the weblog of Alan Knox

Studying Philippians

Posted by on Apr 18, 2009 in discipleship, scripture | 2 comments

Last week, we started getting together with some friends on Saturday evening. (We did this a couple of year ago, and we’re excited to start back.) When we get together, we start by eating. Last week, we had a mix of Italian and Oriental.

Then, after talking for a while, we’ve decided to have a Bible study together. We’re studying the book of Philippians – the whole book. We read through the book Saturday night – it only takes about 12 minutes. Then we talked about different aspects of Paul’s letter.

It is amazing how different the letter sounds when it is read as a whole instead of being read in bits and pieces. Several people noted how the meaning of some verses is much more clear when read together with the whole letter – and sometimes they mean something different than they appear to mean when read separately.

Last Saturday, we talked about considering others to be better than yourself – even those with different beliefs. We talked about the joys of giving and receiving. We talked about the disastrous effects of division and strife. We talked about having examples to learn from – that is, to learn from their lives as well as their teaching (words).

We had a great time reading Paul’s letter to the Philippians. This Saturday, we’re going to read Philippians together again – yes, the whole letter. And, once again, we’re going to talk about the whole letter again. If you’ve never tried reading and studying an entire book together, I would definitely recommend it!

2 Comments

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  1. 4-19-2009

    I think this is something that we will try to adopt with our friends. We have as of late started to meet with people intentionally not being formal but also intentionally trying to pry into one another’s lives with the hopes to “spur” one another. We discussed 1 John briefly but hope to discuss it more.

    Also Chapter 2 is profound. It is all rooted in unity. Paul seems to say as you have partnered in the furthering of the Gospel you ensure that you have the same unity and this is rooted in self-abasement the greatest example being our Lord. I wonder if I really obeyed this text if ALL of the issues I have had with others would be of little importance. I think when others become more important and love and unity become more important issues become very little.

  2. 4-19-2009

    Lionel,

    I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and discussing the whole letter of Philippians. To me, this type of study has been so much better than the typical verse by verse or even paragraph by paragraph study. I’m still trying to figure out how to do this with a longer book.

    -Alan