“Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.” Phil 1:18b-19
“Here is the key to Christ’s being glorified in every way; by Paul’s being “supplied” the Spirit of Jesus Christ himself, who will live powerfully through Paul as he stands trial. At the same time, from such a phrase and its close relationship with the prayer of the believing community, one learns a great deal about Paul’s own spiritual life and his understanding of the role of the Spirit in that life. He simply does not think of Christian life as lived in isolation from others. He may be the one in prison and headed for trial; but the Philippians – and others – are inextricably bound together with him through the Spirit. Therefore, he assumes that their praying, and with that God’s gracious supply of the Spirit of his Son, will be the means God uses yet once more to bring glory to himself through Paul and Paul’s defense of the gospel.”
Gordon D. Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, NICOT (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1995), 135.
