"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6, NIV)
Like many, I was given a handful of "key memory verses" to help me deal with the challenges facing Christian growth and sanctification. One such verse was Philippians 1:6. In this text, we're told that the "good work" refers to holiness that God started in us from the moment of salvation, which He will be faithful to continue to grow in us for the remainder of our lives until the Day of Christ's Second Coming when all such need to do so will end.
Conceptually and theologically, this is true. God did bring the work of sanctification in us from the moment of salvation and indeed He will be faithful to grow us in Christ until our death or the Second Coming. But just because it's a truth, does that mean this is what Philippians 1:6 is saying?
Briefly, I will argue otherwise. I believe Philippians 1:6 (indeed, all of Philippians) is in the context of Paul writing essentially a missionary support letter to the sole church who has supported him throughout his ministry.
"... as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel,
when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter
of giving and receiving, except you only" (Philippians 4:15)
Of course, as the pastor he also has much to say to the church in terms of exhortation, encouragement, and teaching. But beginning and end, Philippians is about Paul's personal relationship with this faithful church. Like a good missionary prayer letter, he thanks them for their support (1:4-8) and describes for them the ways God has been using him (and where their support is going towards) (1:12-14). Paul makes personal comments regarding his ministry (2:12-18), as well as remarks regarding faithful servants like Timothy (2:19-24) and Epaphroditus (2:25-30). He delves into his personal conversion (3:1-11) and ongoing growth (3:12-16). Even Paul's exhortations are all couched in personal reflections.
Going back to 4:15, notice that the Philippians were the only church who "shared" with Paul "in the matter of giving and receiving." What's Paul talking about? Financial support. Sure, they did more than just donate money; prayers, gifts, ministry volunteers/ co-workers, and personal corerspondences were undoubtedly all a part of how they supported Paul. But financial support is the main concept in view.
Like any good missionary, Paul never comes out and says, "Hey, guys, thanks for the money!" Why? It just sounds too crass, especially for something as elevatingly spiritual as missions work. Today's missionaries will use similar euphemisms like: "support," "gift," "encouragement," "blessing," etc. all to speak of money without having to speak of money. Paul does that, too.
Verse 15 has two such euphemisms: "sharing" and "the matter of giving and receiving". Verse 16 describes money as "aid". Verse 17 calls it "a gift." Verse 18 uses two worship terms: "fragrant offering" and "acceptable sacrifice".
To validate that money is in view, note the numerous other "financial" terms used in the text: "credited to your account" (v. 17); "full payment" (v. 18); "glorious riches" (v. 19).
In short shrift, what Paul is telling the Philippians is that due to their generous financial giving, God will reward them generously in heaven (perhaps in a way on earth as well). This discussion of giving in ch. 4 is a continuation of a discussion that began in ch. 1:
"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy,
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philppians 1:4-5)
Paul begins his "missionary prayer letter" by recalling how they were in "partnership" with Paul in his Gospel ministry. How were they partners? Did they accompany him in his mission trips? Perhaps. But as ch. 4 tells us, it is their support of him "in the matter of giving and receiving" that was their part, as is true for churches today. Paul sees his financial supporters as his partners in ministry; they reap part of what Paul reaps in his ministry. Even "partnership"here might be a kind of euphemism for "money" or "financial support" as in ch. 4.
Verse 6, naturally, contains yet another euphemism:
"he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus"
The "good work" is their finanicial support. Paul is saying, "I'm confident that the Lord who stirred up the conviction to support me amongst you will continue to stir up that conviction!" Now since Paul, like his contemporaries, fully believed that Jesus could and would return in their lifetime, he didn't see his death as the end of his ministry but the Parousia, the Second Coming, "the day of Christ Jesus."
So far from being a promise of sanctification, the "you" of Philippians 1:6 is properly the Philippians themselves and the "good work" that God began amongst the church members was the financial support of his Gospel ministry, that which made them--in Paul's eyes--partners in his misssionary ministry.
A proper application from the Philippians 1:6 text is for a church to use it as an evaluation of its own commitment to supporting the work of missions. Is your church like the Philippians who faithfully support the work of the Gospel? Or like the other churches of Paul's day who abandoned him in the face of external pressures? If the church is faithful to support missions, the exhortation of 1:6 is apt to encourage the church to continue the partnership, better yet, expand them to include more giving, more missionaries to support.
No doubt God will continue to work sanctification in all of us. But let us let go of this text as the affirmation or promise of such a thing. This text is reserved for missions and the support of missions work.
No comments:
Post a Comment