The Epistles of St. Paul to the Philippians and to Philemon: Explained and ...

Front matter

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.

Preface

THE following pages are largely the result of work in practical teaching, In class and in the pulpit I have more than once tried to make it clear that these are real letters of a man who loved his fellow-men, and gave his life in the service of the Gospel.

- The critical question as to the authenticity of the letters is not here touched upon. But I have faced it, I believe, with perfect frankness, and with the result that it appears to me immeasurably more difficult to account reasonably for these two letters on any other theory than that they came out of the heart of Paul.

If there is any value in this little book, it is because I have been able to profit by the scholarship and the insight of others. It will be evident, especially, how very freely I have made use of the commentaries of Bishop Lightfoot. I make no apology for this, because I make no claim to vi Preface,

independent scholarship, and only desire, if it may be, to help* others to learn what I have learnt, and to enjoy what has been a joy to me.

V. D. D.

Liverpool, Easier 1889.

EDITORIAL NOTE.

In order to promote the use of the Revised Version in the study of the New Testament, this commentary has been adapted to it.

J. E. C.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction 1—35

I. Philippi 1

I. Philippi.*

PHILIPPI, which was the scene of the first preaching of Christianity in Europe of which we have any record, is now a heap of ruins. The little Turkish village Filibedjik, which, until quite recently, so preserved the old name, has served to guide modern archaeologists to the site. Remains of both the Greek and Roman periods of the city's history can still be clearly traced. There is a commanding citadel, with massive walls of Greek workmanship, standing out from the surrounding hills into the plain of Philippi.

* See Lightfoot, PAilippians, Introduction, ill. ; Renan, St. Paul, ch. vi. ; Farrar, St. Paul, ch. xxv. ; Bible for Young People, vol. vi. , ch. vii. ; Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, ch. ix. ; Cousinery, Voyage dans la Macidoine (Paris : 1831), vol. ii., ch. x. ; Mission Archeologique de MacSdoine, par Uo Heuzey et H. Daumet (Paris : 1864-76). The journey was made in 1861, and the first part, containing the account of Philippi, published in 1864.

I

The Epistle to the Philippians.

Within the eastern gate one sees how a Greek theatre was hewn in part out of the solid rock of the hillside ; while close at hand there are inscriptions on the smoothed surface of the rock, which show that a temple of the Roman deity Silvanus once stood there. The road of approach from two directions is lined with tombs bearing many Roman inscriptions. In the lower town not far from the forum there is a group of four stately columns, supposed to have belonged to some municipal building.

But when the Apostle Paul first entered Philippi, probably in the year 52 or 53 a.d., the city showed no signs of decay, and in those early days of the Roman Empire it was a place of some importance. Raised by Augustus to the rank of a military colony, it served as an outpost to hold in check the wild Thracian tribes of the mountain country to the north. It was also a station on the Via Egnatia, the great military road which led from Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic eastward through Edessa, Thessalonica, Amphipolis, to the Hellespont, and was the highway by land between Italy and Asia Minor.

1. Description of the Neighbourhood.

The site of Philippi is some eight or ten miles from the coast, thirty-three miles north-east of Amphipolis, and one hundred miles from Thessalonica. It is shut in from the sea by a circle of hills. On the south-west the range of the Pangaeus, formerly rich in silver mines, rises to a height of over six thousand feet, snow-capt until far into the summer; the eastern slopes of this range descend on to a lower ridge, the Symbolum, over which the Via Egnatia, turning to the south at Philippi, comes down to the sea at Neapolis (the modern Ka valla).

Philippi. 3

Eastward of the pass of the Symbolum the hills again rise to a considerable height, and, extending far inland to the north, form a massive barrier between Philippi and the valley of the Nestus, which divides Macedonia from Thrace. From the highest point of the Via Egnatia, crossing the Symbolum, there is to the south a glorious sea view, the roadstead of Neapolis at one's feet, the island of Thasos only a few miles distant, and on the southern horizon the grand promontory of Mount Athos. To the east are seen peaks of the island of Samothrace, which on the other side are visible also from the plains of Troy.

Looking to the north the view is very different. A great amphitheatre of mountains completely shuts in the level plain of Philippi, except on the north-east, where the waters of innumerable streams, first gathering into reedy marshes, flow down into the river Angitas, and so join the Strymon a few miles above Amphipolis. The plain of Philippi is one branch of the larger valley of Drama, described by all travellers as wonderfully fertile. The courses of its many streams are marked by the luxuriant growth of trees, while the plains in modern times have borne abundant crops of cotton, tobacco, rice and maize. In the marshes the long-horned buffaloes may be seen, often standing up to their necks in the cool waters. From the hills the streams come down wonderfully clear, sparkling over the white marble of their rocky beds. Among the flowers the hundred-petalled rose in its season is the glory of that country.

2. History of the City.

But the ancient wealth of the district, long before the time of the Roman conquest, was chiefly in its minerals. There were the silver mines of Pangaeus, mentioned by Herodotus ; and, more precious still, the rich gold mines of the hills to the east, bordering on Thrace, which were defended by the citadel of Philippi. It was doubtless these treasures which first attracted Greek settlers from Thasos to the spot. Called by them Crenides (the place of springs), the city received its later name from Philip king of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. He, after the taking of Potidaea from the Athenians in 356 b.c, extended his dominion still further east, and founded a Macedonian city on the old Greek site, to be known henceforth as Philippi.

With the rest of Macedonia, Philippi passed in the year 168 b.c- into the hands of the Romans, and in 42 b.c. witnessed the last great battle of the Republican party, led by Brutus and Cassius, against the Triumvirs, Octavianus and Antony.* .

* The troops of the Republican leaders had penetrated through the difficult passes on the east, and occupied the heights by Philippi, and the pass to the sea, having their ships at Neapolis, and stores also at Thasos ; while Octavianus and Antony were encamped in the plain below, to the west of the Gangites. Remains of earthworks can still be traced crossing the Via Egnatia some little distance westward of the city, and uniting two hills on which are supposed to have been the camps of Brutus and Cassius. Near the crossing of the road still stands a triumphal arch, which probably commemorated the imperial victory. The description of the battle in Shakspere's Julius Casar (Act v.) accurately represents the nature of the country and the relative position of the opposing forces, except that it reverses the places of the two Triumvirs as given by Plutarch. Really Octavianus was "on the left hand of the even field" opposite the camp of Brutus. Shakspere also condenses

Philippi. 5

The complete victory of the Triumvirs was commemorated on the spot by raising Philippi to the rank of a Roman colony ; and when twelve years later Octavianus had also crushed Antony, and as Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, he caused many ot the broken party of his great rival to settle down along the Macedonian coast, and so further strengthened the Roman element at Philippi.

3. Character of the Community.

Such a colony reproduced in miniature something ot the political life of Rome itself. It was free from any intrusion on the part of the governor of the province, and had its own chief magistrates, elected annually, two in number, properly called Duumviri, who were, however, apt to arrogate the higher title of Praetor to themselves (Acts xvi. 20). It was their duty to administer the Roman law, and they were attended by officers similar to the lictors of the old republic (Acts xvi. 35). Lightfoot points out that these features of the political life of Philippi seem to have suggested to Paul more than one of the expressions of his letter : " Addressing a Roman colony from the Roman metropolis, writing as a citizen to citizens, he recurs to the political franchise as an apt symbol of the higher privileges of their heavenly calling, to the political life as a suggestive metaphor for the duties of their Christian profession" (Phil. i. 27, iii. 20; Introduction, iii.).

what were actually two battles into the episodes of a single day. On the death of Cassius his body was sent across to Thasos, and only after twenty days, being defeated in a second battle, Brutus ako died ? " the noblest I^oman Qf them all," at Philippi.

The members of the church would at any rate be familiar with the duties and privileges of citizenship, although we have no means of telling how many of them, if any, were actually citizens themselves. . It is, however, clear that the proportion of the Jews in this church was only small. As a military station rather than a commercial centre, we are not surprised to find that Philippi had not attracted many Jewish settlers. In this respect it differed from Bercea, and still more from Thessalonica, where there was a large Jewish quarter {Acts xvii. i, 10). Philippi had not even a synagogue, but only a "place of prayer" (Acts xvi. 13), which perhaps did not imply any building at all, by the stream of the Gangites* outside the gate.

To this fact is no doubt partly due the more peaceful and steady growth of the church, in the broad spirit of Paul's teaching, when compared with other churches of his founding. And something of this happier experience may also have been due to the character of the native Macedonian element in the city. Mingled with the congenial strength and solidity of the Roman veterans established there, it seems to have produced a tone of society very different from that of the more refined and luxurious cities of Greece.

Renan compares the inhabitants of Macedonia to the healthy independent peasantry of some Protestant country, with nothing of the versatility or levity of the ordinary Greek. In disposition they were serious and gentle,

* This little stream, rising in the hills not far from Philippi, with many others, becomes, lower down the valley, the river Angitas (modern Anghista) before joining the Strymon ; unless, indeed, the two forms are but variations of the one name,

The First Coming of Paul to Philippic 7

with a simplicity and reverence in their religious observances very different from the wild sensualism of some of the Asiatic religions, which in that age had found votaries also further west. It is noted also that in Macedonia the women occupied a position of greater influence and honour than was common among the civilised nations of antiquity. Thus here at Philippi, and also at Thessalonica and Bercea, they are mentioned, some of them women of rank, as prominent in connection with the work of the Gospel (Acts xvi. 13, xvii. 4, 12 ; Phil. iv. 2). Although we are left purely to conjecture in this matter, such a robust and healthy tone in the social condition of that home-loving people must have rendered them peculiarly fitted to accept the new ideal of the Christian life, and to remain Steadfast and devoted in their discipleship.

II. The First Coming Of Paul To Philippi

Nearly a hundred years after the battle of Philippi, Paul and his companions entered the city to deliver their message of peace. It was most likely in the year 52 or 53 a.d. The Gospel had no doubt already been preached in Rome by Jewish Christians who had found their way to that great centre and meeting-place of all the nations of the earth. But this was the first time that Paul had set foot in Europe to bear his testimony to the name of Christ. According to the narrative of the Book of Acts, it was in the course of the second missionary journey undertaken by the great Apostle of the Gentiles. He had come with his companions, including Silas or Silvanus and young Timothy, to Troas. Thence they sailed for Neapolis, and with favourable winds accomplished in two days the voyage, which at a later time on a return voyage took them five {Acts xvi. 1 1, xx. 6).*

Landing at Neapolis, Paul and his little band of fellow-workers would at once take to the Egnatian road, which strikes abruptly up the hillside towards the pass of the Symbolum, being hewn in places out of the solid rock, As they crossed the ridge and descended to the plain of Philippi, and so made their way to the opposite side of the valley, where the city stood, we must not suppose that they were at all moved by the thought of the world-famed battlefield they were approaching, or that the memory of the " noblest Roman of them all " claimed even a passing tribute from their admiration. They were Jews, with other memories of the past ; but still more they were Christians, to whom the future and the thoughts of the new life, of which they were the heralds, and the great Chief, of whom they were

* It is at this point, when Paul first came into Troas and crossed over to Philippi, that the personal narrative which seems to be embedded in the latter part of the Book of Acts appears, and as the form of speech in the first person is only taken up again when Paul for the last time leaves Philippi on his way to Jerusalem {Acts xx. 5), it is conjectured that this man, whether Luke, " the beloved physician " (CoL iv. 14 ; Phtlem, 24), the reputed author of the whole Book of Acts and of the Third Gospel, or some other, may have belonged to Philippi or the neighbourhood, and by his accounts of the people of Macedonia have largely influenced Paul to take up this new field of labour. It would seem also that he was left behind at Philippi when Paul proceeded on his way, and only joined the Apostle again in order to accompany him on the final journey to Jerusalem, and afterwards to Rome.

The First Coming of Paul to Philippi. 9

ambassadors, threw all memories of past glory into insignificance.

And yet it is not without significance for us, that the city which was witness of the death of Brutus, and with him of the last hope of the great Republic of the ancient world, was the scene also of the first triumph in Europe of the new democracy, the power of the nobler humanity in Christ, for Jew and Greek alike, for bond and free, as it was preached by Paul in the broad spirit of a universal brotherhood.

1. How Paul preached at Philippi.

Arrived at Philippi, they waited, as Paul's custom was, until the Sabbath day, that he might have that quiet opportunity in the hour of worship of speaking first to his own people of the message with which he was charged, concerning the Messiah and the larger hope, that had dawned upon the world.

If the conjecture be correct as to the new companion who had joined them in Troas, and who brought them across to Philippi (see note, p. 8), he would no doubt find them quarters in the city ; and he it may have been who guided them on the Sabbath to that place of prayer by the pure waters of the Gangites, where they found certain devout women gathered for worship (Acts xvi. 13). As there is no mention of any men, it is possible that there really were no Jews at Philippi, and that these women, such of them as were married, had heathen husbands, and themselves were proselytes, as was not uncommon at that time : that is to say, they were women who had become dissatisfied with their old beliefs and the practices of idolatry in which they had io The Epistle to the Philippians.

been brought up, and, coming into contact with the faith of Judaism, had found in it a welcome deliverance from their old manner of life. Without entering into complete fellowship with the Jews under the whole rigour of their law, they were led to acknowledge the one supreme God, and to observe the simpler forms of worship and the plain dictates of the purer morality, which that faith involved. (See Carpenter's Life in Palestine, § 36.)

Such a proselyte apparently was Lydia, or the Lydian woman, of Thyatira, " one that worshipped God," who in pursuit of her native trade as "a seller of purple," had settled at Philippi. She, according to the record, was Paul's first convert in Europe. It is not necessary to infer from the narrative of Acts that immediately, on the first hearing of Paul's message, she became a disciple. But she " gave heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul," and her heart was opened, so that the persuasion of his earnestness and his over-mastering faith convinced her of the reality of this new life of which he spoke — the life of faith and spiritual freedom in the power of the risen Lord. And by the rite of baptism, doubtless in that very stream by which she had been used to worship, she was received into the fellowship of Christ, she and her household. Then she begged the Apostle and his companions to take up their abode at her house. So it was that the home of this true-hearted woman, and "the church in her house," became the centre and foundation of the larger church at Philippi (Acts xvi. 15).

How many were the " certain days " that they tarried at Philippi we have no means of knowing; but there was time to lay the foundation of a strong and healthy

The First Coming of Paul to PhilippL 1 1

church. After the first day of their preaching, it would seem that they made it a habit to go out to the accustomed place of prayer, and in that pleasant retreat gathered together the company of the newly-made disciples. Then by the first trouble brought upon the Apostle, not by the Jews, but by Gentile passion, their peaceful work was suddenly interrupted, and they were obliged to leave the city.

2. The Troubles at Philippi.

The dramatic account of this episode, given in the Book of Acts (xvi. 16-40), one would gladly leave as it stands, were it not that a reverence, deeper than any love of the picturesque or the miraculous, compels us to ask how far all the incidents recorded can be accepted as historically true. In the mind of the writer of the narrative, clearly the sudden earthquake, the opening of all the doors, and the loosening of the fetters of the prisoners, were due to a miraculous intervention of God, to liberate the Apostles and to show that in a very special sense they were under his protection. But we have learnt now so to reverence the divine order of the universe, and the working out of human destiny in accordance with unchanging moral and spiritual law, that we feel there is something unreal and incongruous in such supposed miraculous interventions. The stories of marvel grew up in connection with every ancient form of religion, and were eagerly and easily accepted by the people of those days. But now we are thankful to be able to separate such elements from the history with which they are so closely interwoven, and feel that j

12 TJie Epistle to the Philippians.

we are nearer to truth and to God when we picture to ourselves a natural order of events.*

3. Healing of the Slave Girl.

It appears that there were in Philippi at that time some men who had a slave girl, supposed to be possessed by a " spirit of divination," which made her able to foretell the future. Among a credulous people this was a source of great gain to her owners. The poor girl was probably suffering from some nervous, hysterical disorder, which affected her mind, so that she imagined herself (unless she was merely an impostor) to be possessed by the wise Python spirit, t and in an unnatural voice she declared the future to those who questioned her, or uttered strange sayings, which were interpreted as oracles. And one day as Paul and his companions were going out to the place of prayer she met them, and turned round to follow, calling after them, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaim unto you the way of salvation." She must

* In this particular case, apart from the broad question of miracles, and supposing the narrative credible in itself, it is an extraordinary thing that Paul himself in referring to what befell him at Philippi should speak indeed of his sufferings (1 Tkess. ii. 2 ; Phil. i. 30), but make no allusion to the wonderful deliverance which followed. In the defence of his apostleship (2 Cor. xii., xiii.) one would think that so striking an instance of special providence, if historical, would have been alluded to.

t It appears that at that time women so affected were looked upon as prophetesses, inspired by the Pythian Apollo. Hence the name of the " spirit of divination " supposed to be in them. Cp. Farrar's Paul % ch. xxv., I., p. 491.

The First Coming of Paul to Philippi. 1 3

have heard some report of their teaching, and so have been excited to call after them in this way. But when it was repeated many times, whenever she saw them on the road, it became a great trouble to Paul.. Therefore one day he turned to face her, and speaking, it would seem, with authority such as a man of great spiritual power often has over the nervously disordered, he commanded the spirit in the name of Christ to come out of her. Then she was quieted, and from that hour returned to her right mind (ver. 18).*

* There seems no sufficient reason for doubting the historical truth of this incident, of which there are so many parallels in the Gospels, and of which similar modern instances can be adduced. Some basis of fact, however imperfectly understood, must surely underlie the record of such occurrences. No erroneous opinion held at the time as to " possession by demons," and the meaning of such works of healing, " the casting out .of demons," ought to obscure for us the fact that they were accomplished.

As people suffering from mental derangement are often found now with the strangest fancies that they are some great personage, and constantly speak and act' in that character, so it would seem that in those days the unhappy maniacs shared the popular belief that they were possessed by evil spirits, and spoke in the person of the demons. So we find them addressing Jesus, as though they were afraid of his power and were obliged to recognise his authority (see, e.g. f Mark i. 25, iii. II, 12 ; Luke iv. 34 ; Matt. viii. 28-33). And he, with the quieting and life-giving influence of his calm and pure spirit, was able to restore the poor sufferers to health.

So also when among spiritual gifts Paul speaks of " healings " and " workings of miracles " (acts of power) (1 Cor, xii. 9, 10; 2 Cor, xii. 12 ; Rom. xv. 18, 19), taking it for granted that they are facts well known in the churches, needing no explanation or apology, it seems evident, that whatever the explanation of such power in Paul himself, and in other of the early disciples, it did actually exist.

And in later times, under very different circumstances, but where

4. The Owners* Revenge.

At this the owners of the girl were greatly enraged, since it destroyed their means of gain. And because an accusation on the ground of their real grievance would hardly have been effective, they appealed to the religious prejudices of the magistrates and populace by charging the Apostles as obnoxious Jews, who were introducing customs unlawful to be observed by Romans (ver. 21) Then followed a scene of confusion. The magistrates apparently were carried away by the passionate crowd, and, for fear of greater violence, suffered the prisoners to be scourged without further inquiry, and afterwards to be thrown into prison. That in the tumult raised against them in the market-place Paul made no assertion of his Roman citizenship, to escape illegal violence, should not be regarded as in any way discrediting the narrative. When on another occasion he did so claim the protection of his right {Acts xxii. 25), the circumstances were different. There in cold blood he was to be

there has been a similar revival of religious enthusiasm and strong spiritual excitement, phenomena of the same kind have reappeared. One of the most striking modern instances of this power of a man of great spiritual endowments over the mentally afflicted we have near home, recorded in the Journal of George Fox. It was in the year 1649, after some of his early troubles at Nottingham ; and thus Fox writes about it : " Now after I was set at liberty from Nottingham Jail (where I had been kept prisoner a pretty long time), I travelled as before in the work of the Lord. And coming to Mansfield- Woodhouse, there was a distracted woman under a doctor's hand, with her hair loose all about her ears ; and he was about to let her blood, she being first bound, and many people being about her, holding her by violence : but he could get no blood from her. And I desired them to unbind her and to let her alone ; for they

The First Coming of Paul to Philippi. 1 5

examined by scourging, and there was time deliberately to consider and to speak to those who would hear. But at Philippi it might well be that in the confusion, amid excited passions, it was of no avail to attempt to speak ; or if there had been the opportunity, Paul may have felt it better at the moment not to resist, and to suffer the violence and indignity in silence.

5. Conversion of the Jailor.

The incident of the jailor's conversion gains a far deeper interest for us, and is brought nearer to what we know of the realities of spiritual life, when we are able to think of it as occasioned, not by the terror of an earthquake, or any such startling and unnatural occurrence as the narrative pictures, but simply by the personal influence of the prisoners themselves. A man of ingenuous nature, seeing the patience and dignity of their bearing after such disgraceful punishment, and hearing perhaps their hymn of thanksgiving in the night, might well have been drawn to them, and have been led

could not touch the spirit in her, by which she was tormented : so they did unbind her. And I was moved to speak to her, and in the name of the Lord to bid her, Be quiet and still. And she was so. And the Lord's power settled her mind, and she mended ; and afterwards received the truth, and continued in it to her death. And the Lord's name was honoured, to whom the glory of all His works belongs. And many wonderful things were wrought by the Heavenly Power in those days : for the Lord made bare His omnipotent arm, and manifested His power to the astonishment of many ; by the healing virtue whereof many have been delivered from great infirmities, and the devils were made subject through His name ; of which particular instances might be given, beyond what this unbelieving age is able to receive or bear."