Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
He writes to the saints in his customary manner, but his intent is to write to those who are “saints in Christ Jesus,” specifically those who confess that he is divine and human…. He is not writing to those who by their own deceptions suppress the truth. .
He keeps silence about his status as an apostle. He is writing to people who already know who he is and have an informed opinion of him. He suppresses his dignity. He declares his lowly state, because the one who confesses Christ as Lord is all the more free and has salvation. .
Cum episcopis et diaconis, sun episkopois kai diakonois. St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom take notice, that though the office of bishop and priest was different, yet both these different orders were sometimes expressed by the word bishop, episkopos; sometimes by the word priest, presbuteros. St. Jerome, tom. 4. in Titum. p. 413.: Quia eosdem episcopos illo tempore, quos et presbyteros appellabant, propterea indifferenter de episcopis quasi de presbyteris est locutus. See again, tom. 4, part 2, Epist. ad Oceanum, p. 648. and Ep. ad Evangelium, p. 802. St. Chrysostom on this place: Tunc nomina erant communia; atque etiam ipse episcopus vocabatur diaconus. (tom. 4. log. a. p. 5. Ed. Savil.) Tous presbuterous outos ekal Ver. 13. In omni Prætorio, en olo to praitorio.
With the bishops and deacons. By bishops many understand those who were only priests; for the name of priests, at that time, was common to those who were by their ordination priests or bishops, though the order as well as the functions were different. St. Chrysostom also takes notice, that the name of deacon then signified any minister of Christ. St. Paul also might mean the bishops, or priests and deacons, not only of Philippi, but also of the adjacent places. (Witham)
But the apostle himself also, being one who had been formed in a womb, and had issued thence, wrote to us, and confessed in his Epistle to the Philippians that "to live in the flesh was the fruit of
He calls himself a slave and not an apostle. This is a great honor, to be a “slave of Christ”—not merely to be called a slave but to be one. One who is a “slave of Christ” is truly free from sin. If he is truly a slave of Christ, he is not a slave in any other realm, since then he would not be a slave of Christ but only half so. .
The Philippians are of a city in Macedonia, a city that is a colony, as Luke says. Here that seller of purple was converted, a woman of uncommon piety and heedfulness. Here the ruler of the synagogue believed. Here was Paul scourged with Silas. Here the magistrates requested them to depart, and were afraid of them, and the preaching had an illustrious commencement. And he bears them many and high testimonies himself, calling them his own crown, and saying they had suffered much. For, To you, he says, it has been granted of God, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer in His behalf. Philippians 1:29 But when he wrote to them, it happened that he was in bonds. Therefore he says, So that my bonds became manifest in Christ in the whole prætorium, calling the palace of Nero the prætorium. But he was bound and let go again, and this he showed to Timothy by saying, At my first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. But the Lord stood by me...
Nowhere else does Paul write specifically to the clergy—not in Rome, in Corinth, in Ephesus or anywhere. Rather he typically writes jointly to all who are holy, faithful and beloved. But in this case he addresses specifically the bishops and deacons. Why? Because it was they who had borne fruit and they who had sent Epaphroditus to him. .
Here, as writing to those of equal honor, he does not set down his rank of Teacher, but another, and that a great one. And what is that? He calls himself a servant, and not an Apostle. For great truly is this rank too, and the sum of all good things, to be a servant of Christ, and not merely to be called so. The servant of Christ, this is truly a free man in respect to sin, and being a genuine servant, he is not a servant to any other, since he would not be Christ's servant, but by halves. And in again writing to the Romans also, he says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1 But writing to the Corinthians and to Timothy he calls himself an Apostle. On what account then is this? Not because they were superior to Timothy. Far from it. But rather he honors them, and shows them attention, beyond all others to whom he wrote. For he also bears witness to great virtue in them. For besides, there indeed he was about to order many things, and therefore assumed his rank as an Apostle. But...
