Philippians 1:1 The True Model Of The Church

Last night, our small group began the study of the book of Philippians. If you want, please follow along with us. The following is a condensed version of our two hour meeting. Please feel free to comment and interact with our group. The version that I will be using, in this study, is a Word for Word Study Version. I will share your comments and/or questions to the group and visa versa. It'll be nice to have an international participation, so let's get started.

Philippians 1:1a

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Messiah Y'shua, 

Here we have the beginning salutation or greeting from the apostle Paul and his companion, Timothy. 

As you probably know, Paul, formally known as Saul, was a Jew, who was a citizen of Rome and a Pharisee, in Jerusalem. Upon the death of Y'shua, upon the cross, Paul led a concerted effort, to eliminated or put down the growing heretic band of Jews and gentiles, known as Christians, who believed that Y'shua was the Messiah. During a trip to Damascus, Paul was struck down by Y'shua and converted to a bondservant of Messiah Y'shua. Afterward, Paul spent the rest of his life venturing out into the known world doing missionary trips.

On his second missionary trip, Paul met a young and well respected Christian, Timothy, in the town of Lystra, which is in modern day Turkey. Lystra was a small town, just to the west of Tarsus, where Paul was born. Like so many secular Jews of that day, Timothy was a child of a Jewish mother and Greek gentile father. As a result, Timothy was never circumcised, as a Jew. To make him more acceptable to the Jews, Paul circumcised him. Paul became his mentor and together, they changed many lives for the Lord. 

Both Paul and Timothy were bondservants of the Messiah Y'shua. Messiah Y'shua is better known today by his anglicized name, Jesus. Y'shua, who's name means Yahweh is Salvation or Yahweh Saves, was a man created directly, by the Yahweh's Holy Spirit, in the womb of his mother, Mary. Yahweh is the one and only God and Father of Messiah Y'shua. By doing this, Yahweh avoided the curse of man's sinful nature and set a path for mankind's redemption. This man, Y'shua, was to be the perfect sacrifice for mankind's sins, which is required by God's Holy Righeousness, in order for man to be able to present themselves and live in the presence of God.

What is a Bondservant?

Well, first of all, the Greek word translated here as bondservant is 'Doulos'.

There are three types of servants or slaves presented in the Bible. 

1. Slaves: Those of a people conquered by an army and forced into servitude.

2. Servants: Those people who owed a debt to someone and were either forced or voluntarily entered into servitude. Later, after the debt was paid, they were free to leave and live their lives, as they wished.

3. Bondservants: Servants, who after paying their debt, chose to dedicate their lives to the servitude of their previous masters household.

Paul and Timothy were bondservants of Y'shua, because they chose to give their lives to him, after Y'shua paid the cost of their sin debt to Yahweh, on the cross.

This bondservant relationship is the relationship that all Christians have with Yahweh, through his son, The Messiah Y'shua. We live our lives to serve and please God, according to his will.

Philippians 1:1b

… to Saints, in Messiah Y'shua, living in Philipi, with the overseers and deacons.

This greeting or salutation is directed to the Saints, living in Philipi.

Who are the Saints and what does that mean?

Throughout the Christian church history, the word 'Saint' has gone through a metamorphosis. It has become a word to describe super good people, within the church. People who have shown highly religious aspects, in their daily lives. However, the word, 'Saint', doesn't mean that at all. The word means, "a person set apart for a cause". You and I, as Christians, are saints, because we have been set apart of the cause of the Messiah, which is to be reconciled back to the one and only God, Yahweh. Christians are Messianic Saints. We should not be ashamed or too bashful to grab ahold of the title and claim it as ours, for the mere fact that Y'shua gave his life, so you could obtain the title. So, live it.

Philipi was a town, just north of the Aegean Sea, in modern and ancient Greek province of eastern Macedonia. You can still see the ruins in the modern Greek town of Filipoi, which is part of Kavala, Greece.

Overseers and Deacons

Throughout our Church history, two words, that have been dramatically changed, were the Greek words, 'episkopos' and 'diakonos', which is directly translated here as overseers and deacons. These words are synonymous with the modern versions of Elders, Bishops, Ministers, Priests, Shepherds, etc. However, over the years, the church leadership has morphed these words, into what they mean today, in an effort to rule over the laity. 

What makes this preposterous is the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that no one is to rule over anyone, within the Kingdom of God. We are only to have God, through his Son, The Messiah Y'shua, as our one and only shepherd. Y'shua even stated, in Revelation, that he hates the ways of the Nicolaitans, which means, "Those who rule over the laity".

So, what are overseers and deacons?

Well, the first century church was made up of those who were elders. These were the mature people, who clearly had a relationship with God, through the Messiah. Naturally, the church gravitated towards them for teaching, administration, admonishment, mentoring. These were the overseers. There was no one minister or priest, who taught or preached. There was no sunday school or junior church. The small group of believers and their families would be gathered to the overseers, the Elders. The overseers or Elders would not be elected. The Elders would be elders through a natural symbiosis. 

The deacons were the ones who did the outpouring of help and support for the group. They were the ones that would actually took care of the poor, elderly and so on within the small group community. They are the ones that make up the 20% that does 80% of the work, within the church today and usually directed by the overseers. 

A question was posed, last night, what do we do? My response was to leave the worldly church behind and get back to the original first century church model laid out within the Bible. No more impersonal mega churchs. Get back to the small gatherings of believers and get away from the country club gatherings of today. What do you think?