inward peace are qualities that very much belong together, particularly in the context of the problems faced by the Philippian community. The threat posed by their opponents (1:28; 3:2, 18), their solicitous concern for the apostle in prison (1:18, 19; 4:10), the trauma created by selfishness within the church—these and other problems called for pastoral guidance and exhortation of the very kind exemplified in this passage. Neither Paul’s difficult circumstances nor the frightening dangers faced
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