His faith in Christ and love for His cause raise him above the sphere of human jealousies.  He rejoices that Christ is preached, whether of good-will or of envy, knowing that this shall turn to his salvation through the prayers of the Philippians and the supply of Christ’s Spirit.  Chap. 2:15-19.

He knows that for himself personally it is better to depart and be with Christ:  but to continue in the flesh is more needful for the Philippians.  He cannot, therefore, choose between life and death.  Chap. 1:21-25.  How different this from the spirit of some, who think of death only in connection with their own personal comfort, and how much higher the type of religion which it reveals!

So far as outward advantages are concerned, no man can have more occasion than he to glory in the flesh.  But all these he has renounced and counted loss for Christ.  His one ambition is to know Christ, and be united with him in his death and resurrection.  His present attainments he forgets in his single purpose of pressing towards the goal for the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.  Chap. 3:4-14.

He warmly commends the Philippians for their liberality, but wishes them to understand that he does not speak in respect to personal want; for every where and in all things he has been taught the lesson of contentment with present circumstances.  Chap. 4:10-14.

VI.  EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS.

30.  The original name of Thessalonica was Therme, whence the gulf at the head of which it is situated, was called the Thermaic gulf.  The modern name of the city is Saloniki, and of the gulf, the gulf of Saloniki.  In the apostolic age it was a large and wealthy city, and the metropolis of the second district of Macedonia.  At the present day it is second only to Constantinople in European Turkey.  Then as now a large number of Jews resided in it.  In his second missionary tour the apostle, when driven from Philippi, went through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica.  After his usual manner he first resorted to the Jewish synagogue “and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.”  After this a tumult was raised at the instigation of the unbelieving Jews, and the apostle was sent away by night to Berea.  Acts 17:1-10.  We cannot affirm that his stay at Thessalonica was limited to three weeks; yet it was very brief, and for this reason he was anxious to return again that he might impart further instruction and consolation to the converts there, who were undergoing a severe ordeal of temptation through persecution.  Chaps. 2:17-3:5.  His labors at Thessalonica were not confined to the Sabbath-day and the Jewish synagogue.  He preached the gospel to the Gentiles also, and his chief success seems to have been among them. 1 Thess. 1:9; 2:14, 16.