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Philippians and Philemon - MR Vincent - 1906.pdf

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XX INTRODUCTION<br />

pride in his own city {S/. Paul the Traveller, etc., p. 206). Mepts,<br />

which does not mean 'province' ()<br />

, may indicate some<br />

subdivision, not recognised in the formal poHtical arrangement, of<br />

which PhiUppi was the centre ; <strong>and</strong> may mark an emphasis<br />

on its colonial rank as possessing the jus Italicuvi (note the<br />

5 being<br />

emphatic position of); so that PhiUppi is designated as<br />

the most considerable colonial city of this part of Macedonia,<br />

taken together. In this designation lies the<br />

motive expressed by ' lyns , seeing it is,' — that the prominence<br />

of the city led Paul to choose it as the starting-point of his<br />

missionary work.<br />

Ramsay, The Church in the Roman<br />

See Wendt's Meyer on Acts xvi. 12 ;<br />

Empire^ p. 156 f. ; O. Holtzmann, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, p. 104;<br />

Lightf., Phil., p. 50.<br />

The events of St. Paul's Macedonian ministry are related in<br />

Acts xvi., xvii. Imprisoned at PhiUppi, <strong>and</strong> then expelled by the<br />

magistrates, he went to Thessalonica, <strong>and</strong> thence to Bercea, from<br />

both which places he was driven by the fanatical opposition of the<br />

Jews. From Bercea he went to Athens.<br />

The narrative in Acts is sketchy <strong>and</strong> full of movement, dwelUng<br />

only upon salient points, <strong>and</strong> furnishing no definite information as<br />

to the length of the apostle's stay in PhiUppi. Slight hints like<br />

Tivas (xvi. 1 2), <strong>and</strong> inl? (xvi. 18), <strong>and</strong> the<br />

fact that some time must have been required to form a circle of<br />

" brethren " (xvi. 40), <strong>and</strong> to develop those strong <strong>and</strong> affectionate<br />

relations which appear in the Philippian letter, seem to indicate a<br />

longer stay than might be inferred from the surface of the narrative.<br />

See Clemen, Die Chronologie der paulinischen Briefe, s. 192; Klopper,<br />

Komm. Einleit., S. 3.<br />

From the dropping of the first person plural at Acts xvi. 40, it<br />

has been inferred that Luke remained behind in PhiUppi. About<br />

five years later the apostle again visited Macedonia, <strong>and</strong> having<br />

gone thence to Corinth, was about to return to Syria by sea, when<br />

a plot against his life determined him to return to Macedonia<br />

(Acts xix. 21, XX. 1-3 ; 2 Cor. i. 15, 17, ii. 13, vii. 5). The last<br />

meeting with his Philippian converts is noted (Acts xx. 6), after<br />

which he departed for Troas. This is our last notice of the<br />

<strong>Philippians</strong> until the time of the Roman imprisonment.

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