The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Philippians — Background and Themes

The Salutation as a Map of Movement

Rainy devotes his first chapter to the opening two verses of Philippians, but he does not linger on the greeting itself. Instead, he uses the salutation to trace the apostle's path: from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Philippi, from Philippi to Rome. The commentary notes that Paul writes 'with the bishops and deacons,' a phrase Rainy treats as evidence of an organized community in motion. He observes that the epistle's address 'to all the saints' includes not just individuals but a body defined by its officers and its location. This attention to geography and structure recurs throughout: Rainy is as interested in where Paul is writing from as in what he writes.

Loss and Gain as Structural Motifs

Rainy returns repeatedly to Paul's language of counting things as loss. In chapter XI, he examines the phrase 'suffered the loss of all things' and argues that this is not merely a biographical detail but a structural principle. The commentary sets up a competition between Christ and 'all things,' a conflict that Rainy insists is inevitable. He writes that 'the heart of Paul, in this burst of loyalty, is only echoing the call of Christ.' The movement of the exposition follows this logic: from the negative (renunciation) to the positive (the knowledge of Christ). Rainy uses the image of a race to bind these sections together, showing how the believer's life is a continual reaffirmation of this decision.

The City and the Coming King

In chapter XVI, Rainy turns to the phrase 'our city is in heaven.' He treats this not as a static hope but as a dynamic contrast between two cities: Philippi, a Roman colony, and the heavenly commonwealth. The commentary moves between the earthly and the heavenly, showing how Paul uses the language of citizenship to shape the Philippians' identity. Rainy notes that the apostle's own imprisonment becomes a scene of witness: the praetorian guard hears the gospel. The exposition itself shifts between these scenes—the prison, the church, the coming king—without settling in any one location. This restlessness is, for Rainy, the heart of Christian life.

Joy as a Counterpoint to Conflict

Rainy's treatment of joy in Philippians is notable for its restraint. He does not treat joy as a feeling but as a decision made in the face of conflict. In chapter XVII, he examines the command to 'rejoice in the Lord always' and connects it to the earlier discussion of loss. The commentary moves from the negative base of Christian life (renunciation) to the positive fruit (joy). Rainy argues that joy is not the absence of struggle but the result of a 'great inward decision' maintained over time. The structure of the exposition mirrors this: each chapter returns to the tension between present suffering and future hope, between the 'all things' that claim our attention and the one thing that matters.

Rainy's commentary is best read as a series of movements rather than a static analysis. The reader who follows the apostle's path from Philippi to Rome, from loss to gain, from conflict to joy, will find that the exposition itself enacts the race it describes. The structure is not linear but recursive: each chapter circles back to the same questions—what is gain, what is loss, where is our city—and answers them with increasing depth. This is a commentary that rewards patience and attention to the turns of Paul's thought.

Reading Rainy’s Paul, I kept thinking how joy and struggle seem braided together, each turn of the page a little more weight to carry. That same tension lingers in Satan — Context and Discussion, where the shadow feels less like an enemy and more like a question we learn to sit with, quietly.