18 Praying always with all I may speak boldly, as I ought prayer and supplication in the to speak. Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and sup-know my affairs, and how I do, plication for all saints;

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein

21 But that ye also may

Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:

22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

19. And for me, &c. See note on 2 Cor. i. 11. T Open my mouth boldly. Paul was not accustomed to withhold his testimony; on the contrary he declared all the counsel of God, without fear; and this he had done specially at Ephesus. See Acts xx. 17-27. He

his life was in peril; yet he determined to be faithful to the end, and he sought encouragement to faithfulness through the prayers of his brethren.

that heretics and schismatics lay to wound and gall you, and hinder your progress. Fourthly, faith, or the believing both the promises of Christ to all reformed penitents and the threats to all impenitent, sensual persons; which will keep temptations from entering, and be able to allay the pleas-was now deprived of his liberty, and ures of those sensual baits proposed to you either by Satan or any other tempter, which, like poisoned darts, will wound you to death, if the consideration of your duty, the promises and terrors of Christ, received by your faith, do not help to quench them. Fifthly, the hope of salvation, which may serve as an helmet, Isa. lix. 17, to bear off any blow (at least secure you from any hurt of it) that can light upon you. And, sixthly, the Spirit, that is, the word of God, which may serve as a sword to assault the assailants and destroy them, to slay all that is temptation in them, by proposing to the Christian much stronger motives to obedience than the world can afford to the contrary." — - Hammond.

18. Praying always, &c. Christians should cherish a constant spirit of prayer. See note on Rom. i. 9. They will thus be more sensible whence their help cometh, and will more confidently expect it. T In the Spirit. See note on Rom. viii. 26. T Supplication for all saints. Our Lord prayed for his disciples first, and then for the whole race of man. John ch. xvii.; and his apostle exhorts that "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.' 1 Tim. ii. 1.

20. An ambassador in bonds. There is something peculiarly interesting in the apostle's language here. The person of an ambassador was regarded as sacred, and exempt from arrest. But Paul, an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ, was confined at Rome as a state prisoner, ch. iii. 1. He had freedom of speech, Acts xxviii. 30, 31, and desired the sympathy and prayers of his brethren that he might bear open testimony to the truth.

21. "We learn from Acts xx. 4, that Tychicus was of Asia, and that he was a useful companion of St. Paul. The same person, and with the same character and commendation, is mentioned in Col. iv. 7; also in Tit. iii. 12, and 2 Tim. iv. 12; from all places it is evident that he was a person in whom the apostle had the highest confidence, and that he was a very eminent minister of Christ." - Clarke.

22. Whom I have sent, &c. It is supposed that he was the bearer of this epistle, and commissioned to impart all necessary information concerning the apostle's welfare, during his imprisonment.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

CHAPTER I.

AUL and Timotheus, the

PAUL
servants of Jesus Christ, to

all the saints in Christ Jesus
which are at Philippi, with the
bishops and deacons :

2 Grace be unto you, and

CHAPTER I.

peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

5 For your fellowship in the

almost exclusively with commendations of the faith and good conduct of the Philippian Christians, and with expressions of thankfulness for their kindness and generosity to him.

Philippi was one of the chief cities in Macedonia, and enjoyed the privileges of a Roman colony. See note on Acts xvi. 12. In that city Paul preached the gospel, and was scourged 1. Paul and Timotheus. See note and imprisoned. His prison doors on 1 Cor. i. 1. Timothy was a fawere miraculously opened, and the vorite disciple of Paul; see note on keeper of the prison was converted by Rom. xvi. 21; and it seems peculiarly the display of divine power. See proper that his name should be thus Acts, ch. xvi. Paul visited Philippi used in the salutation, because he a second time, accompanied by the accompanied Paul on both his visits representatives of several churches. to the brethren at Philippi. Acts xvi. Acts XX. 1-6. "The plain be-1-13; xx. 1-6. T To all the saints. tween Hæmus and Pangæus is the Christians. See note on Eph. i. 1. plain of Philippi, where the last T Bishops. Or, overseers. See note on battle was lost by the republicans Acts xx. 28. T Deacons. See note of Rome, and now a Jewish apostle on Acts vi. 3. came to the same place, to win a greater victory than that of Philippi, and to found a more durable empire than that of Augustus. It is a fact of deep significance, that the first city at which St. Paul arrived, on his entrance into Europe, should be that colony, which was more fit than any other in the empire to be considered the representative of Imperial Rome."- Conybeare. This epistle is supposed to have been written at Rome, near the close of Paul's imprisonment, which continued "two whole years." Acts xxviii. 30. In other epistles, Paul had occasion to administer reproof; but this is filled

2. Grace be to you, &c. on Rom. i. 7.

See note

3-5. I thank my God, &c. Paul assures his brethren that they shared so largely in his affections, on account of their faith and obedience to the gospel, that they were always present in his mind when he offered thanksgivings or supplications, in prayer. Commentators differ in oppinion as to the meaning of fellowship in the gospel, ver. 5. Conybeare translates "in forwarding the glad tidings." Barnes, with apparently good reason, adopts the opinion, that the phrase refers to their liberality in contributing to the support of the

gospel from the first day until

now;

greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 6 Being confident of this very 9 And this I pray, that your thing, that he which hath be- love may abound yet more and gun a good work in you will more in knowledge and in all perform it until the day of Je-judgment; sus Christ:

10 That ye may approve

7 Even as it is meet for me things that are excellent; that to think this of you all, because ye may be sincere and without I have you in my heart; inas-offence till the day of Christ; much as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

8 For God is my record, how

11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

12 But I would ye should un

gospel, to their participating with kindly administered to me in all those others, or sharing what they had in necessities which I have suffered for common with others, for the main- its sake. Gilpin. Partakers of tenance of the gospel." In like man-my grace. Or, "partakers with me ner Hammond paraphrases: "Your of grace," as in the margin. Paul great liberality towards the propagat- frequently refers to the kindness ing the gospel, which hath been observable in you since your first receiving the faith until this present time." The word KoLvwvía fellowship, is translated contributions, Rom. xv. 26; distribution, 2 Cor. ix. 13; and to communicate, Heb. xiii. 16.

6. He which hath begun, &c. "It was on the fact that it was begun by God that he based his firm conviction that it would be permanent. Had it been the agency of man, he would have had no such conviction, for nothing that man does to-day can lay the foundation of a certain conviction that he will do the same thing to-morrow." Barnes. The day of Jesus Christ. The day when the power of Jesus shall be manifestly displayed. This is sometimes styled the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. See note on 1 Cor. i. 7. The period to which reference is made was then near at hand; and the apostle rejoiced in the belief that his brethren would be preserved by almighty power until it should arrive.

7. Even as it is meet, &c. I have every reason to hope this of you, as through the grace of God you have been partakers with me in defending and confirming the gospel, and have

manifested towards him by the church at Philippi. He had received sympathy when imprisoned, and his bodily wants had been supplied. Ch. iv. 10, 14, 18. He had been encouraged by their steadfastness in the faith and their fruitfulness in good works, feeling confident that his labor had not been in vain.

8.

God is my record, &c. Or, wit-
See note on Rom. i. 9. T The

ness.
bowels of Jesus Christ. See note on
2 Cor. vi. 12.

9. That your love may abound, &c. Love to God their Father, and to mankind their brethren; see Matt. xxii. 34-40; intelligent, judicious love; love for sufficient cause. See 1 John iv. 11, 19.

10. That ye may approve things that are excellent. Or, try or prove things that differ. See note on Rom. ii. 18. Day of Christ. See note on ver. 6.

11. Fruits of righteousness. Together with the generous liberality, mentioned in ver. 7, it is supposed that the apostle here includes the Christian virtues and graces generally; the virtues and graces which are the spontaneous fruit of the Spirit which purifies and sanctifies the heart.

derstand, brethren, that the [in the Lord, waxing confident things which happened unto me by my bonds, are much more have fallen out rather unto the bold to speak the word without furtherance of the gospel; fear.

13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

me.

14 And many of the brethren

12. The things which happened unto

The words which happened, are properly supplied by the translators. The apostle probably refers to what his friends might have supposed disastrous to his success as a preacher of the gospel, as the opposition of the Jews which culminated in his arrest, his appeal to Cæsar, his transportation to Rome, and his confinement there as a state prisoner. All these circumstances, he assures them, conduce to the furtherance, or the more wide and effectual promulgation of the gospel, instead of hindering its progress. T Have fallen out. "Have rather conduced." Haweis. "Have tended rather.". Conybeare.

13. So that my bonds in Christ, &c. Paul was a prisoner, but not secluded from society. He dwelt "in his own hired house," closely attended by "a soldier that kept him." His bodily liberty was restrained, but he was free to preach the gospel, "no man forbidding him." Acts xxviii. 16, 30, 31. In Rome he had access to a vastly greater audience than would have attended his ministry elsewhere, gathered from all parts of the known world, by whom a knowledge of the gospel was conveyed to the remotest lands. His opportunity for disseminating the word of truth through the world was therefore increased rather than diminished by his imprisonment at Rome. His cheerful submission to bonds, for the sake of Christ and his gospel, attracted the notice of those who frequented the "palace," as well as of the common people who visited "all other places" in the vast metropolis. Sympathy is always extended to those who cheerfully endure unjust persecution; and this gave Paul an additional influence.

15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:

16 The one preach Christ of

14. Many of the brethren, &c. Many Christians. At the date of this epistle, many had been converted to Christianity, even in Rome. "The Christians at Rome were numerous before the apostle's arrival; but their number was greatly increased by his preaching, and by the preaching of his assistants. It is no wonder, then, that in all places of the city the real cause of the apostle's imprisonment and the true nature of the gospel were so well known."- Macknight. T Waxing confident by my bonds. They see that what I suffer, I bear patiently, and are stimulated to assist in the work. They see that I incur no additional persecution by preaching the truth openly, and are encouraged to "speak the word without fear." See note on ver. 15.

15. Of envy and strife. "What was the ground of this envy and strife the apostle does not mention. It would seem, however, that even in Rome there was a party which was jealous of the influence of Paul, and which supposed that this was a good opportunity to diminish his influence, and to strengthen their own cause. He was not now at large, so as to be able to meet and confute them. They had access to the mass of the people. It was easy, under plausible pretences, to insinuate hints about the ambitious aims or improper influence of Paul, or to, take strong ground against him and in favor of their own views, and they availed themselves of this opportunity. It would seem most probable, though this is not mentioned, that these persons were Judaizing teachers, professing Christianity, and who supposed that Paul's views were derogatory to the honor of Moses and the law."- Barnes.

16-18. The one preach Christ, &c.