11-7 강의자료) The Bible Project 빌립보서 영어해설

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빌립보서 영어해설

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE9qqW1-BkU

Paul's letter to the Philippians the

church in Philippi I was the first Jesus

community Paul started in Eastern Europe

and that story is told in Acts chapter 16

Philip I was a Roman colony in ancient

Macedonia it was full of retired

soldiers and it was known for its

patriotic nationalism and so there Paul

faced resistance when he was announcing

Jesus as the true king of the world and

after Paul moved on from there those who

became followers of Jesus continued to

suffer resistance and even persecution

but they remained a vibrant community

faithful to the way of Jesus Paul sent

this letter from one of his many

imprisonments and for a very practical

reason the Philippians had sent one of

their members of password itís to take

a financial gift to Paul to support him

in prison and paul sent back this letter

with the password itís to say thank you

and to do a whole lot more the design of

this letter doesn't develop one single

idea from beginning to end like many of

Paul's other letters rather Paul has

arranged a series of short reflective

essays or vignette and they all revolve

around the center of gravity in this

letter which is a poem in chapter 2 it

artistically retells the story of the

Messiah's incarnation his life death

resurrection and exaltation and then in

each of these vignettes Paul will take

up key words or ideas from that poem to

show how living as a Christian means

seeing your own story as a lived

expression‎ of Jesus story so open the

letter with the prayer of gratefulness

and he thanks God for the Philippians

generosity for their faithfulness and he

expresses his confidence that the

life-transforming work that God has

begun in them will continue into greater

and more beautiful expressions of

faithfulness and love and Paul then

focuses on their obvious concern at the

moment which is his status in prison

being in a Roman prison was no picnic

but paradoxically has turned out for

good to advance the good news about

Jesus

so all of the Roman guards the

administrators they all know that Paul's

in prison for announcing Jesus as the

risen Lord and his imprisonment it's

inspired confidence and other Christians

to talk about Jesus more openly

and Paul's optimistic that he will be

released from prison but it's possible

that he could be executed and as he

reflects on it that actually wouldn't be

so bad because for me Paul says life is

the Messiah and so dying would be again

for Paul his life in the present and in

the future it's defined by the life and

love of Jesus for him and so if he's

executed that means who will be present

with Jesus which would be great for him

and if he is released

well that would mean he could keep

working to start more Jesus communities

which would be better for other people

and so that's what he hopes for and

notice how his train of thought works

here dying for Jesus is not the true

sacrifice for Paul rather it's staying

alive to serve others and so that's

Paul's way of participating in the story

of Jesus to suffer in order to love

others more than himself while then

turns to the Philippians and the urges

them to participate in Jesus's example

by taking up the same mindset he says

your life as citizens should be

consistent with the good news about the

Messiah so these Christians Philip I

they were living in a hotbed of Roman

patriotism but their way of life was to

be shaped by another king jesus and that

might bring persecution but they are not

to be afraid because suffering for being

associated with Jesus it's a way of

living out the story of Jesus himself

which leads Paul into the great palm of

chapter 2 it's rich with echoes of Old

Testament text specifically the story of

Adam and his rebellion in Genesis 13 and

the poems about the suffering servant in

the Book of Isaiah this poem is worth

committing to memory it is a beautifully

condensed version of the Gospel story so

before becoming human the Messiah

pre-existed in a state of glory and

equality with God and unlike Adam who

tried to seize equality with God the

Messiah chose not to exploit his equal

status for his self advantage rather he

emptied himself of status he became a

human he became a servant to all and

even more than that he allowed himself

to be humiliated he was obedient to the

Father by going to his death on a roll

an execution rack but through God's

power and grace the Messiah's shameful

death has been reversed through the

resurrection and now God has highly

exalted Jesus as the king of all

bestowing upon him the name that is

above all names so that all creation

should recognize that Jesus the Messiah

is Lord to the glory of God the Father

that last statement is astounding

Paul's quoting from Isaiah chapter 45

it's a passage where all creation comes

to recognize the God of Israel as Lord

Paul's point here is very clear in the

crucified and risen jesus we discover

that the one true God of Israel consists

of God the Father and the Lord Jesus and

so for Apollo this poem it expresses his

convictions about who Jesus is and it

does more it offers the example of Jesus

as a way of life that his followers are

to imitate and so that's why Paul

immediately goes on to tell two stories

first about Timothy then about a

password itís because they are both

examples of people living out Jesus

story so Timothy's like Jesus because

he's constantly concerned for the

well-being of other people more than his

own and Aphrodite us who the Philippian

sent with their gift he ended up risking

his life to serve Paul in prison he got

so sick he almost died trying to help

Paul but God had mercy on him and Paul

by sparing him the loss of a friend of

Paul's point here is that these are the

kinds of people who are living breathing

examples of the story of Jesus and they

are worthy of imitation call them turns

to his own story as an example so those

Christians who had been demanding

circumcision of non Jewish Christians

remember his letter to the Galatians

these people are still stirring up

trouble for Paul and they keep reminding

him of his own past when he used to

persecute Jesus followers when he tried

to show his right standing before God by

his zealous obedience to the laws of the

Torah but like Jesus Paul has given up

all of that status and privilege he now

regards all of it as filled and the word

he used this is actually much less

polite he's giving it all up to become a

sir

event like Jesus to participate in his

suffering and sacrificial love and he

does all of it in the hope that jesus is

love we'll carry him through death and

out the other side into resurrection

so Paul says that for followers of Jesus

their true citizenship is in heaven

which for Paul does not mean that we

should all hope to get away from Earth

and go to heaven one day rather heaven

is the transcendent place where jesus

reigns as king and he says we're eagerly

awaiting our royal savior to come from

there in return here to bring his

kingdom of healing justice and

transforming love to bring about a new

creation

well then challenges the Philippians to

keep living out the Jesus story he first

addresses too prominent women leaders in

the church who worked alongside Paul and

they're in some kind of conflict and so

Paul pleads with them to follow Jesus

example of humility to reconcile and

become unified well then urges the

Philippians not to give in to fear but

despite their persecution to vent all of

their emotions and their needs to God

who will give them peace and that piece

Paul says it comes by focusing your

thoughts on what is good and true and

lovely there's always something that you

could complain about but a follower of

jesus knows that all of life is a gift

and can choose to see beauty and grace

in any life circumstance which leads

Paul to his conclusion again thanks to

Philippians for their sacrificial gift

and he wants them to know that his

imprisonment that his times of poverty

that these are not true hardships for

him

they've actually become his greatest

teachers showing him that no matter his

circumstances he has learned the secret

of contentment

it's simple dependence on the one who

strengthens him Paul has come to see his

own suffering is a participation in the

story of Jesus the letter to the

Philippians gives us a unique window

into Paul's own heart and mind he saw

his entire life as a reenactment of the

story of Jesus and you can sense in this

letter his close connection to Jesus is

awareness that jesus is love and

presence is closer than his own skin and

that's what gave him hope and humility

in his darkest

hours so Paul shows us that knowing

Jesus is always a deeply personal

transforming encounter and that's the

kind of Jesus that Paul invite others to

follow and that's what Paul's letter to

the Philippians is all about

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