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  • From: "Brian Tucker" <music AT riverviewcog.org>
  • To: corpus-paul
  • Subject: Three Fragments of Philippians
  • Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 20:38:32


Greetings

Please critique the following argument and add any additional thoughts or
bibliography to assist me in my research.

Hypothesis: The Philippians correspondence is composed of three fragments.

The letter is actually composed of three letter fragments, accidentally
saved as it appears and crudely joined together at some later time by those
who collected the letters of Paul in the name of the Pauline school (Phil.
4:10-20; 1:1-3:1; 3:2-4:9).

The first two seem to have been written from Ephesus around the time of
Paul's imprisonment there (ca. 54-55 CE), or five to eight years after Paul
first established the congregation in Philippi. Epaphroditus had arrived
with gifts from Philippi for Paul's support, and Paul looked back on
earlier occasions when the Philippians had sent their gifts to him (Phil.
4:15-18). Epaphroditus stayed with Paul for a while and suffered an illness
before Paul sent him back to Philippi with Timothy, bearing a letter of
thanks (Phil. 2:!9-30).

The third letter fragment is more difficult to place (Phil. 3:2-4:9). The
address is missing and there is no express mention of the Philippian
congregation. The situation addressed is also difficult to place, for Paul
writes against persons who were pestering the congregation with the need to
be circumcised and perhaps with extravagant views about spiritual
perfection. It is possible that this third letter fragment was not
originally addressed to Philippi at all but inserted between the other two
letter fragments because of the personal tone. In any case, the Philippian
correspondence is marked by unguarded statements about Paul's personal
feelings.

Any thoughts?

Thank You
Brian Tucker, M.A.
jbtucker AT driveninc.com
http://www.riverviewcog.org/jbtuckersermons.htm
Riverview, MI



  • Three Fragments of Philippians, Brian Tucker, 08/21/1999

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