Servants, Saints and Partners

Observe the titles. Paul and Timothy are servants of Christ Jesus, not apostles here, just servants. The recipients are all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons. Paul writes to the whole congregation, and the leaders are mentioned alongside, not above.

Interpret the word holy. Paul is not flattering them. In his letters, holy people, or saints, describes anyone set apart by God through faith in Christ. It is a fact about their position, not a grade on their behavior. Being in Christ Jesus is what makes them holy, and being at Philippi is where they live it out. Both addresses are true at once.

Apply this to how you think about your own church. Paul saw a group of ordinary people as saints and partners, and he saw himself as a servant among them. The order of the greeting quietly sets the tone for the whole letter, which will ask the Philippians to think of one another as more important than themselves.

When you picture the people you worship with, do you see them as God's holy people, or mainly as a collection of personalities? What would change in your prayers if you began, as Paul does, with thanks for them? Where does your own sense of importance need to be traded for the title servant?