Does Philippians 2 Support a Trinitarian View of God?
This letter from Paul, to the group of believers at Philip-pi, is one of the more personal writings found in the New Testament. Certainly Paul, being in prison, would have had plenty of time to write; but it’s the feelings of his heart that obviously dominates his motivation. Recognizing this causes the letter to come to life with timeless truths. Through out the letter, we catch glimpses of the tight bond that existed between Paul and this particular body of believers. In the opening, we find he feels a special partnership with them. They supported him during wonderful days of preaching efforts, and also during difficult times of suffering for the cause of the gospel. Phil 1:5–7. In chapter two, we learn that they sent Epaphroditus to help during his current imprisonment of this letter — probably providing food, reading and writing materials, possibly extra clothing if it was necessary, and long sympathetic visits. But, during his visit, Epaphroditus had become sick, and nearly died! The church had received news of this.Paul is very concerned about their worries for him. Although Epaphroditus had recovered, Paul wants to send him back to relieve their worries over him and give them great joy. We see that Paul’s joy is wrapped up in their joy, and vice versa. There is a very tight bond between them.
“Joy” is a repeated theme of the book. Returning to the opening of the letter, Paul states that he always remembers each of these people in his prayers, — and that doing so brings him much joy! And, he goes on to describe his prayer request — that their love would ever increase in spiritual understandings and insights to the point that they will be compelled to live out the fruit of what is right and pleasing to God, — which again would bring him “joy” in their spiritual maturity.
Next, he seems forced to discuss the immediate concerns on everyone’s mind — his imprisonment! He reassures that God is in control, talks about the good that is coming out of this situation, and encourages them in pointing out how his imprisonment is furthering the cause of the gospel of Christ.
He then returns to sharing matters of his heart — comforts found in Christ. He gives encouraging instructions to grow towards experiencing that for themselves.
After setting the tone of the letter, and providing an overview up to this point, my aim is to pick up in chapter two. I would like to follow the basic flow-of-thought as it develops from Paul. Hopefully, by the time we reach verse six (where there is much debate over trinitarian and non-trinitarian viewpoints) we might better see what Paul was saying. Please note, I am using the New World Translation, to gain approval from non-trinitarians, for the purposes of this discussion. The specific details may be different if we use another translation … but the general flow-of-thought can easily be seen from any translation. I feel this approach — to examine how difficult phrases fit into the flow-of-thoughts — is a good one. This comparative process should support and confirm correct interpretations. If current interpretations are not confirmed by this process, then we have indications that beliefs are in error.
One more thing before I start. I like to outline scripture with a simple indenting method. Detailed phrases are indented just beyond the root phrase it modifies. Nothing very formal or ridged, just something to slow me down and cause me to think about why each phrase was added to the Word of God. If you get nothing else from this discussion, I certainly hope you can agree that this is a GREAT STUDY AID. 🙂
Let’s get started …