Antioch, Philippi, and Rome

One is in Syria. One is in Macedonia. And one is in . . . well, you know where Rome is. 

What you might not know is how these three cities came together to produce one of the most beautiful and moving letters in all of literature. I'm talking about The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians.

An 'epistle' was a genre of ancient letter-writing that was usually formal, beautiful, and often pedagogical or didactic in nature. This simply means that the epistles were usually instructional and intended for teaching. Because they were intended to be read publicly, they were written in a formal fashion. In the New Testament many of the Church's teachings and beliefs are contained in them, as well as practical precepts for daily living. The epistles make up the majority of the individual books found in the Christian canon.

                                                         

Usually read aloud in the worship service and then passed around from congregation to congregation, these letters eventually became a part of our New Testament. The one addressed to the 'saints at Philippi' is among the most beautiful.

It is a 'thank-you' letter. It was dictated (most likely) by Paul to Timothy in response to a gift sent to Paul by the Church at Philippi--a gift sent by the hand of a young Greek man named Epaphroditus. The gift would have been a sort of care packet, likely consisting of monetary and other support to take care of Paul's needs while he was in prison in Rome. The likely date of the letter is 60 AD.

In prison? In Rome? What crime had the Apostle committed that he should be incarcerated in Rome?

Well, none really.

You see, Paul had been falsely accused while in Jerusalem, had a mob incited against him, and was about to become the victim of vigilante 'justice' when he was rescued by some Roman soldiers. After enduring several trials and being detained for political reasons in spite of the fact that he had done no wrong, Paul was forced to appeal his case to Caesar to keep from being given back to his false accusers where he likely would have had his life ended in a premature fashion.

So Paul finds himself, after many years, in a Roman prison. Here he receives the gifts sent to him by the Church at Philippi.

And Antioch? Well, Antioch is where it all started. You see, Paul had been commissioned and sent out of the Church at Antioch, along with Silas, to confirm the churches in Asia Minor (which had been planted during Paul's first missionary journey) and then spread the gospel to new lands. This is known to us as Paul's second missionary journey. Along the way they picked up Timothy, a young man probably converted on that first missionary journey. Timothy would be Paul's companion in gospel ministry for many years.

It was after confirming these early Gentile churches that Paul was guided by a heavenly vision to take the gospel into Macedonia. 

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:9-10 ESV)

So they went. And the second city they came to was Philippi where, after some time spent preaching the gospel, as well as some opposition, a church was born--a church that would send help by the hand of Epaphroditus to Paul in Rome. And now you know how Antioch, Philippi, and Rome collaborated, so to speak, to help bring us the book of Philippians.