We opened our series looking at the first two points regarding the context of the author and the context of the recipients.
1. Writing From Prison (1a)
2. Writing to the Philippians (1b)
3. Writing With a Purpose (2)
Today we will focus on this third point. We will consider several themes of this letter before looking at several of the reasons Paul wrote this letter. Once we have understood the historical context in which the letter was written we can discover some important implications for our present circumstances.
This is the pattern we always want to follow when we open God’s Word. Although some argue that the culture still upholds these values of objective truths, we are living in an increasingly postmodern age.
Progressive Christianity approaches Scripture as if the meaning of a particular text is shaped by the community that happens to be reading it. We can certainly point to several variant interpretations of Philippians—and I may point some of those out along the way—but the Reformers were clear that the true meaning of any Scripture is singular.
In the principle of Sola Scriptura, found in WCF 1.9, we read:
The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.
The Westminster Divines support this with two proof texts:
2 Peter 1:20–21 ESV
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Acts 15:15–16 ESV
And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,
That doesn’t remove the fact that there are several implications of the text, but the meaning is objective and singular.
I can remember being in high school bible studies where we took turns sharing “what the text means for me.” That’s a faulty approach to God’s Word. The bible is not a subjective document with a meaning that can be molded to suit every different context. By the way, this is the danger with contextualization. We begin to think the gospel is something that can be redefined and reshaped for every scenario.
Why am I belaboring this? Because I want you to see just how counter-cultural Christianity is to this present age. Postmodernism wants to deconstruct historical narratives in order to attribute new meaning to them. For example, consider The 1619 Project at the New York Times, which rewrites the history of our nation in order to place slavery at the heart of its founding (as if the Pilgrims came to America in order to perpetuate oppression rather than flee it).
But we do not approach God’s Word with such audacity. We come humbly, submitting under the authority of God’s special revelation. And this means we will find ourselves at odds with the popular secular agenda…frequently.
This makes it all the more important that we find ourselves aligned and intimately involved in a local community of saints.
Isolation and loneliness are bad for our spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being. If friendships are so good for us, why are we so bad at developing and maintaining them?
Believers experience genuine fellowship because they are united to Christ and mutually committed to his gospel.
Read https://ref.ly/logosref/Bible.Php1.1-2 (Philippians 1:1-2).
Writing with a Purpose (2)We will see Paul’s intention to remind the Philippians of several themes:
Paul’s Thematic PurposeTheme #1: The Gospel of Christ – First, notice...
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