The way of imagination

       “…my beloved brothers, my joy and crown…take care of those women who struggled with me in the gospel…” (Phil. 4.1, 3).   We have already examined the tension in Paul’s letter to the Philippians between his frustration at being constrained by his imprisonment, on the one hand, and his detachment and joyful “resignation” to the will of God regarding his fate, on the other.   There is another paradox in this letter – on the one hand, Paul seems to be full of joy and exhorts his readers to “Rejoice…always!” (4.4); on the other hand, Paul acknowledges that the Christians of Philippi are engaged in a struggle against those who would silence them (1.27-30).   The French have an expression – “la joie de combat”; i.e. the joy of the battle.   There is indeed much joy to be had in struggling for a common cause together with likeminded people (cf. 4.14-16).   Hence Paul’s repeated request for the Philippians to be “of one mind” (4.2; cf. 1.27; 2....

       “I deem everything to be a loss on account of the excellence…of knowing Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and communion in his sufferings…not that I have already been perfected, but…I press onward to the mark, for the prize of God’s call upward in Christ Jesus” (3.8, 10, 12, 14).   Paul made it his life’s goal to “become like Jesus”.   In Philippians 2, Paul shared the hymn which described Jesus’ self-emptying and humiliation through his incarnation and death on the cross (2.6-11).   In chapter 3, as he warns the Christians of Philippi against Judaizers (who insisted that circumcision was necessary in order to become a Christian), Paul describes the “confidence in the flesh” that he had previously as a Pharisee (3.4-6).   Paul tells the Philippians that he has gone through an emptying process similar to that of Jesus – indeed, he “has lost all things on Christ’s account” (3.8).   Moreover, he considers all the things that...

       Josh Nadeau’s Room for Good Things to Run Wild (2024) is a long-awaited breath of fresh air…and hope.   Having grown up with a legalistic approach to holiness which largely consisted in external conformity to rules most of which, as it turns out, aren’t “biblical”, I haven’t really known how to think about holiness for a long time.   As a kid/teenager, it was No smoking, No drinking, No TV, No video games, No books of fantasy, No Disney movies, No sex before marriage, No “work” on Saturdays (i.e. the Sabbath), No missing Sunday morning church services, No…nothing (or so it seemed).   Though I did take up moderate social consumption of alcohol as a young adult, and though I am now an unashamed cinephile and lover of fantasy literature, I have never indulged in the typical “vices” of “the world”.   But does that make me a holy person?   Surely being a “saint” is more than the simple avoidance of certain forbidden activities?  ...

       As we read Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we can feel the tension in the apostle’s voice – on the one hand, there is his frustration with being “stuck” in prison, and unable to continue the “work of the gospel”, of evangelizing the empire of man with the good news of the kingdom of God.   We can sense this in Paul’s frequent expressions of his hope of imminent release (1.19; 2.23-24).   On the other hand, we can feel Paul’s deep inner peace, joy and contentment, accompanied by his sense of detachment from the outcome of his imprisonment, whether that be his execution by the imperial authorities or his release and continued apostolic work (1.20-26; 4.12-13).   Paul frequently uses sacrificial language as he describes his labour for the Lord as well as the generosity of the Philippians towards him (2.17; 4.18; cf. Rom. 15.16; Ps. 22.14).      More so than in his other letters, in the epistle to the church in Philippi,...

“[Jesus] answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” (Mk. 1.38-39)        Preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons – or indeed, casting out demons in synagogues (cf. 1.21-28).   It’s an intriguing way to summarize what Jesus was doing as he walked around the villages of Galilee.   As a matter of fact, most New Testament scholars – even the skeptical ones – agree that Jesus had a reputation for being an exorcist.   Needless to say, Jesus had something of a habit of disrupting the sabbath routine in the synagogues he frequented (cf. 3.1-6).   As I read Mark’s narrative, I get the uneasy sense that had I been in attendance at a synagogue when Jesus made an appearance, I may indeed have taken the side of the Pharisees.   I mean, let’s be ...

     We can read about the founding of the church in the city of Philippi in The Acts of the Apostles 16.1-40.   This was the first Christian community that Paul established in Europe (prior to this, Paul had evangelized Cyprus and what is now Turkey).   Paul and his travelling companion, Silas, had been briefly imprisoned when they first proclaimed the gospel in Philippi (situated in Macedonia, northern Greece) during Paul’s second missionary journey.   As he writes this letter to the Christians of Philippi, Paul is once again in prison (“the same struggle” that he had had previously: Phil. 1.7, 28-30).   This imprisonment probably took place in the city of Ephesus (modern Turkey; cf. 2 Cor. 1.8-11).   Paul’s time in Ephesus, during his third journey, is described in Acts 19.1-41.      Paul begins his letter to the Philippians with a typical epistolary greeting: 1.1-2.   Paul then offers a prayer of thanksgiving f...

       Paul – the “slave” of Jesus (Rom. 1.1; Gal. 1.10) – showed us how to follow a crucified King.   His encounter with the Risen Lord on the Damascus Road marked Paul’s “crucifixion” (cf. Gal. 6.14) regarding the self-assertive ethos that had guided him up to that moment and his “resurrection” into a new life of self-emptying, obedient service to his crucified-and-risen master (cf. Phil. 2.5-7; 3.4-11).   Indeed, Paul’s autobiographical remarks in his letter to the Philippians showcase two kinds of apologetic strategy – on the one hand, Paul’s former apologia had involved him in the pursuit of intellectual brilliance, socially mobility and respectability, and what’s more – zeal to the point of using violence to defend the integrity of Jewish tradition, and, on the other, a strategy of downward mobility, accompanied by the loss of status, credibility and security, that was albeit no less zealous.   Only that, once he had been commissioned as an apos...