Week 49 Philippians 1
Paul caught my attention near the end of the chapter: live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of Christ… Don’t be intimidated by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that…you are going to be saved… For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.
I noticed two things: a) don’t be intimidated by your enemies and b) (a pretty sobering note) you get to suffer for the Lord.
I think about the connection of intimidation & suffering. I know that Paul’s style is to sometimes just throw ideas together as they come into his mind (although I don’t know for sure if his ideas are genuinely random or if I just can’t dope out the connections).
Anyway my feeling here is that the paragraph is cohesive – that intimidation & suffering are connected. Suffering-for-the-Lord is part of the mix. And oppositional intimidation is also what happens (and is one source of my suffering).
That said my preference would be to reorganize the passage so the suffering gets top billing. I prefer: you have been given the privilege of trusting in Christ and also the privilege of suffering for him. So don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. Instead live as a citizen of heaven. Conduct yourself in a manner worthy of Christ.
It’s a minor adjustment & a small difference. But it’s important to me.
Note: quote from Philippians 1:27-29 (NLT)