Please read these verses in your own Bible or online (Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+1%3A+1-6&version=NIV The notes are from my studies.
v1 This letter was written from a Roman prison in approximately 61 AD. In the standard greeting of the day, Paul styles himself and Timothy as “servants” (the Greek word means “slaves”).
I am much quicker to think myself a servant (“one that serves or performs duties”) than a slave (“a person in servitude as the property of another”). Considering oneself a slave is contrary to our modern, American ideas: servants retain pride, slaves can’t. A servant may serve; a slave must obey. Yet… becoming a slave to Jesus Christ… This will take some considering… That might be considered a privilege…
This is a personal letter to old and dear friends. (See Paul and Timothy’s first visit to Philippi in Acts 16, some 11 years earlier. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16&version=NIV
While the church was large enough to have church government, this is addressed first to the people, holy (“set apart”) by virtue of their relationship to and in Christ Jesus. Our faith is not top down, governed by overseers, but alive and growing in all believers. (God’s holy people: each one of us. And this holiness binds all of us as a whole: the church. I am very careful of my own “holiness;” I need to value it in my fellow believers.)
v 2 Grace (Greek, “Charis”) is God’s generous, unmerited gift. Peace (Hebrew, “Shalom.” a blessing still used today) is the result of grace. This greeting embraces both Jew and Greek (gentile). There is no doubt of the source: The Father and the Savior.
(Do I experience grace and peace? And do I intentionally extend grace and peace to those around me?)
In these first 2 verses Paul has mentioned Jesus three times. Shows where his heart and mind is.
v 3-6 “Every time… all my prayers… all of you… always pray… ” Remembering them and praying for them gave Paul joy. This whole letter is an expression of that joy. They were his partners, supporting his labor in the “front lines” of the battle. (I’m trying to think who I “remember” with joy…)
Verse 6 is the absolute assurance that life isn’t random, that God is at work in and through us, creating a “new creature,” a finished product made by the same hand that formed the universe. Never doubt: what God begins, He completes. Including me. Including you.