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For use after the CBM course.
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The Letter to the STUDY GUIDE |
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LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION What is the book about? Paul's letter to the Philippians is a wonderfully warm and encouraging piece of writing. It tells us of the strong bond ot affection which linked Paul and the believers in Philippi, a town in what was called Macedonia and is now called northern Greece. Inspired Writing Paul was an apostle (one who was specially sent by Jesus) and his epistles (an old word for letters) are part of the inspired writings of the Bible. This means he was not simply writing his own ideas as a man, even though he had a brilliant mind and was an outstanding example of a believer in Christ. He wrote under the direction of the Holy Spirit. This was promised to the apostles by Jesus so that they could establish groups of believers based on the true teaching of the Gospel (see John 14:26; Acts 2; 2 Timothy 3:16,17). Living Faith Through reading and understanding this letter we gain an insight into the living faith of believers in the First Century of the Christian era, those who were closest to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. God wants people like us today to believe just as they believed. The Bible tells us He will send Jesus again to our world to change it completely to a world of right living, with peace and happiness for all people. This is what the good news, or Gospel, of the Kingdom of God is all about. It is what Jesus came to make possible. The whole of the Bible was written to prepare us for it. The Letter to the Philippians plays its part in telling us how to be ready for it. |
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| "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation." (Mark 16:15) |