Difference between revisions of "Philippi"

<p> A city of Macedon, in a plain between the Pangaeus arid Haemus ranges, nine miles from the sea. Paul from the port [[Neapolis]] (Kavalla) on the coast (Acts 16:11) reached Philippi by an ancient paved road over the steep range [[Symbolum]] (which runs from the W. end of Haemus to the S. end of Pangaeus) in his second missionary journey, A.D 51. The walls are traced along the stream; at 350 ft. from it is the site of the gate through which Paul went to the place of prayer by the river's (Gangites) side, where the dyer [[Lydia]] was converted, the firstfruits of the gospel in Europe. (See LYDIA.) [[Dyed]] goods were imported from [[Thyatira]] to the parent city Philippi, and were dispersed by pack animals among the mountaineers of Haemus and Pangaeus. The Satriae tribe had the oracle of Dionysus, the Thracian prophet god. The "damsel with the spirit of divination" may have belonged to this shrine, or else to Apollo's (as the spirit is called "Pythoness," Greek), and been hired by the Philippians to divine for hire to the country folk coming to the market. </p> <p> She met Paul several days on his way to the place of prayer, and used to cry out on each occasion "these servants of the most high God announce to us the way of salvation." Paul cast out the spirit; and her owners brought him and Silas before the magistrates, the duumvirs, who inflicted summary chastisement, never imagining they were Romans. Paul keenly felt this wrong (Acts 16:37), and took care subsequently that his Roman privilege should not be set at nought (Acts 22:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:2). Philippi was founded by Philip of Macedon, in the vicinity of the famed gold mines, on the site "the springs" (Kremides). [[Augustus]] founded the Roman "colony" to commemorate his victory over Brutus and [[Cassius]] Acts 16:12), Acts 16:42 B.C., close to the ancient site, on the main road from Europe to Asia by Brundusium, Dyrrachium, across Epirus to Thessalonica, and so forward by Philippi. Philippi was "the first (i.e. farthest from Rome and first which Paul met in entering Macedon) city of the district" called Macedonia Prima, as lying farthest eastward, not as KJV "the chief city." </p> <p> [[Thessalonica]] was chief city of the province, and Amphipolis of the district "Macedonia Prima." A "colony" (accurately so named by Luke as distinguished from the Greek apoikia ) was Rome reproduced in miniature in the provinces (Jul. Gellius, 16:13); its inhabitants had Roman citizenship, the right of voting in the Roman tribes, their own senate and magistrates, the Roman law and language. That the Roman "colonia," not the Greek apoikia is used, marks the accuracy of Acts 16:12. Paul visited Philippi again on his way from [[Ephesus]] into Macedon (Acts 20:1), and a third time on his return from Greece (Corinth) to [[Syria]] by way of Macedon (Acts 20:3; Acts 20:6). The community of trials for Christ's sake strengthened the bond which united him and the Philippian [[Christians]] (Philippians 1:28-30). They alone supplied his wants twice in Thessalonica soon after he left them (Philippians 4:15-16); a third time, through Epaphroditus, just before this epistle (Philippians 4:10; Philippians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 11:9). </p> <p> Few Jews were in Philippi to sow distrust between him and them. No synagogue, but merely an oratory (proseuchee ), was there. The check to his zeal in being forbidden by the Spirit to enter Asia, Bithynia, and Mysia, and the miraculous call to Macedon, and his success in Philippi and the love of the converts, all endeared it to him. Yet the Philippians needed to be forewarned of the [[Judaizing]] influence which might assail their church at any time as it had crept into the [[Galatian]] churches (Philippians 3:2). The epistle (Philippians 4:2-3), in undesigned coincidence with the history (Acts 16:13-14), implies that females were among the prominent church members. </p> <p> Its people were poor, but most liberal (2 Corinthians 8:1-2); persecuted, but faithful: only there was a tendency to dissension which Paul reproves (Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:1-4; Philippians 2:12; Philippians 2:14; Philippians 4:2). In A.D. 107 the city was visited by Ignatius, who passed through on his way to martyrdom at Rome. Immediately after Polycarp wrote to the Philippians, sending at their request a copy of all the letters of Ignatius which the church of Smyrna had; so they still retained the same sympathy with sufferers for Christ as in Paul's days. Their religion was practical and emotional, not speculative; hence but little doctrine and quotation of the Old [[Testament]] occur in the epistle of Paul to them. The gold mines furnished the means of their early liberality, but were a temptation to covetousness, against which Polycarp warns them. Their graces were doubtless not a little helped by the epistle and the oral teaching of the great apostle. </p>

Acts 16:12Philippians 1:1 <p> History In ancient times the site was in a gold mining area. After 400 B.C., Philip II of Macedon seized the mines, fortified the city, and named it for himself. Philippi, along with the rest of Macedonia, came under Roman control after 200 B.C. In 42 B.C., Philippi was the site of a decisive battle that sealed the fate of Rome as a republic and set the stage for the establishment of an empire. The forces of Octavian (later to be Augustus Caesar, the first emperor) and Antony defeated the army of Brutus and Cassius. In honor of the victory, Antony settled some Roman soldiers there and made Philippi a Roman colony. After defeating Antony at the [[Battle]] of Actium in 31 B.C., the victorious Octavian dispossessed the supporters of Antony from Italy, but he allowed him to settle in places like Philippi. Octavian refounded Philippi as a Roman colony. </p> <p> Paul and Philippi Paul first visited Philippi on his second missionary journey in response to his Macedonian vision (Acts 16:9 ). They and his companions sailed from Troas across the Aegean Sea to Neapolis, on the eastern shore of Macedonia (Acts 16:11 ). Then they journeyed a few miles inland to “Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony” (Acts 16:12 ). </p> <p> On the sabbath, Paul went to a prayer meeting on the river bank. When Paul spoke, Lydia and others opened their hearts to the Lord (Acts 16:13-15 ). As a rule, Paul first went to the [[Jewish]] synagogue when he came to a new city. The fact that he did not do this in Philippi probably shows that Philippi had no synagogue. </p> <p> The Roman character of the city is apparent from Paul's other experiences in Philippi. He healed a possessed slave girl whose owners charged that Jews troubled the city by teaching customs unlawful for Romans to observe (Acts 16:20-21 ). The city magistrates ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten and turned over to the jailer (Acts 16:20 ,Acts 16:20,16:22-23 ). After Paul's miraculous deliverance and the jailer's conversion, the magistrates sent the jailer word to release Paul (Acts 16:35-36 ). Paul informed the messengers that he was a Roman citizen. Since he had been beaten and imprisoned unlawfully, Paul insisted that the magistrates themselves come and release him (Acts 16:37 ). The very nervous magistrates went to the jail. They pled with Paul not only to leave the jail but also to leave town (Acts 16:38-40 ). See [[Paul]]; [[Roman Law]]; Philippians . </p> <p> [[Robert]] J. Dean </p>