Scripture Daily

Context No. 734 of 4322 · Philippians

Context · Reflection

Philippians 1:1-8: in context

1Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3I thank my God whenever I remember you, 4always in every request of mine on behalf of you all, making my requests with joy, 5for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now; 6being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 7It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.

Philippians is a letter Paul writes from prison, and it is the warmest thing he ever put on paper. He opens with Timothy beside him, greeting the church at Philippi, the congregation that had loved and supported him longest, and the thanksgiving pours out. I thank my God every time I remember you, he says, always praying for you with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. He is in chains, and the note he strikes is gratitude and joy, and a longing for them that he says comes from the very affection of Christ.

In the middle of that warmth sits a promise many people have held onto since. I am confident of this, Paul says, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. The work of grace in a person is not something they started and must somehow finish, and not something God can be counted on to abandon halfway. God began it, and God will complete it. Paul can be so sure of it that he stakes his joy on it, even from a cell, for people he cannot visit: the unfinished ones he loves are in the hands of the One who does not leave his work undone.

Paul was certain that the good work God began in his friends, God would finish. When I look at how unfinished I still am, do I believe the One who started the work means to complete it?

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