Brief Summary: Philippians can be called “Resources Through Suffering.” The book is about Christ in our life, Christ in our mind, Christ as our goal, Christ as our strength, and joy through suffering. It was written during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, about thirty years after Christ’s ascension and about ten years after Paul first preached at Philippi.

Paul was Nero’s prisoner, yet the epistle fairly shouts with triumph, the words “joy” and “rejoice” appearing frequently (Philippians 1:4; 2:28; 2:2; 1:18, 25, 26Philippians 3:1; 4:1, 4, 10). Right Christian experience is the outworking, whatever our circumstances may be, of the life, nature, and mind of Christ living in us (Philippians 1:6; 2:5, 13; 1:11). Philippians reaches its pinnacle at 2:5-11 with the glorious and profound declaration regarding the humiliation and exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians may be divided as follows:
Introduction, 1:1-7
I. Christ the Christian’s Life: Rejoicing in Spite of Suffering, 1:8-30
II. Christ the Christian’s Pattern: Rejoicing in Lowly Service, 2:1-30
III. Christ the Object of the Christian’s Faith, Desire, and Expectation, 3:1-21
IV. Christ the Christian’s Strength: Rejoicing Through Anxiety, 4:1-9
Conclusion, 4:10-23

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