Lightfoot / McGrath Philippians

1. Auflage 1994
ISBN: 978-1-4335-3211-5
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 8, 144 Seiten

Reihe: Crossway Classic Commentaries

For hundreds of years Christendom has been blessed with Bible commentaries written by great men of God highly respected for their godly walk and their insight into spiritual truth. The Crossway Classic Commentaries present the very best work on individual Bible books, carefully adapted for maximum understanding and usefulness for today's believers. Many Christians consider the apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians a special treasure. Its grand themes of spiritual joy and vitality, the self-humbling Savior who gave his life for us, the good news of a salvation that is superior to the boastings of the flesh-these and other gems still nurture followers of Jesus Christ today. This classic commentary will deeply encourage all who long to draw closer to God.

J. B. LIGHTFOOT (1828-1889) was an outstanding British New Testament scholar. He worked with F. J. A. Hort and B. F. Westcott at Cambridge University to produce a New Testament commentary based on a reliable Greek text. His work in demonstrating the first-century origin of the New Testament books helped demolish the Tübingen school of biblical criticism. Along with his Philippians, his commentaries on Galatians and Colossians/Philemon are still considered landmarks of biblical study and exposition.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lightfoot, J. B.

McGrath, Alister

Leseproben

2

The Order of the Letters
of St. Paul's Captivity

Four Letters Written from Rome

St. Paul remained in captivity between four and five years (A.D. 58-63); the first half of this period being spent at Caesarea, the second at Rome. While thus a prisoner he wrote four letters: to the Philippians, to the Colossians, to the Ephesians, and to Philemon. Though a few critics have assigned one or more of these letters to his confinement at Caesarea, there are serious objections to this view, and the vast majority of them agree in placing all four at a later date, after the apostle Paul had been removed from there to Rome.

[Reasons for dating the three letters from Caesarea are given fully in Meyer. I cannot attach any weight to them. For the letter to the Philippians there is at least this apparent case, that the mention of the palace guard in Philippians 1:13 would then be explained by the statement in Acts 23:35 that St. Paul was confined "under guard in Herod's palace." But the expression "the whole palace guard" (Philippians 1:13), while it implies a wider space than the palace or official residence of Herod, is easily explained by the circumstances of St. Paul's connection with the imperial guards at Rome.

On the other hand there are many serious objections to Caesarea as the place of writing. (1) The notice of "Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:22) cannot without much straining of language and facts be made to apply to Caesarea. (2) St. Paul's account of his progress (Philippians 1:12-26) loses all its force on this supposition. He is obviously speaking of some place of great consequence, where the Gospel had received a new and remarkable development. Caesarea does not satisfy these conditions. It was after all not a very important place. It had been evangelized by the apostles of the Circumcision. The first heathen convert Cornelius lived there. As a chief seaport town of Palestine, the great preachers of the Gospel were constantly passing to and fro through it. Altogether we may suppose it to have received more attention in proportion to its size than any other place; and the language of St. Paul seems wholly inapplicable to a town with this antecedent history. (3) When this letter is written, he is looking forward to his speedy release and intends to visit Macedonia (Philippians 1:26; 2:24; compare Philemon 22). Now there is no reason to suppose that he expected this at Caesarea. For what were the circumstances of the case? He had gone up to Jerusalem, intending immediately afterwards to visit Rome. While at Jerusalem he is apprehended on a frivolous charge and imprisoned. When at length he is brought to trial, he boldly appeals to Caesar. May we not infer that this had been his settled determination from the first? Did he not consider it more prudent to act thus than to stake his safety on the capricious justice of the provincial governor? Did he not at all events hope thereby to secure the fulfillment of his long-cherished design of preaching the Gospel in the capital?

These considerations seem sufficient to turn the scale in favor of Rome, as against Caesarea, in the case of the letter to the Philippians. There is no sufficient ground for abandoning the common view.]

The Philippian Letter Stands Apart; The Other Three Are Linked Together

Assuming then that they were all written from Rome, we have next to investigate their relative dates. And here again the question simplifies itself. It seems very clear, and is generally agreed, that the three letters last mentioned were written and dispatched at or about the same time, while the letter to the Philippians stands alone. Of the three thus connected, the letter to the Colossians is the link between the other two. On the one hand its connection with the letter to the Ephesians is established by a remarkable resemblance of style and matter, and by the fact of its being entrusted to the same messenger, Tychicus (Colossians 4:7; Ephesians 6:21). On the other, it is shown to agree with the letter to Philemon by more than one coincidence: Onesimus accompanies both letters (Colossians 4:9; Philemon 10-12); in both greetings are sent to Archippus (Colossians 4:17; Philemon 2)—hence it may be inferred that they went to the same place; in both the same people are mentioned as St. Paul's companions at the time of writing (Philemon 1, 23, 24; Colossians 1:1; 4:7-14—the names common to both are Timothy, Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke; Tychicus and Jesus the Just are mentioned in the letter to the Colossians alone).

Was Philippians Written Before or After the Others?

The question, then, which I propose to discuss in the following pages is whether the letter to the Philippians should be placed early in the Roman captivity and the three other letters later; or whether conversely the three others were written first, and the Philippian letter afterwards. The latter is the prevailing view among the vast majority of recent writers, German and English, with one or two important exceptions. I shall attempt to show that the arguments generally alleged in its favor will not support the conclusions; while on the other hand there are reasons for placing Philippians early and the three other letters late, which in the absence of any decisive evidence on the other side must be regarded as weighty.

Arguments for Its Later Date Stated and Examined

The arguments in favor of the later date of the Philippian letter, as compared with the other three, are drawn from four considerations: (1) from the progress of Christianity in Rome, as exhibited in this letter; (2) from a comparison of the names of St. Paul's associates mentioned in the different letters; (3) from the length of time required for the communications between Philippi and Rome; (4) from the circumstances of St. Paul's imprisonment. These arguments will be considered in order.

It is evident that the Christians in Rome form a large and important body when the letter to the Philippians is written. The Gospel has gained a foothold even in the imperial palace. The chains of the apostle Paul have become known not only "throughout the whole palace guard" but "to everyone else" (Philippians 1:13). There is a marvelous activity among the disciples of the new faith: "In every way . . . Christ is preached" (Philippians 1:18). All this, it is argued, requires a very considerable lapse of time.

This argument has to a great extent been met already (see above, page 41). It is highly probable, as I have endeavored to show, that St. Paul found a flourishing though unorganized church when he arrived in Rome. The state of things exhibited in the letter to the Romans, the probable growth of Christianity in the interval, the fact of his finding a group of worshipers even at Puteoli, combine to support this inference. It has been suggested also (and reasons will be given hereafter for this suggestion) that "those who belong to Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:22) were, at least in some cases, not St. Paul's converts after his arrival but older disciples already confessing Christ. And again, if when he wrote he could already count many followers among the soldiers of the palace guard, it is here especially that we might expect to see the earliest and most striking results of his preaching, for with these soldiers he was forced to hold close and uninterrupted communication day and night from the very first.

Nor must the expression that his "chains" had become known to "everyone else" among the Roman people be rigorously pressed. It is contrary to all sound rules of interpretation to look for statistical precision in words uttered in the fullness of gratitude and hope. The force of the expression must be measured by the apostle's language elsewhere. In writing to the Thessalonians, for instance, only a few months after they have heard the first tidings of the Gospel, he expresses his joy: "The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere" (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

Indeed this very passage in the Philippian letter, which has been taken to favor a later date because it announces the progress of the Gospel in Rome, appears much more natural if written soon after his arrival. The condition of things which it describes is novel and exceptional. It is evidently the first awakening of dormant influences for good or evil, the stirring up of latent emotions of love, emulation, strife, godless jealousy and godly zeal, by the presence of the great apostle among the Christians of Rome. This is hardly the language he would have used after he had spent two whole years in the city when the antagonism of enemies and the devotion of friends had settled down into a routine of hatred or affection. Nor is the form of the announcement such as might be expected in a letter addressed so long after his arrival to correspondents with whom he had been in constant communication meanwhile.

The argument drawn from the names of St. Paul's associates is as follows. We learn from the Acts that the apostle was accompanied on his voyage to Rome by Luke and Aristarchus (Acts 27:2). Now their names occur in the greetings of the letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (Colossians ...