From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.
We thank God for the grace to start another commentary of a Bible book. Here Paul shares the platform with Timothy and describes the two of them as slaves of Jesus Christ.
From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus
Why does Paul keep calling himself a slave of Christ? That is a strong word that speaks of ultimate servitude. He seems to take delight in it. He seems to think that there is nothing better than it.
These people are not trying to do God’s will momentarily and then going on to something else. They have the vision of Jesus as Lord.
The people receiving the letter know who a slave is. They occupy the lowest place and only exist to express the will of another; they are owned by another, the property of another. They have been purchased.
Maybe before, they were serving themselves, doing their own thing, but when they met Christ—or rather Christ met them—they began serving Him, and doing His will became the only reason for existence.
As slaves, they live to please the master and not themselves. They are characterized by labor for the master. That is all they are about.
They use a common word and give it a spiritual meaning. They gave the concept of slavery a new meaning.
Jesus ransomed us for God with his blood (Revelation 5:9); we are his creation, his possession, we are the result of the pain he went through. He purchased us at the cost of his life.
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi
Paul is writing to saints in Christ Jesus. That is a word that means separated to God, made holy.
By using the word slaves to describe himself, he gives himself a lower prestige (at least in a worldly sense) than those saints. They said: we are just slaves, but you are saints.
As slaves, Paul emphasized work, and as saints he emphasizes preciousness, permanence and closeness with Christ Jesus.
In another place he told some people, “We are your servants for Christ’s sake.”
2 Corinthians 4:5: For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
He did not come to them as a superior. Rather as their servant. As someone sent by Christ, not equal to Christ, not trying to share the limelight with Christ, not turning himself into Christ in the life of the people.
He is a servant for God’s precious saints. He said “We are your servants” in 2 Corinthians 4:5. When was the last time you heard a preacher say, “We are your servants for Christ’s sake”?
Slave is a term of lowliness, of being subjugated to another; it is the language of service.
And both slave and saints have the tone of permanence. The slave is a slave forever, and the saint is also a saint forever. That is what we have in Christianity, and you can take that to the bank.
Though an apostle, Paul did not use the title of apostle in this letter to the Philippians. The point I am making is that using the title of an apostle does not make you one, and not using one does not mean you are not.
Slave and Lord
But Paul decided to go with slaves of Christ here. And Jesus as Lord means we are his slaves, his subjects, we are subservient to him.
The Lord, the master is the one in complete control. Some people want to craft Jesus into a convenient image like friend or brother.
I would be the last person to want to deny any of those. We are his friends because of what he shares with us (John 15:15); we are his brothers because he was made like us and we have been made like him, hence we are sons of God (Hebrews 2:11).
But because in human relationship, a friend is different from a brother and a brother is different from a master, we may start getting confused that Jesus is just our buddy and nothing else. Far from it!
We forget that Jesus is all in all. He is both the creator and the one who died in the hands of his creature. He is both the lamb that was slain and the high priest who offers himself to God.
This is mystery wrapped up in mystery.
He is both our lord and the one who serves, as we see at the time that he unrobed and washed the feet of the disciples (John 13:3-5). He is the greatest and the one who brought himself low.
With the overseers and deacons
Paul in this letter recognizes overseers and deacons in the church. We see the positions of deacons, servants, emerged quickly in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1-6), and when the church began to spread to the gentiles we begin to have overseers (Acts 14:23).
Those terms are not titles, they are functions. But you say, what is wrong with titles? Titles begin to go into prestige. With no title, the person can then easily be separated from the function. A fixation on titles is not healthy. It’s distracting.
Deacons emerged for specific needs. To say “title”-“name” is about prestige. But a slave has no prestige of their own, just labor.
At the beginning, apostles appointed overseers, while the deacons emerged from among the people. The deacons see to the practical needs of the church (ensuring that the natural needs are taken care of), while the overseers see to the spiritual needs (giving themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word).
Not to say there is anything wrong with using titles, but just to watch our attitudes, is all. Let’s hold on to titles lightly, if at all.
