Echoing the Old Testament Job, Paul reveals his secret to joyfully share the Gospel despite his imprisonment. Paul then artfully reworks the Greco-Roman ideals of friendship and citizenship, calling the Philippians' to practice true humility.
St. Paul paints a beautiful picture of how the Philippians can have the mind of Christ and live a life in humble obedience, emptying oneself for others. If we live in imitation of Christ, we will also experience the glory of Christ's exaltation by the Father.
God continually calls his people to become more like him. Paul explains how to be holy: by imitating Christ on the Cross in his sacrificial gift of self. Embracing this "loss of all things" is the only way to "gain Christ and be found in him" (Phil 3:8-9).
After showing himself, Timothy, and Epaphroditus as examples of disciples who model the life of Christ, Paul now calls on the Philippians to model the life of Christ and live out their heavenly citizenship in the midst of a pagan culture.
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