Rejoice in the Lord Always

Like most people, I like a good mystery. Paul’s letter to the Philippians (abbreviated hereafter as “Phil”) is something of a mystery because we don’t know when or where it was written. There is also some debate as to whether the letter as we have it today was one, two or three separate letters.

Location, Location, Location

Phil is a fairly short letter that Paul wrote from prison (Phil 1:7, 13, 17) to the church in Phlippi, the first church that he founded in Europe. The occasion for the letter is to assure the Philippians that Epaphroditus has survived a life-threatening illness. The Philippians, hearing of Paul’s imprisonment, sent Epaphroditus with a gift (4:18). While with Paul, Epaphroditus fell ill and news of this reached the church in Philippi. Paul sent Epaphroditus back to them (2:25-30) and he hopes to be able to send Timothy soon and come for a visit himself (2:19-24).

What possible locations fit these facts? From later in Acts, we learn that Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned in Caesarea for two years. It seems like an obvious choice except that, as summarized above, the letter presupposes frequent contact between Philippi and Paul. Caesarea is 1000 miles from Philippi by sea and travel on the Mediterranean during winter would be out of the question. An overland route would be arduous as well. The turnaround time on a letter would be months.

Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome. While seemingly closer to Philippi, the geography of Italy and Greece would require a 900-mile voyage skirting their coastlines. The shortest route would be overland across the width of Italy, then by boat across the Adriatic to Corinth, and then up the coast of Greece to Philippi. At 700-miles, it still poses a formidable challenge to messengers travelling back and forth between Paul and Philippi.

Ephesus would solve the problem of frequent contact as Philippi is only 400 miles away by sea. A ship could cover that distance in seven to nine days. Unlike Caesarea or Rome, we know that Timothy was with Paul at Ephesus (1 Cor 4:17; 16:10; Acts 19:22). The only problem is that Acts does not mention Paul being imprisoned there. Paul refers (metaphorically) to having fought “wild beasts” at Ephesus (1 Cor 15:32) and almost receiving a sentence of death while in Asia (2 Cor 1:8-10). A lengthy imprisonment in Ephesus could explain why Paul spent three years there and why he later avoided the city on his journey from Macedonia to Jerusalem.

If Ephesus is the city of origin, Phil would have been written around 56 CE.

The Apostle Paul (c. 1657) by Rembrandt

E Pluribus Unum

The other mystery about Phil is whether it is one letter or a compilation of multiple letters Paul sent to the church in Philippi. If you read the first two verses of Phil 3, you can easily see why many scholars think more than one letter may have been combined:

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!

Up to this point, the tone of the letter has demonstrated the warm affection Paul has for the Philippians with the repeated mention of the word “rejoice.” Starting chapter 3 with “finally,” you think Paul is bringing the letter to a close and he will continue with the theme of rejoicing. But then he abruptly changes subject to repeat admonitions that he has apparently written in previous letters. The shift in tone from “rejoice” to “beware” is quite jarring. But when you get to Phil 4:4, the refrain of “rejoice” returns. And then there’s another conclusion beginning with the word “finally” at 4:8.

Other oddities can be observed. Paul acknowledges receiving Epaphroditus (4:18) after he writes that he is returning the messenger to Philippi (2:25-30). Logically, you would expect it to be the other way round. Paul typically discusses his travel plans at the end of his letters, but in Phil they appear in the middle (2:23-30) right before the false ending (the first “finally”) at 3:1.

Some biblical scholars argue for Phil containing content from two original letters and others suggest content from three separate letters. There’s no consensus on the topic. I’m inclined to the theory that a short note (4:10-20) acknowledging the Philippians’ gift was combined with a later letter sent back with Epaphroditus after he regained his health. The warnings against the circumcisers (3:2-11) could have come from one or both of these letters, or even a separate letter. One can’t be too precise in these matters.

Imitation of Christ

The most famous part of Phil is the christological hymn that appears in 2:5-11. Most scholars believe Paul did not originate these lines, but instead inherited them, either in Greek or Aramaic. If it was originally composed in Aramaic, Paul may have learned the hymn in the years following his conversion in the mid-30s.

The original purpose of the hymn would have been to proclaim Jesus as Lord in a liturgical context. The structure consists of six verses of three lines each (Paul adding the part about “even death on a cross”). The first three verses have Jesus not claiming his equality with God, but taking the form of a slave and becoming obedient to the point of death. The last three verses explain that, because of this, God exalted him so that all of creation should bend the knee to him and confess his new name, “Lord”.

Although the hymn’s original purpose was to praise Jesus as Lord, Paul asks his readers to take as their example the exalted Christ. Instead of having the mindset of bettering themselves at the expense of others, they should take on the mind of Christ and look after the interests of others (2:3-4). The way to God is not through climbing the ladder of success, but by becoming humbly obedient to God, even to the point of death.