wisdom a4
Wisdom Magazine. A Christian Publication with Practical help for daily living
Wisdom Magazine. A Christian Publication with Practical help for daily living
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Recapping on the<br />
book of Phillipians-<br />
Whatever!<br />
Introduction<br />
Over the last few weeks we have<br />
been looking at the Book of<br />
Philippians.<br />
Let’s recap:-<br />
The book was written by the Apostle<br />
Paul in AD 61. The book was written to<br />
a Church in Philippi that Paul had<br />
planted. It was the first Church Plant<br />
in Europe and it started when Lydia<br />
who worked in the area of Purple Dye<br />
got converted together with her<br />
family. After that a jailer got<br />
converted together with his family<br />
when Paul and Silas had an<br />
opportunity to escape imprisonment<br />
after an earthquake. It could be that<br />
Luke (The only Gentile Christian author<br />
in the Bible) the author of the Gospel<br />
of Luke and the Book of Acts also lived<br />
in Philippi as this is the point when he<br />
joins Paul and Silas in their travels.<br />
(Acts 16 v 12).<br />
Epaphroditus is given the task of taking this<br />
letter from a house in Rome where Paul is kept<br />
prisoner to the Philippians Church. It may well be<br />
that as the church was gathered he was the<br />
reader. Paul was writing to the church because<br />
he had received a gift from the church via<br />
Epaphroditus.<br />
I wonder what it was like to live in Philippi at this time.<br />
The city was founded on Gold Mines. It was bustling with commerce<br />
and trade. Many VIP and wealthy people would visit.<br />
It was also a strategic garrison on the Aegean Sea and an important<br />
Port<br />
It was on a royal route that crossed Macedonia from East to West –<br />
hence the importance of Lydia’s trade to people passing through.<br />
It held a well known Greek Theatre and shrines dedicated to dead<br />
military heroes. There were many temples to the gods.<br />
It was known as “miniature Rome” led by two Military Officers<br />
appointed from Rome. Ties with Rome were very strong.<br />
It was famous for a battle between Marc Anthony and the killers of<br />
Julius Caesar that lead to the Roman Empire going from Republic to<br />
Dictatorship.<br />
It was a wealthy city that had a privileged position due to its mines<br />
and victory in battles – this meant there were four privileges for<br />
citizens – protection from Rome, free trade with Rome, voting rights<br />
and retired military staff.<br />
It was a centre for Roman Games<br />
The church was still going in AD140 and was written to by a Christian<br />
Leader called “Polycarp”. His writings continue along the lines of Paul.<br />
It was possibly the home town of “Luke” who wrote the book of Acts<br />
as the transcript moves from “they” to “we” as he records the Gospel<br />
coming to Philippi (Acts 16 v 12)<br />
29