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.

O! Say Parousia

After I graduated from college in 1982, I wrote letters to keep in touch with my friends who had moved away to various parts of the country. Today email and text are so much faster and efficient but they don’t replace the joy of finding a letter in the mailbox from a friend you haven’t seen in a while, tearing into the envelope to read the latest news from afar. For many years, I kept some of the letters I had received so that I could re-read them from time to time. I knew it might be years before I could see my friends again in-person.

Such was the case with Paul in the middle of the 1st century. He visited a city long enough to make some converts and setup a church, but then it was off to the next town. But Paul would keep in touch by means of letters, encouraging the churches he founded, providing instruction or addressing their questions, and in some cases, chastising them for not living up their potential.

Thessalonica was one of the cities where Paul’s visit was abruptly cut short. According to Acts 17:1-15, Jews angered at Paul’s evangelization efforts caused him to be driven out of town. Paul wanted to return but was unable so he sent Timothy to check up on the church. Timothy caught up with Paul in Corinth and brought back a positive report. Overjoyed at the news, Paul wrote a letter of encouragement back to the Thessalonians.

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thess) is the earliest Christian document we possess. Because it was written during Paul’s 18 month stay in Corinth, we can date it to 51 CE. It is very short and can be easily read in 15 minutes. I encourage you to give it a quick read either before or after completing this article.

You Know, You Know

The letter can be roughly divided into two parts. 1 Thess 1-3 praises the Thessalonians and recounts Paul’s short-lived ministry there and his desire to return. Chapters 4 and 5 provide extended instruction on the second coming of Christ (4:13-5:11) surrounded by exhortations to live a life pleasing to God. Unlike other Pauline letters, there are no weighty theological topics such as justification by faith.

The problem with trying to understand Paul’s correspondence is that we only have one half of the conversation. We have to infer the situation Paul is addressing from clues in the letters. For example, why does Paul spend so much of the letter reminding the Thessalonians of things they already know?

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain…as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel...as you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery…you remember our labor and toil…as you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father. (2:1-11)

These reminders from Paul suggest that Timothy returned with news that others – disciples or rival Christian teachers – were speaking ill of Paul. Maybe they were calling him a coward, someone who cut and run at the first sign of trouble with the authorities, leaving his converts behind to suffer the consequences. They not only questioned his dedication but also the authenticity of his teaching.

In his defense Paul reminds his readers of the suffering and shameful mistreatment he received in Philippi and the opposition he encountered in Thessalonica. If his readers had suffered mistreatment from their fellow Gentiles, they can rest assured they are in solidarity with the Christian churches in Judea under attack by the Jewish population. Indeed, they are imitators of the Lord Jesus himself.

Unlike the wandering peddlers of exotic religions who told people what they wanted to hear in order to live off donations, Paul worked for his upkeep so as not to beg for charity. He did not seek praise nor did he make unreasonable demands. His teachings were authorized by God and the fruit of God’s word at work in the believers was proof of that.

Contemporary Christian art of raptured Christians meeting the Lord in the clouds are usually a lot more literal than this.

Caught Up in the Clouds

The one new teaching in 1 Thess is the section on the coming of the Lord (4:13-5:11). The Greek word for “coming” is parousia, and was used in reference to the solemn arrival of a king at a certain place. Parousia occurs four times in 1 Thess and has become the technical term used in theological writings to refer to the second coming of Christ.

Paul wants the Thessalonians to know that those who have died will rise again. They won’t miss out, for at his coming Christ will raise the dead along with those who are still alive and all will be “caught up in the clouds together…to meet the Lord in the air” (4:17). The Greek word used for “caught up” was translated into the Latin Vulgate as rapturo (“seized, carried off”). This passage inspired the term for the Christian teaching of “rapture,” but that’s a topic for another time.

Why does Paul find it necessary to address the problem of Christians who have died? Not many Christians in Thessalonica would typically have died in the months since he visited them, unless they were killed as a result of official executions or unauthorized lynch mobs. This would underscore why some Thessalonians may have denigrated Paul as someone who stirred up trouble only to leave when the going got tough. Paul needed to address the situation and assure those still alive that their dead will rise again.

This section also tells us that Paul believes Christ will come soon, most likely in his lifetime. Those who have recently died are exceptions to the rule. Paul expected that most Christians living at the time of his writing would still be alive at the Parousia. But as time dragged on with no Parousia, this teaching became an embarrassment.

The second letter of Peter shows a church leader trying to deal with the problem of the delayed Parousia (2 Pet 3:1-13). As the last members of the apostolic generation died off (“ever since our fathers fell asleep”), doubters began to ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” The author’s answer is that, for the Lord, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Any perceived delay is to allow more people time to repent.

In closing his epistle, Paul urges the recipient to read it to all members of the church in Thessalonica (1 Thess 5:27). No doubt a personal letter from Paul was treasured by the community as would be a letter from the pope today. Copies were made and distributed to other churches in the vicinity. By the 2nd century, they were considered part of what we today call the NT canon.

I wonder what Paul would think if he had known that his letters would be read daily by millions of Christians worldwide two thousand years later.

The First Missionary Couple

Paul is commonly seen as the master missionary who single-handedly evangelized the Roman world but, in fact, he had a lot of help. On his first missionary journey, he worked alongside Barnabas and chose Silas as his companion for the second missionary journey. Along the way, he picked up Timothy (and perhaps Luke) as well. In Corinth, he made the acquaintance of a married couple, Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:1-3), who are mentioned in his letters (1 Cor 16:19; Rom 16:3-5) as his fellow co-workers in Christ.

From Philippi to Athens

After baptizing Lydia in Philippi, Paul (16:16-24) exorcised the spirit of divination from a slave girl, spoiling the talent that was profitable for her masters. The masters hauled Paul and Silas before the magistrates who had them beaten with rods and thrown in prison. Luke recounts another miraculous “prison break” scene (vv. 25-34), except this time, Paul and Silas do not escape from prison but remain to evangelize the warden.

Vv. 35-40 make no mention of the miraculous earthquake. On the next morning, the magistrates ordered the release of Paul and Silas. They are even more eager to hustle them out of town when they find out that Paul, at least, is a Roman citizen; flogging was an illegal punishment for Roman citizens.

According to Acts 17:1-15, trouble with the Jewish citizens of Thessalonica made their visit there short-lived and trouble followed them to Beroea as well. Leaving Silas and Timothy behind, Paul left for Athens.

Paul tells a slightly different story in his first letter to the Thessalonians. After referencing his suffering and mistreatment at Philippi (1 Thess 2:2), Paul discussed how he was separated from the Thessalonians and wanted to return but Satan blocked his way (2:17-18). Paul eventually chose to remain alone in Athens in order to send Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on the state of the infant church there (3:1-5). In Paul’s version, Timothy had initially accompanied him to Athens.

Paul Before the Areopagus

Alone in Athens (17:16-34), Paul continued to spread the word of Jesus and had discussions with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. Eventually, he was interrogated by the city council, the Areopagus. Paul’s speech to the council gives us an idea of how a 1st-century missionary would have evangelized pagan Gentiles.

Paul begins by referencing an altar he saw in the city that was dedicated “to an unknown god.” He asserts this unknown god is the God who made the world and everything in it: “For in him we live and move and have our being” (v. 28). This God created all humanity and placed within us a longing to seek him out. Paul even quotes the Stoic poet Aratus (3rd century BCE): “of him we too are offspring.”

Although God has overlooked human sinfulness in the past, now is a time for repentance because he has fixed a time in which the world will be judged by Jesus. We know this to be true because God has raised him from the dead. Mention of the resurrection drew both negative and curious reactions from the jaded Athenians and Paul soon left Athens for Corinth.

Fresco from Pompeii of a Roman couple. Prisca and Aquila could have looked something like this.

Setting Up Shop in Corinth

Once in Corinth Paul apparently ran out of funds and needed to work his trade as a tent maker so he would not have to beg for support (2 Cor 11:7-9). He ended up working and living with Priscilla (Prisca in Paul’s letters) and Aquila, fellow tent makers and Jewish believers who had recently arrived from Italy, forced out due to an edict from the emperor Claudius (Acts 18:1-3). The Roman historian Suetonius explains: “He expelled Jews from Rome, who were constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.” Historians debate exactly when this happened, with 49 CE being a frequently cited date.

It sounds like an odd trade in a city like Corinth, but tent makers were in high demand because they made awnings for residences and shops as well as tents for temporary lodgings. They would probably also able to work leather goods such as cloaks and belts. Paul lodged with Aquila and Prisca until Silas and Timothy arrived with money from the Macedonian churches (2 Cor 11:9). This enabled Paul to return full-time to his ministry, so he left their home and moved next door to the synagogue (Acts 18:5-7).

When, after 18 months in Corinth, Paul returned to Asia, he took Prisca and Aquila along and left them in Ephesus to build up the church there (18:18-21). According to Acts 18:24-28, they would prove instrumental in catechizing Apollos, who would become a popular teacher in Corinth. A few years later, after the death of Claudius, they returned to Rome. The move may have been prompted by Paul who was planning a visit to Rome and may have wanted to use them as a vanguard in laying the groundwork for him. In his letter to the Romans, Paul praises the couple for having “risked their necks for my life” (Rom 16:3-4). They and the church that met in their home are the first to receive his greetings.

Christianity is Not a Crime

Towards the end of his stay in Corinth, Paul once again got in trouble with the local Jewish congregation and was brought before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia (Acts 18:12-17). The case the Jews presented to Gallio was that Paul was persuading people to worship God “in ways that are contrary to the law.” Judaism was a legally recognized religion in Roman law and they wanted Gallio to declare that Paul’s Chrisitianity was not the same as Judaism. Gallio did not want to engage in semantics (“a matter of questions about words and names and your own law”) and refused judgment. In short, Gallio decreed that Christianity was not a crime under Roman law.

An inscription allows us to date Gallio’s proconsulship to 52 CE, giving us the best chronological peg in Paul’s life. Paul would have arrived in Corinth in late 50/early 51 and lodged with Aquila and Prisca a year or two after they were expelled from Rome. This period is also the time when he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians, the earliest document we have in the NT. We will look at that letter next week.

We the People

[Note: I will be on vacation next week, so I won't be posting any new articles until I return the week of August 8.] 

The Council of Jerusalem sits at the center of Acts and marks a turning point in the story. Prior to the council, Luke’s narrative thread darts from one character to another: Peter, Stephen, Philip, Saul, Peter again, and Paul. But after the council, the apostles disappear from the story and the focus is solely on Paul. Not only that, but the author seems to insert himself into the story with an unexpected shift from 3rd person narration to 1st person.

Paul’s New Partner

After the men from James arrived in Antioch and started enforcing the separation of Jewish and Gentile Christians at common meals, Paul decided to hit the road on another missionary journey. Acts explained (15:37-39) that Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them and Paul refused. Whether for that reason or Barnabas siding with Peter in the table-fellowship controversy (Gal 2:13), Paul chose Silas as his new missionary partner.

Silas was first mentioned in Acts 15:22 as a leader in the Jerusalem church who, along with Judas Barsabbas, would carry the Jerusalem council’s decree to Antioch. He is most likely the same person Paul identifies as Silvanus in his letters. Given Silas’ position within the Jerusalem community, he would bring legitimacy to the Pauline mission.

Timothy’s Circumcision

Revisiting the towns from the previous mission, Paul and Silas travelled overland to Lystra where lived a disciple named Timothy (Acts 16:1-4). Timothy was the son of a Jewish Christian mother and a Greek father and was highly recommended by believers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to join him on the mission, so he had him circumcised.

Paul’s action here has puzzled many commentators. Why did Paul circumcise Timothy when the Jerusalem council did not require it of Titus (Gal 2:1-3)? The key, I think, is that while Titus was Greek, Timothy was the son of a Jewish mother. If he was then considered to be Jewish by birth, he needed to be circumcised if he would be accompanying Paul since he did not want Timothy to become a distraction to his mission.

Timothy’s circumcision would also demonstrate that Paul was not opposed to Jewish Christians following the Mosaic law. It was a literal embodiment of what Paul wrote in 1 Cor 9:20:

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.

The “We” Passages

Leaving the region of Galatia, Paul and his companions were prevented from going to the cities on the west or northern coasts of Asia Minor (16:6-10). They made their way to Troas, a seaport on the northwestern shore and there Paul had a vision one night of a Macedonian man inviting him to come over to Europe. Convinced that God was calling them, “we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia.”

This first use of the 1st-person plural in what had been up to this point 3rd-person narration is quite jarring. It marks the first of four We-Sections (16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16). The first We-Section covers the journey from Troas in Asia Minor to Philippi in Macedonia. The second and third pick up four chapters and several years later and cover the journey from Philippi to Jerusalem. The last We-Section covers the captive Paul’s journey from Caesarea to Rome.

Scholars have debated the meaning behind these “we” passages. The obvious explanation is that the author is recounting experiences that he shared with Paul and the others. The day-by-day detail of the itinerary in the We-Sections reads like the travel journal of an eyewitness. The problem is that Acts paints a different portrait of Paul than what we know from his authentic letters. The alternate theory is that the use of “we” is a stylistic device well-known in sea voyage literature of the time. Critics of this theory argue that the “we” passages do more than simply recount travel by ship.

For the time being, I am inclined to believe the “we” passages are taken from an eyewitness source. Scholars say that the use of language in these passages match that of the rest of Acts, so they either come from the same author or were thoroughly re-written to match his literary style.

In the second century, Irenaeus attributed the Gospel and Acts to Luke, a companion of Paul. Why Luke and not any of the dozen other companions of Paul? Maybe it was a guess or maybe that was the tradition he received. Whatever the case may be, I refer to the author as “Luke” for simplicity’s sake, instead of using a circumlocution such as “the author of the Third Gospel.”

Icon of Lydia of Thyatira. Thyatira is one of the "seven churches" mentioned in Rev 2-3. The message to the church in Thyatira (Rev 2:18-29) warns against a prophetess who teaches the community to practice immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. We know from Paul's letters (1 Cor 8) that he had no objections to eating meat sacrificed to idols. If Lydia returned to Thyatira and promoted Paul's version of Christianity, could she be the false prophet condemned in Revelation? NT Christianity was not monolithic and one group of faithful believers could be considered false brothers by another group.

Women’s Liberation

The first convert in Philippi – indeed, the first Christian convert in all of Europe – is Lydia (16:11-15), a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira in Asia Minor. Royal purple cloth was a luxury item that only royalty and the wealthy could afford. Since Lydia had a household large enough to accommodate both servants and guests, she was probably a financially independent woman. Acts calls her “a worshipper of God,” so she was a Gentile God-fearer.

The author writes that on the Sabbath day Paul and his companions went outside the city to a place along the river where the Jewish women gathered for prayer. This suggests there were not enough men in Philippi to form a proper synagogue. After her baptism, Lydia welcomed Paul and his companions to her home, ignoring the restrictive customs of the day that would not allow a woman talk to a man, let alone invite him into her home. By the end of the chapter (v. 40), Lydia’s home had become a house-church for the Christian community in Philippi.

Luke’s subtle point here is that Jewish women could not be founding members of a Jewish synagogue. But as Christians, women like Lydia could be the founding members of a local church. The freedom of the Gospel empowers women and frees them from the restraints placed on them by their faith and culture. It calls to mind the statement of absolute equality in my favorite passage from Scripture (Gal 3:28):

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are one in Christ Jesus.