AUTHORSHIP AND UNITY: PHILIPPIANS

The Philippian letter is generally held to be written by Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. This was virtually unassailed until the 19^th Century. Then a German, F.C. Baur questioned the authorship. His arguments are basically twofold:

·         The opening verse of Philippians has two classes of leadership—deacons and bishops. He argues that this development was after Paul’s day. However, the New Testament indicates the existence of these offices in the time of Paul (Acts 6:1-6; 11:30; 14:23; 30:27-28; 1 Thess. 5:13).

·         Philippians 2:6-11, the kenosis passage, was not original with Paul, and caused a debate about Pauline authorship of the book of Philippians. However, if Paul did incorporate the Hymn, this does not negate him as the author of the letter. Overall, the authorship by Paul has held up, and there is no real question that he wrote the epistle.

A question of unity of the epistle has faced a bigger attack than that of authorship. This was first suggested in the 17^th century and has had supporters ever since. The disagreement is over whether Philippians is a single letter or a compilation of letters.[1] The bases of their view are:

• They argue that Chapter 3 is an abrupt shift from “Finally” in 3:1 to a sudden shift of a stern warning in 3:2. They hold that the sudden shift has the marks of a new and different situation, a change of tone, and a disjunction in the train of thought. The letter as a whole is written in a warm and joyful tone, except 3:2-21. They reinforce this idea saying that 3:1 and 4:4 fit together, and that 3:2-21 must have been interjected between the two verses.
• The indication by Polycarp in his first letter to this church states that Paul wrote other letters (plural) to them. Some of those letters were edited into this version of the text
• In 4:10-20 Paul offers thanks for a gift. This view questions the timing of it being late in the epistle. They say it would be more natural for Paul to have done so early in epistle. They conclude that 4:10-20 were from a separate earlier letter edited into the text.

This view has not been well accepted by most scholars.

• First, while multiple letters may have been written by Paul to the Philippians (Phil 3:1), there is no evidence or need to see this letter as a composite. O’Brien points out that there is “no external textual evidence in its favor,” nor is there any way to “account for the redactor’s method of working.”[2] It complicates things, and does not solve anything. Besides Polycarp’s reference could be to other Pauline epistles.
• Second, the use of the word “finally,” can be understood and translated as “in addition.” (cf. 1 Thess. 4:1).[3]
• The tone change could be simply to add new information received during composition, or a time lapse in composition.

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[1]  For more detail on this, see: I. Howard Marshall, Stephen Travis and Ian Paul, EXPLORING THE NEW TESTAMENT: A GUIDE TO THE LETTERS AND REVELATION, IVP, Grand Rapids, 139-140. Peter T. O’Brien, NIGTC: COMMENTARY ON PHILIPPIANS, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 30-18. Gerald F. Hawthorne, WBC: PHILIPPIANS, Word, Waco, xxix-xxxii.

[2]  O’Brien, 12-13.

[3]  Homer A. Kent, Jr., THE EXPOSITOR’S BIBLE COMMENTARY, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 97.