God’s Word for You

Philippians 4:1 six vocatives and the circle of faith

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, April 17, 2026

4:1 So then, my brothers and sisters, my loved ones, and my longed-for ones! O my joy and my crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my dear friends.

The Philippians were a great personal joy to Paul. They received their faith through his preaching and use of the sacraments with great eagerness and enthusiasm. This showed itself in the many ways that they helped him in his ministry (Philippians 1:5, 1:19, 4:10, 4:15-16). He calls them “my dear friends,” and he calls them adelphoi (ἀδελϕοί), which can mean both brothers and sisters, although not always “sisters” in certain contexts of the New Testament. Here, however, where we already know about several women in Philippi, including the jailer’s wife (Acts 16:31-32) and especially Lydia and the other women who worshiped with her (Acts 16:13-14), we certainly must say “sisters” with great confidence. Was the slave girl from whom Paul had driven an evil spirit to be counted among them, too? Either way, there were many faithful women in the Philippian church.

In the Greek language, the vocative is the case and form in which people are addressed. We use it in English when we say in a letter, “Hi, Bob,” or “Dear Mom,” or “Dear Sir,” or in the great Lenten hymn, “O Sacred Head, now wounded.” It is unusual to find more than one or at most two in a sentence. Consider “Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God!” (Psalm 3:7), where there are two. In this verse, there are six! All of these terms are vocatives: (1) “brothers and sisters” (which is only one, the word adelphoi), (2) “loved ones,” (3) “longed-for ones,” (4) “O my joy,” (5) “my crown,” and finally (6) “my dear friends.” The vocative is used to call attention to the person who is being addressed. It can be used for respect (Judges 3:18; Esther 7:3), or to name a person who is being called out for praise (Song of Solomon 8:12), or being singled out for condemnation (“You, O priests, show contempt for my name,” Malachi 1:6), or it can be a way of reminding the one who is spoken to of a close relationship: “My dear children” (1 John 2:1). Here in Philippians 4, it is that last idea that carries the entire verse. Paul cannot come up with enough endearments to label all of the loving feelings in his heart. They are dear to him. He loves them. He longs for them. They are his special joy, and his crown.

“Joy” is of course the recurring theme of the letter, and now Paul uses it as a name for the Philippians as a whole church. They are his joy, his great delight.

I was asked just today about the church I helped to get started as a missionary in the Pacific Northwest. It is the Lutheran Church in Covington, Washington that today is called Light of Life, and I am sure that very few there, if any, remember me from the 1990s before there was even a church there; just a young couple with two very small children, a clipboard, and the message of the gospel. But when I hear news about them (as I do from time to time) I am filled with joy that they know and love their Savior.

When Paul calls the Philippians his “crown,” he uses the special Greek word stephanos, which is not a metal ring for the head, or a diadem with a gemstone that a ruler would wear. It is the laurel wreath given to the winner of a race (one of Paul’s many athletic references in his writing).

In the New Testament, this “crown” often means the crown of eternal life, the eternal blessedness and life given to believers by God on Judgment Day. “I will give you the crown of life,” says Jesus (Revelation 2:10), and “Blessed is the man who perseveres under a hard trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). It is also called “a crown of rejoicing for those who inherit an everlasting name.” But here, “crown” is Paul’s way of thinking of the Philippians because they are his ornament, they give him a special honor on account of the strong faith and the glory that they give to God. For Paul, the many congregations he has begun are like a line of candles on a banquet table, and as he lights them he sees that they burn in different ways, some brighter, some dimmer; some burn smoothly and some splutter. But the candle of the Philippians burns brightest of all.

Therefore, he says, “Stand firm in the Lord.” This is a phrase he uses in other places (2 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Thessalonians 3:8). Here he is confident that the Philippians will do this, because they understand his words completely. When he says “in the Lord,” he is careful to use the preposition “in” (Greek ἐν), which quite definitely draws a circle around the word it modifies (here, “the Lord”) and points to the location within that circle. Here, the circle (as we said) is the Lord. When we are “in the Lord,” we have, through faith, all of the merits and benefits of Christ. They are ours. If someone were to try to step out of that circle, as if to say, as the Judaizers did, “I will do part of this on my own,” then they have left Christ behind. Of if they give up on Jesus in despair or unbelief, they have done the same thing. They have done what in math is known as the zero property of multiplication. Multiplying anything at all by zero equals zero; nothing at all. Attempting to even add to Jesus (not even to multiply) with anything else that is not Jesus, is to end up with nothing at all; none of the merits of Christ, none of the benefits of Christ. Even if some scholar were to know about all of those benefits, and had even taught them (as Judas once did, Mark 6:12-13; John 4:2; Acts 1:17), if he were to still step out of the circle of faith in Christ—such as in either despair on the one side or self-righteousness on the other—he would end up with nothing at all. He would have the same judgment as Gomorrah.

But we, we keep ourselves in Christ’s circle. What a wonderful verse this is! Six vocatives and the circle of faith in Christ. What a marvel to meditate upon. God bless you, O dear reader! Dear friend! Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! Companions in eternal life!

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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