Philippians is a personalized letter, to a specific church, and in these verses we get some of that feel. Paul names two known partners in ministry, Timothy and Epaphroditus. It could be easy to read past these verses, since, well, we don’t know either of these men like they did. But, this is more than a nod to partners in ministry. In light of the Christ hymn in verses 6-11, these are two examples of ways that the Christ centered life is lived out, and role models that the church is to look to.

The poem in the middle of these verses is the epicenter of the book of Philippians. In a book focused on an embodied faith, verse 6-11 names in clear terms what that kind of life is to look like as modeled by Jesus. Humility, grace, patience, serving.