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New Defender's Study Bible Notes

1:1 Timotheus. Paul associated his young disciple Timothy with him in his letter to the church at Philippi probably because Timothy was with him when he first came to Philippi (Acts 16:1,3,11-12). Paul was in prison at Rome when he wrote Philippians (1:12-13), and Timothy apparently had been able to visit him there.


1:1 the servants. Paul did not, in this case, assert his authority as an apostle, as he did when addressing a church with serious problems (e.g., I Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1), perhaps because he had nothing but commendation for the Philippian church. He and Timothy merely called themselves “bondslaves” of Christ.


1:1 Philippi. Philippi was the first city in Europe to hear the gospel and establish a Christian church. See Acts 16:9ff for the account. Paul had made at least one visit there later (Acts 20:1-6). His divine call to Greece was the initial reason why the gospel spread in Europe and not Asia.


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