Thankful for You
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Philippi
12 min read
The article discusses the letter to Philippians and describes Philippi as 'an utterly gorgeous colony not far from a decline down to the northern tip of a beautiful Aegean Sea.' Understanding the historical Roman colony, its location, and significance would provide rich context for why Paul wrote to this specific community.
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Slavery in ancient Rome
15 min read
The article extensively discusses Paul and Timothy calling themselves 'slaves of Christ Jesus' and explains how slave status derived from the owner's status in Roman society. Understanding Roman slavery provides crucial context for why this self-identification was both humble and paradoxically elevating.
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Canonical hours
11 min read
The article references that Paul's 'every time I remember you' relates to 'the common spiritual practice of praying what we today call the hours of prayer' - the Jewish practice of fixed prayer times. This historical practice illuminates the rhythm of early Christian devotional life.
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From Philippians in the Everyday Bible Study. Questions by Becky Castle Miller.
Philippians 1:1-11
1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Imagine two things as you read this passage. First, imagine the first two verses written on the front of an envelope. Those verses inform us of the sender and address as our envelopes do today. Second, imagine someone reading this letter aloud to the house churches in Philippi – in fact, not just reading but performing the letter in such a manner that you suddenly find yourself thinking you see Paul and Timothy and not the person standing there reading it. It is the reader’s voice, but you hear Paul and Timothy. Timothy often occurs at the top of Paul’s letters.[1] Not only are you hearing them, but you are feeling every word of the letter because the reader has so mastered the letter that he’s (or she’s) not even looking at it. She’s (or he’s) memorized it and you know the reader is even adlibbing at times to make it all very clear just for
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