St. Paul holding the sword of the Spirit. This painting is attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Macrino d’Alba, 1490–1527.

Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi while imprisoned, preparing his defense in rebuttal of charges of treason against the Emperor Nero. The charge arose because early Christians affirmed that “Jesus is Lord,” refusing Roman oaths of loyalty, because they considered them blasphemous. To their enemies, however, their refusal suggested subversive intent.

A critical part of Paul’s defense would have been that loyalty to Jesus did not foster rebellion, but instead produced virtuous citizens. Philippi, a military colony, was mainly populated by retired Roman soldiers or their descendants—an outpost of loyalists with a duty to secure the province of Macedonia. Demonstrating that Christians were exemplary citizens in a city unquestionably loyal to the Empire would persuade the Romans to tolerate the new religion.

Paul seemed to have this in mind when he urged the people to “conduct yourselves”—literally, live out your citizenship—“in a matter worthy of … Christ” (Philippians 1:27). The key to Paul’s defense was the moral behavior of the Christians in Philippi. Yet he notes that their good character had been threatened by “false teachers,” who claimed that righteousness depended on keeping the Mosaic Law of circumcision. Paul was writing to the Christians in Philippi to testify against this belief, and argue that Christians received their righteousness from God.

Alive in Christ

Christians believe they become righteous when faith leads them to experience “the power of [Christ’s] resurrection” (3:10). This means the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead similarly transforms the spiritually “dead” (sinners) into “living” saints. Indeed, Paul saw any person’s conversion to faith in Jesus as a manifestation of the power of the resurrection.

In a letter to the Colossians, Paul writes that although believers once lived in sin, their sins have been buried, and they have been reborn through Jesus. By coming to know God, they now share in his resurrecting power. In Colossians 3:3–4, for example, Paul writes “for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

Paul teaches that the power of the resurrection drives the entire Christian way of living: Jesus’s resurrection enables His people thereafter to live new, transformed lives, characterized by obeying God’s laws in all that they do. Peter’s teaching echoes this idea: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3). Even in difficult times, such as those faced by the early Christians, belief in Christ’s resurrection would transform the character of the converts to make them exemplary citizens in Philippi—justifying the claim that “Jesus is Lord” (Philippians 2:11).

The final resurrection

Paul concludes that ultimate experience of “the power of His resurrection” will come in the future, at the Second Coming of Christ from heaven—which is the true place of Christian citizenship. At that time, the dead will rise, and the living will be brought up to meet Christ in the air, in physical bodies like that of the resurrected Lord. In that moment, Paul writes, the appearance of the resurrected savior will complete the process of eliminating sin and perfecting righteousness in Christians.

Paul’s influence on Christianity

An illustration of the preaching of the first missionary Apostles, after a 15th-century Arras tapestry in Tournai Cathedral, Belgium.

Paul molded Christianity more than any other Apostle, paving the way for it to become a major world religion. Although Peter and Philip converted the first Gentiles, it was Paul’s tireless missionary journeys that brought the Gospel to thousands across the eastern Roman Empire and finally in Rome itself. Crucial in this quest was Paul’s insistence, against considerable opposition, that all believers—Gentile and Jewish—had equal status and that Gentile converts should not be made to submit to the rite of circumcision and Jewish dietary laws. This helped Christianity to spread throughout the Greek and Roman worlds, rather than merely remaining the faith of a small Jewish sect.

Paul’s other legacy was his letters. Thirteen of the 27 books of the New Testament are attributed to him. These letters elaborate much of the New Testament’s theology and, for Christians, act as a guide for the application of its teaching in a practical context.

See also: The Empty Tomb • The Road to Damascus • Paul’s Arrest • Armor of God