Philippians "To The Saints And The Faithful"
The greetings/introductions to each of the New Testament books reveal who Jesus is, His leaders are, and who the church is individually-collective, and this blog series is to help us understand how that allows God’s people to receive revelation into a deeper relational existence than they had prior to knowing this amazing map of our journey that He has given to us.
The letter to the Philippians greeting is, “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
There are two updates to Paul’s greeting in Philippians beyond what has already been said in previous greetings in the New Testament, and the first one is, “the servants of Jesus Christ,” Paul had referred to himself as an apostle and now takes his humility to the next level in a greeting. God’s maturing people in the faith realize that the greatest position available is to serve in a larger capacity. The kingdom of God is in opposition to the earthly kingdom in almost every way. In the earthly kingdom people desire to rise to the top to have people serve them, and in the kingdom of God people rise to the top to serve more people.
The second phrase Philippians introduces into the greetings is, “with the bishops and deacons:” The is a bold statement introducing the church leadership being referred to in a greeting. People who are matured to this level of revelational relation in God typically meet the requirements of bishops and deacons, and that is the reason for Paul introducing it in this greeting.
God has this incredible map for His people, and He shares it with them as He knows they can receive it. Continue following the series and find out how amazing the journey can be.
Tomorrow’s blog is Colossians which states, “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” thereby differentiating the levels of maturity and trust that are given to the saints and the long term faithful members in the church.
