HOMILY I. PHILIPPIANS i. i, 2. " Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, fellow- Bishops 1 and Deacons: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." HERE, as writing to those of equal honor, he does not set down his rank of Teacher, but an other, and that a great one. And what is that ? He calls himself a " servant," and not an Apos tle. For great truly is this rank too, and the sum of all good things, to be a servant of Christ, and not merely to be called so. " The servant of Christ," this is truly a free man in respect to sin, and being a genuine servant, he is not a ser vant to any other, since he would not be Christ s servant, but by halves. And in again writing to the Romans also, he says, " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ." (Rom. i. i.) But writing to the Corinthians and to Timothy he calls himself an "Apostle." On what account then is this ? Not because they were superior to Timothy. Far from it. But rather he honors them, and shows them attention, beyond all others to whom he wrote. For he also bears witness to great virtue in them. For besides, there indeed he was about to order many things, and therefore as sumed his rank as an Apostle. But here he gives them no injunctions but such as they could per ceive of themselves. " To the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi." Since it was likely that the Jews too would call themselves " saints " from the first oracle, when 2 they were called a "holy people, a people for God s own possession " (Ex. xix. 6 ; Deut. vii. 6, etc.) ; for this reason he added, "to the saints in Christ Jesus." For these alone are holy, and those hence forward profane. "To the fellow-Bishops 3 and Deacons." What is this? were there several Bishops of one city? Certainly not; but he called the Presbyters so. For then they still interchanged the titles, and the Bishop was 1 E. V. " with the bishops," reading the preposition separately. [See below.] 2 [Viz. in the times of "the first oracle," i.e. the Old Test. J.A. B.] 3 [A good many late manuscripts of N. T., and several late Fathers, read with Chrys. (rvveTritr/coiroi?, " to the co-bishops"; but the early documents and modern critics give <rvv eTricncoTrois, "with the bishops," as in the Eng. versions. J. A. B.] 4 Aia/tovos, usually [translated] in E. V. "Minister," when thus used. called a Deacon.4 For this cause in writing to Timothy, he said, " Fulfil thy ministry," when he was a Bishop. For that he was a Bishop appears by his saying to him, " Lay hands hastily onnoman." (iTim.v.22.) And again, "Which was given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery." (i Tim. iv. 14.) Yet Pres byters would not have laid hands on a Bishop. And again, in writing to Titus, he says, " For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou should- est appoint elders 5 in every city, as I gave thee charge. If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife " (Tit. i. 5,6) ; which he says of the Bishop. 6 And after saying this, he adds imme diately, " For the Bishop must be blameless, as God s steward, not self willed." (Tit. i. 7.) So then, as I said, both the Presbyters were of old called Bishops and Deacons of Christ, and the Bishops Presbyters ; and hence even now many Bishops write, "To my fellow-Presbyter," and, " To my fellow-Deacon." But otherwise the specific name is distinctly appropriated to each, the Bishop and the Presbyter. "To the fellow- Bishops," he says, " and Deacons, Ver. 2. " Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." How is it that though he nowhere else writes to the Clergy, not in Rome, nor in Corinth, nor in Ephesus, nor anywhere, but in general, to "all the saints, the believers, the beloved," yet here he writes to the Clergy? Because it was they that sent, and bare fruit, and it was they that dispatched Epaphroditus to him. Ver. 3. "I thank my God," he says, "upon all my remembrance of you." He said in another of his writings, " Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them : for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account ; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief." (Heb. xiii. 1 7.) If then the " grief" be due to the wickedness of the disciples, the doing it "with joy"would bedue to their advancement. As often as I remember you, I glorify God. But this he does from his being conscious of many good things in them. I both glorify, he says, and pray. I do not, be- 8 Gr. Presbyters. 8 See i Tim. iii. 2, but Chrys. s reason for taking it thus is rather that KO.TO. TTO\LV seems to imply one for each city.