Philippians 1:8 Study Bible: For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.

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◄ Philippians 1:8 ►

God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

God is my witness
This phrase underscores the solemnity and sincerity of Paul's statement. In the ancient world, invoking God as a witness was a serious matter, reflecting the truthfulness and depth of one's words. The Greek word for "witness" is "martys," which is also the root for "martyr," indicating someone who bears witness even unto death. Paul is emphasizing that his longing for the Philippians is not superficial but deeply genuine, as if God Himself could testify to its truth.

how I long for all of you
The Greek word for "long" is "epipotheō," which conveys an intense yearning or desire. This is not a casual wish but a deep-seated emotional connection. Paul’s longing is not selective; it is for "all of you," indicating the unity and inclusiveness of his affection for the entire Philippian church. Historically, Philippi was a Roman colony, and the church there was diverse, yet Paul’s love transcends any social or cultural barriers.

with the affection of Christ Jesus
The term "affection" is translated from the Greek word "splagchnon," which literally refers to the inward parts or bowels, considered the seat of emotions in ancient times. This phrase signifies a profound, compassionate love that mirrors the love of Christ Himself. Paul is not merely expressing human affection but is channeling the divine love that Christ has for His people. This reflects the transformative power of Christ’s love, which enables believers to love others with a supernatural depth and sincerity.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Paul
The apostle who wrote the letter to the Philippians. He is expressing his deep affection for the believers in Philippi.

2. Philippians
The recipients of the letter, the Christian community in Philippi, a city in Macedonia.

3. Christ Jesus
Central figure of Christianity, whose love and affection Paul seeks to emulate in his relationship with the Philippians.

Teaching Points

The Depth of Christian Love
Paul’s longing for the Philippians with the affection of Christ Jesus highlights the depth and sincerity of Christian love. This love is not superficial but rooted in the example of Christ.

God as Witness
Invoking God as a witness underscores the seriousness and truthfulness of our words and actions. It reminds us to live with integrity and sincerity in our relationships.

Emulating Christ’s Affection
As believers, we are called to emulate the love and affection of Christ in our interactions with others. This involves selflessness, compassion, and genuine care.

Community and Connection
Paul’s longing for the Philippians reflects the importance of community and connection within the body of Christ. We are encouraged to foster deep, meaningful relationships within our church communities.

Prayerful Longing
Paul’s expression of longing is intertwined with prayer, suggesting that our desires for others should be brought before God, seeking His guidance and blessing.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Paul’s expression of affection for the Philippians challenge our understanding of Christian love and community?

2. In what ways can we ensure that our words and actions are as sincere and truthful as Paul’s, with God as our witness?

3. How can we practically emulate the affection of Christ Jesus in our daily interactions with others?

4. What role does prayer play in our relationships with fellow believers, as seen in Paul’s example?

5. How can we cultivate a deeper sense of community and connection within our own church or Christian fellowship, following Paul’s example with the Philippians?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Romans 1:9
Paul similarly calls upon God as his witness to his prayers for the Roman believers, showing a pattern of deep spiritual connection and sincerity.

2 Corinthians 11:31
Paul again invokes God as a witness to his truthfulness, emphasizing the seriousness and authenticity of his statements.

1 Thessalonians 2:8
Paul expresses his affection for the Thessalonians, paralleling his deep love and commitment to the Philippians.

John 13:34-35
Jesus commands His disciples to love one another as He has loved them, which is the kind of love Paul is expressing here.

Sermons

Apostolic Solicitude	J. Lyth, D. D.	Philippians 1:8
Brotherly Love	Weekly Pulpit	Philippians 1:8
Paul's Tender Regard for the Philippians	W. Arnot, D. D.	Philippians 1:8
Saints Longing for Saints	J. Parker, D. D.	Philippians 1:8
The Bowels of Jesus Christ	Bishop Lightfoot.	Philippians 1:8
The Consistency of Love of Man with Love of God	W. Arnot, D. D.	Philippians 1:8
Universality of Christian Love	W. Arnot, D. D.	Philippians 1:8
A Cheerful Prisoner	Family Churchman	Philippians 1:3-11
Blessed Remembrance and Joyful Prayers	Weekly Pulpit	Philippians 1:3-11
Christian Remembrances	J. Lyth, D. D.	Philippians 1:3-11
Expression of Interest	R. Finlayson	Philippians 1:3-11
Happy Memories	G. G. Ballard.	Philippians 1:3-11
My God	G. G. Ballard.	Philippians 1:3-11
Pleasant Memories and Bright Hopes	R. Johnstone, LL. B.	Philippians 1:3-11
Retrospect and Forecast	J. J. Goadby.	Philippians 1:3-11
The Apostle's Intercession and Assurance	R.M. Edgar	Philippians 1:3-11
The Introduction to the Epistle	J. Daille.	Philippians 1:3-11
The True Spirit of Prayer	J. Lyth, D. D., J. Lyth, D. D.	Philippians 1:3-11
Personal Christianity	D. Thomas	Philippians 1:6-8
A Double Explanation of the Origin of This Confidence	T. Croskery	Philippians 1:7, 8
Aboundings of Love	A. Raleigh, D. D., J. Parker, D. D.	Philippians 1:7-11
Ministers Carry the Images of Their People in Their Hearts		Philippians 1:7-11
Reasons for Paul's Confidence	Weekly Pulpit., J. Lyth, D. D	Philippians 1:7-11
The Apologetic Value of Paul's Bonds		Philippians 1:7-11
The Fellowship of the Gospel	J. Parker, D. D.	Philippians 1:7-11
The Heart of Paul and the Heart of Christ	G. G. Ballard.	Philippians 1:7-11
The Unifying Influence of Christian Love	The Study	Philippians 1:7-11

People

Christians, Paul, Philippians, Timotheus, Timothy

Places

Philippi

Topics

Affection, Bowels, Christ, Christian, Goes, Greatly, Love, Loving, Mercies, Record, Tender, Witness, Yearn

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Philippians 1:8

     5013   heart, divine
     5109   Paul, apostle
     5966   tenderness

Philippians 1:7-8

5781 affection
8298 love, for one another

Philippians 1:7-9

5017 heart, renewal

Library

February 23. "For Me to Live is Christ and to Die is Gain" (Phil. I. 21).
"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. i. 21). The secret of a sound body is a sound heart, and the prayer of the Holy Ghost for us is, that we "may be in health and prosper even as our soul prospers." We find Paul in the Epistles to the Philippians expressing a sublime and holy indifference to the question of life or death. Indeed he is in a real strait, whether he would prefer "to depart and be with Christ," or to remain still in the flesh. The former would indeed be his sweetest …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

December 12. "To Abide in the Flesh is More Needful for You, and Having this Confidence, I Know that I Shall Abide" (Phil. I. 24, 25).
"To abide in the flesh is more needful for you, and having this confidence, I know that I shall abide" (Phil. i. 24, 25). One of the most blessed things about divine healing is that the strength it brings is holy strength, and finds its natural and congenial outflow in holy acts and exercises. Mere natural strength seeks its gratification in natural pleasures and activities, but the strength of Christ leads us to do as Christ would do, and to seek our congenial employment in His holy service. The …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Twenty Second Sunday after Trinity Paul's Thanks and Prayers for Churches.
Text: Philippians 1, 3-11. 3 I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy, 5 for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now; 6 being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Walking Worthily
'Walk worthy of God.'--1 THESS. ii. 12. Here we have the whole law of Christian conduct in a nutshell. There may be many detailed commandments, but they can all be deduced from this one. We are lifted up above the region of petty prescriptions, and breathe a bracing mountain air. Instead of regulations, very many and very dry, we have a principle which needs thought and sympathy in order to apply it, and is to be carried out by the free action of our own judgments. Now it is to be noticed that there …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Loving Greetings
'Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, 4. Always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy, 5. For your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now; 6. Being confident of this very thing that He which began a good work …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Prisoner's Triumph
'Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel; 13. So that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest; 14. And that most of the brethren in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear. 15. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16. The one do it of love, knowing …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Strait Betwixt Two
'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. 25. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.'--PHIL. i. 21-25. A preacher may well shrink from such a text. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Citizens of Heaven
'Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries.'--PHIL. i. 27, 28. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that Philippi was the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a 'colony.' Now, the connection between a Roman colony and Rome was a great deal closer …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Comprehensive Prayer
'And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; 10. So that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ; 11. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.'--PHIL. i. 9-11 (R.V.). What a blessed friendship is that of which the natural language is prayer! We have many ways, thank God, of showing our love and of helping …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Good Man's Life and Death
If you would get a fair estimate of the happiness of any man you must judge him in these two closely connected things, his life and his death. The heathen Solon said, "Call no man happy until he is dead; for you know not what changes may pass upon him in life." We add to that--Call no man happy until he is dead; because the life that is to come, if that be miserable, shall far outweigh the highest life of happiness that hath been enjoyed on earth. To estimate a man's condition we must take it in …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Paul's Desire to Depart
I hope that the service of this morning may have the effect of leading every one of us to self-examination. I shall endeavor while preaching to search myself, and I pray that each one of you may be led to hear for himself, and I beseech you to put home each pertinent and personal question to your own souls, while in a quiet, but I hope in a forcible manner, I shall endeavor to describe the apostle's feelings in prospect of departure. Three things I shall observe this morning. First of all, the apostle's …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

7Th Day. Sanctifying Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."--PHIL. i. 6. Sanctifying Grace. Reader! is the good work begun in thee? Art thou holy? Is sin crucifying? Are thy heart's idols, one by one abolished? Is the world less to thee, and eternity more to thee? Is more of thy Saviour's image impressed on thy character, and thy Saviour's love more enthroned in thy heart? Is "Salvation" to thee more "the one thing needful?" Oh! take heed! …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Love and Discernment.
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all judgment: that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."--PHIL. i. 9-11. One of the most beautiful elements in the Pauline Epistles is the intimate relation which evidently existed between the Apostle and his converts. This is especially the …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

Of the Desire after Eternal Life, and How Great Blessings are Promised to those who Strive
"My Son, when thou feelest the desire of eternal happiness to be poured into thee from above, and longest to depart from the tabernacle of this body, that thou mayest contemplate My glory without shadow of turning, enlarge thine heart, and take in this holy inspiration with all thy desire. Give most hearty thanks to the Supreme Goodness, who dealeth with thee so graciously, visiteth thee so lovingly, stirreth thee up so fervently, raiseth thee so powerfully, lest thou sink down through thine own …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Death of the Righteous
'For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' Phil 1:1I. Paul was a great admirer of Christ. He desired to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified. I Cor 2:2. No medicine like the blood of Christ; and in the text, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' I. For to me to live is Christ. We must understand Paul of a spiritual life. For to me to live is Christ, i.e.' Christ is my life; so Gregory of Nyssa; or thus, my life is made up of Christ. As a wicked man's life is made up of sin, …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

A Believer's Privilege at Death
'For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' Phil 1:1I. Hope is a Christian's anchor, which he casts within the veil. Rejoicing in hope.' Rom 12:12. A Christian's hope is not in this life, but he hash hope in his death.' Prov 14:42. The best of a saint's comfort begins when his life ends; but the wicked have all their heaven here. Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.' Luke 6:64. You may make your acquittance, and write Received in full payment.' Son, remember that …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

For There were Even in the Apostles' Times Some who Preached the Truth Not...
16. For there were even in the Apostles' times some who preached the truth not in truth, that is, not with truthful mind: of whom the Apostle saith that they preached Christ not chastely, but of envy and strife. And on this account even at that time some were tolerated while preaching truth not with a chaste mind: yet not any have been praised as preaching falsehood with a chaste mind. Lastly, he saith of those, "Whether in pretence or in truth Christ be preached:" [2404] but in no wise would he …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

The Master's Hand
Heinrich Suso Phil. i. 21 "To me to live is Christ," and yet the days Are days of toiling men; We rise at morn, and tread the beaten ways, And lay us down again. How is it that this base, unsightly life Can yet be Christ alone? Our common need, and weariness, and strife, While common days wear on? Then saw I how before a Master wise A shapeless stone was set; He said, "Therein a form of beauty lies Though none behold it yet." "When all beside it shall be hewn away, That glorious shape shall stand, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Therefore if Haply, which Whether it Can Take Place...
16. Therefore if haply, (which whether it can take place, I know not; and rather think it cannot take place; but yet, if haply), having taken unto himself a concubine for a time, a man shall have sought sons only from this same intercourse; neither thus is that union to be preferred to the marriage even of those women, who do this, that is matter of pardon. [1981] For we must consider what belongs to marriage, not what belongs to such women as marry and use marriage with less moderation than they …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Concerning Lowliness of Mind.
HOMILY. Against those who improperly use the apostolic declaration which says, "Whether in pretence, or in sincerity, Christ is preached:" (Phil. i. 18), and about humbleness of mind. Introduction. There is an allusion at the beginning of this Homily to some remarks recently made on the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. These occur in Chrysostom's fifth Homily against the Anomoeans, one of a set of Homilies which, from internal evidence, may be assigned to the close of the year 386, or beginning …
St. Chrysostom—On the Priesthood

Second Day. God's Provision for Holiness.
To those that are made holy in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.'--1 Cor. i. 2. 'To all the holy ones in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. Salute every holy one in Christ Jesus.'[1]--Phil. i. 1, iv. 21. HOLY! IN CHRIST! In these two expressions we have perhaps the most wonderful words of all the Bible. HOLY! the word of unfathomable meaning, which the Seraphs utter with veiled faces. HOLY! the word in which all God's perfections centre, and of which His glory is but the streaming forth. …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

Effects of Messiah's Appearance
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped: Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. H ow beautiful and magnificent is the imagery, by which the Prophet, in this chapter, represents the effects of MESSIAH'S appearance! The scene, proposed to our view, is a barren and desolate wilderness. But when He, who in the beginning said, Let there be light, and there was light, condescends to visit this wilderness, the face of nature is …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Divine Support and Protection
[What shall we say then to these things?] If God be for us, who can be against us? T he passions of joy or grief, of admiration or gratitude, are moderate when we are able to find words which fully describe their emotions. When they rise very high, language is too faint to express them; and the person is either lost in silence, or feels something which, after his most laboured efforts, is too big for utterance. We may often observe the Apostle Paul under this difficulty, when attempting to excite …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Greeks Seek Jesus. He Foretells that He Shall Draw all Men unto Him.
(in the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) ^D John XII. 20-50. ^d 20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast [The language indicates that they were Greek converts to Judaism, such as were called proselytes of the gate. It is also noted that as Gentiles came from the east at the beginning of Jesus' life, so they also came from the west at the close of his ministry]: 21 these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee [See p. 111. They were possibly …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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