What Work Does God Begin and Complete?
Philippians 1:5–6
Philippians Lesson #008
June 9, 2022
Dr. Robert L. Dean, Jr.
www.deanbibleministries.org
Opening Prayer
“We are thankful that we have You to come to in prayer. As we look at the world around us, and we look at the culture in which we live, get closer and closer to the inevitable consequence of internal collapse and fragmentation, we pray that You would strengthen us.
“We know from the promises of Your Word that You will watch over us, that You have a plan for our lives. You will use us in many different ways, to be a light to this crooked and perverse generation, and to give them the gospel when they are in desperate straits.
“Father, we thank You for the opportunity to study this Epistle to the Philippians. Help us to understand the significance of what is said and how it relates to us.
“We pray this in Christ’s name, Amen.”
Slide 2
We have a complex lesson this evening because of some interrelationships that are within the text. We have to go back and look at what is a somewhat complicated passage.
Let’s put it this way: it doesn’t mean what a lot of people think it means. That means it’s always fun for us to dig into it and come to a better understanding of it.
We are continuing our study in Philippians. I have entitled this lesson, “What Work Does God Begin and Complete?” I came up with that title because of what we find in Philippians 1:5–6. We have to understand these two verses together.
Slide 3
Philippians 1:5–6 reads, “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here.
The main part of the sentence, the main clause here is, “I thank my God … for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing,—and the ‘this thing’ is what follows the ‘that’—that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Slide 4
What this brings to our attention is basically two questions: The first question is, “For what is Paul thankful?” We’ve spent a lot of time talking about that in the last couple of weeks, but we’re getting to the content of that here.
He is thankful in Philippians 1:5 “for your fellowship in the gospel.” We have to take some time to understand just exactly what that means. We have to understand this word “fellowship.”
Fellowship is often thought of as social interaction, some kind of social involvement. There are different kinds of ways in which people get together, and they say, “We had good fellowship.” Unbelievers will talk about it, use it that way. It’s just social interaction.
That’s not what the Bible means by fellowship. Fellowship isn’t even social interaction among believers. Fellowship is a partnership. That’s the core idea, a partnership of people working together for a common goal.
I think we use it in that general sense in the academic world when they talk about somebody getting a fellowship. It brings in two ideas to this word KOINŌNIA: not only the idea of involvement to accomplish something, but a fellowship will give somebody money.
What we’ll find when we look at the use of this word is that fellowship frequently has the idea of participation financially in the partnership to that goal. That brings new levels of meaning to this word that we often just throw around saying, “I’m in fellowship.”
Actually, what we should be saying is, “I’m enjoying fellowship.” When you say, “in fellowship,” that indicates something that is static. Fellowship is not something static. It’s two people working towards a goal.
So, in the case with God, it’s working with God the Father, God the Holy Spirit Who indwells us, as They are working in us to bring us to spiritual maturity.
Here, we have “fellowship in the gospel.” What does that mean when we look at the whole phrase? As I’ve pointed out, phrases mean more than just a sum of the parts.
Fellowship in the gospel has to do with partnership in the gospel and in the gospel ministry. And what exactly does that mean? When we look at this context, it is that fellowship in the gospel that Paul expresses a confidence about.
When he says, “[I’m confident] that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ,” that must be understood contextually on the basis of the phrase “fellowship in the gospel.” So, we have to understand what it is that Paul is thankful for.
Slide 5
The second question is, “For what is he confident?” He says, “[I’m] confident of this very thing.” What is the “thing” that Paul is confident about?
There, it’s going to be important to look at an understanding of a little grammar. Is he confident for “things,” plural, or “a thing,” singular? And the “this” near demonstrative is a singular pronoun, so that tells us it’s a singular thing and not a multiplicity of things.
That fits with the fact that what he is confident of is “that He—who is God the Father—who has begun a good work in you …” The “good work” is plural or singular? It’s singular.
That’s very important. A lot of exegetes point that out as significant, but then they don’t quite do anything with it, which is important because it would change their theology.
Slide 6
So, we basically have two interpretations of this passage. Two interpretations, which is unusual because most passages will have multiple interpretations even among conservatives. But this only has basically two broad categories.
The most popular way to understand Philippians 1:5–6 is that it relates in some way to salvation. It is Phase One Justification or Phase Two Sanctification, it looks on the surface in English.
After I went that way last week, I said, “I know that’s not right.” I’ve worked my way through that. I had to do a lot of digging, and I found stuff that I had done on this before, which refutes the common perception that it has to do with either Salvation Phase One or Salvation Phase Two. But that’s the predominant view that people will run into.
Slide 7
So, just to remind you, in the three stages of salvation:
- Phase One is when we trust in Christ as Savior. God imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Christ. By illustration, we’re clothed with Christ’s righteousness. It doesn’t matter how filthy we are in terms of sin underneath the garments of righteousness. God the Father looks at us as being perfectly righteous. It’s not on the basis of our righteousness in any way, shape, or form. It’s on the basis of the possession of Christ’s righteousness.
- Then in Phase Two, we have the spiritual life. Spiritual life is how we grow. It is what we often refer to as “experiential sanctification.”
- Then we have Phase Three, which is glorification.
At Phase One we are saved from the penalty of sin. We are no longer spiritually dead. We are spiritually alive, and therefore, our destiny is no longer the lake of fire but Heaven.
Phase Two is a process. It is our spiritual growth. We are being saved from the power of sin. That’s Romans 6–8.
Then glorification. We’re saved at the point that, either the Rapture comes, and we’re separated from this mortal life, and we receive a new resurrection body. Or we are at death, we are absent from the body, face-to-face with the Lord in an interim body.
These are the three phases. And we have to understand that particular difference.
Slide 9
In the first interpretation, it takes it in some way in relation to the word “salvation.” The mild form of this, which is acceptable to people who hold to a free grace gospel, free grace salvation: God graciously works in the believer’s life to enable them to grow spiritually if they are willing. He is going to eventually bring us to glorification.
That view fits, but it doesn’t fit the context, but it fits theologically.
The view that is usually given in most theologies and most commentaries that I’ve read is that this refers to the fact that a genuine believer in Jesus Christ who is truly regenerate—they always add these adverbs, “truly” saved, “truly” regenerate, “truly, really, actually” saved—a genuine believer in Jesus Christ who is truly regenerate, will persevere in faith and good works, until God glorifies them following their death or the Rapture.
This is known as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It is the P in the acronym TULIP, which represents the five points of Calvinism.
The five points of Calvinism were not generated by Calvinists as a summation of their theology out in a vacuum. It was a reaction to the five points of Arminianism. They were answered point by point by the Dutch Calvinists. This was formalized at the Synod of Dort in Holland.
In TULIP: total inability, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the P is perseverance of the saints. That is, that those who are truly saved will persevere and grow spiritually until the Lord takes them home or the Rapture occurs. God will not allow them to fall into any sort of permanent carnality; they will persevere to the end.
I remember about 20 years ago when James Boyce, who was a very strong Calvinist, held to a consistent Reformed Theology. He was the pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He had been the pastor there for many, many years, and had written quite a number of books, and was a major figure in the conservative Reformed Presbyterian camp.
As he was dying at the same time, a friend of his, a colleague, R.C. Sproul was having one of his conferences, and they were praying every night that Boyce would persevere to the end, that he wouldn’t fall into sin before he died, and that he would demonstrate the perseverance of the saints.
That’s just a legalistic doctrine that has nothing to do with eternal security. Although, if you read Lewis Sperry Chafer’s explanation of the perseverance of the saints in his Systematic Theology, he basically defines it as eternal security. There are some moderate Calvinists who will take it that way.
Slide 10
There are three problems with this view. The first problem is that salvation, either as Phase One Justification or Phase Two Sanctification, is not mentioned in the opening introduction or prayer. It’s not in the context. Neither one of them. You can read all the way down, and you’re not going to find any reference to salvation.
Some people will say, “You’re just missing it. It’s right there. It’s the fellowship in the gospel.” Except the Greek preposition EIS does not allow you. It’s not participation in salvation. It is in the direction of the gospel. So, the Greek doesn’t allow that sort of sliding around the issue.
So, salvation, neither justification nor sanctification, is in the context at all. You can’t just read it in there out of left field.
Slide 11
The second thing is, it must be observed that Paul writes of a singular good work. This is very important.
Most of the time, it’s that we’re not saved by works of righteousness, Titus 3:5, plural. Most places it’s a plural.
Here it’s a singular. That is very important. He is talking about one particular good work. Paul says he’s “confident of this (very) thing.” Again, it’s a singular demonstrative pronoun.
Most English translations will supply the singular “it” later on, in Philippians 1:6, where it says, “being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it …” In most of your Bibles, that will be in italics. There is not a third person pronoun or neuter pronoun there, but it’s understood by the translators. They understand this is talking about a singular, not a plural “works.”
Slide 12
Ephesians 2:8–10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that—by grace through faith, salvation is—not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works,—plural—lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for—plural—good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them—a plural pronoun.”
So, that negates the idea that this is either salvation Phase One or Phase Two.
Slide 13
Then third, the immediate context is Paul’s gratitude for their partnership in the gospel. That is an overall theme in the whole Epistle. The context is Paul’s gratitude for their partnership in the gospel, and specifically their financial partnership with his ministry, which is not the same as either Phase One or Phase Two.
So, that’s the whole context, and that’s what we’re going to talk about tonight. Context is so important. I think within our tradition, the tradition of teaching churches, the tradition of the Dallas Seminary model, we have an emphasis on the importance of context.
Back in the early 1960s, as Charles Ryrie was going to a faculty meeting, someone asked him,—I think they were talking about some issues related to Dispensationalism—“What would you say are the essential points of Dispensationalism that you must hold to be a Dispensationalist?”
So, he went in, and he sat down. While people were coming in, and the meeting was getting ready to come to order, he just jotted down three things.
He’s always kept that order, and I’ve always disagreed with it—so have several other people that I know—because he starts with the distinction between Israel and the Church. But that really comes as a result of the second point he wrote down, which is “a consistent literal historical, exegetical hermeneutic.” If you consistently interpret the Scriptures, you will come up with a distinction between Israel and the Church.
The third one is that all of human history drives toward the glorification of God. That is in contrast to the Reformed view that all of human history is about fulfilling God’s plan of salvation.
The only trouble is that historically—that’s the Reformed view—they’ve had to modify that some. They’ll start talking about angels and demons now because that became popularized, coming out of the charismatic movement in the 20th century.
But historically they had no reference to angels. Their soteriological purpose for human history just leaves the angels out of it. Angels aren’t going to get saved. So how do angels fit? Historically, they never answered that.
So, we have to look at the context. You have to remember that when you take the text out of context, you’re left with a con. That is so common.
One thing that Tommy Ice and I have talked a lot about over the years is, that when you read the Dispensationalists, especially going back to John Nelson Darby, looking at the other Dispensationalists through the 19th century, going up through Scofield, and then Chafer, and Gaebelein, and many, many others, you notice that there’s a progression in their working out this idea of a consistent literal interpretation.
They’re not as consistent or literal in the mid-19th century as they are by the early 20th century. And they’re not as consistent as they are by the late 20th century. So, it’s been a progress.
That’s what happens in the study of Scripture. We call it the progress of doctrine. It’s not that doctrine is progressing. It is that our understanding of doctrine is progressing. So, they work out this context.
The other little saying that I like is, “A text without a context is a pretext.” You have to have the context. Nothing has meaning outside of a context. Nothing in life has meaning out of a context. You can lift phrases or sentences out of just about any document and make it mean something else because it’s divorced from the context that surrounds it. So, we have to look at the context here.
Now, I want to go back. I’m revising or working through my outline a little bit.
Slide 14
We have the introduction. One of the basic principles I’ve talked about in the past is that when you have an Epistle, the introduction will always introduce certain key ideas or themes that will be repeated in the conclusion.
James is very important for that. It’s very clear there. Some Epistles, it’s not quite as clear, but you have to work with it.
The introduction here mirrors what will be said in the conclusion, which is in Philippians 4:10–20. When we compare those two, we will see that the focal point of this Epistle has to do not with joy, not with peace, not even with something like justification, which is a key idea in Philippians 3. And it’s not unity.
It’s the Philippians partnership in advancing the gospel. Everything else comes under that main theme which governs the Epistle. The reason that’s important is, that sets your context for understanding things that are said within the Epistle.
Paul just doesn’t throw ideas together. They’re well thought out, and they are developed. So, we’ll look at this, and we’re going to look at that tonight to understand this.
Slide 15
I ran across some years ago a Bibliotheca Sacra article. This particular Bib Sac article was written by Bob Swift, who was a classmate of mine at the ThM program. He published this article that dealt with the structure of Philippians, which is just outstanding.
He says, regarding this word the “good work,”—and I think he might have based this on a study that Zane Hodges had previously done—he says, “The ERGON AGATHON in verse 6 (Philippians 1:6) must be interpreted by the KOINŌNIA of the previous verse (Philippians 1:5).”
That’s really important. It’s just basic hermeneutics, that you have this sentence and the development of this sentence. When Paul says, “I thank my God … for your fellowship in the gospel … being confident …,” what he’s confident of is related to the fellowship of the gospel. So, you have to interpret the “good work” in terms of what he means by “fellowship in the gospel.”
He goes on to say, “This exegetical point is frequently noted by commentators, though few of them consistently restrict it enough to this sense. This writer holds that verse 6 (Philippians 1:6) refers restrictively to the perfecting of the Philippians as workers for the gospel …”
What that means is, you have to define what God is doing in terms of the “good work” in terms of the “fellowship of the gospel.” Otherwise, you’re just making it up, as Clarence Thomas said. When you don’t look at the intent of the author, to interpret, then you’re just making it up. So, you really have to go through these kinds of reading.
What I try to do, when there aren’t a ton of interruptions like I had today, is just to sit and read for weeks. Read through. It’s really easy with Philippians or Ephesians. Just read through it over and over again in different translations and in the Greek to try to catch these ideas. You don’t always do that. It’s a process of growing and learning the Scriptures.
Bob writes, “This writer holds that verse 6 (Philippians 1:6) refers restrictively to the perfecting of the Philippians as workers for the gospel, and to the perfecting of their works in the cause of the gospel.” Not salvation. Their partnership for the gospel. That’s how he would translate that EIS clause, which is a good translation.
He says, “Many exegetes, failing to note this, have thus failed to see that verses 3–6 (Philippians 1:3–6) contain a thematic summary of the entire Epistle … Verses 3–6 then, are a cameo of the entire Epistle. They introduce the main theme, the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel.”
Slide 16
Then another writer comes along. This is John Hart, who taught theology for a number of years. Solid free grace theologian, taught theology at Moody Bible Institute.
He said, “… we seem to have evidence of an inclusion …”
From the introduction, you have key themes and key words. Then you go to the conclusion. Same key words, same key themes. They include [said while making an encompassing gesture with hands] the letter. That’s the idea there.
If you had any background in artillery in the military, that’s known as bracketing, where you fire your artillery, you’re trying to get the range of your target. So, you fire, and you overshoot the target. Then you correct, and you come back, and you undershoot the target. So now, you’ve bracketed.
You’ve gone too far, too near. Now, you can zero in on the target following that.
So, when you have an inclusio, it’s when you start off with certain words and terms and phrases, you end by repeating those ideas. That shows that you’re including everything in between.
He says, “… we seem to have evidence of an inclusion—or inclusio—which binds the whole letter into one unit. First of all, the idea of partnership is strongly expressed at the beginning and the end. Thus, in Philippians 1:5, Paul is ‘thankful for your partnership in the gospel’; and then at the end, in Philippians 4:15, he records that ‘no church entered into partnership in giving and receiving except you only.’ ”
It brackets it. There’s more to it than that.
Slide 17
In another article written by William Dalton in the journal Biblica in 1979, “This partnership is reiterated in another parallel: in Philippians 1:7, the Philippians are sharers of grace with Paul; in Philippians 4:14 they are sharers ...” SYNKOINŌNĒSANTES.
See, KOINŌ in the middle of both words, SYNKOINŌNOUS and SYNKOINŌNĒSANTES. Both have KOINŌNIA as their root.
“… they are sharers with him in his trouble. At both beginning and end—that is, of the Epistle—we have the same idea expressed in different ways: the longstanding partnership of the Philippians with Paul: ‘from the first day until now’ (Philippians 1:5)—at the beginning—and ‘in the beginning of the gospel’ (Philippians 4:15). And finally the reciprocal attitude of sympathy between Paul and the Philippians is expressed in the same phrase: in Philippians 1:7 he says, ‘it is right for me to feel this about you,’ and in Philippians 4:10, ‘You have revived your concern for me.’ ”
Let’s look at these verses.
Slide 18
In Philippians 1:3 and Philippians 1:5, which I’ve joined together, and Philippians 4:15, you have these parallels. This is the first of four parallels that Dalton mentioned in that article.
Paul says, “I thank my God … for [your KOINŌNIA,] your fellowship in the gospel …” And at the end, he says, “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel …”
This is also going to tell us, when he says in Philippians 1:5, “from the first day until now,” that’s not “from the day you’re saved until now.” It is from “the beginning of the gospel” ministry, not the beginning of your salvation. That would be an individual concept, but this is a thank you letter to the whole congregation. So, he is thankful.
You have the word, “… no church shared with me …” another form of this word.
Slide 19
In Philippians 1:7, this is the second parallel. In Philippians 1:7, he says, “just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel …”
He’s not talking about salvation. This comes in Philippians 1:3–7. He’s not talking about salvation or sanctification. He’s talking about: “You’re taking care of me, and you are participating financially in my ministry even if I am in prison, even if I am in chains. And you have me in your thinking, inasmuch as both in my chains in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are—partners—partakers—SYNKOINŌNOS—with me of grace.”
Then at the end, he’s going to say, “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from you in Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning [these things].” You have KOINŌNEO again there.
Slide 20
In Philippians 1:5, “your fellowship,” KOINŌNIA. Then in Philippians 1:7, it says, “… you all are partakers with me of grace.”
So, when you have Philippians 1:5–6, Philippians 1:6 is where he talks about we’re “confident of this (very) thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [bring it to completion] …” It’s bracketed by “fellowship in the gospel” in Philippians 1:5 and “partakers—or fellowship—with me of grace.” The subject, the context is clearly not talking about Phase One salvation or Phase Two salvation. but this partnership in the gospel ministry.
Slide 21
Then it also shows that by looking at the introduction, the conclusion, there is an intimate bond of concern between Paul and the Philippian believers. He says in Philippians 1:7, “… it is right for me to think of this for you all, because I have you in my heart …”
Then at the end (Philippians 4:10), he said, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again …” You see this intimate care and concern for one another echoed between the introduction and the conclusion.
Slide 22
All of that is just to show a point that in order to interpret the phrase, “[I’m confident of the one] who has begun a good work in you will continue it until the day of Christ,” we have to contextualize that. We have to see it within its immediate context, the verse before and the verse after, talking about fellowship in the gospel ministry.
When you look at the parallel ideas between the introduction and the conclusion, again, it’s not talking about justification or sanctification. It’s talking about this partnership of the gospel.
For those of you who listened when I taught James many years ago, over 20 years ago, remember, we said the introduction to James in James 1:1–19 is talking about the theme of perseverance. Perseverance words, patience words are not used again in the body of James from 1:21 to James 4:7–8.
Then the last part of James 4:7–8, he uses patience or perseverance four or five times. That tells you that the theme has to do with endurance, the believer enduring trials and tribulations.
He does it in three areas: being swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. That’s your three-point sermon, which is the Epistle of James.
Philippians is much the same thing. You have this emphasis at the beginning and end of their partnership in the gospel ministry. And in between, he’s going to talk about the important aspects of that, which relate to joy, which relate to unity, which relate to understanding how they are justified. All of that comes together.
Slide 23
So we also see that there’s a parallel between Philippians 1:3, where he thanks God, and Philippians 4:10, where he says, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again …”
What is interesting here is, the word for “thank”—and I had not observed this before. The word for “thank” is EUCHARISTEÓ. E-U, and then CHARIS, which is related to grace. Etymologically, the word for joy or to rejoice is CHAIRŌ. They’re etymologically related terms.
When you thank God, what are you doing? You’re rejoicing that God answered your prayer, that God did something for you. There’s a close connection between rejoicing and giving thanks. We have that parallel and reflection of Philippians 1:3 and Philippians 4:10.
Slide 24
In Philippians 4:14, Paul says at the conclusion, “Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.” In the English that doesn’t look like that is all that significant to pull up. The phrase as it’s written grammatically in that verse is KALŌS EPOIĒSATE.
KALŌS is a word for “good.” EPOIĒSATE is the aorist of POIEÓ, “to do something.” You have to do something good.
In Luke 6:27, Jesus said, “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you …” That has the same words.
James 2:8, “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well …” Same two words.
James 2:19, “You believe that there is one God. You do well.”
Slide 25
What we see is, in Philippians 1:6, you have those same words. “[We’re] confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus …” By repeating these things at the beginning in Philippians 1:6 and then at the end in Philippians 4:14, again, that shows a mirror, a parallel, same idea, same verbiage, same constructions in the Greek.
Slide 26
Philippians 1:6 says, “… confident of this very thing,—Paul is confident of this very thing—that He who began a good work in you will complete it until—when?—the day of Jesus Christ.”
This is another phrase. It’s not the “Day of the Lord.” It’s the “Day of Jesus Christ.” What’s the difference between the Day of the Lord and the Day of Jesus Christ?
The “Day of the Lord” was an Old Testament term that looked forward to God’s concluding judgments on the nations at the end of the time of Jacob’s Wrath, at the end of the Tribulation.
The Day of Christ—the Day of Jesus Christ—is the Judgment Seat of Christ. This comes immediately following the Rapture, when all believers, the dead in Christ, will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with him in the clouds, and thus we’ll ever be with the Lord.
Then there’s the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Bema Seat. This is 1 Corinthians 3:7–15. Also in 2 Corinthians 5:4–10, you have the Judgment Seat of Christ.
This is when we will be rewarded for our time walking by the Spirit and that which is produced in us by the Holy Spirit. The rewards are something that are earned. Salvation is something that is free, that when we trust in Christ, it is a free gift, and we are saved. But not all are going to get the same rewards.
There are some that believe that everybody gets the same rewards. But I think that is just spiritual Marxism. It doesn’t matter what you do, whether you’re a success or a failure; everybody gets the same package at the end. I don’t think that’s correct.
I think there are differences. 1 Corinthians 3 says that at the end, all of our works are burned up, that the gold, silver, and precious stones are exposed. And on that basis, there’s a reward.
But there will be some that have everything burned up, yet they are saved. They’re saved, but they don’t have any rewards. There are different rewards or different crowns. We’ve studied those a lot in the past.
The “good work” here has to do with their participation in Paul’s gospel ministry. This is paralleled by a statement in the conclusion.
Slide 27
In Philippians 4:17 we read, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.” There’s an accounting that takes place in relationship to our good works, those that are the divine good that’s produced by God the Holy Spirit. That’s what Paul is talking about.
So, he alludes to the Judgment Seat of Christ and the distribution of rewards at the introduction and again at the conclusion.
Slide 28
He also talks about an implication of thinking. In Philippians 4:8—remember Philippians 4:10 is where the conclusion begins, this leads right into it—Paul tells them how to think. “… whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure …” And let me tell you, “social justice” is not just, so if you think about social justice, then you’re out of fellowship, and you’re not going anywhere in your thinking.
“… whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
What that is a reminder of, if they’re thinking about it, is what Paul has indicated in the introduction. (Philippians 1:7) “… just as it is right for me to think of you all, because I have you in my heart …” So, there are all kinds of ideas and words and phrases that are repeated.
Slide 29
In fact, this chart comes out of John Hart’s article. To summarize all of this for you …
You see Philippians 1:3, “I thank my God.” Philippians 4:10, “I rejoiced in the Lord.” Philippians 1:4, “offering prayer with joy.”
“Your participation in the gospel,” Philippians 1:5. “No church shared—or participated—with me in the matter of giving …” (Philippians 4:15).
(Philippians 1:5) “Your participation in the gospel from the first day.” Philippians 4:15, “at the first preaching.”
Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work.” Philippians 4:14, “you have done well.” The same words are used in both places for good work.
Philippians 1:6, “[He] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” And “[this] increases to your account,” Philippians 4:17.
(Philippians 1:7) “it is only right for me to feel this way.” Philippians 4:10, “you have renewed your concern.”
Philippians 1:3, “for all my remembrance of you.”
Then Philippians 1:7, “it is only right for me to [think] this way.” Philippians 4:8, “whatever is [right] …”
Philippians 1:7, “in my imprisonment,” and then Philippians 4:14, “to share with me in my affliction.”
That’s a lot of parallels, a lot of similarities.
Again, why is this important to do this kind of granular work? Because it shows that what appears to be on the surface, that this might be talking about something related to salvation, is only a superficial observation. That the context is talking about this participation in the gospel ministry.
Slide 30
Philippians 1:5, “for your [partnership] in the gospel from the first day until now,” uses the word KOINŌNIA. Again, I want to emphasize that this word is not “social interaction.” It’s not, as I’ve said in the past, even if you enjoy a meal together and talk about biblical things. That just barely touches what this word “fellowship” is really getting at.
The word group has a general connotation of sharing, but it frequently carries the idea of sharing financially or forming a partnership through financial giving. The idea of a contribution is actually the way it is translated in several different contexts.
Let’s look at some of these other passages that use the word KOINŌNIA.
Slide 31
In Acts 2:42, Luke writes, “And they—that is the new believers that have been saved in the first couple of days after Pentecost—continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and partnership …” and I’ve added “with God” for clarification.
This isn’t partnership with one another. This is partnership with God. There’s a comma in the English. Of course, no punctuation in the Greek.
The next phrase, “the breaking of bread, and in prayers” have what in common? They both involve communion with God. When we break bread in the Lord’s Table, we call it communion. When we are praying, we are in communion with God. Fellowship with God is summarized in those two phrases.
So, you don’t have four things there; you have two things there. They’re devoted to the apostles’ teaching. That’s what the church, the meaning of the church is all about. The apostles’ teaching and communion with God, examples of which are communion and prayer.
Slide 32
Romans 15:26. The New King James translates it, “For it pleased those from Macedonia—that would be the Philippians, they were in Macedonia—and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.” The Greek word translated “contribution” is KOINŌNIA. It has to do with that financial participation or partnership.
Slide 33
Another verse is 2 Corinthians 6:14. This is really an important word for understanding fellowship. This is the command not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The first phrase says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?” Fellowship is equated to being unequally yoked.
In other words, if fellowship means partnership and participation together, then believer and unbeliever in a marriage cannot have fellowship or partnership at a spiritual level, period. That’s why God forbids their marriage.
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen grow up in churches, where they really weren’t taught well, and the first thing they do when they leave home, they go off to college, meet somebody who’s not a believer, and they get married. Then they always have problems.
Don’t be unequally yoked because you can’t have fellowship. “… what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what partnership has light with darkness?”
You either have light in the room, or you don’t. If you’ve ever been down into any cave … There’s a great cave off the Colorado River, up in Central Texas that back 40–50 years ago, we could go in. But once the state bought it and turned it into a state park, nobody’s allowed to go in there.
We would go down into this thing, and we could crawl up in all kinds of nooks and crannies and explore all kinds of things. If we turned off all our flashlights, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. But if somebody struck a match, which is a very low-level light, you could see everything.
You can’t have light and darkness together, because as soon as there’s a little bit of light, it dispels the darkness. So, what fellowship is there with light and darkness? The point is that fellowship with God is exclusive of carnality.
You’ll hear some people say, “You can be a little bit walking with the Lord, and a little bit not.”
No, you can’t. You’re either going to be walking with the Lord in the light, or you’re going to be walking by your sin nature in darkness. There’s no in-between.
Slide 34
2 Corinthians 8:4, Paul says, “imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” There you have the gift, a financial gift related to KOINŌNIA, the partnership of ministering to the saints.
Slide 35
In 2 Corinthians 9:13 Paul writes, “while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your [generous partnership] ...” The New King James translates it, “your liberal sharing with them.”
It is clearly understood by translators that KOINŌNIA here relates to financial contribution. “… your [generous partnership] with them and all men.”
Slide 36
In Hebrews 13:16, “But do not forget to do good and to share,—that’s KOINŌNIA—for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
Slide 37
So the idea of fellowship, when Paul says “your partnership,” “your fellowship for the gospel,” he’s talking about their financial contribution to him. That’s why he’s writing the Epistle. It’s a thank you note.
This brings us to some concluding points.
First of all, Paul brings several words, SUNKOINŌNIA, KOINŌNIA, a couple of other forms of that word, together in both the introduction and the conclusion of this Epistle to emphasize that this is the critical theme of the Epistle.
The second thing I pointed out is that in “your partnership in the gospel,” “in” translates a preposition, EIS, which doesn’t mean to share in the blessings of salvation, but sharing partnership for the gospel.
A third thing we’ve seen is that many secondary ideas in the Epistle—joy, peace, unity, all of these—are related to that partnership. Concepts of justification—Philippians 3—that’s related to this, their partnership in the gospel.
But the main theme that surrounds everything—everything for interpreting the data points within the Epistle, you have to relate those contextually to the theme, which is “the partnership of the gospel.”
So, the “good work” that Paul is talking about, that God began in them, was when they began to participate as partners in Paul’s gospel ministry through their financial support of Paul.
Another thing that we need to recognize is, this is not a verse (Philippians 1:6) that is saying that Christians will persevere in spiritual growth to spiritual maturity. The reality is that many Christians fail. Many Christians never get very far. There is the springing up to life, but then the cares of the world choke it out.
The last thing is that this is the primary reason Paul is writing this whole Epistle. He is just writing to thank them for their financial support, which began from the first day, that is, when they began to give financially to support him.
It can’t refer to the first day of their salvation. But he’s not speaking to one person. He’s speaking to the group. When they, as a group, began to contribute and participate as partners with his gospel ministry.
That helps us understand what is going on here.
This is a refutation of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. If you look up the historic creeds of the church, you will always find Philippians 1:6 as a proof text for perseverance of the saints. You read in various theologies.
I read in numerous commentaries, even by people who weren’t very strong Calvinists, that they took it that way, as a example of the fact that God will enable believers to persevere to the end, even though they were not really very strong, as Lewis Sperry Chafer wasn’t. But they still take it that way.
So, that helps us set the stage. We’re going to hit a couple more passages in here that are often taken out of context by high Calvinist Theology. We’ll come back next time, and we’ll move forward into Philippians 1:7.
Closing Prayer
“Father, thank You for this opportunity to study these things tonight, to reflect upon them, to understand that we are to be partners together in ministry, partners in the ministry of this church, partners with those missionaries that we are supporting financially.
“We are participants in their ministry. We are partners with their ministry. And there will be rewards that accrue to everyone who participates through many different intervening means.
“We participate in the ministry of, for example, Mark Perkins in Tahiti. Then as they have believers grow, and then they in turn lead others to the Lord, we participate in that. It’s a whole chain.
“You’re so gracious to reward us on the basis of these secondary, tertiary, ad infinitum consequences of our ministry. And for that, we are so thankful.
“And we pray that we might be challenged in our own spiritual walk.
“We pray this in Christ’s name, Amen.”
