Philippians: Paul Declares his Affection for the Church at Philippi
Philippians 1:7-8 - Accepting God’s grace should start us on the journey to great riches in Christ.
“For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:7-8 NASB1995
Paul has the believers in Philippi in his heart. He sees them as partakers of grace with him. They have supported Paul in his imprisonment and in defense and confirmation of the gospel. Paul calls on God as his witness that he longs for all of them with the affection of Christ Jesus.
This is a fairly simple passage, but the love that Paul feels reverberates off the page. He recalls the vision he had of a man in Macedonia when they were in Troas to come to them. Paul remembers Lydia, one of the first converts, and the prison guard who became a Christian (along with his family) when Paul and Silas were miraculously freed from prison. He recalls going back through Macedonia later and exhorting the new churches in that area. I like this simple commentary from Enduring Word:
It is right for me to think this of you all: Paul’s thankfulness, joy, and desire to pray for the Philippians was right because they stood beside him in his trials for the gospel, and they received the same grace he did (you all are partakers with me of grace).
I have you in my heart: Paul was a man of towering intellect, but he was also a man of great heart, and the Philippian Christians were in his heart. He could even call God as his witness regarding his deep affection for them.
Adam Clarke paraphrased Paul’s idea here: “I call God to witness that I have the strongest affection for you, and that I love you with that same kind of tender concern with which Christ loved the world when he gave himself for it.”
Paul and his planted church are all partakers of the grace of God. Grace has been studied many times in our devotionals, but I think that we self-centered, complaining, impatient humans who claim to be believers should be constantly aware of the powerful force field of grace that surrounds us. I really like this answer from Gotquestions.org to the question, “What is the definition of Grace?” (This is a fairly large extract, but it is so wonderful):
Grace is an essential part of God’s character. Grace is closely related to God’s benevolence, love, and mercy. Grace can be variously defined as “God’s favor toward the unworthy” or “God’s benevolence on the undeserving.” In His grace, God is willing to forgive us and bless us abundantly, in spite of the fact that we don’t deserve to be treated so well or dealt with so generously.
To fully understand grace, we need to consider who we were without Christ and who we become with Christ. We were born in sin (Psalm 51:5), and we were guilty of breaking God’s holy laws (Romans 3:9–20, 23; 1 John 1:8–10). We were enemies of God (Romans 5:6, 10; 8:7; Colossians 1:21), deserving of death (Romans 6:23a). We were unrighteous (Romans 3:10) and without means of justifying ourselves (Romans 3:20). Spiritually, we were destitute, blind, unclean, and dead. Our souls were in peril of everlasting punishment.
But then came grace. God extended His favor to us. Grace is what saves us (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is the essence of the gospel (Acts 20:24). Grace gives us victory over sin (James 4:6). Grace gives us “eternal encouragement and good hope” (2 Thessalonians 2:16). Paul repeatedly identified grace as the basis of his calling as an apostle (Romans 15:15; 1 Corinthians 3:10; Ephesians 3:2, 7). Jesus Christ is the embodiment of grace, coupled with truth (John 1:14).
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Grace does not stop once we are saved; God is gracious to us for the rest of our lives, working within and upon us. The Bible encourages us with many additional benefits that grace secures for every believer:
• Grace justifies us before a holy God (Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:6; Titus 3:7).
• Grace provides us access to God to communicate and fellowship with Him (Ephesians 1:6; Hebrews 4:16).
• Grace wins for us a new relationship of intimacy with God (Exodus 33:17).
• Grace disciplines and trains us to live in a way that honors God (Titus 2:11–14; 2 Corinthians 8:7).
• Grace grants us immeasurable spiritual riches (Proverbs 10:22; Ephesians 2:7).
• Grace helps us in our every need (Hebrews 4:16).
• Grace is the reason behind our every deliverance (Psalm 44:3–8; Hebrews 4:16).
• Grace preserves us and comforts, encourages, and strengthens us (2 Corinthians 13:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17; 2 Timothy 2:1).
Grace from our Lord is truly a gift that is free. This is a difficult concept to understand because people are so suspicious these days. I don’t know about my readers, but my email is constantly filled with spam telling me that I have a “gift” from some company or business and all I have to do is click on a button to fill out information to receive that “gift”. If I ever made the mistake of falling for one of these scams, my personal information would be in the hands of those who would use it in a criminal way. We also get those flyers in the mail almost every day touting a free meal at some fancy steakhouse, but your payment is the requirement to sit through a boring spiel with lots of pressure for using an investment company or joining a travel club.
Paraphrasing more of what was in the Gotquestions.org article, here are the “no strings” around God’s gift of grace:
Nothing is owed in return (only faith - works will not get you a free pass to heaven)
Free to the recipient (at the ultimate cost for the giver)
Ours to keep forever
The giver becomes poorer so the recipient becomes richer, a generous and voluntary exchange
Unmerited - We only deserve God’s wrath
Believers have to be careful to not just accept grace and then continue living like nothing has happened. This decision should be earth-shattering. The Holy Spirit will do a work in us to move us from justification to sanctification and to increase in His riches. This is good commentary from Precept Austin:
One of the most familiar short definitions of grace is God's unmerited favor. Unfortunately, the practical, everyday, working definition of grace in the lives of many believers goes little beyond this basic simple definition.
Many believers fall woefully short of experiencing the riches of God's grace in their everyday life as C H Spurgeon wrote…
There are many who are barely Christians and have scarcely enough grace to float them into heaven, the keel of their vessel grating on the gravel all the way.
Too many of us (yours truly [Bruce Hurt] included far too often!) are like the story of the poor European family who saved for years to buy tickets to sail to America. Once at sea, they carefully rationed the cheese and bread they had brought for the journey. After 3 days, the boy complained to his father, “I hate cheese sandwiches. If I don’t eat anything else before we get to America, I’m going to die.” Giving the boy his last nickel, the father told him to go to the ship’s galley and buy an ice-cream cone. When the boy returned a long time later with a wide smile, his worried dad asked, “Where were you?” “In the galley, eating three ice-cream cones and a steak dinner!” “All that for a nickel?” “Oh, no, the food is free,” the boy replied. “It comes with the ticket.” Indeed, Amazing Grace, not cheap, but free, sufficient to save a wretch like me, the first day, and then every day for the rest (pun intended) of my life!
And so we need to amplify the simple definition of grace as unmerited favor by stating that grace is the unmerited favor of God shown to man primarily in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, Who is now the believer's new life (via His indwelling, enabling Spirit) and new Source of strength for this supernatural life (cp 2Co 5:17-note). This truth about the "Christ life" (which I think is synonymous with the "grace life") is one many believers do not seem to grasp and so they live a bit like spiritual "yo-yo's", attempting to live the supernatural Christian life in their own natural strength instead of in Christ's rich, boundless supply of grace (cp Jn 1:14, 16, 17, 2Cor 8:9). Christian - take "a" and place it at the beginning of the word = "A Christ in"! Does your life reflect this truth beloved? May the Lord grant us this most precious grace and may we be every one of us led of the Spirit of God to seek Him Who alone can open "the well-stored granaries of grace".
Are you trying to live the supernatural Christian life through your own strength? Only His grace can give you that strength!
Paul loves the saints at Philippi with the love of Jesus. My next devotional examines Philippians 1:9-11, Paul prays again for the church at Philippi, that they be filled with the fruit of righteousness.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please forgive my doubts about grace. I know that Your grace and love surpass all knowledge and understanding. Help me to have “granaries of grace” that are full of Your riches. 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
Enduring Word commentary by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 6/26/2025 to answer the question, “What is the definition of grace?”
Precept Austin was accessed on 6/26/2025 to review commentary for Philippians 1:708