As we have seen, the theme of the book of Philippians is "Gospel Partnership." I deduce this from 1:5, where Paul thanks God for the church's "partnership (or fellowship) in the gospel from the first day until now." The idea behind the Greek word for "partnership" or "fellowship" is "to share in." As believers, we share in the gospel in two primary ways. We share in the gospel in the sense that we all share its benefits and blessings. That's what Paul is referring to in verse 7 when he writes, "we are all sharers in God's grace." As believers, we mutually enjoy the salvation and forgiveness that comes through Christ. "We have shared together the blessings of God" is how the Living Bible puts it. This is indeed how the gospel first set foot in Philippi. Lydia, the slave girl, the jailor -- these all stepped into the grace of God. And before you knew it, there was a church in Philippi, meeting in Lydia's home. Salvation had brought them a new citizenship -- a heavenly, spiritual one (3:20) -- and with it a radical realignment of values and relationships.
I've found that whenever I meet together with fellow believers, wherever they are, there is a tremendous oneness we enjoy because we are united in Christ. The three years Becky and I lived in Basel were years filled with the sweet fellowship that the Holy Spirit produced between strangers. From day one, our church family became the Baptistengemeinde Basel, where many close friendships were made.
I've experienced the same oneness in villages in Ethiopia and in high rises in China. Such fellowship in the gospel is a blessing of salvation I never want to take for granted.
But as believers in Christ, we also share in the gospel in the sense that we share joint ownership in the work of spreading the gospel to others. The ASV renders verse 5 as "your fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel." If we are recipients of grace through the gospel, we are also sharers of that grace to others. In other words, those who genuinely possess the gospel are eager to propagate it. Thus, while I enjoy wonderful fellowship with believers anywhere in the world, I also find that I enjoy a special relationship with those whom I feel I have a special partnership in the work of the gospel. I think this explains the closeness Paul felt with the Philippians (1:8). It also explains the closeness I feel with my faculty colleagues or my missions partners in such faraway places as Ukraine and Korea. What makes these relationships so special is not only that we are brothers and sister in Christ, but that we also work closely together in the gospel.
Let me try to summarize what I think Paul is trying to say here. There are two main ideas in the expression "partnership in the gospel."
1. The gospel at work in the partners.
2. The partners at work for the gospel.
It's really just a matter of moving from fellowship to participation, from mere association to personal involvement. The Philippians exhibited this shift in many different ways. Lydia got actively behind the gospel by opening her home to the new believers. The jailor believed and was baptized, but he also washed the feet of Paul and Silas and then made them a meal. This is indeed "partnership in the gospel from the first day until now"! Gospel partners say, "This is my team. I will work with you for the gospel. Together we will keep the main thing the main thing, all because we share with one another God's amazing grace." As 1:9-11 shows, it's our genuine love for each other that adorns the gospel. A united church advances the gospel. On the other hand, a divided church hinders the gospel. A selfish, individualistic person is not a gospel partner! Thus to paraphrase 1:5:
"I'm so thankful to God not only for your fellowship as my brothers and sisters in Christ, but also for your sympathetic collaboration and generous contributions in spreading and advancing the Good News from the very first day you heard and believed it until now."
The work of the gospel, in short, is the secret of fellowship in the church. And it is all the work of God (1:6). We merely work out what he works in (see Phil. 2:12-13)!
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| Using "morphology" to share the gospel with Persians studying linguistics at Yerevan University in Armenia. |
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| Building up fellow believers in Cluj, Romania (my mother's ancestral home). |
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| Teaching Greek to church leaders in China. |