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Philippians and Philemon: Prison Epistles, Part 2

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Philippians (Philippians 1–4)
    22 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Philippians: Suffering and Community (Philippians Review)
    22 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Overview of Philemon
    22 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Paul and Slavery (Philemon, Romans 6 Review)
    17 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Social Impact
    9 Activities
    |
    4 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

In a letter to Emperor Trajan, written between AD 111-113, the Roman governor Pliny the Younger described Christianity as he had heard it from former Christians who had left the faith:

They asserted, however, that … (Christians) were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food—but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

  1. This account from Pliny, only about a decade after the death of John the Apostle, gives us a glimpse of the church much as it would have appeared to outsiders at the time of Philippians and Paul’s other letters. What strikes you as interesting about Pliny’s description of Christians?
“. . . a hymn to Christ as to a god”

Roman governor Pliny the Younger’s short comment is full of interesting insights, from the frank, positive assessment by former Christians, to the fact that two female slaves were tortured for their faith—and that they were deaconesses. As we’re reading Philippians, our main interest in this passage is the reference to a liturgical hymn that Pliny has been told is central to the identity of early Christianity. Describing the church to Trajan, it’s the first thing Pliny mentions.

 

The hymn that appears in Philippians 2:6-11 stands out as it doesn’t appear to be written by Paul. Most scholars agree that Paul is “copying and pasting” something that is already well known in Christian tradition. Some have suggested that this hymn is the same one Pliny mentions, in which case it would have played a central role in the life of early Christianity, serving the function of a creed, or founding doctrinal statement. Without more detail from Pliny there’s no way to know, though it does appear to match his description.

 

In any event, Paul’s letter gives us some idea of what the hymn referenced by Pliny may have looked like, and Pliny’s account, in turn, gives us some idea of how the Philippians’ poem may have been used.

 

Pliny’s letter to Trajan is quoted from: “Pliny and Trajan on the Christians.” The Po-Mo Page: Postmodern to Post-postmodern. Accessed May 26, 2018. http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/pliny.html

 

Reference: Ralph P. Martin, Carmen Christi: Philippians ii. 5-11 in Recent Interpretations and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship, 2005.