Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We've been reading the Bible clear through this year. We are finishing the New Testament, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:
Father,
When the fullness of time had come, you sent your Word in the One who said, “Whoever sees me, sees the Father.” No revelation can surpass this until Jesus comes again. By your gift, the Church continues to receive unfathomable riches from the inheritance handed on from the Apostles and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.
Let the Spirit who inspired the writing of today's pages "guide me in the truth and teach me" to follow Jesus ever more closely, until he calls me to follow him to the Kingdom where he lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Today's chapters are Philippians 1-3.
Philippians is the Epistle of Joy; the word itself springs out from the second sentence, when Paul testifies that he prays "with joy" for the beloved community of Philippi, the first fruits of Europe for Jesus Christ. The words "joy" or "rejoice" will appear another 15 times in the letter, sometimes twice in the same phrase. If the Corinthians sometimes had Paul tearing his hair out (1 Cor 4:21), and the Galatians put him "back in labor pains" (Gal 4:19), the Philippians were the community that brought him the most consolation. They were, you remember, the only community from whom he accepted material support, so sure was he that the gift was made without any undertones of manipulation or pressure. The Philippians demonstrate a real appreciation for his predicament, too: Paul's imprisonment means that he cannot support himself with manual labor (Roman jails did not provide meal service!).
Every one of Paul's letters contains spiritual and theological treasures, and Philippians, as short as it is, is an especially rich mine. The centerpiece of our reading today is a hymn which some scholars believe may have originated in Philippi itself, though Michael Gorman points out that it hews with absolute fidelity to the stylistic pattern that was used in 2 Cor 8:9 and shows up in numerous other places in Paul's letters. The canticle of Christ's "self-emptying" (kenosis) presents Jesus as "in the form of God" (i.e. equal to God) but, unlike Adam, Jesus did not grasp this treasure jealously to himself. The Greek is very challenging and translated all sorts of ways, but Paul is clearly referring to Adam's response to the Tempter's insinuation, "You shall be like God" (see Gen 3:5). Not only did Jesus "empty himself" of his divine prerogatives by becoming human, he went even further. Adam refused obedience to a simple command; Christ became "obedient even to the point of death...on the Cross." And just as in 2 Corinthians, this occasioned a great reversal accomplished by the Father. When Paul says that God "bestowed on him [Jesus] the Name above every other name," we should all gasp in wonder that the humanity of Jesus is itself divinized, and the Divine Name (which could not even be pronounced except by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies of the Temple once a year) belongs to a man who died at the hands of the Romans. There's also a bit of civic heresy in the conclusion: "Jesus Christ is LORD" means "Caesar is not" (no matter what the inscription on the coinage said).
But this is not just about Jesus! In Chapter 3, Paul (as usual!) applies the great mystery he has sung about to himself, so the community can see, concretely, how to imitate Christ's self-emptying. He uses the same pattern, demonstrating first his own advantages: not equality with God, certainly, but from the perspective of a community inclined to admire Mosaic customs, Paul had a pristine Abrahamic background, impressive education, and an irreproachable public record. But he, too, emptied himself, letting it all go for the sake of Christ Jesus "my Lord." And though he has not yet experienced the reversal, he looks forward with hope to "what lies ahead." He already knows how God works, for he discovered the "pattern" established in Jesus. After the self-emptying and configuration to Christ's suffering and death will come participation in "the power of his resurrection"!
Start reading here.
N.T. Wright's Paul: A Biography is the book I would recommend to someone who wanted to read one (only one) book that combined the life and letters of St Paul. Written by a noted Scripture, this is a flowing narrative that is scripturally enlightening and historically sound. Wright gives the reader a way of following Paul through the Acts of the Apostles and the writing of his letters, making Paul the person that much more approachable, and the letters themselves more readable as a result of having a social and historical context.
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