by Donald C. Fleming

Philippians

BACKGROUND

At the time of writing this letter, Paul was being held prisoner (Philippians 1:13), but the letter does not specify the location of his imprisonment. Over the course of his Christian service Paul was imprisoned many times (2 Corinthians 11:23), though the only places of imprisonment mentioned in the biblical record are Philippi (Acts 16:23), Jerusalem (Acts 22:23-30), Caesarea (Acts 24:23-27) and Rome (Acts 28:16; Acts 28:30). Paul could have written his letter to the Philippians from one of several places, but if that place was one of the cities mentioned above, the most likely is Rome. (See map located in the commentary on Acts.)

Paul and the Philippian church

Philippi was an important city in the province of Macedonia in the north of Greece. It was one of the select cities that the Romans established as colonies, which were centres of Roman life in a non-Roman world (Acts 16:12). Paul first visited the region during his second missionary journey, and the church in Philippi was the first church that he established in Europe (Acts 16:11-40). He visited it twice during his third missionary journey (Acts 20:1-6), and seems to have retained a special affection for it (Philippians 1:8; Philippians 4:1; Philippians 4:18).

After his third missionary journey and subsequent arrest in Jerusalem, Paul was sent to Rome to present his case to Caesar. He was imprisoned in Rome for two years (Acts 28:16; Acts 28:30), and possibly wrote his letter to the Philippian church towards the end of that time.