1) 1) Jesus Christ in His essence should be the desiring passion of our life. He should be our all-consuming fire within us because He lives in and through us. Faith and joy itself, in its own essence also, is a treasuring of Christ above all things. In this book Paul writes, called Philippians, the Philippians thank him for coming and showing them that true and pure joy does not come from anywhere else but from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul came to strengthen the believers in that and had hope that when he left they would only look to the Father and glorify Him because of all he did through Paul. Furthermore, it goes to explain how happiness is conditional and depends solely on happenings, but yet joy is rooted deeper. Joy is depended on Jesus Christ.
2) 2) Philippians, I think, does and doesn’t need to be interpreted. I believe that this is one of Paul’s books that is actually pretty straightforward and is written clearly. But the reason it needs to be interpreted is because maybe it is too easy for some people, they may think, to understand and they will read it and be done and not think it needs to be meditated on. For example, when it says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The only interpretation I have for this one small, little aspect of this book and of this chapter is really concentrated on the word worry. People in our world have so many reasons on why they “have to” worry or think way too much into things. Well, worry does not add a single minute to our hours or hours to our day here on earth. It says for us to turn our worries into prayers and constantly give them up to our Father. Yes, easier said than done. It is said that the English term for worry comes from an old German word meaning to strangle, or to choke. In our world that is exactly what it does, we let worry consume our thoughts and let it become our reality in our minds. It is a mental and emotional strangulation that causes so much pain and strife that does not need to be there.
3) 3) I believe that I take Philippians for what it means. I always try and meditate on all that I read and take time to understand it for what it is saying and not for what I want it to say. If and when I need to interpret something, in this case in Philippians, I go to more sources and or sit and contemplate. But I guess if I had to interpret this text to the best of my abilities it would be pretty much how I answered number one. I believe that happiness is conditional and being joyful and having joy is in Christ and is also a choice we make. Philippians is a book full of joy and hope. It truly emphasizes the joy that He wants us to have in Him as our God, as our Creator and Father. This book shines and radiates the light and Paul tells us that we are supposed to, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Furthermore, we are to be content in any situation that our good Lord places us in. It states in my bible, “whatever the circumstances.” That we are to find real and pure joy in all of suffering because when we suffer, we suffer for what is right and good. Through our suffering we find joy because He who lives in us and He finds favor in us through enduring patiently the suffering we undergo.
4) 4) There are multiple supporting verses that back up my interpretation of Philippians. Because I would say that my interpretation is directly from the Word of God. In Philippians 4:4, 4:11,12…3:8-10…these verses are based on my bible because the handout that we received does not have the verses, which I know is a good thing and I wanted to give the verses that support my interpretation.
5) 5) This answer I feel as though is going to be long and maybe even a little hard to handle. This book is about love, joy and in contrast happiness, and suffering. The one part we tend to over look is the suffering Jesus Christ went through for us undeserving sinners. Therefore, the importance of this text and all of the other texts are to show us, His children and saints, yet still sinners, that we need Christ in us. We need Him to live within us so that we may live in Him. He does not need us to fulfill his purposes, but He wants us to live for Him. When it says, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him.” I cannot even stress to the reader how important this verse is to life. To my life. To the lives that are around me. Paul is stressing that we are supposed to count all that we have or own as “worthless” when it is compared to the greatness of our Christ Jesus. That our relationship with Christ is far greater than anything we could ever have or get in anything else in life. He is our treasure, He is our joy. That no matter what happens in this life, we will still rejoice, still praise, still love and serve Him all the days of our life.
