Philippians: The Problem of Philippians

This blog is about pages 137-138 in the book The Smart Guide to the Bible: Paul and the Prison Epistles.

Since I am using the “Smart Guide to the Bible: Paul and the Prison Epistles” for my studies on Philippians, these first several blogs have been background about Philippians. This section talks about how many scholars believe that Philippians is the combination of two letters, since in verse 3:2 Paul begins on a completely different topic, even though he seemed to be drawing to a close in his letter. They don’t argue, however, that this letter is authentic.

The thing that gets to me is why there are so many arguments over things like this. It doesn’t make a difference to me whether Paul was struck with a new thought or if this was really a combination of two letters written by him. I know that to a lot of people it matters, but I believe that this letter (or these letters) was inspired by God. Who am I to start or continue another argument in the church over something as trivial as this? Doesn’t Paul write in Philippians that we should, as believers in Christ, become united? Although it is nice to know what people believe about the background of this letter, some information doesn’t really help with the understanding of it. Some information just seems to lead to more arguments.