Philippians 1:12-30

Leader Guide

Participant Guide

Lesson Focus

Paul's letter to the Philippians emphasizes the importance of unity and perseverance in the face of adversity, highlighting how suffering can advance the gospel and urging believers to live together in a manner worthy of Christ.

Lesson Outcomes

Through this lesson, participants will:

1. Understand how Paul's imprisonment, despite its challenges, became an opportunity to advance the gospel.
   

2. Identify the significance of unity within the Christian community and its connection to living a life worthy of the gospel.

   
   

3. Explore suffering as a potential aspect of Christian life and its relationship to faith and community.

Catching Up on the Story

Paul’s letter to the Philippians begins with a generous greeting, expressing his heartfelt appreciation for their support and commitment to the good news. Unlike other letters Paul wrote, his letter to the Philippians was mainly positive. Several insights from the first 11 verses of the letter are worth noting. First, Paul encourages us to remember and find strength in God’s past faithfulness. Second, we recognize that Christ’s work in us is incomplete, but we have faith that God will one day complete that work. Third, our faith is always a shared journey. We are partners with each other and with God in the work God is doing. Fourth, Paul encourages us to keep our hearts and minds connected to practice loving and thoughtful discernment. Finally, we are to strive for righteousness, repenting of all that hinders us from living faithfully with God and others. 

Paul’s encouragement and admonition to us in the first part of his letter are helpful as we journey through Lent toward Easter. 

Brothers and Sisters

This week’s passage begins with the main body of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The Philippians seem to have a good idea of Paul’s current circumstances. Although Paul is in jail, he refuses to wallow in self-pity or question God’s faithfulness. Paul’s tone is optimistic about himself and the spread of the good news. 

Paul understands that his current incarcerated situation does not hinder the gospel. Instead, Paul declares that his situation has removed barriers to spreading the gospel. The word Paul uses in verse 12, which the CEB translates as “advanced,” has a military history (Craddock, 25). To advance meant that the obstacles standing in the way of an approaching army had been removed, and the way was clear.  This does not imply that the gospel’s advancement has not come at a cost; it has been Paul’s suffering. Should we expect to pay anything less than Paul has so that the gospel is advanced? 

Paul then begins to outline how the gospel has advanced. First, all of the guards know why Paul is there. We can only assume that Paul has made inroads with these guards, planting seeds of the gospel, which he believes will bear good fruit. Buoyed by the positive reception of the gospel by the Praetorian Guard, those local to Paul’s imprisonment have confidently and boldly proclaimed Christ’s death and resurrection. 

At this point, Paul acknowledges that not everything is sunshine and roses. Some have preached the good news with jealous and competitive motives. These preachers are motivated by selfish ambition and a desire to cause Paul “more pain.” One commentator highlights the unsurprising revelation that not all preach Christ with pure motives:

“That some preach from motives of envy, rivalry, divisiveness, pretense, and with hired hand mentality is lamentable but not surprising. We are not strangers to competition in the work of Christ, to that sense of pleasure over the failure of another’s program or the decline of another congregation. In a culture that demands that we think in terms of winners and losers, even a God who desires that all win is served by persons who think heaven will be sweeter because there is a hell. In this regard, then, the passage is not unusual. What we do not expect is for Paul to say, “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice” (v. 18) (Craddock, 26). 

Not only is it not surprising, but Christ still works through preachers, teachers, and evangelists who may not have the best motives. The church has always had the temptation to look at what other believers or churches do and question their efficacy or outcome based on the character of those proclaiming the gospel. It’s all too easy to say of the church across the street or in another part of town that their motives are unpure, so others must steer clear or risk eternal punishment. This is arrogance of the greatest kind, and while Paul boasts in Christ, he’s not so arrogant as to judge the fruit of another’s ministry. 

I’m Glad!

Verse 18 shows Paul’s response to these malicious teachers: he rejoices! He rejoices because the good news is being spread, believing that this will only help his cause and possibly even lead to his release. At the very least, Paul is confident that he won’t be put to shame as he seeks to truly embody the gospel. 

Sometimes we get sucked into the trap of understanding salvation, mainly spiritual. We forget that our faith is an embodied faith. Christ cares just as much about the physical work as the spiritual realm. Paul has not forgotten this, as his body bears the marks of his faithfulness. Paul declares that he’ll continue to embody the gospel until the day he dies. Verse 21 sets up the tension evident in the next section of verses. While living, Paul serves Christ, but he longs to be in full communion with Christ in death. 

As we read verses 22-26, we feel Paul’s struggle—the tension and struggle we all feel when making a tough decision. Often, we make pro and con lists, seeking to find the best and most advantageous way forward. In a way, that’s what Paul is doing here. While living, he witnesses the fruits of his labors. In death, he is with Christ, which he deems to be the far better option. 

Yet, that’s not the option Paul chooses. Paul chooses continued life for the sake of his friends. Normally, we would talk about the self-sacrifice of death when a person lays down their life for the sake of another (rescuing a person from a burning building only to succumb to smoke inhalation or drowning while trying to save a distressed swimmer). Paul’s selfless sacrifice continues to live so that his friends will continue progressing in their faith and find comfort and joy in their mutual work. Paul’s commitment to Christ mandates the sacrifice of his continued living. 

Live Together, or Die Alone

The final paragraph in chapter one begins with an admonition. “Most important, live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel” (v. 27). It would be a mistake to miss the connection between Paul’s determination to remain alive for the sake of the gospel and his friends’ continued maturation. Paul will do his best to serve his friends, and now, he expects his friends in Phillipi to do the same. 

While Paul certainly hopes to see the Philippians again, he acknowledges that the situation is beyond his control. He may not be able to make the journey. Nevertheless, Paul stresses living together as a top priority. He doesn’t define what it means to “live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel,” which will come later in the letter. Instead, Paul emphasizes the need to live together. 

Perhaps you remember the hit TV show Lost, where a plane crashes on an island, throwing the crash survivors into chaos. There are strange and weird happenings on the island, all of which seem to pose a threat to the group’s survival. Not only that, but the group splinters, and as a result, people die. Jack, one of the survivors who end up taking a leadership position in the group, delivers a line that has stuck with me for years: “But if we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone.” Jack knows the infighting, jealousy, suspicion, and fear pervading the group will not end well. Their survival chances will increase if they work together as a team.  

Let’s put Jack’s words in Paul’s writing. Paul says to the Philippians, “Most important, live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel because if we can’t find a way to live together, we’ll end up dying alone. 

Clearly, Paul understands that a life committed to Christ’s gospel is a social life. I might venture to say that Paul understands that the only way to live “in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel” is to live together, united in one spirit and mind. It’s the only way to remain faithful to the gospel. Generally, I dislike absolutes and binary choices, but I’ll make an exception for the apostle Paul. Finding a way to live together is essential for the Christian life. That’s not to minimize the work of the Spirit in our lives to clean and empower us, but we can never forget that the Spirit also uses the rest of the body of Christ to move us toward purity and faithful service. 

After Paul reiterates the need to live together, in verse 28, he outlines the benefits of a unified existence. First, Paul says that our living together will help keep us unafraid of what the opposition (spiritual or earthly) might do to us. There’s a lot of fear out there. Some of that fear is legitimate, and some is not. Fear only causes division in the body of Christ. Those who work against the ways of Christ in this world know this and use it to their advantage. The enemy triumphs as long as the church remains fragmented, fearing or condemning each other. The church universal won’t fail, but our denominations and local congregations might if we can’t unify, facing the fear together in the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

Even if our fear is legitimate, and we end up suffering for the sake of our faith and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we won’t be defeated. Paul reminds us that suffering for the sake of Christ’s gospel is a privilege! Suffering is a privilege when we suffer together and for the sake of Christ. If we live in Christian unity, we can face anything the world throws at us.

So What?

How often have you heard someone, a personal friend or a TV personality, mention this or that thing as a threat to our Christian way of life? It’s always presented as a simple black-and-white assertion: we’re right, they’re wrong, and if we don’t stop what they’re doing, we won’t be able to be Christian anymore. At this point, we often reach for some unChristlike tools and tactics. 

Living together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel is the key. You might say, “Well, our little church lives together in a manner worthy of Christ. It’s those folks out there causing all the trouble.” The only problem with sentiments like this is that we often place other Christians in the “other” category. “Surly, they’ve been led astray. We’re so blessed that it hasn’t happened to us!”

If we’re truly going to live Christ-like lives, we need to do more than live together with our little clan of Christians who think like us. We must live together in a manner worthy of Christ in all our relationships. We need this in the local church, our denominations, and the church universal. This is a big issue; the church needs to live together in a manner worthy of Christ with the world around it. 

I’m fairly confident that Paul understands that living together in a manner worthy of Christ will entail the privilege of suffering. If we suffer at the hands of those outside the church, that indicates that we’re living faithfully and should embrace it. 

Discussion Questions

Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly.  Read it slowly as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.

1. How does Paul's attitude towards his imprisonment challenge our perspectives on hardship and adversity?
   

2. What are some examples of how personal and communal suffering can be used to advance the greater good?
   

3. Why does Paul emphasize unity so strongly in his letter to the Philippians, and what are the practical implications of this unity for the church today?
   

4. How can we distinguish between healthy and unhealthy forms of competition within the church? How should we respond to those who seem to be acting out of impure motives?
   

5. What does it mean to live "in a manner worthy of Christ's gospel," and how does this relate to our individual and collective actions?
   

6. How can fear hinder the unity of the church, and what steps can we take to overcome fear and promote greater unity?
   

7. Paul rejoices that Christ is proclaimed even by those with impure motives. How can we balance our concern for doctrinal purity with Paul's perspective?
   

8. How does Paul's example of choosing to live for the sake of others challenge our own In what ways do we see the tension between individual faith and the importance of community in this passage?
   

9. What practical steps can we take to foster greater unity within our own church and in the wider Christian community?

Works Cited

Fred B. Craddock, Philippians, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta, GA: J. Knox Press, 1985).