Philippians 1:7

Philippians 1:7. even as it is right. The apostle has just grounds for the opinion which he has expressed. He has seen and valued God's work within them, both from their behaviour towards himself and their labours for the spread of the Gospel, and hence he knows that the same grace which has been able to make him strong, has been bestowed upon them, and will continue to be given, because they have proved themselves worthy of it

for me to be thus minded. The phrase is the same which occurs below in Philippians 3:15, and is somewhat more than ‘think.' It implies a settled state of feeling which is not likely to be disturbed.

concerning you all. For though he was a stranger to many of them, yet the reports of Epaphroditus had assured him that the church was moved as it were by one spirit.

because I have you in my heart. The next verse shows that this is the true sense. The apostle longs after them all. He proceeds to give the reasons why they have such a hold upon his thoughts and affections.

inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. These words have been taken in different senses, according as they have been thought to belong to what goes before, or to what follows them. Those who have joined them with the preceding words have given the sense as follows: I have you in my hearty both in my bonds; while I am here in my prison I do not forget you; and in my defence, when I am called upon to plead before the tribunal of Caesar, I do not forget you even there. In this sense the word for ‘defence' is used, 2 Timothy 4:16. But when this view of the words is taken, it becomes necessary to understand the whole of the last clause: when I plead before the Emperor and thus maintain the cause of the Gospel. But the Greek seems to require that both ‘ defence' and ‘confirmation ‘should be closely joined with the words ‘of the Gospel.' It appears better, therefore, to take them as signifying that the Philippians have had the same kind of lot to bear as the apostle himself, and have joined with him in spirit in defending and confirming the Gospel of Christ. That they might be said to be sharers with him in his bonds, we can understand from the concluding verses of this chapter, where we read that it was given unto the Philippians in behalf of Christ (and therefore it might fitly be called a grace) not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, and that they had themselves the same conflict which they had seen in Paul (when he was a prisoner at Philippi), and which they now heard to be in him.

ye are all partakers with me of grace. What has just been said is confirmed, because the verb, which in Philippians 1:29 is rendered ‘it is given,' is cognate with the noun here used for ‘grace,' and might for fulness' sake be rendered ‘it has been graciously given.' That the God of all grace may call His servants to suffer for a while is seen from 1 Peter 5:10. For as Christ was made perfect through sufferings, His servants may only look to be made perfect, stablished, strengthened, and settled by the same discipline.