Is "The Placing of Fellowship" Scriptural? Part 7

In the first 6 parts we have seen that divisions among the church are condemned and the unity of the church as one body is emphasized repeatedly.



We also saw in part 6 that the names of the books can lead one to false conclusions. If we simply read what is there instead of the name of the book then we will have a clearer view of what the Word of God says instead of what man has chosen to say about it.


That is far from being a distinction without a difference. The Word of God is inspired. What anyone, myself or anyone else, says about it is not.



When man comes up with ideas that contradict what the Word of God says, we already saw he is to be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).



So here we see a difference between Ephesians and Philippians. Paul includes the saints and, in a separate line, the overseers and deacons (bishops and deacons in the King James) in a greeting that is from himself and Timotheus as a unit. (1:1)



When he discusses his memory of them, he then admits to being in fellowship to them because they have fellowship in the gospel (v. 5).



It is generally held that this book was written while Paul was imprisoned in Rome. It seems a reasonable assumption since he mentions his bonds, the palace, and the saints of Caesars household. That puts an interesting light on this passage.



Paul considers not only himself to be in fellowship with the Philippians, but also those who preach the gospel (1:14), including interestingly enough those who preach out of envy and strife (vs. 15-19).



So where is the fellowship of which he speaks? We see the answer in 2:1. It is in the Spirit. So our fellowship includes the element of being in the Holy Spirit, just as we earlier saw it includes a shared faith.



He later points out that one way he knows Timotheus seeks Christ is because Timotheus shares Paul's concern for the Philippians (2:18-21).



Epaphroditus was a messenger from the Philippians to Paul, but was Paul's brother. (v. 25). Whether it be Timotheus, Epaphroditus, the Philippians or Paul, they all fall under the same admonition (3:14-17) in the admonition to walk by the same rule.



We know little about Eudodias and Syntyche other than that they were admonished to be of the same mind (4:2). We do see that many people were fellow laborers with Paul, Clement, and other laborers (4:3). All are commended for being in the book of life.


This seems to be one of those fine opportunities to point out their membership in a specific congregation but instead we find them grouped in unity in the book of life.



I suppose we could have pointed to the grouping of all believers under the umbrella of church from 3:6, but we covered that previously.



We do see again that there are definitely congregations located in specific geographic areas (4:15) and we see they are all saints (4:21-22). The only differentiations are "the brethren which are with me" and "chiefly they that are of Caesar's household".

Paul of course was imprisoned. Those of Caesar's household clearly were not.

To which congregation did each belong? The only thing we know is they were all saints and Paul greeted them all equally. There is nothing stating either they did or did not belong to a specific congregation, but there is something specifically stating they were saints.

We as Christians have the responsibility to follow what Scripture says, not what we want it to say. Therefore, it is only what Scripture says that we can require of other Christians and from Philippians, we see that that requirement is to fellowship in the Gospel.