About This Book

Philippians is Paul’s warm and personal letter to a church that has stood with him in the gospel. Written from imprisonment, it is marked by gratitude, affection, and a steady confidence that Christ will build and keep his people. Paul writes to strengthen a congregation facing pressure from outside and tensions within, and he does so by setting their eyes on Christ, whose grace reshapes both their joy and their life together.

The letter moves between report and exhortation, but its centre is clear. Paul frames his chains as an advance of the gospel and calls the church to a manner of life worthy of Christ (ch.1). He presses unity through humble, self giving love, grounded in the pattern of Christ’s humility and exaltation (ch.2). He then warns against confidence in the flesh, setting true righteousness and true progress in knowing Christ and pressing toward the goal (ch.3). The closing chapter gathers themes of peace, contentment, generosity, and perseverance, offering a pastoral picture of a church learning to rejoice in the Lord always (ch.4).

Philippians trains the church to rejoice in Christ, to pursue humble unity, and to endure suffering with a hope that cannot be shaken.

Preach this letter by keeping Christ’s person and work at the centre, especially ch.2, and apply with tenderness, because Paul is forming a joyful, resilient church culture under pressure.

Structure of the Book

This outline follows the letter’s main movements and is designed to help you plan a series with clear progress.

1. Partnership in the gospel and confidence in God’s work
   Thanksgiving, prayer, and assurance that God completes what he begins, ch.1
2. Christ proclaimed, suffering reframed
   Paul’s imprisonment, gospel advance, and the call to live worthy of Christ, ch.1
3. Unity through Christlike humility
   One mind and one love, with Christ’s humiliation and exaltation as the model and motive, ch.2
4. Faithful examples for a faithful church
   Timothy and Epaphroditus as illustrations of gospel shaped service, ch.2
5. Joy and warning against false confidence
   Guarding the gospel, rejecting righteousness by the flesh, and boasting only in Christ, ch.3
6. Pressing on and living as citizens of heaven
   True growth, future hope, and a Christ centred identity, ch.3
7. Peace, contentment, and generous partnership
   Practical exhortations and the grace of God sustaining the church, ch.4

Key Themes

• Joy in the Lord, Christian joy is rooted in Christ, not in circumstances, and can flourish even in suffering.
• Gospel partnership, the church shares in gospel work through prayer, support, and steadfast witness.
• Christ’s humility and exaltation, the pattern of Christ shapes the church’s mindset, worship, and unity.
• Unity and humility, the church grows in one minded love by putting self interest to death and serving one another.
• Suffering and courage, opposition becomes a context for faithful witness and deeper reliance on God.
• Righteousness by faith, confidence in the flesh is rejected, and righteousness is found in Christ alone.
• Sanctification as pressing on, growth is pictured as pursuit, perseverance, and steady progress toward the goal.
• Heavenly citizenship, believers belong to another kingdom and await the Saviour who will transform them.
• Peace and contentment, the Lord’s nearness steadies anxious hearts, and Christ strengthens believers in every circumstance.

Recommended Commentaries

Philippians benefits from a commentary that can keep its pastoral warmth and theological depth together. A clear main volume will help you trace Paul’s argument and tone, while an additional voice can be especially helpful in ch.2 where Christ’s humiliation and exaltation must be handled with precision and reverence.

• Paul’s Letter To The Philippiansby Gordon D. Fee, Score: 9.0

  A rigorous and trusted exposition of Philippians that continues to serve pastors and scholars alike.

• The Message of Philippiansby Alec Motyer, Score: 8.8

  A joyful, text driven exposition of Philippians that serves preachers, teachers and thoughtful lay readers very well.

• Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians and Philemonby William Hendrickson, Score: 8.4

  A warm, spiritually alert exposition that serves both study and devotion with steady insight.

Browse all Philippians reviews

Extra help is often most useful in ch.2 for Christology and pastoral application, and in ch.3 where Paul’s contrast between flesh and faith, and his language of pressing on, requires careful explanation.

Preaching and Teaching Helps

Philippians is approachable and beloved, yet it demands careful handling to keep its joy from becoming sentiment and its commands from becoming moralism.

• Define joy biblically, show how Paul’s rejoicing is anchored in Christ, the gospel, and God’s providence.
• Preach unity realistically, connect exhortations to humility with the real pressures and frictions of church life.
• Handle ch.2 with doctrinal care, teach Christ’s humility and exaltation with clarity, reverence, and a steady link to discipleship.
• Explain the warnings wisely, passages in ch.3 can be misread as harsh, so show Paul’s pastoral aim to protect assurance and purity of faith.
• Apply contentment carefully, distinguish Christian contentment from stoicism, and keep Christ as the source of strength.
• Use the examples well, Timothy and Epaphroditus are not heroes for admiration only but patterns of gospel shaped service.

This Book in the Story of Scripture

Philippians stands in the stream of the gospel’s advance from Jerusalem to the nations, showing what it looks like for a church to live as a colony of heaven in a pagan city. The letter keeps the storyline centred on Christ, the humble Servant who is now the exalted Lord, and it shows that the life of the church is shaped by his cross and resurrection as the gospel moves outward through suffering and witness.

The book forms assurance and worship by lifting Christ high and strengthening confidence that God finishes his work in his people. It shapes holiness and mission by calling the church to shine as lights, to contend for the faith with courage, and to cultivate unity that displays the gospel. It teaches believers to endure hardship with joy, to pray rather than panic, and to give generously as partners in gospel ministry.

Because Christ humbled himself and is now exalted, the church can rejoice, serve one another in love, and stand firm in hope until the day he brings his people home.