Paul’s letter to the Philippians definitely has a kinder tone than ones we have read before. It is encouraging instead of berating and was intended to relieve worries of the Philippians. Paul is telling the Philippians that as long as they humble themselves before God and give everything up just like Jesus did, they have nothing to worry about. God already has a plan and it will all work out for them in the end.

a. In this hymn, Paul is telling the story of how Jesus, even though he was the likeness of God, never claimed to be equal with God. Instead, he takes the form of a man on Earth and basically suffers for thirty three years. He lived in poverty and obeyed every command that God laid out for him and he was rewarded because of this. Jesus was born in a stable and lived basically as a peasant. He was poor and he was hungry even though he could have completely exploited the fact that he was the son of God and the Messiah. He followed all of God’s instructions for him to a T, even going to far as to die on a cross for the world’s sins. Because of this, he was rewarded. He becomes the face of Christianity because he followed God’s will for him

b. Even though this is a letter for the Philippians, Paul also uses this as an opportunity to address Euodia and Syntyche to live as Jesus did. He is telling them to give up everything like Jesus did so that they can be rewarded like Jesus was. If they do this, they don’t have to worry. Paul is writing this letter basically to let everyone know that God has everything in his hands. Paul is writing this to tell the Philippians not to worry or have anxiety because God has everything planned out already. He is encouraging them to let God take full control over their lives just as Jesus did.

c. Paul speaks of false teachers in his letter to the Philippians. He is warning the Philippians who are only spreading the gospel to get something beneficial out of it for themselves. He’s encouraging God’s followers to ignore these false teachers and stick together. Divisions within a group only make the group weaker, so Paul is telling the Philippians that it’s important to stay together. The whole idea behind what Paul is saying is that Christians need to be willing to take the form of a slave. They need to be willing to give up everything in order to further the gospel. These false teachers are not doing that. They are in it for themselves, which is the wrong attitude to have when spreading the gospel.