In the course of the first major division (1:1-1:26) of his letter, Paul fondly describes the special relationship he shares with his Christian brothers and sisters in Philippi. Immediately, Paul defines himself as a servant of Christ (1:1). He makes it clear that the Philippian disciples are his partners and fellow servants in Christ:I thank my God in all my remembrances of you . . . thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now . . . . I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. (1:3-7 RSV).
Mutual service to each other and to gospel fuels this affectionate fellowship. Living “in Christ” is the necessary context for the establishment and development of the joyous fellowship they share. Beginning in verse 12, Paul momentarily focuses on his present imprisonment. He shares that his sufferings advance the gospel (1:12) and that even now he experiences fellowship knowing that his friends in Philippi are identifying with him in prayer (1:19) and in their own similar suffering for the sake of Christ (1:29). In this context, Paul lays bare what living “in Christ” means to him and by extension what it should mean for his Philippian friends: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (1:21).
For Paul living “in Christ” is complete identification with Jesus. “Paul considers that the goal for believers is to participate fully in Christ, in hoping for a resurrection like his, in dying with him, and in living with the kind of faith with which he lived” (Jervis). The empathetic relationship between the disciple and Christ defines and makes it possible to live as Christ lived (Jervis). Identification with Christ is central to the logic and application of Paul’s appeal for unity in the Philippian church (1:27-2:4).
What do you think?
What role, if any, does positional power play in leading through partnership?
How do you thinking being "in Christ" influences Paul's approach to leadership?
Paul makes explicit to his Philippian followers his understanding of what it means to be in Christ. Have you have made explicit to your followers your deepest values and your philosophy of leadership?
Works Cited
Jervis, L. Ann. Empathy and the New Testament. 2003. Available: http://www.cresourcei.org/kenosis.html. 20 Aug. 2004. Unfortunately, this article is no longer available on this site. However, the link does lead to a good article on the Kenosis Hymn which contains a discussion on what it means to be "in Christ."
2 comments:
My particular interest today is the concept of Paul as a servant leader and the partnership he had. Here I include a quote:
The dangerous stories of the Bible are a way to reach those places. The reason those stories are dangerous (a phrase coined by a German theologian) is that if your imagination is fed by them, you refuse to accept the definitions of reality that the power structure gives you and you start doing crazy, unsettling kinds of things; and if enough people start to act on that, the power system starts to give in.
If you don't have the eyes of faith to see, you always think you're outnumbered, and you don't try because you don't have any energy, and you wind up in despair.
I think most people move in and out of those stories, and the purpose of worship and teaching and instruction is to get people to sense more and more of their lives through these kinds of narratives.
From an interview with Dr. Walter Brueggemann in the Dallas Morning News by Christine Wicker, late 96 or early 97
What I see partly in Philippians and in the ministry of Jesus is the use of stories to teach and to provide leadership.
The partnership expressed by Paul has a clear element of material support being received by Paul from the Philippians. The reason he could call it partnership is that he is using that support for ministry and as he says in 4:17 (cf. Heb 6:10) God will reward them for their participation in this ministry. This understanding or partnership is very much in line with traditional model of partnership in the missionary context in Africa. Perhaps Paul broadens the meaning by the role he takes in continuing to be a servant leader for the growth and development of the Philippian Christians.
Let me add one last comment on power. Paul did have power in the sense that he originally founded the church through preaching the gospel and then organizing those who believed. This organization involved both teaching (or disciplining) the new believers but also the appointing of elders. At that point the "power" he exhibited seems to have been more as a teacher from a distance, mainly commenting if he saw that things were moving in the wrong direction. He didn't seem to have any positional power after the church had been established. They generally appeared to be locally governing and locally responsible for discipline.
I hope these thoughts are helpful.
Thank you Greg for bring up the issue of power in relationship to partnership. Yukl (2001) creates taxonomy of sources of power with two broad categories: (a) positional power and (b) personal power each of these categories has sub-types of power.
Positional power is derived from a person's position in the organization. Personal power is derived from the quality of interpersonal relationships a person has within an organization.
Positional power includes:
Legitimate power - formal authority
Reward power - control of resources and reward
Coercive power - control of punishment
Information power - control of distribution of information
Ecological power - control of physical environment, technology and organization of work.
Personal Power includes
Referent power - derived from the desire of others to please a person toward whom they have strong feelings of affection, admiration, and loyalty.
Expert power - derived being perceived by others as a reliable source of task relevant knowledge and skill.
Paul certainly seems to rely primarily on personal power in his relationship with the churches he started (both referent and expert).
However, I'm wondering if the following passage may indicate that Paul sometimes exercised some form of positional power.
"For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible." Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present" (2 Corinthians 10:8-11 NASB).
Reference
Yukl, G. (2001). Leadership in organizations (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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