The Epistle to the Philippians

The Epistle to the Philippians is one of the shortest and warmest of the letters of Paul — a letter of friendship and gratitude written from prison to the Christian community at Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia that, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was the first church Paul founded on European soil (Acts 16). It is best known for the great hymn to Christ in its second chapter and, for the study of Paul's life, for the single most concentrated description of his own Jewish background anywhere in his letters. Among the primary sources it belongs to the innermost circle: it is one of the seven letters accepted as authentically his by the overwhelming majority of critical scholars, and therefore a first-order source in his own words. (Scholarship)

What it is

Philippians is a letter, not a narrative — affectionate in tone and marked throughout by joy despite the writer's chains. It opens with a joint greeting from Paul and Timothy: "Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ; to all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons" (Philippians 1:1, Douay-Rheims). (Scripture) Paul writes as a prisoner — "my bands are made manifest in Christ, in all the court" (Philippians 1:13) — and closes with greetings from the believers around him, "especially they that are of Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:22). (Scripture) Woven through the thanks and encouragement is one of the most influential passages in the New Testament, the so-called Christ-hymn (Philippians 2:6–11), which describes Christ as "being in the form of God" yet "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" and "becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:6–8). (Scripture)

Authorship and dating

The Pauline authorship of Philippians is undisputed — one of the seven letters that critical scholars across confessional lines accept as genuinely Paul's own composition. (Scholarship) What is debated is not who wrote it but where and when. Because Paul writes from prison, the date depends on which imprisonment is meant. The traditional view places it in Rome, about AD 60–62, during the house arrest with which the Acts of the Apostles ends; the reference to "Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:22) has long been read in support of this. Many modern scholars instead propose an earlier imprisonment at Ephesus, about AD 54–56, which would better explain the several journeys between Paul and Philippi that the letter seems to presuppose; a Caesarean imprisonment has also been suggested. The result is a range of roughly AD 54–62, with the place of writing genuinely uncertain. (Scholarship)

A second scholarly debate concerns the letter's unity. The abrupt change of tone at Philippians 3:1 leads some scholars to suggest that the canonical letter is a composite of two or three shorter notes Paul sent to Philippi, later joined into one; others defend it as a single, unified letter. This is a question about the letter's composition and editing, not about whether Paul wrote the material. (Scholarship)

What it tells us about Paul

The heart of the letter's biographical value is Philippians 3:4–6, where Paul sets out his pre-Christian credentials more fully and precisely than anywhere else in his own hand. He describes himself as "circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; according to the law, a Pharisee" and, "according to zeal, persecuting the church of God; according to the justice that is in the law, conversing without blame" (Philippians 3:5–6). (Scripture) Two facts of his biography that recur across the sources are stated here in his own voice: that he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (matching Romans 11:1) and that he had been a Pharisee and a persecutor of the church (matching Galatians 1:13–14 and the narrative of Acts). Then comes the reversal that defines the letter: "the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ" (Philippians 3:7). (Scripture)

It is worth noting for readers of this reference project that Philippians, like every one of Paul's undisputed letters, never names Tarsus. Paul describes his origins in terms of tribe, people and Pharisaic training, not of city; his birth at Tarsus is reported only in the Acts of the Apostles. Read more in our reference on the Apostle Paul and our guide to where Tarsus is.

The letter is also the richest source for Paul's state of mind as a prisoner facing possible execution. He weighs life and death with striking equanimity: "For to me, to live is Christ; and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21), and confesses himself "straitened between two: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" yet willing to remain for the sake of the churches (Philippians 1:23–24). (Scripture) Whether or not this particular imprisonment was the one that ended in his death — which the New Testament nowhere narrates — the passage shows how Paul understood his own mortality in the service of the mission.

What it tells us about the early Church

Philippians is also evidence for the bond between Paul and a single congregation. He recalls that the Philippians alone supported him financially "in the beginning of the gospel" when he left Macedonia (Philippians 4:15), a partnership he elsewhere declined from other churches, and the letter is in part a thank-you for a gift they had sent. The opening greeting to "the bishops and deacons" (Philippians 1:1) is among the earliest references to these roles in a Christian community. (Scripture)

Reading Philippians as a source

Because it is undisputed, Philippians is treated as first-order evidence for Paul's biography and thought, to be read alongside his other genuine letters. Its value is not narrative but self-revelation: the pedigree of chapter 3, the prison meditations of chapter 1, and the hymn of chapter 2 together give a portrait of the apostle at once historical and devotional. For short answers to common questions, see our questions and answers page.

Key passages for Paul

Philippians 1:12–26 (his imprisonment and his equanimity facing death, "to die is gain"); 2:6–11 (the Christ-hymn); 3:4–6 (his fullest account of his Pharisaic, Benjaminite pedigree); 3:7–14 (the radical reassessment of that pedigree "for Christ"); 4:15 (the Philippians' support); 4:22 ("Caesar's household").