Ambrosiaster — Commentary on Scripture

Philippians 1:1

He writes to the saints in his customary manner, but his intent is to write to those who are “saints in Christ Jesus,” specifically those who confess that he is divine and human.… He is not writing to those who by their own deceptions suppress the truth.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.1.1

Philippians 1:1

He keeps silence about his status as an apostle. He is writing to people who already know who he is and have an informed opinion of him. He suppresses his dignity. He declares his lowly state, because the one who confesses Christ as Lord is all the more free and has salvation.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.1.1

Philippians 1:2

It is evident that while God is called Father, Christ Jesus is called Lord. Does it not then appear that the Lord does not possess equal dignity with the Father? That might seem true in the world of human beings, but between God the Father and Christ the Lord there is complete harmony.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.2

Philippians 1:7

Paul had always found the Philippians to be immovable in their devotion to God. He knew how straight and unwearied their course was. He knew they were worthy to share in his own joy. People who share the same faith have good reason to rejoice together in the hope of future immortality and glory.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.7

Philippians 1:8

He calls God to witness that his deep affection for them may be understood. One who feels so deeply about something is ready to call God as his witness to underscore his feeling. Through this he inspires a corresponding love in them for himself. For it is in being loved that we feel love. He therefore loves all these partners not with a human desire but in the love of Christ, not merely with emotional affection but with spiritual affection. They share with him in the knowledge of the mystery of God and the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.8

Philippians 1:9

He wishes, with God’s assistance, to pour into them pure Christian doctrine, that their faith will be firm and that they will see clearly all the vast implications of their faith. He wants them to be able to distinguish what is useful from what is useless. He prays that they may adorn the teaching of the Lord with works of righteousness, producing the fruit of immortality to bring about an abundance of good things. This will be the glory of the apostle to the Gentiles.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.11

Philippians 1:13

Who are “all the rest”? The whole of Jewry, in addition to all the churches of the Gentiles. The former still has precedence, since to them the promise was first made.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.17.1

Philippians 1:13

His imprisonment for Christ’s sake is becoming known. This is his distinctive honor. Now others who love him may rejoice with him.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.17.1

Philippians 1:14

His constancy inspires others to be fearless in preaching. They are learning by the apostle’s example that God is present to watch over those who love him. This itself has an effect upon the misguided brethren who have been preaching the Word of God as if from envy, prompted not by confidence or love of God but by competitiveness.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.17.2

Philippians 1:21

What others had contrived for his death proved to be life for him. This is life: if Christ is preached. He is fully prepared to meet death so that this can be accomplished. He knows that a great blessing will be given to him for his prayer and constancy. Clumsy malice will continue to work against him in ignorance. To trample down the malevolence of those who were laying snares against his life under a covering of deceit, he bears patient witness. He is fortified by the protection of God.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.21.1-2

Philippians 1:24

He admits that it might be much easier to be dissolved and be with Christ. But nonetheless he knows that it is necessary for him to remain in the flesh for the benefit of the faithful, so that their glory may abound in the Lord and all may praise the Lord when they see him again. They will thereby increase their knowledge and become more deeply grounded in faith. How great was his affection for the believers that he does not choose what he says would be much better for himself. Rather he wants what is more profitable to many, in the assurance that what conduces to the benefit of many will also please the Lord.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.26.2

Philippians 1:29

Although he extols the grace of Christ on many occasions, he offers a special kind of honor to the Philippians in this passage. He says: “God has allowed you to suffer for Christ.” He does not propose this distinction to any but true lovers of Christ. His paradoxical reasoning is that this gift “is given to you for Christ!” This means that God the Father gives this special gift to lovers of his Son. Why? That their blessings might increase correspondingly through their participation in suffering on Christ’s behalf. Paul speaks as one who himself has received this gift.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 1.30

Philippians 2:1

These things that he enumerates will, as he shows, be proved realities if the injunctions that he has given below are obeyed: They are of one mind and humble in spirit, not provoking one another but rejoicing in love. If so, the apostle’s joy in them may be complete.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.4.2

Philippians 2:6

When he dwelt among humans, he appeared as God by his acts and works. “For the form of God” differs in nothing from God. Indeed, the reason for his being called the form and image of God is to make it apparent that he himself, though distinguishable from God the Father, is everything that God is.… His works revealed his form. Since his works were not those of a human, he whose work or form was that of God was perceived to be God. For what is “the form of God?” Is it not shown by the evidences given of his divinity—by his raising of the dead, his restoration of hearing to the deaf, his cleansing of lepers?

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.6-2.8.5

Philippians 2:6

Knowing that he is “in the form of God,” he committed no theft.… Rightly, then, he equaled himself with God. For the one who “thinks robbery” is the one who makes himself equal to another whose inferior he is.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.6

Philippians 2:7

“Taking the form of a slave.” He indeed was taken captive, bound and driven with blows. His obedience to the Father took him even as far as the cross. Yet throughout he knew himself to be the Father’s Son, equal in divine dignity. Yet he did not make a display of this equality. Rather he willingly subjected himself. This patience and humility he teaches us to imitate. We are to refrain from making a display of our claims to equal dignity, but even more so we are called to lower ourselves into service as we follow the example of our Maker.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.8.1-2

Philippians 2:7

Christ, therefore, knowing himself to be “in the form of God,” showed himself equal to God. But in order to teach the law of humility when the Jews were binding him, he not only refrained from resistance but “emptied himself,” that is, withheld his power from taking effect, so that in his humiliation he seemed to be weakened as his power lay idle.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.8.1

Philippians 2:7

He is said not to have taken the form of God but to have been in the form of God. What he is said to have taken is the form of a slave when he was humbled like a sinner. People become slaves through sin, like Ham the son of Noah, who first received the title of slave through his own actions. His “taking the form of a slave” was not simply his becoming human but his profound identification with sinners, voluntarily “taking the form of a slave.”

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.8.2

Philippians 2:8

Why is he “found in human form,” if not because he was also God? Before he allowed himself to descend he was always seen in the power of God. But having subsequently been made weak he was “found in human form?” … And the reason for saying like is to indicate that he was also God.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.8.5-6

Philippians 2:9

Scripture says that the gift was given to him who “emptied himself,” who “took the form of a slave,” who was “made to appear as a man,” who was “obedient to the Father.” But if it was a mere man and nothing else who was obedient to God the Father, what is remarkable about that?… His name is not above every name unless he is so by his very nature. A titular name rests solely on usage, not on the nobility of one’s nature. The creation does not bend its knees for a titular God but for the real God.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.11.6-8