This study is part of our series of verse by verse studies of Philippians, the 50th book in the Bible. Taught by Sim Forder, one of our pastors, at our Sunday evening service on the 2nd August 2020. You can listen to the audio on this web page or save it for later listening.

Paul wrote this letter out of a difficult situation – he was chained up in prison following the events in Acts 21, yet what he could have seen as a complete restriction on his life, he saw as opportunity. And perhaps, although for quite different reasons, we have found ourselves confined to our own homes through the Coronavirus lockdown – there might be opportunity in our circumstances too.

At the very least, it gives us an incredible opportunity to reflect on what is important, what we value, and where the purpose in our life comes from.

The letter to the Philippians is just 4 chapters long – 103 verses in total – and was written to a church that Paul founded. Considering that Paul wrote this from prison, you might be surprised that this is a very positive and uplifting letter – not so much a sharp rebuke of a church, such as he wrote to the Corinthians – but a letter of encouragement. “Joy” or “rejoicing” are in fact mentioned 19 times in these 4 chapters. But there is also a second key topic, and that is one of unity – important enough that Paul comes back to it in chapter 4, after starting to write about it in the first chapter.

As we move through the first chapter of this letter, there are four topics that should stand out to us;

• Thankfulness (for the church)
• Circumstances (are useful)
• Perspective (on life and death)
• Conduct (in response to the gospel)

Further studies on this book will be added to our web site as we study it in August 2020, however we also studied it previously as a church in 2009; you can find all Philippians studies here.