AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N
S,
OF THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO
T H E P H I L I P P I A N S
PHILIPPI
was a chief city of the western part of Macedonia,
prwth thV meridoV thV
MakedoniaV poliV, Acts xvi. 12. It took its name
from Philip, the famous king of Macedon, who repaired and beautified it, and
it was afterwards made a Roman colony. Near this place were the Campi
Philippici, remarkable for the famous battles between Julius Cæsar and Pompey
the Great, and that between Augustus and
Antony
on one side and Cassius and Brutus on the other. But it is
most remarkable among Christians for this epistle, which was written when Paul
was a prisoner at
Rome, A.D. 62. Paul seems to have had a very particular
kindness for the church at Philippi, which he himself had been instrumental in planting; and,
though he had the care of all the churches, he had, upon that account, a
particular fatherly tender care of this. To those to whom God has employed us
to do any good we should look upon ourselves both as encouraged and engaged to
study to do more good. He looked upon them as his children, and, having
begotten them by the gospel, he was desirous by the same gospel to nourish and
nurse them up. I. He was called in an extraordinary manner to preach the
gospel at Philippi, Acts xvi. 9. A vision appeared to Paul in the night:
There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into
Macedonia, and help us.
He saw God going before him, and was encouraged to use all means for carrying
on the good work which was begun among them, and building upon the foundation
which was laid. II. At Philippi he suffered hard things; he was scourged, and
put into the stocks (Acts xvi. 23, 24); yet he had not the less kindness for
the place for the hard usage he met with there. We must never love our friends
the less for the ill treatment which our enemies give us. III. The beginnings
of that church were very small; Lydia was converted there, and the jailer, and
a few more: yet that did not discourage him. If good be not done at first, it
may be done afterwards, and the last works may be more abundant. We must not
be discouraged by small beginnings. IV. It seems, by many passages in this
epistle, that this church at Philippi grew into a flourishing church, and
particularly that the brethren were very kind to Paul. He had reaped of their
temporal things, and he made a return in spiritual things. He acknowledges the
receipt of a present they had sent him (iv. 18), and this when no other church
communicated with him as concerning giving and receiving (v. 15); and he gives
them a prophet's, an apostle's reward, in this epistle, which is of more value
than thousands of gold and silver.
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