Philippians 1:1-2 (NIV)
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
To begin with, even though Paul is the author of this letter, he begins by stating that it is from both Paul and Timothy. As such, Paul is clearly identifying that Timothy is his close associate, even while he is under house arrest in Rome (Philippians 1:14, Acts 28:30-31). This was very important, because Paul was planning to send Timothy to the Philippians, not only to take news of Paul to them, but to check out how things were progressing in Philippi and then to bring a report back to Paul (Philippians 2:19-24). So, this epistle also serves as a letter of introduction and authority for Timothy.
Paul calls both himself and Timothy “slaves” of Christ Jesus. Most modern translations use the word “servant” instead of slave, but the position of paid servant really didn’t exist in the Roman world. With extremely rare exceptions, if you served in a household, it was as a slave.
This distinction is important, because the picture of a servant is someone who works at set times, has specific duties, and when the day is over, they are finished with their work. But a slave is on call 24/7, does whatever task the master assigns, and is never actually “off duty”. And that is the way that Paul saw himself, Timothy, and all other disciples of Jesus. One’s relationship with Jesus is that of Lord and slave, with the slave, bought at the unimaginably high price of Jesus’ blood, on call, 24/7, ready and willing to do whatever the Master assigns, and with the words “no”, “later” and “instead” conspicuously absent from their vocabulary.
Paul’s letter is addressed to three groups in Philippi. The first group is the saints in Christ Jesus. The Greek word means “holy ones” and is not a special portion of the Christians in that city. All Christians are rightly and practically holy, both in the sense of being wholly devoted to God and His purposes, and in the sense of being forgiven, cleansed completely from the stain of sin, and transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is molding them into the image and likeness of Jesus day by day (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The overseers and deacons were leaders in the Church. The overseers generally correspond to the role of pastor of one or more congregations in the city, which typically met in houses or in public places. The deacons were leaders responsible for specific areas of ministry.
Thus, Paul’s letter is for the entire Church in Philippi, the everyday, ordinary saints, as well as all the leaders. Over these Paul prays grace, God’s unmerited favor, and peace, from both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Philippians 2:9, Colossians 3:1).
Father, it is amazing to see how Paul saw himself, and how he saw others in the Church: every one of them saints, holy ones, saved and cleansed from sin, restored to fellowship with You through the blood of Jesus, transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, slaves of Jesus, unquestioningly and unhesitatingly at His service all day every day. That’s a good reality check for those of us who don’t see ourselves as anything special, often not as anything at all in Your economy. But You have bought and paid for us to be all those things, and now it is up to us to live them out in our own lives. Help me to do just that, Lord, today and every day, all the rest of my life. Amen.
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