there were those who wanted to hurt Paul and cause him great distress in prison, so they preached Christ hoping to thus indict Paul.

The there were those who loved Paul as the loved Christ. They preached Christ because of that love. They knew that Paul's one desire above all else, his entire existence was to proclaim the Gospel and to defend it. Nothing else mattered to Paul, not his life, his security, or his comfort, and these preachers knew it. So they knew they could preach the true Gospel even if it was detrimental to Paul. They knew that was his desire and his stand. They knew that he was set upon that stand, so out of love they were helping him.

The Greek word rendered defense, is απολογιαν, (apologian, the accusative case of απολογαι, apologia, 627) from which we get our word apology. The accusative is easily recognized as the object of a verb or a preposition. The accusative adds a revealing effect to the verb or preposition. In this case, it also reveals the mind of Paul being the object of the verb, to be set. The verb personally applies to Paul (I am set…). The full phrase is οτι εις απολογιαν του ευαγγελιου κειμαι, "that for apology (defense) [of] the Gospel I am set." An apology of the Bible is simply a defense of it. Apologetics is a discipline that defends the truthfulness or the reality of the Bible. Paul's discipline was to defend the truthfulness or reality of the Gospel. He did that very well.

Paul did not care why they preached Christ. Whether pretenders preached Him out of jealousy, or whether brethren preached Christ out of love and truth, it did not matter. As long as they preached Christ, Paul was happy. If Christ is preached and Him crucified, then all is well. Here is a practical example of this truth: If someone mocks you by imitating your preaching, using the words you spoke to mock you, then do not worry, Christ is preached. If others, out of love for Christ, imitate you in order to lift up Christ, do not worry. Christ is preached. As long as Christ is truly preached, the motive for preaching Him is insignificant. For this excellent reason, sermons should not be copyrighted unless blanket permission in granted to use them. That is what is done at this site. The works are copyrighted not to prevent their use, but to keep unscrupulous individuals from claiming the works are their own in order to sell the contents.

Σωτηριαν (soterian, the accusative case of σωτηρια, soteria, 4991), the Greek word for salvation, also means deliverance. Paul already had salvation through Christ. Therefore, deliverance is correct here-not deliverance from prison, thought that was possible, but deliverance from his situation. Paul knew he would be delivered, whether acquitted of charges or killed. His deliverance was from Christ. If the court had set him free, it would have been God's will. As we know, it was God's will that Paul should die (tradition has it that he was eventually beheaded). Paul did not care. Either way, he would be delivered. When they killed Him he was delivered into the presence of His Christ. During his entire life since the Damascus road, he had fought the good fight, stayed the course, and finished the race for Christ. When he died, he was absent from his body and present with his Lord.

Christ WAS magnified in Paul's death. Paul took the gospel to the world, and for that we are indebted to him. Christ was magnified through the spread of His church and Paul had been His chosen vessel to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles or nations (the Greek word for Gentiles is ethnos or nations).

LET'S TAKE THE SELFISHNESS OUT OF THIS VERSE! Many churches teach that this means that for a Christian to die is gain for that Christian. There is even a hymn sung to this effect. It is true, when Christians die, they go to be with the Father and that is gain, but that IS NOT the subject here.

The subject here is Christ preached, both by those who love Paul, and by those who wish him to die. Paul is saying that it does not matter, if he lives, the gospel of Christ will be furthered, and if he dies, the Gospel will gain from his death. There is no selfishness here; Paul is thinking of the Gospel, and not himself. I hope, beloved, that you will never make the mistake that Paul was thinking about himself here. Of this Dr. Bullinger says:

I have searched the Scriptures in vain for a teaching that connects this verse with Paul's personal gain. I believe it to be sinful to twist scripture into something it does not say. Many do that in this verse. Either they are unaware of Paul's' meaning, or they justify twisting the scripture.

Again, we must stay in context and understand the subject. The subject is still that some preach Christ out of contention and some out of love. Still, either way Christ is preached. In this verse, Paul talks about remaining alive or living in the flesh. When we live in the flesh, that means we live in or mortal bodies in this world. What is the fruit of Paul's labor should he remain in the flesh? It is that Christ will be preached. But since both his life and his death will result in Gain for Christ, he does not know what to choose. He was not speaking of suicide. It is as if he had spoken to God about it and been given a choice. Perhaps he had. However, it is more likely he was ruminating about what would be preferable to him. He tells us in the next verse that to die and be with Christ is far better. Nonetheless, if his remaining in the flesh would produce more fruit for Christ, then that is what he was willing to do. He was willing to do anything to please Christ

Paul says he is "in a strait" between remaining in the flesh or departing it and being with the Lord. He is in tension, or torn between continuing to live and be a witness for Christ, or to die and be with his Lord. Even though Paul says that it is far better to go and be with his Lord, he is willing to remain in the flesh if it is his Lord's will.

This is one witness that tells us where we go after death. You have heard the words "absent from the body and present with the Lord." It is a true statement. When we leave this flesh our spirit goes instantly to the Lord. Elsewhere he says: (2 Cor 5:8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. A third witness may be found in the Old Testament: (Eccl 12:6-7) Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. {7} Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. And there is yet a fourth witness, which is also found in the Old Testament: (2 Samuel 12:23) But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

Let us consider the passage from Ecclesiastes. When we die (when the silver cord is loosed), the flesh returns to the dust and the spirit returns to the Creator. Some remain with God in Abraham's Bosom; others return to God, Who then sends them to stay across the gulf from Abraham's bosom. If you want to get more insight into what happens to people when they die, read 2 Esdras 7:77-99 in the Apocrypha. Realize that this passage is from the Apocrypha and is not inspired scripture. Therefore it cannot be accepted as actual fact, but it does give us food for thought. I understand that not all translations of the Apocrypha have these verses, but the one by Edgar J. Goodspeed (used by this site) does have these verses. Keep in mind that Goodspeed was NOT a confessed Christian, and once again let me state that the Apocrypha is NOT inspired scripture.

In the scripture from Second Samuel, David had prayed and fasted for the child he fathered with Bathsheba before he had her husband Uriah killed, because the child was sick unto death. Even though God said the child would die, David still interceded for the child with fasting, prayer, and sackcloth. When the child died, David, resigned to the fact, got dressed, ate, and went about his business. When asked why, he made the statement quoted above. He would be able to see the child again after his death because he would go to where the child was.

Paul knew the brethren at Philippi were in need of his presence. Where the KJV says needful, read necessary. It was certainly better for him to remain and meet the needs of the Philippians. He truly believed that he would be released from prison and be able to visit them again. Apparently, the Lord had spoken to him and assured him of his release. It is most probable that he visited Philippi again on his fourth missionary journey.

Paul was not an egotist. He was not saying that because of his greatness, the church at Philippi would have joy. He was telling them that his being there would help with their advancement (or furtherance in the KJV), not because he was great, but because the Lord used him to teach the Gospel. They would grow spiritually if Paul the elderly and wise teacher were among them again. They would mature spiritually and have joy in the faith with him among them. They would have much to rejoice about if God allowed him to go to them once more.

Conversation should have been translated citizenship. Our citizenship or public behavior should be appropriate and compatible with the Gospel. This is our silent witness. It is easy to say you are a Christian, but if you really are, your deportment should show that you are. A bad reputation is bad for the Gospel, and a good one is appropriate for the Gospel.

Paul wanted them to understand that, whether or not he was able to go to them, they were to remain steadfast in their faith. Their affairs were to be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Theyr were to be good citizens in Christ. When he would later hear of the things concerning them, he wanted to hear that they were steadfast in unity of spirit and mind because of their faith in the Gospel.

Paul exhorts us to have unity in the church. All you need to do is look around you and you will see that there is disunity among churches. Why is that? It is because we have forsaken the faith of the Gospel. The world has become more attractive to us that our citizenship in the faith. Because of the world, we cannot find the time to be in fellowship with one another, and when fellowship suffers, so do our deportment and our unity.

If we strive together with one mind in the faith of the Gospel, we will not allow anything done by our adversaries to cause us to fear them. The fact that we fear them not is proof to us of our true salvation, which is of God. It is proof to them that they are condemned to perdition unless they too believe in the Gospel of Christ.

You or me and God make up a majority. There is no need to fear our adversaries. Who is our main adversary? Satan. Jesus said: (Mat 10:28) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The fear of an adversary is a token or sign that those who fear are not saved. They fear their adversaries because they fear death. Christians need not fear death. Our lack of fear of our adversaries is a sign of salvation. We do not fear them because we do not fear death.

Paul had contended with those who were unsaved at Philippi. Those people jailed him, beat him, and placed him in the stocks. That was done for the Gospel, which was spread and strengthened by Paul's suffering. In a like manner, the Philippian church had the honor to suffer for Christ.

Suffering for Christ is a joy; because when we suffer for Him it shows our worthiness because of the Gospel. The world hates Christ, who suffered for us. He said that the world would hate us and because of our adherence to the Gospel, we will suffer, just as he did. We should count that as pure joy.

American Christians seem to fear suffering. I think that is the impetus of the success of such stories as the "Left Behind" series, and our preference for teachings that will have the church rapture out of tribulation instead of suffering through it in gratitude that we are allowed to suffer as Christ did for us. We are afraid of suffering here in America. But the Apostles all considered themselves unworthy to suffer as Christ did. They considered it a special joy and privilege when allowed to suffer for Christ. Tradition has it that Peter asked to be crucified upside down because he did not consider himself not worthy to be lifted up on a cross as his Savior was. Those who lived in the days of the Apostles were happy to suffer, Here are some Scripture verses attesting to this: