Philippians

An Inductive-ish Study of Philippians

September 8, 2024

Ladies,

I am so pleased to begin this study with you. We’re still working out the kinks in the email study format, which is challenging to verbal processors. If you are interested in a brief Zoom meeting each week or in finding a study buddy in the group, please let me know and I’ll do my best to figure something out, with your help. All of this study will be done with your help, by the way. There’s no teacher here.

What I’ll offer here is a stream-lined inductive approach that has worked for my private study, but might not be exactly what works for you. Feel free to adapt what we do and take every assignment as a suggestion. Make the method fit your life right now. Remember that I’m just providing the method and we’ll teach each other the meaning of the text with the help of the Holy Spirit and trusted scholars.

So for this week, please try to read or listen to the entire book of Philippians at least 4 times (don’t panic, it is only 4 chapters). You can listen for free using the YouVersion phone app. (If you need help with this, please ask the group and someone younger will reply!) But my car is ancient, so I’ll be using a CD. I found a free ESV version on the Internet and will be glad to burn a copy if anyone else is old-school, too. Finding hidden moments for listening has been a blessing to me – during my workout, on my 20-minute commute, etc.

While you are reading or listening, see if you can identify:

Who wrote the book?

Why did he write it? What is the main idea the author wants to communicate?

Who are the intended recipients of the letter?

Look for one verse that sums up the book and draw a key over it, for key verse.

If you have time, you might want to Google “Philippi” and see where it is and read about the background of the country, see what scholars have to say about when the book might have been written, and how the author came to know the Philippians.

John MacArthur has an introduction to the book at this link that might prove helpful.

https://www.gty.org/library/bible-introductions/MSB50/philippians

Introduction to Philippians with setting information etc., by John MacArthur

If you have suggestions for more big-picture activities for this week, please send them to the group. I’m looking forward to hearing from you as we proceed.

Praying for you as we begin,

Susan

Week 2

Week of September 15 - So now that we have our big ideas in place, let’s look for keywords in the text, words that are repeated or ones that pertain to the main theme of the book. There is a lot of room for opinion here, so don’t get too entangled in finding the perfect words. When I do this, I try to pick my top ten words. More than that is more than I can process if I’m doing it regularly, but you may find that more words will give you a clearer picture of the text. I’ve given you my picks for the first 5 words and we’ll discover the second five together.

Pick a symbol or color to highlight each use of Spirit, Lord, Jesus and Christ, and the phrase “In Christ/in the Lord” in the text. You can use different symbols for each, or grab your colored pen and assign each word a different color. Be sure to add the colors or symbols you pick to the keyword chart at the front of your workbook to keep things straight in your mind. You can highlight all this in one read-through if you like, but it will take me at least three to get them all marked- it’s easy to miss one. Be sure to include He, Him, and other pronouns.
On the notebook pages at the back of the workbook, make four lists, one for each keyword/phrase. Because some of these keywords are persons, also use pronouns. When you finish your list, write a couple of lines at the bottom summing up what you learn.
Read through one more time looking for the other five keywords. Be sure to email your choices to the group on Friday so we can all compare notes.

Week 3

Hi Ladies,

I'm so grateful for the camaraderie doing this study with all of you! It's so much easier to stick to studying knowing that I can talk these ideas over with you when I see you and learn from your insights. God is so good to place us in a family with lots of sisters!

For this week, please mark keywords 8, 9, 10. If you are memorizing with Sara, Memorize 7-8.

If you are a little behind like I am, please don't give up! Here are some ideas:

Forgetting what lies behind, don't try to catch up. Just move on with the rest of us
Take it at your own pace. We have a catch up week October 6
Skip the harder lists, at least for now. That one on Jesus/Christ was a couple of pages in my book, and that much info is hard to summarize. Everything was so much easier after I got past that one!

Love you all and am praying today that God will use this study to help all of us abide in Him with joy.
Susan

Week 4

Hi Ladies,

It's been quiet - praying that the Lord is blessing you in this study.

This is our scheduled week to catch up or to go deeper into lists. If you are memorizing with Sara, please work on verses 2:9 and 10.

If you happen to be caught up on marking and lists, you might consider add in an additional word or two from the list of suggestions below:

Flesh
Hold fast/stand firm/press on
Humility
Imprisonment/suffering
Loss
Peace
Prayer
One/same/unity
Righteousness
Know

Next week begins our in-depth study of chapter 1. Here are the resources I found that I'm comfortable recommending:

Resources for Philippians

A Look at the Book labs by John Piper – Highly recommended!

https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/philippians/1/labs

John Piper Sermons on Philippians (other Desiring God speakers included in this list)

https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/philippians/messages

John MacArthur Sermons

https://www.gty.org/library/resources/sermons-library/scripture/1?book=50&chapter=0

R C Sproul Sermon, The Epistle of Joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eynuG6GClaI

Free Commentaries – of the free ones listed here, I’d personally recommend the ESV Study Bible, Matthew Henry and John Gill

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/

If you have Audible, you can listen to a commentary by James Montgomery Boice for 1 credit (I listened to this - not terribly helpful in understanding the text)

Monergism.com has links to audio by MacArthur, Piper, Derek Thomas, Kent Hughes and Sinclair Ferguson all in one place

https://www.monergism.com/topics/sermon-manuscripts-mp3s-scripture/philippians/audio-and-mulitmedia/chapter-philippians

Pastor Greg’s sermon on Philippians 4:6-7 The Peace of God in Every Circumstance

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=111711917460

Week 5

Good morning, Ladies!

If you are behind in the Philippians study I urge you to let the previous assignments go and jump in to this section of in-depth study. Here are the assignments for chapter 1. Just do what you can and make the study fit what your life allows.

- - Plan to read or listen to chapter one every day this week. Try using different versions, if possible, and see how they differ.
  - Choose a verse from the chapter to meditate on - one for the week, or one per day. Copy it on a note card or a sticky note and put it somewhere that you'll see it often during the day.
  - Mark any commands you see - I think highlighting them works well. Add that to your marking key at the front of your book.
  - Listen to or read any commentaries, study Bibles or online resources that you think might help your understanding. Look up the definitions of words you aren't sure about in a Bible dictionary. Note helpful insights on the text pages.
  - Write down any questions you still have about the text, and consider posting them late in the week so we can all discuss them.
  - Consider writing down a few lines to summarize the chapter. What was the main argument or point the author was making?

Resources for Philippians

A Look at the Book labs by John Piper – Highly recommended!

https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/philippians/1/labs

John Piper Sermons on Philippians (other Desiring God speakers included in this list)

https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/philippians/messages

John MacArthur Sermons

https://www.gty.org/library/resources/sermons-library/scripture/1?book=50&chapter=0

R C Sproul Sermon, The Epistle of Joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eynuG6GClaI

Free Commentaries – of the free ones listed here, I’d personally recommend the ESV Study Bible, Matthew Henry and John Gill

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/

If you have Audible, you can listen to a commentary by James Montgomery Boice for 1 credit (I listened to this - not terribly helpful in understanding the text)

Monergism.com has links to audio by MacArthur, Piper, Derek Thomas, Kent Hughes and Sinclair Ferguson all in one place

https://www.monergism.com/topics/sermon-manuscripts-mp3s-scripture/philippians/audio-and-mulitmedia/chapter-philippians

Pastor Greg’s sermon on Philippians 4:6-7 The Peace of God in Every Circumstance

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=111711917460

Week 6

Hi Ladies,

We are in the home stretch! Just two more weeks in Philippians.

For my own study, I'm going to focus on verses 1-13 to read. Highlight any commands, and at least try to read those verses every day. Pick one to meditate on, and that's really enough. Everything else is gravy!

I'll put my suggested listening schedule for Chapter 4 below, but know that I am not keeping to it perfectly. Please just do what you can, or do a different plan, different commentaries, etc. There are 14 MacA sermons on chapter 4, but I'm just choosing the nine from his series on Philippians in 1989, not the one-off sermons. I also just divided the listening between the two weeks without regard to the verses covered.

Here we go!

Sunday

https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/50-37/spiritual-stability-part-1-introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHKtyMyGTQ&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj1jHzvUczCYmmeqZzcMN_zK&index=113

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFYvZKXqwkI&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj1jHzvUczCYmmeqZzcMN_zK&index=114

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSJmwTMbIiI&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj1jHzvUczCYmmeqZzcMN_zK&index=115

Monday

https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/50-38/spiritual-stability-part-2-harmony-and-joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni1UNCrusF0&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj1jHzvUczCYmmeqZzcMN_zK&index=116

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE0wcoo9zPw&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj1jHzvUczCYmmeqZzcMN_zK&index=117

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA4CLygDzCY&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj1jHzvUczCYmmeqZzcMN_zK&index=118

Tuesday