Welcome Valley Bible Studies
Philippians
Introduction to the Study on Philippians
This study is different than the other studies in the Welcome Valley
Bible Study series. It was originally developed in 2006 to meet a requirement
for a distance learning course from
You
will notice the presence of verse numbers with the Bible texts rather than a
reference followed by unnumbered text as in the other studies. This change
should make it easier to find individual verses. You may already know that the
original manuscripts of the Bible weren’t divided into chapters and verses.
Philippians is a letter that God directed the Apostle Paul to write to the
church in the ancient city of
In the
studies on 1, 2, and 3 John as well as the first lessons on the Gospel of John,
I carefully copied the text from the King James Bible
myself. In the Philippians study I utilized a public domain copy of the King
James Bible downloaded from the internet. This edition was developed by Derek
Andrew of
You are welcome to
send any questions or insights you may have to
mail@welcomevalley.com. I will try
to help with your questions. You would also do well to discuss your questions
with a godly pastor or a Christian friend.
As usual, I am unable
to credit all the sources of the background information included in the study.
I’ve heard and seen too much information in too many places over the years to
keep who said what straight. I have tried to document recent sources in the text
where needful. I’m sure the textbook used in the course that generated this
project also influenced the study. (Picirilli, Robert, Paul the Apostle:
Chicago: Moody Press, 1986) If you find unattributed direct quotes let me know,
so I can rectify the situation.
The following Scripture passage is from the Acts of the Apostles. Please
read it for background to discover Paul’s earlier experience in the city of
C. David Cash
From Acts
16
6
Now when they had gone throughout
Phrygia and the region of
7
After they were come to Mysia, they
assayed to go into
8
And they passing by Mysia came down to
9
And a vision appeared to Paul in the
night; There stood a man of
10 And
after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into
11
Therefore loosing from
12 And
from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of
13 And on
the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and
we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted
thither.
14 And a
certain woman named
15 And
when she was baptized, and her household, she besought
us, saying, If ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide
there. And she
constrained us.
16 And it
came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination met us,
which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The
same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of
the most
high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And
this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit,
I command thee in
the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And
when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and
drew them into the marketplace unto
the rulers,
20 And
brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city,
21 And
teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being
Romans.
22 And the
multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their
clothes, and
commanded to beat them.
23 And
when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast
them into prison, charging the
jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who,
having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast
in the stocks.
25 And at
midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard
them.
26 And
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and
immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the
keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew
out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had
been fled.
28 But
Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he
called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before
Paul and Silas,
30 And
brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And
they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And
they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he
took them the same hour of the night, and washed
their stripes; and was baptized, he and
all his, straightway.
34 And
when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house.
35 And
when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
36 And the
keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to
let you go: now
therefore depart, and go in peace.
37 But
Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have
cast us into prison; and now do they
thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let
them come themselves and fetch us out.
38 And the
serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they
were Romans.
39 And
they came and besought them, and brought
them out, and desired them to depart out of
the city.
40 And
they went out of the prison, and entered into
the house of
This introductory essay and
the related Bible study are in the public domain and may be copied and
distributed freely.
This Bible study is in the public domain and may be copied and distributed freely.
Introduction Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4