(Sermon starts at 38:21)
Paul was writing this letter to the community in Philippi from prison, and from what is known of ancient prisons, he was likely held in a dark underground chamber—quite literally under the feet of his captors. (1)
This is the journey Paul invites the congregation to join him on. A journey of descent, to find connection and unity in humility and love. A journey of seeking the mind of Christ and allowing it to permeate their souls and their community.
In the last verse of our passage where Paul tells the congregation that while their task is to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, he reminds them that it is God who is at work in them, enabling them both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure (Phil 2:13).
It is God’s work, not our own, that enables us to get in touch with the mind of Christ.
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(1) Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney, Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration (University of California Press, 2025), 82–84, 143–144.
