Philippians 1:1-3 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi… was anciently called Krenides or the "Springs" on account of its numerous fountains in which the Gangitis has its sources. Philip (in ) enlarged the old town and fortified it, and named it after himself. After the famous battle Augustus conferred special honours upon it, and made it a Roman colony. A military settlement had been made in it, chiefly of the soldiers who had fought under Antony, so that it was a protecting garrison on the confines of Macedonia. A colonia was a reproduction in miniature of the mother city. The Roman law ruled, and the Roman insignia were everywhere seen. The municipal affairs were managed by decemvirs or praetors, and its lands were free from taxation. It thus possessed a rank far above that of a municipium or a civitas libera, and was very different from a settlement (ἀποικία) founded by adventurers or emigrants. Highly favoured as Philippi had been, it was in need of help. Political franchise and Roman rites, Greek tastes and studies, wide and varied commerce, could not give it the requisite aid. It was sunk in a spiritual gloom, which needed a higher light that Italian jurisprudence or Hellenic culture could bring it. The spear and phalanx of Macedonia had been famous, and had carried conquest and civilization through a great portion of the eastern world; the sun of Greece had not wholly set, and epicurians and stoics still sought after wisdom; the sovereignty of Rome had secured peace in all her provinces, and her great roads not only served for the march of the soldier, but for the cortege of the trader; art and law, beauty and power, song and wealth, the statue and the drama, survived and were adored; but there was in many a heart a sense of want and powerlessness, an indefinite longing after some higher good and portion, a painless and restless agitation, which only he of Tarsus could soothe and satisfy, with his preaching the God-Man — the life and hope and centre of humanity. Many remains of antiquity, such as are supposed to belong to the forum and the palace, are on the site of Philippi. The Turks now call it Felibedjik. (Professor Eadie.) Parallel Verses KJV: Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: |
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