Paul's letter to the Philippians in the light of disunity in the church
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the theme of disunity is more widespread in Phil than is usually acknowledged, and that it underlies the whole of Phil. It is suggested that the situation of disunity in the church is the background against which Phil is to be read. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One draws attention to the distribution of the theme of disunity throughout much of the letter. Following the sequential order of Phil, I deal with the following main units: 1:1-11, 1:12-26; 1:27-2:18, 3:1-4:1, 4:2,3. The following questions will be addressed: What are the characteristics of disunity in the Philippian church? Which factors contributed to its emergence? Who are the participants? What can be concluded about the dynamics of their interactions? Can all these references be taken as facets of one and the same situations? Part Two focuses on the collection of money to be sent as relief to Paul, as well as the mission of Epaphroditus. The two key texts are 2:25-30 and 4:10-20. The principal questions here are: What kind of independent information about disunity do these sections supply? Are there traits parallel to those already observed in Part One? How does this episode fit into the wider framework of Phil? But before dealing with these two passages within the general context of disunity in the church, considerable space will be devoted to two topics relevant for establishing the historical context. One is the issue of the size, composition, and structure of the Philippian church, and the other is Paul's policy toward the financing of his missionary endeavours through the acceptance of financial support in general, and in particular from the Philippians.