1995 JSNT Philippians Effective History

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A COMMENTATORSAPPROACH TO THE EFFECTIVE HISTORY

OF PHILIPPIANS*

Markus Bockmuehl

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

A Forgotten Factor in New Testament Interpretation ?

The best modern commentary series continue to produce technical

studies of biblical books as ancient texts and as objects of detachedcritical analysis.A quick glance at even the most accomplished spec-imens reveals the extent to which, despite the clarion calls of a fewstalwart dissenters, technical biblical scholarship is increasingly con-versant only with the last half century or so of like-minded research.Where commentators do engage with the new socio-linguistic, literaryor reader-oriented approaches, historical awareness is in many cases

further foreshortened to one or two decades at best.The critical expertise amassed over the past century or so of biblical

scholarship is indeed an impressive analytical arsenal, invaluable to thetask of serious historical investigation.And inasmuch as Christianitycontinues to affirm a creed that stresses Gods action in history, thechurch itself benefits from a more accurate historical understanding ofits normative Scriptures.

Systematic theologians and Christian believers, however, have longknown what is at last becoming obvious at least to a minority of NewTestament scholars: the gulf between ancient text and contemporary

* This paper was first presented on 18 September 1994 in the New Testament

Interpretation seminar of the British New Testament conference held at theUniversity of Nottingham. I am grateful for valuable comments and criticisms

received from members of the seminar as well as from Professor Henry Chadwick,Dr William Horbury and Mr Michael Lloyd.

at Oxford University Libraries on December 2, 2013jnt.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jnt.sagepub.com/http://jnt.sagepub.com/http://jnt.sagepub.com/http://jnt.sagepub.com/http://jnt.sagepub.com/


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life cannot be bridged by an exclusively historical elucidation of theBible.And yet, sadly, even those commentaries that are interestedin how the Bible speaks today usually assume at best that goodhermeneutics is mainly a matter of fusing two horizons, the ancientand the modem: the two thousand years in between are of little or no

interest. In this respect it seems likely that Christian biblical scholar-

ship of the future will come to regard ours as a remarkably rootless and

ephemeral generation of interpreters.Road engineers know that when you are trying to build a new road

fromA to B, quite often the best route is more or less to follow thecourse of the old road fromA to B. Thus one can make all the neces-

sary road safety improvements while gaining from ones predecessorscollective understanding of the local terrain. To this day, the mainwestbound motorway from Cambridge follows the straight course of anancient Roman road through the Fens. Nineteen centuries of biblical

interpretation generally followed an analogous procedure. For the lastcentury and a half, however, we have not been building and improvinga road on which to travel back and forth, but have attempted to slash awide swath through the woods with picks and machetes and, one sus-pects, often without much sense of direction or sensitivity to the terrain.

This illustration is of course only partly valid. Nevertheless, inassessing the meaning and vitality of a biblical text, it will not do, in thename of sola Scriptura or some similar slogan, to try and blaze a trailthrough supposedly virgin territory from the modern reader to the

ancient author and the first audience.At least for those communitieswho still feel that the Bible has something to say to them, to isolate theancient meaning is not enough-even supposing such a thing could bedone. In order to bridge that gap between how the ancient text spokeand how it might speak today, we could do far worse than to examinehow it has in fact spoken and functioned before now. How has this orthat part of Scripture actually made a difference, how has it inspiredand moved people to action or formed their thoughts and convictions,how has it taken shape, or indeed failed to take shape, in the history ofthe church?

This dimension clearly constitutes something of a forgotten factor. If

1. Aside from the popular expository series bearing the former title, it is

enlightening to consult, e.g., Howard Marshalls chapter on the continuing signifi-cance of

Philippiansin his

contributionto

the Theology of the Shorter PaulineLetters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).



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the task of the commentator is to elucidate the meaning and signifi-cance of a biblical book, then his or her task cannot really be completeuntil the history of its meaning or significance has been displayed.Compare theAmerican Declaration of Independence with ThomasJeffersons private accounts of wages paid to his servants at Monticello.The methods of historical-critical exegesis can be brought to bear withequal success on both kinds of documents: but the real measure of theirmeaning and significance can be achieved only in the light of theirrespective historical impact. Only one of these documents changed theworld.

It is of course true that some biblical and especially patristic scholar-ship has retained a measure of awareness for this dimension,~ but it ismost rarely acknowledged in contemporary exegetical commentaries.What a foundation document means cannot be determined without

reference to its original intention; but nor can we discover what itmeans now without attention to what it has meant in the meantime.

Whether we like it or not, we stand inescapably in the shadow of those

who have gone before us. Biblical interpreters are well advised to taketo heart the words of Bildad the Shuhite: Inquire now of bygonegenerations, and consider what their ancestors have found; for we arebut of yesterday (Job 8.8-9).

Ernst von Dobschtz was one of the very few scholars at the begin-

2. Note, e.g., M.F. Wiles, The DivineApostle: The Interpretation of St Pauls

Epistles in the Early Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967);H. Smith,Ante-Nicene Exegesis of the Gospels (6 vols.; London: SPCK, 1925-29);

A. Souter, The Earliest Latin Commentaries on the Epistles of St Paul (Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1927); and more generally W. Horbury, Old Testament Interpre-tation in the Writings of the Church Fathers, in M.J. Mulder (ed.), Mikra (CRINT,2.1;Assen: van Gorcum; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988), pp. 727-87; M. Simonetti,Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church:An Historical Introduction to PatristicExegesis (trans. J.A. Hughes; ed.A. Bergquist, M. Bockmuehl and W. Horbury;

Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994). Note further the forthcoming Patristic Commen-tary on Scripture edited by T.C. Oden, a series of biblical commentaries from earlyChristian sources. F.M. Young and D.F. Ford, Meaning and Truth in 2 Corinthians

(London: SPCK, 1987) address the hermeneutical problem of Wirkungsgeschichtein passing (pp. 140, 152), but it finds no substantive implementation.

3. See, however, B.S. Childs, Exodus:A Commentary (OTL; London: SCM

Press, 1974); C.E.B. Cranfield,A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the

Epistle to the Romans (ICC; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975-79);

J.P.M. Sweet, Revelation (Pelican Commentaries; London: SCM Press, 1979); andU. Luz on Matthew, cited below.



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ning of our century who called for the study of the Bible in these

terms, but virtually no one bothered to take up his point. The influenceof the Bible on the culture and civilization of Christendom remains

very largely terra incognita, an unknown blank on the map of NewTestament scholarship.And yet it is arguably this very territory whichwe must traverse on our hermeneutical return trip between the modernand the ancient horizon of understanding. The history of the Bibleseffects and influence illustrates and illuminates the task of interpreta-tion by accompanying us on our journey from the ancient setting of atext to its meaning in the life of the modem reader. Ulrich Luz offersthe powerful alternative image of the interpreter as a scientist who mustanalyse the water of a great river while sitting in a small boat which isitself carried and driven along by that same river.As so often, German scholarship (following Hans-Georg Gadamer6)

has coined a phrase for this approach: Wirkungsgeschichte, effective

history. Before going on to discuss Philippians, I should like to indi-cate a few lines of definition in conversation with recent work on this

subject by Heikki Rdisdnen and Ulrich Luz.

4. See, e.g., E. von Dobschtz, The Bible in the Church, in J. Hastings (ed.),Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics 2 (1909), pp. 579-615; idem, The Influence ofthe Bible on Civilisation (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1914).

5. U. Luz, Das Evangelium nach Matthus (EKKNT, 1.1; Zrich: BenzigerVerlag; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1985), p. 79 (ET [caveat

emptor!]: Matthew 1-7: A Commentary [trans. W.C. Linss; Edinburgh: T. & T.Clark, 1990], p. 96). Cf. p. 78: Die Wirkungsgeschichte sollte vielmehr helfen, die

Auslegung eines Textes an unsere Gegenwart heranzufhren. See now also hisMatthew in History: Interpretation, Influence and Effects (Augsburg: FortressPress, 1994), esp. pp. 23-38, where he stresses inter alia that the study of

Wirkungsgeschichte itself has an anti-fundamentalistic impact.6. Truth and Method (trans. and rev. J. Weinsheimer and D.G. Marshall; New

York: Continuum, 1989), pp. 300-307. Gadamer writes (pp. 300-301) that history

itself determines in advance both what seems to us worth inquiring about and whatwill appear as an object of investigation ... Historical consciousness is itself situatedin the web of historical effects ... In this respect, historical objectivism resemblesstatistics, which are such excellent means of propaganda because they let the"facts" speak and hence simulate an objectivity that in reality depends on thelegitimacy of the questions asked.

7. H. Risnen, The Effective "History" of the Bible:A Challenge toBiblical Scholarship?, SJT45 (1992), pp. 303-24. See also Luz, Matthus, pp. 78-

82 (ET Matthew 1-7, pp. 95-99). Note further R. Coggins, A Future for theCommentary?, in F. Watson (ed.), The Open Text: New Directions for Biblical



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Lines of Definition

In the interest of clarity, it may helpto

consider three basic polaritiesrelating Wirkungsgeschichte to the confessional history of Christianityor of a denomination, to the history of interpretation, and to theintention of the scriptural author(s).

Effective History versus Confessional HistorvThe effective history of the Bible cannot be reduced to its effect on theformation of the traditions of credal

orthodoxy.Nor must it be seen

merely as a way to legitimize certain conservative interpretations, asRdisdnen rightly stresses. The Bible has had a Wirkungsgeschichtewhich also extends to the losers of Church history, to heretics andindeed to complete outsiders. What is more, we must acknowledge thatthe Bibles impact has not always been salutary, since it has at timesbeen put to ill effect. The effective history of a biblical text includes the

impactof its use, misuse and non-use-even if our ultimate aim is to

shed light on its proper use.

Effective History versus the Historv of InterpretationWith Rdisdnen and Luz, we must acknowledge a certain distinctionbetween Wirkungsgeschichte andAuslegungsgeschichte, that is, the

history of interpretation. In other words, the effective history of a text isnot the same as the mere account of its treatment in the annals of inter-

pretation. Precisely what constitutes that distinction, however, is by nomeans self-evident. Luz would place on the one hand the exposition incommentaries and theological writings, and he contrasts this with othermedia like sermons, canon law, hymnody, art, the actions and suffer-

ings of the church. But who is to deny that exegetical work forms partof the effective history of the Bible? One need think only of the vastinfluence of the Glossa Ordinaria (as well as the partly derivative

Studies? (London: SCM Press, 1993), pp. 163-175, esp. p. 172: Texts have an

after-life...Any respectable commentary on Genesis 1 will have reference to

Enuma Elish and other ancient Near Eastern creation stories; is there any placethere for a reference to Haydns Creation and the perception of Gods creative

power that it embodies?

8. Risnen, History, p. 307.9. Luz, Matthus,

p.78

(thoughit must be said that in his

commentarythis

distinction is by no means consistently carried through).



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commentaries by Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas), MartinLuthers dramatic appeal to the Vulgates est in his eucharistic disputewith Zwingli at Marburg, or the effect on Protestant Christian thoughtof Karl Barths commentary on Romans. It must be true that the

history of exegesis is itself a part, albeit perhaps only a smallish part, ofthe effect which the Bible has had in history.&dquo;Auslegungsgeschichte,in other words, is indeed part of Wirkungsgeschichte, and the two are

always interdependent. Nevertheless, a distinction between themremains useful and should be maintained.

Having said that, it is certainly true that the Bibles practical effecton history and culture often becomes most clearly visible where itmoves out of the hands of the scribes and scholars into the life of

church and society. The scope of this field is thus potentially very far-

reaching. Not only practical application but suppression or abuse of atext can be in view, as we saw earlier. 13At the same time, and paceRdisdnen, Wirkungsgeschichte concerns the ongoing effect of Scripturenot just in the generation of new ideas and practices, but also in the

legitimation and confirmation of existing ones. It must surely be truethat the successful or even the attempted application of the Bible tostem the tide of contrary forces constitutes eloquent witness to its effecton the history of communities-whether the outcome is ultimatelyfound to be salutary or harmful.

Effective History versusAuthorial Intent

Finally, it is worth pointing out that we are of course not only con-cerned with effects which might be in keeping with historical-criticalfindings about the original intent of a text. The fact is that biblical texts

10. Compare further the interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount inD. Bonhoeffers Cost of Discipleship; the use of Lk. 4 in liberation theology; andE. Schssler Fiorenzas appeal to Mk 14.9.

11. Risnen

rightlycriticizes Luz for insufficient

precisionand calls instead

for a distinction between the actual "effectiveness" of a text and such "reception"as does not let it be effective (History, p. 311). However, these categoriesthemselves seemsomewhat woolly.At the same time, Risnen appears to overlookthat Luzdoes in fact accept a relationship of concentric circles between Wirkungs-geschichte andAuslegungsgeschichte.

12. An exploration of the impact of popular Christianity on the early churchschristological debates is offered by H.J. Carpenter, Popular Christianity and theTheologians in the Early Centuries, JTS NS 14 (1963), pp. 294-310.

13. Cf. Risnen, History, p. 312.



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studied privately around the globe for two millennia. It formed part not

only of the canon but thereby of the massively influential Glossa

Ordinaria, the mediaeval annotated Bible which was compiled from

patristic writings and constituted a kind of exegetical gold standard forcenturies.&dquo; In addition to the Fathers incorporated into the Glossa, it isworth mentioning the considerable influence, in both the Eastern andthe Western churches, of other patristic commentaries in the catena

tradition, especially by Theodore of Mopsuestia (who was translatedinto Latin for use in the West) and by Chrysostom.&dquo; Blossoming in thefertile ground of this and similar expository traditions, Philippians as

part of the Bible has been the subject of unnumbered sermons andexpositions, but also of reflections and meditations on the part of bothChristians and non-Christians&dquo; of every stripe and colour. The sym-bolic and psychological dimensions of this influence must remain

intangible; indeed quite often even those concerned remain almostunaware of it.8

Matters are similar with regard to St Paul. It is impossible to circum-

scribe the image of the great apostle to the Gentiles, who so inspiredand changed the lives of countless people fromAugustine and Luther to

15. On the influence of the Glossa Ordinaria seeB. Smalley, Glossa ordinaria,TRE 13 (1984), pp. 452-57. Peter Lombards widely influential expositions were

basically a development of the Glossa, which contained excerpts from Origen,Ambrosius,Ambrosiaster, Jerome,Augustine, Gregory the Great, Cassiodorus,Bede,Alcuin, Rabanus Maurus, Walahfrid Strabo, John Scotus

Eriugenaand a few

others. In spite of its scholarly production, its influence reached far beyondacademic circles (cf. Smalley, Glossa ordinaria, p. 455) into vernacular literature,

Wycliffe Bible translations and sermons.16. Note also Theodoret and Theophylact; and see Wiles,Apostle, pp. 3-13.

The abiding influence of these patristic authors even beyond the MiddleAges canbe gauged by the new editions of their commentaries which continued to appear inthe seventeenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

17. On this rarely studied subject of the pagan Wirkungsgeschichte ofScripture, see, e.g., G. Rinaldi, Biblia gentium: Primo Contributo per un indicedelle citazioni, dei riferimenti e delle allusioni alla Bibbia negli autori pagani,greci e latini, di et imperiale (Rome: Libreria Sacre Scritture, 1989) includingpp. 677-78 on Philippians. On a somewhat different note cf. K. Thomas, Religionand the Decline of Magic (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971), pp. 51-52 regardingthe medieval use of the Bible for divination, a custom which in some circlescontinues until today. Many otherwise secular countries continue to require oaths tobe made on the Bible.

18. Cf. Risnen, History, p. 317.



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Wesley and Barth. Physical or mental icons of Paul are invariablypresent whenever anyone reads or hears any of his letters, while at thesame time our view of the apostle is distinctively coloured by eachdocument. Philippians is no exception in this regard: we need onlyremind ourselves of the first three verses to see that the letter forms partof this biblical image of Paul, with its numerous stereotypical Pauline

phrases and expressions. Conversely, Lukes picture of Pauls ministryat Philippi inevitably informs ones reading of passages like Phil. 1.30or the appeals to the citizenship motif in 3.20 and probably in 1.27(N.B. 1totto~at).At the same time, however, it is important to appreciate the extent to

which our view of Paul is in turn shaped by Philippians in particular.For it is here that we meet the apostle who is confident and joyful inchains, who has left behind his nationalistic past and now displays an

almost mystical zeal for Christ (ch. 3), who professes a deep con-tentment and sufficiency in all circumstances (ch. 4). Pauls Neronian

imprisonment in the praetorium (1.12-14),~ his thoughts on his birthand upbringing (3.5-6) as well as his possible martyrdom (1.21-23;3.10-14), all this has allowed Philippians to evoke a more completeimage of the apostles whole life than some other epistles. In ways that

may be intangible but no less real, Philippians has helped to define theChristian Wirkungsgeschichte of Paul the saint and the apostle. 20

19. Cf., e.g., Theodore of Mopsuestia ad loc., who makes much of Pauls trialbefore Nero: H.B. Swete (ed.). Theodori Episcopi Mopsuesteni in Epistolas B.Pauli Commentarii (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1880), I, pp. 205-206.

20. See also Wiles,Apostle, pp. 14-25, regarding the personal impact of StPaul on the Fathers, with reference to several passages in Philippians; note further

W.S. Babcock (ed.), Paul and the Legacies of Paul (Dallas: Southern MethodistUniversity Press, 1990); M.C. de Boer, Images of Paul in the Post-ApostolicPeriod, CBQ 42 (1980), pp. 359-80; E. Dassmann, Paulus in frhchristlicher

Frmmigkeit und Kunst (Rheinisch-WestflischeAkademie der Wissenschaften,G 256; Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1982); idem, Der Stachel im Fleisch:Paulus in der frhchristlichen Literatur bis Irenaeus (Mnster:Aschendorff, 1979);A. Lindemann, Paulus im ltesten Christentum: Das Bild desApostels und die

Rezeption der paulinischen Theologie in der friihchristlichen Literatur bis Marcion

(BHT, 58; Tbingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1979); R. Noormann, Irenus alsPaulusinterpret (WUNT, 2.66; Tbingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1994).



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Shortage of Specific Evidence. Having said all this, when it comes tothe more specific and documented effects of Philippians, it must be saidthat the evidence is lamentably sparse and in any case extremelyscattered. While it is well known that the story of the rich young ruler

converted StAnthony and thus inspired the monastic movement(similarly cf. St Francis ofAssisi), and that Rom. 1.16 sparked off theLutheran Reformation, the case for Philippians is much harder going.This is due partly to the nature of the sources and partly to the literarycharacteristics of Philippians itself. Regarding the former, revisionists

rightly point out that historiography of all ages tends to concentrate onevents and developments on the grand scale, highlighting the perspec-tives of those in power and by and large ignoring what has sometimesbeen called the history of ordinary life. For that reason, much of theimpact of Philippians on the lives of individuals and communities isprobably beyond recovery, and what little I can offer in this regardmust remain anecdotal, at best suggestive of a vast iceberg of Christianexperience which lies very largely submerged beneath the waves of

history.However, even what evidence we do have of biblical Wirkung.s-

geschichte in popular culture is, by and large, of little help with regardto Philippians. This is largely due to the second reason cited above,namely, the literary form and genre of the work. Prior to the advent of

widespread literacy and the printing press, the Bible remained largelyin the hands of scribes and churchmen. True, public reading and

proclamation probably ensured that the New Testaments disseminationamong ordinary people was nevertheless reasonably successful. But theevidence in art, architecture and literature of its impact on ordinarypeople seems by and large to bypass the New Testament epistles.Narrative lends itself far more easily to visual representation: Bibleillustrations in the Biblia Pauperum, Books of Hours, and in earlyprinted Bibles show a strong preponderance of Old Testament and

Gospel stories as well as visual dramatizations of theApocalypse. Pauland his epistles, by contrast, although read (in Latin) in the churches,remained relatively unfamiliar to the lay person.2 In the BibliaPauperum, for instance, one only finds occasional allusions to Phil. 2.10

21. Cf., e.g., M. Deanesly, The Lollard Bible and Other Medieval BiblicalVersions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. 99 and n. 1, p. 305.Note,

however,her observation on

p.129 n. 7: homilies on the

Epistlesdid

havesome circulation in the vernacular.



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in connection with Christs resurrection and victory over Hades.22Asimilar pattern is true of illustrations in the early printed Bibles. Thus,Lukas Cranachs illustrations of the

epistlesin Luthers 1522 German

New Testament are typical in being restricted to a few title pages withtraditional iconographic depictions of the apostle. 23 The same pattern ofillustrations applies of course for stained-glass windows and for thewhole gamut of biblical illustrations ranging through the Victorian

period to the childrens Bibles of today. 21This non-visual factor does not of course remove Philippians from

the realm of effective history, but it is worth bearing in mind the extentto which it restricts the scope of available sources.

Selection and Contextual Specificity. Inevitably, this study manifests aclear Western and indeedAnglophone concentration of evidence, espe-cially with regard to the last two centuries. There may also be a certaindenominational bias in favour of mainstream churchmanship. Theselimitations are due partly to the nature of the available evidence; someof them could no doubt be overcome by further research. This

admittedly restricts the validity of my results. But as Luz also pointsout, if the results of Wirkungsgeschichte seem comparatively eclecticand dilettante, the effort is nevertheless necessary and valuable. 21On the other hand, one might want to argue that successful

Wirkungsgeschichte will inevitably be somewhat context specific in itstreatment of the evidence. If the study of effective history shouldindeed aid the process of hermeneutics, then its usefulness may well beenhanced if, without neglecting any of the available evidence, an

English study of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Philippians pays greaterattention to the letters impact on the history and culture of the English-speaking world. Effective history with our particular cultural flavour

22. Cf. M. Berve, DieArmenbibel: Herkunft Gestalt Typologie (Beuron:

Beuroner Kunstverlag, n.d. [1970?]). On the Biblia Pauperum, primers and Booksof Hours, see further E. Duffy, The Stripping of theAltars (New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1992), pp. 225-32.23. See K.A. Knappe, Bibelillustrationen, TRE6 (1980), pp. 131-160(146).24. Note, however, E. von Dobschtz, DerApostel Paulus: Seine weltge-

schichtliche Bedeutung (Halle: Waisenhaus, 1926), pp. 10, 17 and pl. 9, 18. Hediscusses (1) a tapestry by Raphael in the Vatican (1515-16) which shows Paul inthe Philippian prison with the earthquake personified underground; and (2) a 1627

picture by Rembrandt showing Paul writing an epistle (Phil.?) from prison.25. Luz, Matthus, p. 79.



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can show us how we have become what we are in the light of the Bible,and sometimes how we might have been different or might becomedifferent.26 We must study our own Wirkungsgeschichte to understand

our own biblical formation; that of other cultures, to learn the potentialwealth of untapped meanings. This suggestion is of course debatable,but I offer it for consideration and discussion.

Aside from that, the distinction between more or less importanthistorical effects is also subject to debate. I have attempted to include awide range of ancient and modern historical, academic and popularinfluences. Nevertheless, wherever a choice seemed unavoidable, I

have tended, all else being equal, to favour examples which aredemonstrably indicative of wider influence. This would include amongothers the Church Fathers, Councils, the Glossa Ordiriaria, leadingreformers and key documents of popular religious movements, as likelyto have exercised a broadly formative influence.

The Effective History of Philippians as a Whole

Having already referred to the general and to some extent intangibleimpact of Philippians as part of Scripture and of the work of St Paul,we shall now begin the discussion of specific evidence with a few ofthe earliest documented effects of the letter as a whole, before going onto address the influence of a few particular passages. Unfortunately, thearchaeology of Philippi has turned up virtually nothing of anyrelevance,&dquo; although some excavations on the site are continuing. Our

26. Luz, Matthus, pp. 79-80.

27. See P. Collart, Philippes, Dictionnaire darchologie chrtienne et de

liturgie 14.1 (1939), pp. 712-41. Lamenting the subsequent obscurity of the churchat Philippi, J.B. Lightfoot (Saint Pauls Epistle to the Philippians [London:Macmillan, 1896], p. 65 n. 3) refers only to one Flavianus, prelate of Philippi, whotook part in the Council of Ephesus, 431 CE. E. Dassmann, however, considers thatthe existence of three sizable and lavish church buildings suggest the considerable

ecclesiastical significance of Philippi in later times (Archeological Traces of EarlyChristian Veneration of Paul, in Babcock [ed.], Paul, p. 288). Nevertheless,significant remains for our purposes include only a mosaic inscription noting thededication of a fourth century basilica at Philippi to theApostle Paul, and a localtradition of Pauls imprisonment recorded on late (tenth century?) frescoes in aconverted cistern (see Dassmann, Archeological Traces, pp. 289-90, and inPaulus in frhchristlicher Frmmigkeit und Kunst, pp. 8-10 and figs. 1-3). The

inscription, first published in 1975 by S.M. Pelekanides, reads, OP[Y]PIO

EIKOlO TH[N K]ENTHIN TH BAI&Lgr;IKHl AYAO[Y E]OIHEN ENXP(IT), Bishop Porphyry made the mosaic of the Basilica of Paul, in Christ. It



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evidence, therefore, must be literary. We shall focus first on possibleinner-canonical evidence, secondly on Ignatius and Polycarp, andfinally on the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans.28

First, with the exception of Philemon, Philippians is the one Paulinecaptivity epistle whose authenticity is almost universally accepted.Atthe same time, the theme of the apostle writing from prison in due

course appears to have given rise to a whole genre of pseudonymouswritings by or about the apostolic martyr figure. Many would argue thatthis genre is already present in the deutero-Pauline epistles of the NewTestament, and some would even see specific examples of literary

dependence on Philippians.29 Nevertheless, given the lack of explicitNew Testament citations and the continuing diversity of opinion aboutmatters of authorship, it is perhaps best to suspend judgment on therather tenuous inner-biblical evidence.

Secondly, the very tone of the apostolic martyrs correspondencefrom prison greatly influenced Ignatius ofAntioch, whose letters

gives pause for thought that this brief and obscure dedication nevertheless, inDassmanns words, surpasses in age and certainty of date all other archeologicalevidences relating to Paul (Archeological Traces, p. 290 and n. 48).As early as150 CE, the apocryphalActs of Andrew 11-12, 15, 20 relates an otherwise uncon-firmed tradition of StAndrews mission at Philippi, where he intervenes inter aliato prevent an incestuous marriage (ch. 11). See W. Schneemelcher (ed.), Neutest-amentlicheApokryphen in deutscher bersetzung (Tbingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 5th

edn, 1989), II, pp. 107,110-11.

28. It is worth noting L. Portefaixs feminist study, Sisters Rejoice: PaulsLetter to the Philippians and Luke-Acts as Seen by First-century Philippian Women(CBNT, 20; Stockholm:Almqvist & Wiksell, 1988). This is a somewhat specula-tive, tenuous reader-oriented account of the impact of Philippians on women in

Philippi. While rightly stressing the cultural and religious importance of women forthe early Pauline mission to Macedonia (which was already noted by Lightfoot,Philippians, pp. 55-57), Portefaixs study unfortunately also manifests an over-reliance of

unprovenconnections and theories that

mighthave been. On the

ongoing influence of women in the pagan cult of Diana at Philippi, see furtherV.Abrahamsen, Christianity and the Rock Reliefs at Philippi, BA 51 (1988),pp. 46-56.

29. W. Schenk (Die Philipperbriefe des Paulus [Stuttgart: Kohlhammer,1984], pp. 339-40) argues for a strong literary dependence in Colossians (esp. 1.22,28, 29) andActs 16.11-40, which, along with other allusions inActs, he regards asfreely invented on the basis of Philippians. Beyond that, he sees dependence in2 Tim. 4.6-8 (Phil. 1.23, 30; 2.16-17; 3.12) and 1 Tim. 2.23; 2 Tim. 4.17 (Phil. 4.13).See also below, n. 55 on Phil. 2.6-11.



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70

abound with echoes of Philippians and other Pauline captivity epistles.Ignatius regards his imprisonment and his impending martyrdom as

confirming the gospel;3 he longs through this to attain to Christ31 andto die in him,32 enduring all things through the one who strengthenshim.33 Similarly, Polycarps widely read letter to the church at Philippimakes explicit reference to one or more letters to Philippi from the

apostle Paul (3.2; 11.2) and manifests repeated allusions to Philippians(e.g. 1.2; 5.2);34 the same is true for the Martyrdom of Polycarp ( 1.2;6.2).35Our final illustration of the second-century Wirkungsgeschichte of

Philippians is the Latin document known as the Epistle to theLaodiceans, a pseudonymous work probably compiled in the second orthird century from various fragments of Pauline letters, almost certainlywith the purpose of supplying the obvious lacuna in the Pauline corre-

spondence indicated by Col. 4.16. While a number of questions(including the date) are unresolved, scholars are generally agreed thatthe compilers source texts include Philippians; indeed Philippians is byfar the most important source. What has to my knowledge not beenpointed out is that every single one of the eighteen-odd allusions and

quotations from Philippians actually occurs in canonical sequence: 1.2,3, 12, 13, 18, 19-20, 21; 2.2, 12, 13, 14; 3.1; 4.6, 8, 9, 22, 23. Thiscannot be accidental and suggests instead that the compiler actuallyworked through a complete copy of Pauls letter.36

30. Cf. Phil. 1.12-14 with Ignatius, Trall. 12.2; Rom. 4.1-2.31. Cf. Phil. 3.8ff. with Ignatius, Rom. 5.3; Phil. 3.9 with Ignatius, Eph. 11.1;

Magn.9.1.32. Cf. Phil. 1.21 with Ignatius, Rom. 6.1; 7.2.33. Cf. Phil. 4.13 with Ignatius, Smym. 4.2.34. The encouraging tone of Polycarps remarks suggests that in his view

Pauls letter to Philippi had been successful. On the abiding popularity of Polycarp,

Phil., arguablynot

least because of its association with St. Paul, note, e.g., Jeromesreference to it as valde utilem epistulam, quae usque hodie inAsiae conventulegitur (De viris inlustribus 17, MPL 23.635).

35. A remarkably useful collation of evidence from theApostolic Fathers isstill Scholia Hellenistica in Novum Testamentum (London: Pickering, 1848), II,

pp. 525-40.36. Note, however, the gap after 3.1, which might be thought to correspond to

the frequent critical assumption of a separate letter fragment in 3.2-4.3. Since

completionof this

article,a similar

pointhas now been advanced

byP.

Sellew,Laodiceans and the Philippians Fragments Hypothesis, HTR 87 (1994), pp. 17-27.



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There are numerous later instances of the influence of Philippians asa whole, but we do not have space for them all here.37A concluding,more light-hearted example may serve to illustrate the image in litera-ture of the commentator on Philippians. Charlotte M. Yonge was an

37. One might point first to the presence of Philippians in the process ofcanonization. It appears in the late second-century Canon Muratori (for the date,see now W. Horbury, The Wisdom of Solomon in the Muratorian Fragment, JTSNS 45 [ 1994], pp. 158-59; contrast G.M. Hahneman, The Muratorian Fragment andthe Date of the Canon [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992], pp. 215-18), but is omitted,

quite possibly in error (Cambridge History of the Bible, II, p. 52) from the sixth-century Codex Claromontanus, which reflects the usage in Egypt c. 320 CE.Aside from misattributed work ofAmbrosiaster along with the Glossa Ordinaria

(on which see n. 16 above), the most widely used commentaries on Philippians inthe MiddleAges were those of Peter Lombard (MPL 192.221-58) and later Thomas

Aquinas (Super Epistolas S. Pauli Lectura [ed. P. Raphael Cai; Turin: Marietti, 8thedn, 1953], II, pp. 89-123). The formers hugely influential Sentences also ensuredthat his commentary on the letters of Paul received early and wide circulation: his

work on Philippians is cited as early as 1142, barely two years after itscomposition. See C.P. Spicq, Esquisse dune histoire de lexgse latine au Moyen

Age (Paris: Vrin, 1944), pp. 126, 298; cf. I.C. Brady, Peter Lombard, NewCatholic Encyclopaedia 11 (1967), p. 221. Note also F. Stegmller, RepertoriumCommentariorum in Sententias Petri Lombardi (2 vols.; Wrzburg: Schningh,1947).

Philippians was a favourite text of the famous Dutch mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck(1293-1381): cf. e.g. E.L. Babinsky, Philippians 3:7-15, Int49 (1995), pp. 70-72.

Martin Luthers 1522 (and 1546) Preface to his German New Testamentintroduces the letter and refers to Pauls enemies as falseApostles who arecharacterized in telling fashion as teachers of works (Werck Lerer) who are

propounding a faithless and human righteousness. William Tyndales preface in histranslation of 1534 appears to be a poor but verbatim translation of Luther.

In 1551 Philip Melanchthon wrote a letter to John Mathesius, the pastor of themining town of Joachimsthal. In it he commends the preaching on Philippians, asaddressed by Paul to a highly praised church, in a town with gold mines (Corpus

Reformatorum [ed.C.G.

Bretschneider; Halle: Schwetschke, 1840), VII, p. 805.The dominant and consistent note of joy in Philippians has frequently inspiredChristian scholarship and piety alike. J.A. Bengel famously (and perhaps notaltogether inappropriately: see esp. 2.17-18 in the Vulgate) expressed the essenceof the epistle in the pithy phrase, summa epistolae: gaudeo, gaudete-the sum ofthe epistle: I rejoice, and you should rejoice (Gnomon Novi Testamenti [Stuttgart:Steinkopf, 1860], p. 766). Christian joy, hope and love are repeatedly illustratedfrom Philippians in Jonathan Edwardss influential Treatise Concerning Religious

Affections: see, e.g., ReligiousAffections,Classics

ofFaith and Devotion

(ed.J.M. Houston; Portland: Multnomah, 1984), pp. 13, 17.



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extremely popular Victorian novelist. In The Pillars of the House

(1873), she presents Mr Underwood as a well-bred but underpaid curate

who devotes his limited free time to a commentary on Philippians(I, p. 31 ). In a difficult situation he finds himself encouraged by theverse Look not every man on his own things (p. 35). Dying young, heleaves his commentary melodramatically unfinished at the words Yea,and if I be offered...,which are made the sermon text in the parishchurch on the following Sunday (p. 63).38 The fact that Yonge would

give Philippians such a pride of place in her novel almost certainlysuggests something of the significance of this and other Pauline epistlesin the popular mind of Victorian England.

This last illustration leads us naturally to the next section, that of acommentators approach to the problem of effective history.

A CommentatorsApproach to WirkungsgeschichteDespite my earlier comments about the influence of Philippians as a

whole, Luzs observation about the effective history of Matthew39 is

true for this letter as well: the lions share of its influence has beenlinked to a few individual verses and pericopes. These in turn served toilluminate not so much Philippians in particular but Christian faith andlife in its entirety. It is here that the commentary turns out to be a

particularly useful vehicle for the concise discussion of effectivehistory, sequentially pericope by pericope.

For purposes of illustration, then, I propose to offer a quick survey of

three of the most influential passages in Philippians.

Three Examples

Philippians 1.21-23In the context of discussing his imprisonment, Paul reflects on the

possibility of his martyrdom: To me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

If I am to live in the flesh, thatmeans

fruitful labour for me; and I donot know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desireis to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Together with at best a handful of other verses (e.g. Lk. 23.43;

38. I am indebted to Dr Horbury for these references. On the work ofC.M. Yonge and her popularity see M. Mare and A.C. Percival, Victorian Best-seller : The World

ofCharlotte M.

Yonge (London: Harrap, 1947).39. Luz, Matthus, p. 78.



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Jn 14.2-3, 2 Cor. 5.1-9; Heb. 12.23), this passage has been perhaps themost important New Testament passage for the view of the Christian

passing directly through death to the afterlife.&dquo; Without exaggeration,it is possible to say that this passage in Philippians substantially con-tributed to the very widespread Christian view of immediate immortal-

ity (when you die you go to heaven ). We need not here be detained byarguments about the possible development in Pauls eschatology since1 Thessalonians 4; suffice it to say that the real possibility of his owndeath before the parousia, which was explicitly on Pauls mind at leastsince 2 Corinthians 1, appears to colour his perspective in the later

letters.

Thus death as gain and as going to be with the Lord is a constanttheme in the Church Fathers, beginning with Clement of Rome, 41

I

Polycarp and Ignatiuss letter to Rome (6.1 ). Phil. 1.23 is repeatedlyquoted and alluded to in Tertullian, Origen and the CappadocianFathers .4 Indeed one could argue that the majority patristic notion ofthe souls transport to heaven is fundamentally related to this passage,

while on the other hand Charles E. Hill has recently shown that theearly chiliasts almost entirely ignore it in formulating their doctrine ofthe intermediate state. 44 This may well represent an early case of the

strategic omission, not to say repression, of a passage from Philippians.In the course of Christian history, however, the motifs of Christian

death as an advantage and of dying to be with the Lord became an

40. Dr Horbury reminds me that other, compatible if less explicit passages of

great influence on Christian views of life after death must undoubtedly include Job19.25-27 and 1 Cor. 15.20-58, both of which were appointed for the Burial serviceof the Book of Common Prayer, following the office for the dead in the SarumMissal.

41. 1 Clem. 5.4, 7; cf. 45.7.42. Polycarp, Phil. 9.2 (Paul et al. are now with the Lord, ϵ&iacgr;&iacgr; &aacgr;

v).Cf. Mart. Pol. 19.2.

43. E.g. Tertullian, Cast. 12.3; Pat. 9.5; Spect. 28.5; Uxor. 1.5.1. For detailedreferences see Biblia Patristica: Index des citations et allusions bibliques dans lalittrature patristique (5 vols.; Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche

Scientifique, 1975-91).44. See C.E. Hill, Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Future Hope in Early

Christianity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 159-60. He alsodemonstrates among other things that Tertullian changed his mind from a positionwhere the soul goes

directlyto heaven to his later Montanist view that all souls are

shut up in Hades (pp. 26-27 and n. 46).



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almost universal commonplace.45 The story is told of St Martin ofTours that, aged 80, he allowed himself to be persuaded by his disciplesto pray for the prolongation of his days.46 Dying to be with Christ is a

theme found in the Imitation of Christ ( 1.12), in Miltons Paradise Lost(11.40-43) and in a moving pastoral letter of Thomas More. 41 Countlessother popular religious applications could be cited, including significanthymns about going to be with Jesus when we die. But there are alsonumerous cases of transposed secular allusions, such as King Harry in

Shakespeares Henry V: And dying so, death is to him advantage1

(4.1.192-93). More specifically, Phil. 1.23 served ThomasAquinas in

opposing the idea of an intermediate state after death 41 and theReformers in their arguments against the doctrine of purgatory. 49Richard Baxter wrote a book on the passage for his own comfort in

facing death;5 and the passage was also prominent in the preaching of

45. Indeed itmay

be that

pre-Christian popularculture was

already receptiveto

similar ideas. Antigones admittedly rather more fatalistic reflection on her

premature death as &eacgr;o&sfgr; may be relevant here (see P.Antin, Mori Lucrum et

Antigone 424, 464, RSR 62 [1974], pp. 259-60; L.G. Bloomquist, The Function ofSuffering in Philippians [JSNTSup, 78; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993], p. 154), as isperhaps Pauls own appeal in Rom. 5.7 to popular presuppositions about dying fora good cause or person.

46. D.H. Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1978), p. 266. Cf. F.R. Hoare (trans. and ed.), The Western Fathers

(London:Sheed

& Ward, 1954); C.F.R. Montalembert, The Monks of the West from St Benedict toSt Bernard (Edinburgh/London: Blackwood, 1896), I, p. 344.

47. Thomas More, Letter to Meg Roper (Rogers 211). See G. Marchadour,The Bible in the Works of Thomas More (Nieuwkoop: de Graaf, 1971), IV, p. 89.

48. ThomasAquinas, Comm. on Philippians 1, Lectio III 35 (ed. Cai, p. 97):In quo notatur falsitas opinionis Graecorum, quod animae Sanctorum post mortemnon statim sunt cum Christo.

49. See P.Althaus, The Theologyof

Martin Luther (trans. R.C. Schultz;Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966), pp. 413-14.; H. Schmid, Doctrinal Theology ofthe Evangelical Lutheran Church (trans. C.A. Hay and H.E. Jacobs; Minneapolis:Augsburg, 3rd edn, 1899), p. 638. See also more generally the Thirty-NineArticles,No. XXII. Professor H. Chadwick suggests to me that the early Churchs

understanding would have been to apply Phil. 1.23 to martyrs and apostles only,while others needed purification in purgatory (Letter, 16 October 1994).

50. Richard Baxters dying thoughts upon Phil. I. 23: written for his own usein the latter times of his corporal pains and weakness (London: Thos. Snowden forB. Simmons; 2nd edn, 1688 [1683]).



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the Puritan Revival in New England.5 Its relevance for a context ofmartyrdom can readily be illustrated with examples from Ignatius ofAntioch all the way to contexts of

persecutionin the twentieth century.52

In the end, the precise Wirkungsgeschichte of Phil. 1.21-23 clearlyfar outstrips the explicit citations and allusions. It blends seamlesslywith the history of a number of other biblical passages which haveformed and informed Christian doctrine and served to provide comfortand assurance to countless Christian believers over the centuries.

Philippians 2.5-111If such claims may to some readers seem bold, an even stronger case is

certainly justified in the case of Phil. 2.5-11. Perhaps no other Pauline

pericope has been the subject of such sustained critical attention overthe past thirty years of New Testament study; the bibliography of

scholarly books and articles amounts to several hundred entries. Eventhe most thorough historical-critical efforts, however, by and largeconfine themselves to the many exegetical problems intrinsic to thepassage itself. That is to say, most exegetes are interested in the

passage because of the crucial difficulties it raises with regard to

literary form, religious background and authorship, as well as severalambiguities residing in the text itself. Does the hymn intend a moralimitatio Christi, or not? Does it predicate the pre-existence of Christ, ornot? Which of more than twenty possible approaches offers the correctmeaning of p1taYll? These and other issues have kept professionalsand students alike more than busy.

This critical work has in some respects brought significant advancesin our understanding of these verses in their original setting, whileleaving a number of important questions hotly debated. However, whathas generally been overlooked in this flurry of scholarly activity is thefar more wide-ranging formative importance which the passage has infact had in the history of Christian doctrine, life and worship. If the

hymns authorship were indeed pre-Pauline, then Philippians itselfcould be said to be part of the passages Wirkungsgeschichte, quite

51. J. Edwards, Sermons and Discourses 1720-1723 (ed. W.H. Kimnach; NewHaven: Yale University Press, 1992), pp. 563-91: Living to Christ and Dying toGain, two sermons preached on one day.

52. See, e.g., the sermon by the revered PastorAngeloff, persecuted in

Communist Bulgaria, in L.A. Drummond (ed.), Here They Stand: Biblical Sermonsfrom Eastern Europe (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1976), pp. 162-65.



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possibly along with other early Christian texts which allude to similarlanguage.53 But regardless of this question, Phil. 2.5-11 in its canonicalfunction is certainly one of the most influential passages in patristicliterature, beginning with the Apostolic Fathers, Justin, Melito,Tertullian, Irenaeus and Clement ofAlexandria.

In the christological debate of the early centuries the argument aboutthe condescension and incarnation of a pre-existent divine Christ takesas one of its key points of departure this passage from Philippians. ForTertullian, Philippians 2 was a linchpin of his Christology of twosubstances, which later became the doctrine of the two natures of

Christ.54 The Fathers since Tertullian use this passage to stress the

personal relevance of Christs loving obedience at the cross for theindividual Christian and for the Church,55 a theme which, drawing in

passages like Gal. 2.20, reverberates through the entire history ofChristian piety and worship.At the same time, the example of Christsobedience served repeatedly as an inspiration to martyrs.56

St Hilary of Poitiers, too, uses the Christ hymn with very great

frequency, especially in his Tractate on the Psalms; for him, the passageproves that the risen and exalted Christ is totus Deus, totus hottio. -57

For Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril ofAlexandria, the kellosis theme ofthis passage proved particularly rich and fertile theological soil, whichthey ploughed well and often. 58 In particular, Gregory saw in Phil. 2.6proof of Christs consubstantiality with the Father, while 2.10 seemed tofurnish support for the doctrine of the apocatastasis, the restoration of

all things, in which even demons and the wicked would be reconciled. 59

53. O. Hofius (Der Christushymnus Philipper 2,6-11: Untersuchungen zuGestalt undAussage eines urchristlichen Psalms [WUNT, 17; Tbingen: Mohr

(Siebeck), 2nd rev. edn, 1991], pp. 76-92) would cite 2 Cor. 5.19 and especiallyEph. 1.21; Heb. 1.2-14 as other examples (but note pp. 101-102 on Heb. 1.13).

54. B. de Margerie, Introduction lhistoire de lexgse (Paris: Cerf, 1980-

83),II,

pp.48-49.

55. Pro te ... pro nobis: De Fuga in Persec. 12; similarly Augustine,Confessions 10.43. OnAugustines use of Phil. 2.5-11, see furtherA. Verwilghen,Christologie et spiritualit selon saintAugustin: Lhymne aux Philippiens (Paris:Beauchesne, 1985).

56. See already Eusebiuss account of the martyrs of Lyon, Eccl. Hist. 5.2.2.57. De Margerie, Introduction, II, p. 81.58. See, e.g., de Margerie, Introduction, I, pp. 255, 282-88.59. Adv.

Apoll.20, MPG

45.1164A-B;Adv. Eunomium

4,MPG 45.672A. Cf.

L.F. Mateo-Seco, Kenosis, exaltacin de Cristo y apocatastasis en la exegesis a



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Cyril similarly cites Phil. 2.5-11 in almost half of his 29 paschalhomilies. In his humanization (vav0pllxqJiq) Christ undergoes novariation in his

divinity,but remains the same forever.

Contraryto

some modern kenotic theologians,6 for Cyril the kenosis is not aprocess of diminution, nor the exaltation an adoptionist accretion ofdivinity. Instead, the process is one of assuming humanity (1tpocra~rovas explaining the Pauline kup6v of 2.7), all the while retaining hisinherent divinity and glory.6As in some modem scholarship, Christsobedience in this passage is repeatedly contrasted with that ofAdam

(e.g.in Irenaeus and

Augustine 62).Our passage was apparently no less popular in heterodox circles; it is

particularly intriguing that two such contrary Christologies as theGnostic and theArian both employed it. There is good evidence forGnostic use of 2.7 in support of the idea of a descending heavenlyredeemer 63 while 2.9-11 were clearly also used.64Arians, on the otherhand, particularly liked to cite vv. 9-10 to strengthen their case that

Filipenses 2,5-11 de S. Gregorio de Nisa, Scripta Theologica 3 (1971), pp. 301-42,cited in de Margerie,Introduction, I, p. 255.

60. The kenotic doctrine, championed in England by P.T. Forsyth and others,had its origin among nineteenth-century German Lutheran scholars such asGottfried Menken and Gottfried Thomasius. See E. Hirsch, Geschichte der neuern

evangelischen Theologie (Gtersloh: Bertelsmann, 1954), V, pp.387-92.M. Breidert, Die kenotische Christologie des 19. Jahrhunderts (Gtersloh: Gerd

Mohn, 1977), pp. 24-29 regards nineteenth-century kenotic Christology as a

response to the radical historical criticism initiated by D.F. Strauss, an attempt to

bridge the Jesus of history and the Christ of dogma. See Breidert, Die kenatische

Christologie, pp. 278-97 for the additional influence of the dialectic of Schellingand Hegel.

61. See de Margerie, Introduction, I, pp. 286, 288.

62. Irenaeus, Haer. 5.16.3;Augustine, Civ. Dei 14.15. Cf., e.g., J.D.G. Dunn,

Christology in the Making (London: SCM Press, 1980), pp. 114-21 and passim.

63. See Hippolytus, Ref. 5.19.21; Clement ofAlexandria, Excerpta exTheodoto 35.1. Note also theAsc. Isa. 8.9-10; 9.13. Danilou (Theology of Jewish

Christianity, pp. 157-63) throws light on the significance of passages like 2.10 forthe Name theology of Gnosticism; see also J. Fossum, The Name of God and the

Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the

Origins of Gnosticism (WUNT, 36; Tbingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1985), passim.64. Acts of Thomas 2.27; Clement ofAlexandria, Excerpta ex Theodoto 43.4;

Prayer of theApostle Paul, 1.11 (see B. Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures:A New

Translation withAnnotations and Introductions [London: SCM Press, 1987],p. 305).



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Christ was not eternally co-equal to the Father. In reply,Athanasius andhis followers argued that 2.6 shows Christ to be already equal to God in

the pre-incarnate state,65 and therefore that vv. 9-10 must relate thehumiliation and exaltation only to Christs human nature.66 Marius

Victorinus,67Augustine and others continued this tradition, 61 while onthe other hand Nestorius, too, appealed to Phil. 2.6-7 for his particularview of Christology.69

Phil. 2.6-8 continued to contribute considerably to the understandingof the incarnation throughout church history. In the MiddleAges, the

phrase ~iop(p~ 8oi)kot) (2.7) served Byzantine preachers in the dispute

against the iconoclasts.70Anselm of Canterbury gave pride of place toour passage in his famous work on the Incarnation, Cur Deus Homo

(chs. 8-10). Together with other passages, Phil. 2.8-9 in particular showsthat Christs death was both truly voluntary and an act of obedience:for this is simple and true obedience, when the rational nature, not of

necessity but willingly, keeps the will that it has received from God .71Martin Luther, whose works contain over 50 treatments of this

passage,72 put the Vulgates phrase forma Dei in 2.6 to somewhat

65. Oratio contraArianos 4.6 (Ps.-Athanasius?).66. Oratio contraArianos 1.37-41, 44, 47. See Cambridge History of the

Bible, I, p. 444.

67. AdversusArium 1.45 (on 2.7). See also his Commentary on Philippians adloc.: Franco Gori (ed.), Mario Vittorino: Commentari alle Epistole di Paolo agli

Efesini, ai Galati, ai Filippesi (Corona Patrum, 8; Turin: Societ EditriceInternazionale, 1981), pp. 328-38.68. See, e.g.,Augustine, Contra SermonemArianorum 8 (MPL 42.688). Wiles

(DivineApostle, pp. 86-87) points out that only a minority, includingAmbrosiaster,stressed the kenosis as indicating Christs full divinity in the world. Note also, withcare, F. Loofs, Das altkirchliche Zeugnis gegen die herrschendeAuffassung derKenosisstelle (Phil 2,5-11), TSK 100 (1927), pp. 1-102, esp. 80-88.

69. A. Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition. I. From theApostolicAge to

Chalcedon (451) (trans. J. Bowden; London: Mowbrays, rev. edn, 1975), p. 511.70. See the anonymous tenth-eleventh century sermon reproduced as BeilageVIB in E. von Dobschtz, Christusbilder: Untersuchungen zur christlichen

Legende (TU, NS 3; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899), p. 235 line 25.71. Anselm, Cur Deus Homo 10 (E.R. Fairweather [trans. and ed.],A Scholastic

Miscellany:Anselm to Ockham [Library of Christian Classics, 9; London: SCMPress, 1967], p. 116).

72. For a complete listing, see T. Beer, Der frhliche Wechsel und Streit:

Grundzge der Theologie Martin Luthers (Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag, 1980),p. 353 n. 4.



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unexpected use. Instead of interpreting it in the conventional way ofChrists eternal and pre-existent deity, Luther relates it to that part ofhis nature which he shares and communicates with us. Just as Christ

experiences in himself both humiliation and exaltation, so also theChristian.&dquo; Indeed in his sermons on the passage Luther goes still

further, including in Christs humiliation even his submission to human

sin and to Satan: though he was holy, he became a sinner, both aliveand dead.74 Christ takes on not just body and soul, but indeed all ourweaknesses that pertain to both, including even fear, sadness, anger andhatred,75 thereby becoming, in Luthers startling translation of 2.7, Justlike any other human being.6 The wider dissemination of the Pauline

epistles in the Reformation also meant the inclusion of key passageslike Phil. 2.5-11 in catechisms, such as the briefly famous one of JohnPonet, bishop of Winchester in 1552. 77

Moving beyond the realm of Christian doctrine, the Christ hymn of

Philippians had enormous influence on piety as well as on literature andmusic. It suffuses Bernard of Clairvauxs sermons on the Song of

Songs, which use especially vv. 6-7 to illustrate how meditation onChrists humiliation enables a Christ-like re-ordering of human love,from concupiscence to charity. 71 St Francis ofAssisi reportedly

73. See Beer, Wechsel, pp. 85-86, 263, with special reference to LuthersFastenpostille of 1525 (Weimar edn., XVII.2, pp. 238-45). See further E. Ellwein

(ed.), D. Martin Luthers Epistel-Auslegung (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,

1973), III, pp. 193-212 and passim.74. Beer, Wechsel, p. 336 and n. 44: Luthers sermon of 5April 1528, Weimar

edn, XXVII, p. 93. See further Beer, Wechsel, pp. 354-74: Christ became a sinner

not in action but in being, i.e. in the state of the damned, illustrated in his descent toHades. In this sense only, he became a sinner even psychologically andsubjectively, as well as objectively (p. 359). Cf. U.Asendorf, Die Theologie MartinLuthers nach seinen Predigten (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1988),

pp. 189-90.

75. Asendorf, Theologie, p. 189, with reference to Weimar edn, XLII, pp. 210-14.

76. Christ ward gleich wie ein anderer Mensch, for &eeacgr;i ϵ&uacgr;ϵ&thetas;ϵ&iacgr;&sfgr;&aacgr;&thetas;o&sfgr;.

77. The Short Catechisme 1553 (Latin 1552) quotes Phil. 2.8-10 in support of

the doctrine of the Incarnation. See T.H.L. Parker, English Reformers (Library ofChristian Classics, 26; London: SCM Press, 1966), p. 165.

78. See K. Walsh et al. (trans.), Bernard of Clairvaux: On the Song of Songs

(Cistercian Fathers Series; 4 vols.; Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1979-83):the Scripture Index lists over 25 references to Phil. 2.6-10. Note especially 45.9:



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humbled himself in begging for alms even when a guest of the promi-nent Bishop of Ostia, because the Great King and Lord of all willinglybecame for us the servant of all.79 The great importance of our passagein English literature has repeatedly been pointed out.8Allusions to the

passage understandably abound in such writings as Dante and

Shakespeare,8 Milton,82 George Herbert and John Bunyan.83Liturgically, echoes of our passage are probably present as early as

the Nicene andAthanasian Creeds (of one substance with the Father,

equal to God, etc.) and perhaps in the Te Deum (Thou didst not abhorthe virgins womb).There is, moreover, an almost boundless influence in Christian

hymnody; the passage continues to give rise to new popular hymns and

How beautiful you appear to the angels, Lord Jesus, in the form of God, eternal,

begotten before the daystar amid the splendours of heaven, the radiant light ofGods glory and the perfect copy of his nature, the unchanging and untarnished

brightness of eternal life! How beautiful you are to me, my Lord, even in the verydiscarding of your beauty! When you divested yourself of the native radiance of the

unfailing light, then your kindness was thrown into relief, your love shone out more

brightly... (ital. mine). Cf. further the introduction by M.C. Halflants, Bernard ofClairvaux, I, pp. xix-xxi.

79. R.B. Brooke, Scripta Leonis, Rufini etAngeli Sociorum S. Francisci(Oxford Medieval Texts; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. 196-97: quicum sit Dominus omnium, pro nobis fieri uoluit seruus omnium. I am grateful to

Professor Christopher Brooke of Caius College, Cambridge for pointing out thispassage.

80. See, e.g., N. Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (London:Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983), p. 129.

81. Dante, Divina Commedia, Paradiso 7.119-20 (the Son of God humbledHim so / That He became incarnated in man). The Earl of Warwick in Henry VI

Part Two 3.2.154-55 speaks of that dread King that took our state upon Him tofree us from the Fathers wrathful curse.

82. See, e.g., Milton, Paradise Lost 3.321-22; 5.607-608, 815-18 (all 2.10);3.306, probably interpreting 2.6 in anArian sense (see J. Carey andA. Fowler[eds.], The Poems of John Milton [London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1968], p. 578);10.214-215 (2.7). Cf. further T.J. OKeeffe, Milton and the Pauline Tradition

(Washington, DC: University Press ofAmerica, 1982), p. 301 and passim.83. G. Herbert, Love, III. On Bunyan see, e.g., Pilgrims Progress (ed.

J.B. Wharey; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 52: He had stript himselfof his glory that he might do this [i.e. die on the Cross] for the Poor. Cf. more

generally R.S. Beal, GraceAbounding to the Chief of Sinners: John BunyansPauline Epistle, Studies in English Literature 21 (Houston, TX, 1981), pp. 147-60.



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choruses to this day. 84 There are also well over 30 significant choral

arrangements based on Phil. 2.5-11, including many by famous

composerslike Palestrina,Anton Bruckner and

HealeyWillan. 85

After vv. 6-8 about the incarnation and humiliation of Christ,

undoubtedly the most prominent part of this passage is the statementabout his ascension and glorification in vv. 9-10. With its reference tothe name above every name to whom every knee shall bow, this text

has had a remarkable history well outside the precincts of theologicalacademia. The earliest reference is probably in Polycarps letter to the

Philippians (2. 1),86 with innumerable later citations. For Irenaeus, theChristology of this verse was integral to the Rule of Faith, and definedthe very purpose of the parousia. 87Among the masses of evidence which might be cited on 2.9-10 alone,

it is worth referring briefly to the remarkable history of devotion to thename of Jesus. Christian reverence of the name of Jesus has been

widespread since earliest times; indeed there is some indication that the

supposedly magical power of the name was even used by non-Christians.&dquo; The second-century Epistle of Barnaba,s offers a famousgematria on the name of Jesus (9.8),89 while from the fourth century onthe Greek abbreviation IHC is widely found. In the West this was

usually latinized to IHS from the sixth century onwards. It was not untilthe later middle ages, however, that devotion to the holy name reallycame into its own. In popular hymnody one might note Bernard ofClairvauxs hymn, Jesu dulcis memoria, translated by John Mason

84. E.g. Earth Has Many. a Noble City (Prudentius, 348-413 CE, trans.E. Caswall), v. 2; Hark, the HeraldAngels Sing, vv. 2-3; May the Mind of ChristMy Saviour (K.B. Wilkinson); several of Graham Kendricks songs, includingMeekness and Majesty etc.

85. See, e.g., the 34 listed in J. Laster (comp.), Catalogue of Choral Music

Arranged in Biblical Order (Metuchen/London: Scarecrow, 1983), pp. 222-23.

86. Cf. possiblyAsc. Isa. 10.15.87. Irenaeus, Haer. 1.10.1; cf. 4.24.2; 3.12.9.

88. SeeActs 19.13 and Greek magical papyri. In Gnosticism note the CopticGospel of Philip 54.5-8 (NHC II 3);Acts of Thomas 27; cf. also Hofius,Christushymnus (2nd edn), p. 109 n. 5, and Fossum, Name of God, pp. 95-98. For amuch later period note, e.g., the article Schreiben, etc. in Handwrterbuch desdeutschenAberglaubens (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1941), IX, pp. 319, 321.

89. Gen. 14.14: the 318 men born inAbrahams house can be transcribed in

Greek numerals as TIH, i.e. the Cross (T) of IHo&uacgr;&sfgr; (note that the rabbisexplained the 318 as a gematria on the name Eliezer, cf. Gen. 15.2).



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Neale as Jesu, the very thought of Thee (HymnsAncient & Modern,

178). Most especially, however, it was San Bernardino of Siena, the

great Franciscan preacher of the Italian Renaissance, who popularized

the IHS (or YHS) siglum in the church and in popular piety. It was hiscustom to pass around a small plaque on which was engraved theemblem YHS, surrounded by the Vulgate text of Phil. 2.10. His ferventand widely admired preaching of devotion to the name of Jesusincurred the animosity of rival monastic orders, which eventually led to

his being tried but then acquitted before Pope Martin V.9 The YHS

siglum as such later spread far beyond Italy and was widely misunder-

stood (sometimes with magical connotations) in an age that did notknow Greek.Acrostic interpretation were particularly common, such asJesus Hominum Salvator or, among Jesuits, Jesum habemus SOciU111.

Related developments in subsequent times included the designationof the second Sunday after Epiphany&dquo; as the feast of the Name ofJesus. This was celebrated by the Franciscans from 1530, became pre-scribed by Pope Innocent XIII in 1721, and was suppressed in 1969. 92

In England, too, the cult of the Holy Name of Jesus spread as early asthe fifteenth century, and the feast of the Holy Name was establishedthrough the patronage of Lady Margaret Beaufort, who also commis-sioned a prayer book including a considerable series of devotions denomine Ihesu .93 The Sarum rite and the Book of Common Prayer cameto appoint the feast day of the Holy Name for 7August. In this contextit is also worth noting the foundation of Jesus and Christs Colleges

at Oxford and Cambridge. Thus Phil. 2.10 contributed fundamentally tothe abiding popularity of such devotion to Jesus, certain less salubriousconnotations notwithstanding.9a

90. See I. Origo, The World of San Bernardino (London: Jonathan Cape,1963), pp. 117-30 and fig. xvi;A.G. Ferrers Howell, St Bernardino of Siena

(London: Methuen, 1913), pp. 158-62.

91. The date changed several times, to 14

January,and later 2

January.92. The feast is still maintained on 2 January in theAmerican Book ofCommon Prayer. See the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, articles IHS(p. 690), Name of Jesus (p. 953) and Name of Jesus, Feast of (pp. 953-54). Notefurther B. Ott, IHS, Lexikon der Christlichen Ikonographie, II (Freiburg: Herder,1980), p. 337.

93. See Duffy, Stripping of theAltars, pp. 274-85, esp. 284. Cf. furtherL. Pullan, Religion since the Reformation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924),appendix.

94. The Office and Mass for this feast were composed by Bernardino dei Busti



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English popular piety continued its interaction with Phil. 2.9-10.Liturgically, another ancient practice is that of bowing at the name ofJesus during the recitation of the Creed, quite probably based on Phil.2.10. It was approved in 1559 by Queen Elizabeth, apparently enforc-

ing current custom, and then reaffirmed in canon 18 of 1604.95 In later

hymnody John Newtons How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds

(HymnsA. & M., 176) probably belongs here,96 as do many laternineteenth-century hymns (e.g. Caroline Noels At the Name of Jesus,

A. & M., 306; William Walsham Hows Jesus, Name of Wondrous

Love); twentieth-century hymnody is not far behind.9Anecdotalevidence could be multiplied,9 but the case is clearly well established.

Philippians 3.20For my third and rather briefer example, I should like to concentrate onPhil. 3.20 with its assertion that our citizenship is in heaven.

Beginning with the early patristic period, this passage (in practiceinseparable from Phil. 1.27) has had an enormous influence on

Christian attitudes to life in this world. Even Clement of Rome and

Polycarp already encouraged the Corinthian and Philippian churches topractise the conduct of those who live without regrets as citizens in thecity of God (I Clem. 54.4; cf. 3.4; 21.1; Polycarp, Phil. 5.2; Ep. Diogn.5.9); echoes of this same attitude recur in the EpistulaApostolorum (38,47). Not surprisingly, perhaps, patristic sources also record considerable

(d. 1500), a noted anti-Jewish preacher. The anti-Semitic potential of the

Wirkungsgeschichte of Philippians would also be worth tracing for 3.2-3.95. See Bowing, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, pp. 192-93;

F. Proctor and W.H. Frere, A New History of the Book ofCommon Prayer (London:Macmillan, 1905), pp. 391-92 and n. 2. Professor Chadwick assures me that

bowing at the name of Jesus was certainly pre-Reformation practice in England(Letter, 16 October 1994).

96. Professor Christopher Brooke suggests to me in a letter of 22August 1994that this hymn clearly owed more to St Paul than to Catholic tradition.97. Note some of the numerous choruses of recent years, including Jesus,

Name aboveAll Names and He is Lord. Similar ancient and modem hymns exist

in other languages, not least in German.98. Of Christina Rossetti it is reported that she refused to step on scraps of torn

paper in case the name of Jesus was written on them; the legendary Stradivarius

reputedly marked every violin with the name of Jesus (hence the term Stradivari

del Ges). See J.T. Stoddart, The New Testament in Life and Literature (London:Hodder & Stoughton, 1914), p. 356.



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interest in Phil. 3.20 and the notion of heavenly citizenship inValentinian and Sethian Gnostic circles.99

Most typically, Phil. 3.20 is cited in the patristic literature in associa-tion with New Testament passages about pilgrimage and life as an alien(e.g. 1 Pet. 2; Heb. 11, esp. v. 16), or with those about the Jerusalemabove (Gal. 4; Rev. 21), along with related Old Testament psalms(note esp. Ps. 87). In this sense our passage from Philippians con-tributed significantly to the formulation of the idea of Christians as

belonging to the heavenly city. While some Christians understoodthis heavenly citizenship as a future prize reserved for martyrs andother faithful saints, a second line of thought described it as the

present experience of all Christians. 102

Possibly as a result of the decline in martyrdom, there appears insome cases to be a movement away from an eschatological understand-ing (based on an acute conflict of loyalties) to one of gradual progressand aspiration towards a goal. By the same token, the Pauline terminol-ogy of heavenly citizenship (1totn:~Hx) tends to give way to that ofa heavenly city or commonwealth (1tottEa), for instance in Cyprianand above all in Origen, who has more than 40 uses of Phil. 3.20.103While it would be unwarranted and somewhat anachronistic to draw

very clear lines of distinction, it does seem that theAlexandrian andlater Fathers de-emphasize future eschatology in favour of a continual

ascent, for which the image of heavenly citizenship marks both thedestination and the distinctive character of the Christian pilgrim.104 In

99. See Clement ofAlexandria, Excerpta ex Theodoto 54.3; Hippolytus, Ref.5.21.7.

100. J. Roldanus, Rfrences patristiques au "chrtien-tranger" dans les trois

premiers sicles, Cahiers de Biblica Patristica 1 (1987), pp. 27-52 (28-29, esp. 41-

45), and the references listed there; see also H. Leisegang, Der Ursprung der Lehre

Augustius von der civitas dei,Archiv fr Kirchengeschichte 16 (1925), pp. 127-58.

101. E.g. Tertullian, Mart. 3; idem,Adv. Marc. 3.24.3; Cyprian, Ep. 76; cf.Hippolytus, Refut. 10.34; Methodius, Banquet 8.6. See further Roldanus,Rfrences patristiques, p. 42.

102. Thus the Epistle to Diognetus, Tertullians De Corona and Clement ofAlexandrias Protrepticus; also the latters Paed. 3.99.1 (where oiϵϵ&thetas;i &eacgr;

o&uacgr;oς = being a disciple on earth); Strom. 4.12 (Gal. 6.14 = I live already as acitizen of heaven).

103. See already I Clem. 54.4, cited earlier.104. See

Roldanus,Rfrences

patristiques, pp. 43-44, referenceson

p. 51nn. 92-93. Roldanus would confirm an influence of Philo, but without affirming the



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this period, key associations exist with Mt. 6.19-21 (the treasure inheaven), 1 Cor. 15.49 (the heavenly man, understood as progressivegrowth) and similar texts.

It is, of course, true that the original Christian awareness of theChurchs non-establishment did not simply disappear with Constantineand Theodosius. Instead, influential church leaders like GregoryNazianzen (Or. 26, 33), Chrysostom (Hom. on Mt. 9.5; on Jn 15.3; onHeb. 24.2) and above allAugustine (e.g. City of God 5.17) urged their

congregations not to attach too great a significance to their naturalhomeland.&dquo; Instead,Augustine interprets Pauls reference to heavenly

citizenship as pertaining to those who seek the things above (Col. 3.1-2) : They reign with him who are so in his kingdom that they themselvesare his kingdom.6

This Augustinian interpretation of Phil. 3.20 was immenselyinfluential. Citing our passage in a sermon on the Lords Prayer, Ivo ofChartres (1040-1115) explains the phrase Our Father who art inheaven to imply that God is among those whose manner of life [cf.

Vulgates conversatio] is in the heavens .107 We must probably includehere the whole popular notion of the Christians true home being in

heaven, which is widespread in medieval pietyl08 and later recurs, for

example, in the work of John Bunyan.109At least indirectly, much ofthe Zion hymnody of subsequent centuries also belongs in this

category, although the specific influence of Phil. 3.19b-20 is not alwaysprecisely traceable. 0

Philonic (and later Gnostic) idea of the body as the land of exile (p. 45, withreference to Philo, Cher. 120; Conf. Ling. 78).

105. Roldanus, Rfrences patristiques, pp. 46-47 and n. 99.106. Augustine, Civ. Dei 20.9.107. G.E. McCracken and A. Cabaniss (trans. and ed.), Early Medieval

Theology (Library of Christian Classics, 9; London: SCM Press, 1957), p. 320.

108. See Thomas Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 2.1; S. Wenzel (ed. andtrans.), Fasciculus Morum:A Fourteenth-Century Preachers Handbook

(University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989), pp. 532-33.109. For a clear allusion to Phil. 3.20, see, e.g., Bunyans reference to those

whose trade and traffick was in Heaven (Wharey [ed.], Pilgrims Progress, p. 90).110. See, however, P.Abelards O Quanta Qualia Sunt Illa Sabbata (= O What

Their Joy and Their Glory Must Be [trans. J.M. Neale]), esp. v. 5 (Jerusalem, dearnative land); Bernard of Clunys Urbs SyonAurea (= Jerusalem the Golden

[trans.J.M.

Neale], A. & M., 228), esp.v. 4

(the home of Gods Elect);Jerusalem, My Happy Home (A. & M., 236, anon.); John Newtons Glorious



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ways in which this passage has been understood and applied in the

church.

Conclusion

Since this paper is only a preliminary study, it is appropriate to be brief.I expect to do further work in due course, but my hope is that otherswill refine and expand what has been proposed. My argument in effecthas been in three parts: first, I have tried to provide an introduction tothe important but neglected role of Wirkungsgeschichte for biblical

interpretation. Secondly, I have offered some reflections on appropriatemethods and approaches, in dialogue with the significant work done byHeikki Rdisdnen and especially Ulrich Luz.And finally, I haveattempted to chart a course through the effective history of Pauls letterto the Philippians, taking into account both the influence of the letter asa whole and that of particular passages. It has been my suggestion thatboth aspects of Wirkungsgeschichte need attention, and that the genreof the exegetical commentary is particularly well suited to provide anillustrated running account of the place and presence of biblical bookswithin the history of our civilization. In rendering this service, acommentator will assist his readers not only in engaging with the vitalhistorical-critical work, but also in building the hermeneutical bridgefrom the world of the text to the world of the Christian reader and his or

her community.

And one more thing needs to be said. Where we pursue effectivehistory in a spirit of humble and sympathetic criticism, we may wellfind ourselves enlisting the aid of our forebears in that other missingdimension of contemporary New Testament commentaries: the

engaging and exposing of that which Karl Barth called the enigma ofthe matters the extrinsic reality to which the text points, the Word ofGod in the words of Scripture.

112. K. Barth, Romans (trans. E.C. Hoskyns; Oxford: Oxford University Press,1933), p. 8. Compare most recently the suggestion of M. Hengel (Aufgaben derneutestamentlichen Wissenschaft, NTS 40 [1994], pp. 349-51) that the task of New

Testament scholarship cannot be complete without an explicit engagement with thequestion of the underlying truth of the gospel.



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ABSTRACT

This study begins by offering an introduction to the neglected role of Wirkungs-geschichte in biblical interpretation, developing reflections on appropriate methodsand approaches in dialogue with the work of Heikki Risnen and especially UlrichLuz. It is argued that the modern meaning of a biblical text cannot be fullyelucidated without reference to the history of both its meaning and its effects in the

period between the ancient author and the modern interpreter.Turning to the effective history of Pauls letter to the Philippians, the article then

examines both the influence of the letter as a whole and that of three particularpassages (1.21-23; 2.5-11; 3.20). It is suggested that the genre of the commentary isparticularly well suited to a running account of the place and presence of biblicalbooks within the history of our civilization, which could provide vital tools for theconstruction of a hermeneutical bridge from the world of the text to the world of

the Christian reader and his or her community

Documents

1995 JSNT Philippians Effective History