“Rallying  Around  UNITY ,Contending Together For The Faith” ~~ Philippians 1:27-2:4 (07/01/21)

Phil. 1:27 Only let your conversation/conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,(NKJV)
“Only” connects this all inclusive exhortation that Paul begins this portion of scripture with, with the previous verses (vs. 23-26) where we saw he was ‘between a rock & a hard place’ about whether he should remain with them or go to be with Jesus in Heaven…He knew they needed His ministry & whether his salvation or deliverance meant being phys. Free from house arrest or not  he was now confident that he would be able to continue his ministry to them & that that was what he was to do.
OPENESS  of heart by the Philippians was needed as Paul now begins to address basic spiritual needs of the church; rubber meets the road principals are  now provided throughout the rest of this letter to correct certain things in their lives & provide for what they may be lacking
“Conversation/Conduct”  KJV uses conversation, which in that day had a different meaning than currently  ( an interchange or discourse between people)…a better rendering is manner of life, behavior ,conduct……………HOWEVER THERE IS MOREJ
“POLITEUO” (Grk)( Poly –too-i-mi) this is the word from where we get our word politics, it referred to the  public duties devolving on a person as a member of a body of people
Acts  23:1 I have lived (politeuo) =conducted myself  as a worthy citizen of heaven before God until this day
FURTHER meaning….Manage the state (steward) , administrate civil affairs, here it speaks of citizenship …that is “Live as the citizens of heaven would exuding heavenly attributes”
The use of Politeuo…is a kind of play on words as Philippi was a Roman colony & being a good citizen of Rome was imperative , so Paul uses this to show our relationship relationship to being good citizens of heaven
 
The use of this specialized word here COLORS the rest of the Epistle…giving it a Heavenly atmosphere,,,,we are heavenly people, with a heavenly destiny, & a heavenly origin…with a responsibility of living here on earth as being of the heavenly realm in the midst of ungodly people & surroundings.
3:20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
3:12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

Only let your conversation/conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ….The construction of the Greek language conveys STEPPING up To ONES spiritual RESPONSIBILITY as ‘Heavenly Citizens’… being responsible to exhort OURSELVES to live this way daily!= Maturity!:-)
Only let your conversation/conduct Be Worthy of The Gospel—KJV says Be as It Becometh the Gospel
Becometh …literally to have the weight of(weighing as much as) another thing. It means of like value or worth as much
**SAINTS are to see to it that their manner of life weighs as much as the gospel they profess to believe or their words will not have weight**
WORD STUDY:
Eph. 4:22-24 You took off[a] your former way of life, the old self[

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