Advent · Second Sunday in Advent · Year C
Philippians 1:2-11
Thanksgiving and Prayer
December 5, 2027
Overview & Insights
“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
Prescript The prescript, or introductory salutation, of an ancient letter regularly contained three elements: (a) the name of the sender or senders; (b) the name of the recipient or recipients, and (c) a word of greeting or good wishes. Examples abound from letters of the New Testament period, in Greek and in Latin, both literary and nonliterary; earlier examples are the extracts from the official correspondence of the Persian court quoted in the book of Ezra; compare Ezra 7:12, “Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law of the God of Heaven: Greetings.” This pattern is followed here, as in all the NT letters: Paul and Timothy are named as the senders and “all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi” as the recipients, and the word of good wishes is “grace and peace.”
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Commentary
Philippians 1:3-11 Working Preacher
The Lutheran home voice on Paul's joyful thanksgiving and prayer for the young church.
Philippians 1:3-11 Center for Excellence in Preaching
A Reformed preaching commentary on Paul's confidence that God will complete the good work he began.
Philippians 1 Enduring Word · David Guzik
A verse by verse evangelical commentary on Paul's prayer and his joy in the gospel's advance.
Classic commentaries on Philippians 1:2 BibleHub
A classic aggregator stacking Barnes, Gill, and other historic commentators on this verse.
Philippians 1, Barnes' Notes StudyLight
Albert Barnes' notes on Paul's greeting, thanksgiving, and prayer.
Background & Word Study
Philippians 1 interlinear BibleHub
The Greek text of Philippians 1 word by word with parsing and Strong's numbers.
Philippians BibleProject
An animated overview of Paul's letter of joy and partnership in the gospel.
Philippians Enter the Bible
A Luther Seminary introduction to Paul's letter from prison to a beloved church.
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
How does Paul open Philippians?
With joyful thanksgiving for the church’s partnership in the gospel, confident that God will complete his work in them, and praying their love may abound more and more in knowledge (Philippians 1:3–11).
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