And he notes the following words and phrases as occurring in the two Epistles, and not elsewhere: ἀποκαραδοκία, σύμμορφος, ἐξ ἐριθείας, ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν, προσδέχεσθαι ἐν Κυρίῳ. See too our note on i. 26.

On the whole, we may date the Epistle, with great probability, late in the year 61 or early in 62. See further The Epistle to the Ephesians, in this Series, Introduction, pp.

19-22.

Of the occasion of writing, little needs to be said; the Epistle itself speaks clearly on the subject. The arrival of Epaphroditus bringing the Philippian gift, his illness at Rome, and his anxiety to return to Philippi, appear to have given the immediate suggestion and made the opportunity. We gather that besides this Epaphroditus had reported, as the one serious defect of Christian life at Philippi, a tendency to party-spirit, or at least to personal antagonisms and differences, especially in the case of two well-known female converts. See i. 2, 27, ii. 2, 3, 14, 26, iv. 2, and notes. And meanwhile St Paul takes the occasion to warn his beloved Philippians against errors of doctrine and practice which, if not already rife at Philippi, were sure to find their way there; the errors both of the Pharisaic legalist (iii. 2-11), and of the antinomian would-be Paulinist (iii. 13-19).

So, occasioned on the one hand by present circumstances, and on the other guided by the secret working of the Holy Spirit to form a sure oracle of God for the Church for ever, the Letter was dictated, and the greetings of the Writer's visitors were added, and the manuscript was given over to

Epaphroditus, to be conveyed across Italy, the Adriatic, and Macedonia, to the plain and hill of Philippi1.

CHAPTER III.

AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPistle.

No trace of doubt on this subject appears in early Christian literature. Amongst direct testimonies, and taking the later first, we may cite Tertullian (cent. 2—3). He (de Resurrectione, Carnis, c. xxiii.) quotes Phil. iii. 11-132, as "written by Paul to the Philippians." He mentions (de Præscriptione, c. xxxvi.) Philippi among the Churches which possessed "authentic apostolic epistles," that is, apparently, letters received at first hand from apostles. In his Reply to Marcion, bk. V., taking up the Pauline Epistles one by one for evidence against the Gnostic theory of Christianity taught by Marcion, he comes (c. xx.) to “the Epistle to the Philippians,” and quotes, or refers to, i. 14—18, ii. 6—–8, iii. 5—9, 20, 21. It will be observed that this latter evidence is doubly valuable, as it assumes his opponent's agreement with him about the authenticity.

Irenæus (late cent. 2) quotes (de Hæresibus, iv., c. xviii. 4) Phil. iv. 18 as the words of " Paul to the Philippians."

Clement of Alexandria (late cent. 2) repeatedly quotes the Epistle. He brings (Padogogus, i., c. vi., ed. Migne) Phil. iii. 12-14 to refute those who "call themselves 'perfect' and 'gnostic'." In the Stromata, iv., c. iii., he refers to Phil. iii. 20, in the words "having obtained citizenship in heaven;" c. v., he quotes i. 13, 14 as the "words of the Apostle;" c. xiii. he quotes i. 7, 29, 30, ii. 1, 2, 17, 20, 21, and refers to the Philippians as addressed by "the Apostle" in these passages.

1 For further particulars of St Paul's life and work at Rome see Appendix A.

With one curious variation of reading: persequor ad palmam incriminationis; as if reading τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἀνεγκλήσεως.

In the contemporary Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne, describing the martyrdoms of A.D. 1771, the sufferers are said to have striven to “imitate Christ, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Phil. ii. 6).

Polycarp, in his Epistle to the Philippians (very early cent. 2), both refers (c. iii.) to the Epistle which St Paul had addressed to them, and manifestly echoes its phraseology. He speaks indeed of "Epistles." But the plural is often used for the singular of this word; see Lightfoot in his Edition of Polycarp (Apostolic Fathers, Pt. ii.; Vol. ii., sect. ii., p. 911). Polycarp's Epistle is given below, nearly in full; Introduction, ch. v.

Ignatius, on his way to martyrdom (about A.D. 110), wrote a series of Epistles. In that to the Romans, c. ii., he speaks of his desire to be "poured out as a libation to God"; to the Philadelphians he writes (c. viii.), "do nothing in a spirit of faction" (Phil. ii. 3); to the Smyrnæans (c. iv.) "I endure all things, for He, the perfect Man, strengtheneth me"; and (c. xi.), "being perfect, be ye also perfectly minded." These passages, taken together, are good evidence for Ignatius' knowledge of the Epistle.

All the ancient Versions, including the oldest Syriac (cent. 2), and all the lists of N. T. books, of cent. 2, contain the Epistle.

Such evidence, combined on the one hand with the total absence of ancient negative testimony, and on the other with the perfect naturalness, and intense and tender individuality, of the Epistle itself, is abundantly enough to satisfy all but the ultra-scepticism which, however ingenious, really originates in à priori views. Such surely is the account to be given of the theory of F. C. Baur (1796—1860)—that the Epistle is a fabrication of the second century, betraying a development of doctrine and life later than the age of St Paul, and aiming at a reconciliation between divergent Church parties (see on iv. 2 below). His objections to the Epistle have, however,

1 Preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. cc. i.—iv. The quotation is from c. ii.

2 See further, Appendix F.

been discarded as futile even by rationalizing critics, such as Hilgenfeld, Pfleiderer, and Renan1. Alford (Greek Test., iii. p. 27) says, "To those who would see an instance of the very insanity of hypercriticism I would recommend the study of these pages of Baur [Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi, pp. 458—475]. They are almost as good, by way of burlesque, as the 'Historic Doubts respecting Napoleon Buonaparte' of Abp Whately. According to [Baur] all usual expressions prove its spuriousness, as being taken from other Epistles; all unusual expressions prove the same, as being from another than St Paul, &c." Lightfoot says (Phil., p. 74), “I cannot think that the mere fact of their having been brought forward by men of ability and learning is sufficient to entitle objections of this stamp to a serious refutation." Salmon says (Introd. to N. T., pp. 465, 6), "Baur has pronounced this Epistle dull, uninteresting, monotonous, characterized by poverty of thought, and want of originality. But one only loses respect for the taste and skill of the critic who can pass such a sentence on one of the most touching and interesting of Paul's letters. So far is it from shewing signs of having been manufactured by imitation of the other Epistles that it reveals aspects of Paul's character which the other letters had not presented...Elsewhere we are told how the Apostle laboured with his own hands for his support, and declared that he would rather die than let the disinterestedness of his preaching be suspected; here we find (iv. 10—19) that there was no false pride in his independence, and that when there was no likelihood of misrepresentation, he could gracefully accept the ungrudged gifts of affectionate converts. Elsewhere we read only of his reprobation of Christian teachers who corrupted the simplicity of the Gospel; here we are told (i. 18) of his satisfaction that, by the efforts even of those whose motives were not pure, the Gospel of Christ should be more widely published."

1 Wittichen, a decidedly negative recent critic, admits the_Philippians as genuine. (Leben Jesu, p. 14; quoted by Edersheim, Prophecy and History, &c., p. 68, note.)

CHAPTER IV.

RELATION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE OTHER EPISTLES OF THE FIRST IMPRISONMENT.

WE have pointed out the strong doctrinal link of connexion between the Philippian Epistle and the Romans with its attendant Epistles. We find in the Philippians on the other hand indications of similar connexion with the Ephesians and the Colossians, and such indications as to harmonize with the theory advocated above (p. 16) that these Epistles were dated some time later in St Paul's captivity.

In two directions chiefly these connexions appear; (a) in the view of the Church as a City or Commonwealth, and (b) in the view of Christ's personal Glory.

Under the first head, cp. Phil. iii. 20, with Eph. ii. 12, 19, remembering that nowhere in the Epistles written before the Roman imprisonment is this view of the Church distinctly presented.

Under the second head, cp. Phil. ii. 5—11 with Eph. i. 17— 23, ii. 8, &c.; Col. i. 15-19, &c. And cp. Phil. ii. 10 with Eph. i. 20; Col. i. 20. In the earlier Epistles the Apostle was guided to the fullest statements of the salvation wrought out by Christ, especially in its judicial and propitiatory aspects. But this exposition of the grace and wonder of His personal majesty, personal self-abasement, and personal exaltation after it, is in a great measure a new development in the revelations given through St Paul.

Observe in connexion with this the insistence on the blessedness of "knowing Him" (iii. 10), compared with the glowing language of Eph. iii. 19 ("to know the love of Christ, &c."). Most certainly the idea is present everywhere in the Epistles of St Paul; but it reaches its full prominence in this group of Epistles, as other sides of truth do in the Romans and the Galatians.