Lesson Six
Paul's Letter to The Philippians

Scriptural Reference: Philippians Chapters 1 & 2.

A. Philippi:
•	Philippi was a city of Macedonia founded by Augustus. 
•	At the time of Paul, Philippi was a Roman Military Center, with very few Jews.

B. The Epistle to The Philippians:
•	Paul founded the church at Philippi after receiving his Macedonian call at Troas. 
•	Two prominent people were among the early converts: Lydia and the jailer.
•	This epistle was written about 64 AD during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome.

C. The "Joy" Epistle:
•	The word "rejoice" and its synonyms are repeated sixteen times in this epistle. 
•	A person cannot rejoice unless he has already known the joy of the Lord. 
•	“Rejoice" simply means to allow the joy of the Lord to spring up in his soul again.
•	This rejoicing is not dependent upon outer circumstances as we can see here in the
experience of the Apostle Paul
•	After Paul had been beaten and chained in the dungeon, Paul still sang the songs of Zion and rejoiced in the Lord. 

D. Paul's Thanksgiving:
In the beginning of this letter, Paul expresses his thanksgiving for:
1. The Philippians. Apparently the Philippian church was a church that brought great joy to the Apostle Paul. Apparently there was very little in the Philippian church that caused Paul any concern.
2. Confidence in Christ. In Philippians 1:6, it states, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." This Scripture expresses Paul's confidence in the fact that Jesus can finish that which He begins in our lives. 
3. The Preaching of the Gospel. Paul is thankful that his persecution at Rome has been the means for the furtherance of the gospel. Being chained to a Roman guard could not hinder him from proclaiming the gospel until it was known throughout the Palace. He also was thankful that others were preaching the gospel.

E. Paul's Desire to Be With Christ:
"For me to live is Christ, to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).
•	He expresses his desire to leave this world to live with Christ; but above this, he wanted to do the will of God and whatever would give the greatest glory to the Lord.

F. Exhortation to Humility:
•	In chapter two of Philippians, the Apostle Paul exhorts the church to humility and
then gives them the example of Jesus Christ.
•	The Philippians were exhorted to have the mind of Christ, who was the greatest example to all men of humility. 

G. Working Out Our Salvation:
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12).
•	Salvation is not by works, but definitely the Christian must put forth the effort to receive all that Christ can do for him.
•	The example that we would use here is for a cold man to come to the fire and be warmed. It is the fire that warms him, but he must come to the fire before the fire can do its work. 

H. Paul's Co-Workers:
•	In the latter part of chapter two, Paul wrote commending two of his co-workers. 
•	He said that Timothy was a son of his in the gospel. Undoubtedly, it was Timothy who wrote the epistle while Paul dictated it to him.
•	The other co-worker was Epaphroditus. He speaks of him as being his companion in
labor and fellow soldier. He was the messenger for the Philippian church who brought their offering to him.
•	It was Epaphroditus that carried this epistle to Philippi.

LESSON SIX
SELF HELP TEST
SELF HELP TEST
Place the correct word in each blank:
1. Philippi was a city of ____________.
2. This was Paul's first church in ____________.
3. A person cannot ____________ unless he has known the joy of the Lord.
4. This letter was carried by ____________.
5. Jesus was the greatest example of all men of ____________.
6. The ____________ had personally witnessed Paul's joy.
7. Being chained to a ____________ did not hinder Paul from preaching.
8. Philippians 1:6 does not teach ____________ eternal security.
9. Paul was thankful that the Gospel was preached even by men with wrong
____________.
10. The Christian must continually ____________ himself.
11. ____________ was Paul's son in the Gospel.
12. Epaphroditus brought an ____________ for Paul from Philippi.
13. This epistle was written during Paul's first ____________ at home.
14. ____________ was one of the early converts.
15. The city of Philippi was founded by ____________.
16. It was thought that all ____________ had their origin within the body.
17. One day every ____________ shall bow at the name of Jesus.
18. Timothy would not seek his own ____________.
19. Luke had joined Paul's party at ____________.
20. There were only a few ____________ who lived at Philippi.
Use these words to fill in the above blanks:
guard rejoice exercise
Lydia Augustus Troas
Europe Epaphroditus Jews
Macedonia motives unconditional
offering Timothy interest
humility knee emotions
jailer imprisonment