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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.]

Paul’s letters each have their own context, but reading them in succession can give us a sense of déjà vu. We hear the same ideas, the same warnings and the same prayers. Paul’s hope is really the same for every local church—that it grows in knowledge to become a righteous community for the glory of God. We hear this same hope from Paul in prayers for the churches in Philippi and Colossae. Incidentally, each appears in the ninth through eleventh verses in each letter’s opening chapter.   

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:9-11 NIV

 

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11 NIV

We might chart the key parallel terms and phrases in these prayers something like this:

Philippians 1:9-11Colossians 1:9-11 
I prayPraying
more and more knowledgegrowing in the knowledge of God
and depth of insightin wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives
filledWe ask God to fill you
with fruit of righteousnessbearing fruit
glory and praise of God.with all power according to his glorious might.
  1. Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-11 adds to our understanding of his prayer in Philippians 1:9-11. How does it do this?
Paul’s Prayer in Philippians and Colossians

The Colossians passage puts added emphasis on God as the source of these churches’ strength and identity. It also situates Paul’s prayer in a framework that is explicitly Trinitarian.

 

In the Colossians passage, we’re reminded that the wisdom and understanding that Paul prays for is not something Christians can get on their own, but is that which “the Spirit gives.” The strength that they need also has a divine origin, in “all power according to his glorious might.” And for all this they are to give “joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:12 NIV).

 

These prayers share a vision for the church, but reading the two passages side-by-side reinforces Paul’s idea that every good thing the church can do or become is rooted in its participation in Christ, and the life of a Triune God.