Even as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; since as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Paul had always found the Philippians to be immovable in their devotion to God. He knew how straight and unwearied their course was. He knew they were worthy to share in his own joy. People who share the same faith have good reason to rejoice together in the hope of future immortality and glory.
Greatly still does he show here his longing desire, in that he had them in his heart; and in the very prison, and though bound, he remembered the Philippians. And it is not a little to the praise of these men, since it is not of prejudice that this Saint conceived his love, but of judgment, and right reasons. So that to be loved of Paul so earnestly is a proof of one's being something great and admirable. And in the defense, he says, and confirmation of the Gospel. And what wonder if he had them when in prison, since not even at the moment of going before the tribunal to make my defense, he says, did ye slip from my memory. For so imperial a thing is spiritual love, that it gives way to no season, but ever keeps hold of the soul of him who loves, and allows no trouble or pain to overcome that soul. For as in the case of the Babylonian furnace, when so vast a flame was raised, it was a dew to those blessed Children. So too does friendship occupying the soul of one who loves, and who ple...
His chains are without doubt a “confirmation of the gospel.” How? Because if he had refused the bonds, he would have been seen as a deceiver. But the one who endures everything, including persecution and imprisonment, shows that he does not suffer them for any human reason but on account of God, who rights the balance…. See how absolutely he turns everything on its head. For what others might view as a weakness or reproach, this he calls confirmation. .
His longing for them is a great longing indeed. For he “has them in his heart.” Within the very walls of his prison cell he affectionately remembers the Philippians. This is no small form of praise. The love of this saint springs not from personal preferences but from good judgment and upright thinking…. It is wonderful that he has them in his heart in his imprisonment. Even “in my defense” before the judgment seat, he says, you did not slip from my memory. .
