Paul and Timothy, (bond) servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:1-2.)

The Theme of This Book
In our last article, we began looking at some of the themes that are woven into the fabric of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. For centuries now, commentators have tried to pin down one theme in this short letter. Their attempts have been—for the most part—in vain. There are numerous themes such as, joy, peace, the pre-incarnate Christ, and a host of others.

For the sake of clarity and simplicity, let me state that the overlapping and overarching themes that we will find again and again are: the life of joy and the life of peace. In these themes, we find the apostle describing how Christians triumph over the various circumstances of life and how they can learn the secret of living happily and harmoniously together to the glory of God. Like other letters from Paul, he emphasizes the love of the Father, our redemption through Jesus Christ, and life in the power and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

It’s important to keep in mind that Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote this letter.[1] In spite of the fact that he was incarcerated, this letter breathes the spirit of joy and peace in Christ. This begs the questions: Why did Paul have such joy and peace while he was in prison? What was the secret that allowed him to have such an inward disposition that led to outward joy and peace? This is all the more important since we often face untenable situations and if we’re candid, we have to admit that we question what our particular circumstance has to do with our sanctification or God’s love for us. So why could Paul write as he did?

The simple answer is that Paul was filled to overflowing with Christ. We can see this most noticeably in the sheer number of times he speaks the name of our Lord. In the first chapter alone, the names “Christ” or “Jesus” occur seventeen times. To put this more in perspective, this means that in the first chapter the names occur once every two verses!

In addition, Paul mentions the word “joy” several times in this letter, which is one of the reasons it has become known as the “letter of joy.” Nevertheless, the mentioning of the word “joy” is greatly overshadowed by the number of times Paul mentions the Lord Jesus. He longed to know Christ well and intimately. Paul was a brilliant thinker and philosopher. He was well educated and, as a Pharisee, had attained a high place in Jewish society. He knew the law of God well but counted all these things as loss “for the surpassing knowledge of knowing Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

All Christians need to be reminded of this truth. We are meant to be filled with Christ, and being filled with him, also to be filled with love, joy, and

[1] I have examined all the arguments for Caesarea and Ephesus as possible places of origin and find the Rome imprisonment to be the most convincing.