Philippians: Greetings from Paul and Timothy
Philippians 1:1-2 - We are all saints in Christ Jesus (but only in Him).
“Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:1-2 NASB1995
The greeting in this letter is different than some of the other epistles. Paul is not writing to the members of the church in Philippi with his authority as an apostle and church leader because they have fallen away from the true faith in some way, but as a servant to the saints (believers) in a strong and beloved church. The greeting indicates that Timothy is with Paul when this letter is being written, but the letter, after this joint introduction, is strictly Paul’s words. I love the AI image that Steve created for this. Paul is dictating the words to the younger Timothy as Paul sits under house arrest in Rome, awaiting an audience with Caesar.
Paul calls himself and Timothy bond-servants of Christ Jesus. We have seen this description before. This is from the Blue Letter Bible:
Bond-servant comes from the Greek noun δοῦλος doûlos, doo'-los (Strong’s G1210) with the following Biblical usages:
a slave, bondman, man of servile condition
a slave
metaph., one who gives himself up to another's will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men
devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests
a servant, attendant
If you go to the Precept Austin link for Philippians 1:1 commentary (see the link below), there is a LONG list at the end of that commentary on how many times the word “doulos” occurs in the NT and the Septuagint OT.
Sadly, many today have distorted and twisted Paul’s words about himself and his advice to those believers who were under the yoke of slavery in the Roman Empire to imply that Paul himself endorsed slavery! They use this rationale to discard Paul’s words about sexual immorality; they say that he “endorsed” slavery because he never condemned it, therefore we don’t have to listen to anything else he said. This is absolutely wrong and a logical fallacy to boot. Our modern culture suffers from an ego-centric philosophical affliction known as “presentism”, defined as:
noun The belief that only current phenomena are relevant.
noun Interpreting past phenomena in terms of current beliefs and knowledge.
This attitude asserts that only the right people from this current timeframe in history are capable of good and moral decisions because society has “evolved” and rejected certain attitudes and behaviors towards other races, the roles of women, etc. Some of the Founding Fathers of the United States were slaveholders, therefore to the “presentist”, their opinions and beliefs are irrelevant, as are the documents they created like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
But these “presentists”, obsessed as they are with historical behaviors taken out of context with a judgmental lens from 2025, also tend to ignore the fact that there are nearly 50 million people in slavery in the world today, including many children who are trafficked and women who are sexual slaves. Many of the most prominent organizations working on solving this problem also happen to be run by Christians, like A21.org, the TimTebowFoundation and Victormarx.org.
Back to our text: Being a bond-servant of Christ is the goal for every believer. I like this answer from Gotquestions.org on what it means to be a servant of Christ (extracted sections of the article):
In many places in the New Testament, the apostle Paul refers to himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ” (e.g., Romans 1:1; Colossians 4:12; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:6). The Lord’s half-brother Jude refers to himself in the same way (Jude 1:1). Rather than capitalize on his close relationship to Jesus, Jude relegated himself to the status of a servant. Jesus’ family, friends, and chosen apostles refer to themselves as His servants, the plain implication being that Jesus is Lord.
“Servant” is a translation of the Greek word doulos, which means more literally “a slave or bondservant, someone who sets aside all rights of his own to serve another.” Because the word slave carries such a negative connotation to our modern sensitivities, we often choose the word servant instead. However, servant does not quite capture the real meaning of doulos. Paul said he was a “slave” to Christ.…
To be a servant of Christ is to seek His will in all things. Our primary desire every day, as servants of Christ, is to honor and glorify the One who bought our freedom from sin (1 Corinthians 10:31). This means we must die to ourselves (Luke 9:23), renounce our right to direct our own lives (Luke 6:46), and seek ways to bring our Master pleasure (Psalm 37:23; Proverbs 11:20). Just as a master in ancient times took on the responsibility of caring for his bondservants, so our Lord says that He will provide all we need when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19).
Our Master, Jesus, has given us instructions in His Word and expects those who profess His name to know them. As we learn more, we do better. Servants of Christ put into practice all they learn about pleasing their Lord. While He has specific jobs for each of us according to the gifts and opportunities He provides, some requirements are universal for anyone called to be a servant of Christ:
Continue in faith.
Destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.
Take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Pursue holy living (1 Peter 1:14–16).
Daily crucify the lusts of the flesh (Romans 6:1–6).
Love brothers and sisters in the faith (1 John 3:14–15).
Store up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–20).
Eagerly await the Master’s return (Revelation 22:20; 2 Timothy 4:8).
That’s a great list of requirements for anyone who wants to be a servant of Christ!
The address to the church at Philippi in this epistle first refers to all of the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. All believing Christians are saints! We don’t require miracles or a canonization by a Pope after a lengthy investigation to be called a saint nor do we have to move to a monastery. Believers also shouldn’t pray to saints, we should pray to Jesus (no intermediaries are required). Here are a couple of good descriptions from Precept Austin:
[From Bruce Hurt] The term saints does not refer to a special group of believers who had died, for these "saints" were very much alive at Philippi. Although you may have been taught that saints are a special, higher order of Christians who accomplished extraordinary good deeds and lived an exemplary life, the Bible teaches that sainthood is not an attainment but a state into which God by grace through faith calls men and women of all stations of life, whether under the Old or New Covenant. So now next time you meet a believer, address then as "Saint so-and-so" and watch the reaction! It goes without saying however that we often do not think or act like saints, in the popular sense. But hagios speaks of our (eternal) identity (our position) in Christ. We are holy ones in our Lord, even when we are unfaithful and act unsaintly. Being a saint has nothing at all to do with one’s degree of spiritual maturity or rank. It refers to any person who is saved, who is set apart by God for Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. God sees us as He sees His Son, as "those who have been sanctified (consecrated, purified, made holy) in Christ Jesus, saints by calling." (1Co 1:2+) Like all believers, those at Corinth were not saints because of their spiritual maturity (cf. 1Co 3:1, 2, 3+), but because they were “saints by calling,” a reference to their call to salvation.
Steven Cole adds "You may laugh at the idea of Saint Harry or Saint whatever-your-name-is. But it’s an important New Testament truth that you view yourself as Saint whoever-you-are! As a saint, a person set apart unto God, you are not to withdraw into a monastery, or to withdraw from our culture, as the Amish folks do. You are to live in the culture, but to live distinctly from the culture, as one set apart unto God. Just as it would be odd for a wealthy man to live homeless on the streets, or it would be strange for an adult to spend great amounts of time playing as a child, because such behavior is opposed to their true identity, so it should be odd for a Christian, a saint, to live in the same manner as those who are not set apart unto God. Your attitudes, your values, your speech, your selfless focus, your humility, your love, your commitment to truth, should mark you as a saint in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:1-2 The Foundation for Joy)
Paul includes the overseers and deacons after he mentions the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi. These are the people tasked with the difficult jobs of keeping the congregation running, whether they are the leaders (overseers or episkopos) or the ones doing the mundane tasks (deacons or diakonos). In any case, the saints, overseers and deacons need to humbly subscribe to “basin theology”, as described in this poem by Ruth Harms Calkin found on Precept Austin:
I Wonder
You know, Lord, how I serve You
With great emotional fervor
in the limelight
You know how eagerly I speak for You
at a women’s club.
You know how I shine when I promote
a fellowship group.
You know my genuine enthusiasm
at a Bible study.But how would I react, I wonder,
If You pointed to a basin of water
And asked me to wash the calloused feet
Of a bent and wrinkled old woman,
Day after day,
Month after month,
In a room where nobody saw
And nobody knew.
This poem hit me like a ton of bricks. To be as humble as Jesus, who is the King of Kings, is every saint’s goal with the help of the Holy Spirit, in addition to the ones listed in the Gotquestions article above.
Paul ends the short introduction to the letter with a beautiful greeting to the saints of grace and peace through God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is only one way to have true peace in this world and that is through Jesus and His Grace. Here is what F.B. Meyer says about this salutation, as found in Precept Austin:
The Combined Salutation. "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace was the western, and Peace the eastern salutation. The Apostle combines them. He desired that his absent friends might know more and more of the free favour of God, of forgiveness and acceptance, and of the enjoyment of help and comfort. He would also have them know that peace which filled his own heart, amid trials of no ordinary description, and which was bequeathed by the Master,--"My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you."
Notice how closely he conjoins the Father and the Redeemer. He did not think that he was robbing God of His unity or supremacy when he included our Lord in the same sentence. Though all his early training had recognised the Oneness of the Divine Nature, he had no scruple in adding to God the Father the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is remarkable to notice also the number of times in which he mentions the Saviour's name. It occurs forty times in this Epistle, that is, on an average, in every two or three verses, but this is characteristic of the New Testament, and especially of the writings of this Apostle. He was a slave of Jesus Christ; he viewed all saints as living, with himself, in Christ; his life was full of Christ; Christ was his life; to die was to depart to be with Him; his rejoicing was in Christ Jesus; and steadfastness was only possible, as he and his converts stood fast "in the Lord." The Lord was always at hand to him, and because all believers were in Christ, they could count on God to supply all their need.
Let us rejoice to know that "grace and peace" are not exhausted, but that they flow down to us still in this remote century, and amid the altered circumstances of modern life. Christ was, and is, and is to come. In Him the Church still exists, through Him she is still supplied with grace upon grace, and unto Him she will be gathered without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. (F. B. Meyer. The Epistle to the Philippians - A Devotional Commentary)
Beautiful!
My next devotional examines Philippians 1:3-6 - Paul gives thanks for the Christians at Philippi.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - It is through Your Grace and Peace that we can quietly live our lives growing in the requirements of sainthood. Help us to keep in mind that saints are not lofty individuals better than everyone else, but are those who exhibit humility and serve with all their hearts. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 6/22/2025 to review the lexicon for bond-servant.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 6/22/2025 to answer the question, What does it mean to be a servant of Christ?
Precept Austin was accessed on 6/22/2025 to review commentary for Philippians 1:1-2.
Looking forward to your work on this epistle thank you Saint Barb!