Striving Together for the Gospel

This is Paul's first major exhortation of the Epistle. Up until this point the focus has been more on the report concerning his prayers for them and his imprisonment. Now he begins to zero in on the needs of the Philippian believers more specifically. Paul is concerned that the testimony of the Gospel in Philippi not be tarnished by disunity in the church so he writes to encourage them to stand in unity for the furtherance of the Gospel.