Philippi

Philippi ("city of Philip") was a leading city of Macedonia in northeastern Greece and the site of the first church Paul planted on European soil. Named after Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, who fortified it for its nearby gold mines, it stood on a fertile plateau astride the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road linking Asia to the Adriatic. After the battle near Philippi in 42 BC, in which Octavian and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius, the city was made a Roman colony, settled with veterans and proud of its Roman citizenship — a civic pride that colors Paul's later letter to its church.

The gospel came to Philippi through a divine summons. At Troas Paul saw in the night a vision of a man of Macedonia pleading, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9), and concluding that God had called them, the missionaries crossed into Europe and came to Philippi, "a leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony" (Acts 16:12). The founding of the church is told in vivid scenes: by the riverside the LORD opened the heart of Lydia, a seller of purple from Thyatira, who was baptized with her household and became the church's first host (Acts 16:14–15); Paul cast a spirit of divination out of a slave girl, depriving her owners of their profit (Acts 16:16–18); and for this Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned.

The prison became a place of wonder. At midnight, as Paul and Silas sang hymns, an earthquake shook the jail; the terrified jailer cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" and heard the gospel answer, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" — and he and all his house were baptized that very night (Acts 16:30–34). The next day, Paul as a Roman citizen confronted the magistrates over their illegal beating before leaving the city (Acts 16:37).

The church born of these events became Paul's dearest and most generous partner. The Philippians repeatedly sent gifts to support his work, even when no other church did (Philippians 4:15–16), and their renewed gift, carried by Epaphroditus, prompted his warm letter of thanks from prison. The Epistle to the Philippians — the "epistle of joy" — overflows with affection and urges them to "rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4), holding up the self-emptying humility of Christ (Philippians 2:5–8) and reminding these proud colonists that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20). Philippi thus stands as the threshold of the gospel's entry into Europe and as a model of a church bound to its apostle in love and partnership.