Philippians is a magisterial treatment of various topics—suffering’s relationship to gospel advance, self-centeredness versus sacrificial service, the basis of a believer’s assurance before God, interpersonal conflict, and finding true contentment—that Paul relates to the touchstone of Christ, his cross, and his resurrection.
Johnson shows how Paul, writing from imprisonment to a church close to his heart, uses his own experience and attitude as exemplars to show the Philippians the difference a Christ-formed mind makes to the way believers respond to adversity, rivalry, conflict, vanity, achievement, the ongoing pursuit of holiness, and the strategic deployment of our resources for the gospel.
As are all the books in the Reformed Expository Commentary series, this exposition of Philippians is accessible to both pastors and lay readers. Each volume in the series provides exposition that gives careful attention to the biblical text, is doctrinally Reformed, focuses on Christ through the lens of redemptive history, and applies the Bible to our contemporary setting.
Dennis E. Johnson (ThM, Westminster Theological Seminary; PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) taught New Testament and practical theology at Westminster Seminary California for more than thirty-five years. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, the author of Him We Proclaim and of commentaries on Acts, Philippians, Hebrews, and Revelation (Triumph of the Lamb), and a contributor to several study Bibles and other books. He and his wife, Jane, live in Dayton, Tennessee.
