Koinonia and Coredemption in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

3) Participation as Sacrifice

This mutual participation between the Apostle and his Philippian correspondents, takes on a sacrificial character in two texts. This first is 2:17-18, while the second is 4:18:

but if I am being offered up on the sacrifice and service of your faith, it is my joy and I rejoice with you all. The same is true for you. You rejoice with me (2:17-18).

I have everything and abound in every respect when I received from Epaphroditus the things you sent. They are a sweet-smelling odor, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God (4:18).

These two texts share a common vocabulary and thought. Paul's life is characterized as a sacrifice (thusia) for their faith in 2:17, while the gift of the Philippians through Epaphroditus is an "acceptable sacrifice" (4:17). The question before us is why Paul would employ sacrificial language in the context of mutual service between himself and his spiritual children. In both contexts, nothing in the preceding verses suggests any anticipation of sacrificial language or anything that might evoke such vocabulary. In the context of 2:12-18, Paul is drawing out the implications of the christological hymn (2:5-11) which he has just quoted (or at least paraphrased). His command in 2:12 to "work through your own salvation with fear and trembling" is based on his belief that salvation is a matter of applying the moral implications of Christ's humiliation in His Incarnation. And verse 13 introduces the mysterious synergy between human work on one's salvation and the divine will working in that same process: "For God is the one who is effecting this in you by his willing and his activity for the sake of what pleases him." It is Paul's confidence in God's work which allows him to boast in the Philippians "on the day of Christ," i.e., the last judgment. In this context, verse 17 has the flavor of hyperbole when he says, "but even if I am being spent" (i.e., my life is being spent). In other words, Paul's joy (both his own and the shared [sugchairo] joy) is full, even if it means being a sacrifice that is consumed (cf. whole burnt offering).

The expression "I am being offered on the sacrifice, etc.," (spendomai epi te thusia, etc.) suggests that the Philippians' faith is viewed as a place of sacrifice upon which Paul's life is offered to God.¹ The term leitourgia could be used in the general sense of public service, as it was in secular Greek, or it could be used with connotations of liturgy. If the former meaning is intended, then the nuance of the genitive "of your faith" (tes pisteos) is probably an objective genitive, i.e., service in behalf of your faith. If the liturgical connotation is present in Paul's mind, then the genitive "of your faith" (tes pisteos) might be construed as an explicative genitive where the faith denotes the place of liturgy. Of course, the latter meaning accords well with the language of libation (spendomai) and sacrifice (thusia). In either case, Paul clearly characterizes his life as a sacrificial offering for the benefit of the Philippians as he does in other contexts (e.g., see 2 Cor 12:15).

The sacrificial language of 4:18 also shows the reciprocity we observed earlier in that the gift, which the Philippians sent through Epaphroditus, is described as "a sweet-smelling odor, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." Paul not only sees his service to their faith as sacrifice but he sees their service to his material needs in the same light. It would be very superficial to see these uses of sacrificial language as only passing metaphors drawn from Old Testament language. The sacrifice of Christ's death in 2:8 now finds an appropriate response in the Philippians' service to Paul's needs. This material service has already been characterized as a participation in his affliction (see 4:14). Paul sees such service in not only a horizontal light; he clearly views it as a participation in sacrificial love, the greatest expression of which was Christ's death on the cross.

4) Exhortations to Unity in Philippians

The final set of texts which bears on the question of participation in redemption, is Paul's exhortations to unity. This is especially evident in 1:27 to 2:4 (note also 4:2). Some, in fact, have seen this section as the central core of Paul's letter, inferring from this pericope and others, that the problem of unity was especially heightened in the Church at Philippi.² And there can be no doubt that the proper context for the christological hymn quoted in 2:5-10 begins back at 1:27 with its appeal for holiness and unity within the Church. The relevance of this text for our theme of participation lies in the relationship it implies about the unity and the suffering of the Church. Unity among the members of the body of Christ is both a sign of Christ's presence and a means of making Christ's redemptive work more embodied in the Church. In other words, as Christ's redemption comes to dwell more and more in the hearts of the faithful, greater unity results.

These two aspects of Paul's ecclesiology are intertwined. 1:27 says, "only conduct yourselves worthily of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or only hear about you while absent you may stand in one spirit, with one soul contending together for the faith of the gospel." This hope for unity in fighting for the truth contained in the gospel comes from being en heni pneumati which may mean "in one spirit" or "in one Spirit" with the latter referring to the Holy Spirit. The first reading is more likely since "with one soul" (mia psyche = dative) surely expresses the inner unity of heart and soul within the persons who contend for the gospel. Thus, in such a close and parallel context, "in one spirit" most likely refers to an inner condition of the same people rather than to the Holy Spirit.

This unity in spirit and soul among those contending for the gospel becomes an effective weapon against those who oppose (v. 28). Their unified response to that very opposition, works itself out for their salvation (cf. 2:12). Then Paul links these two-unity in common work and salvation-with suffering for Christ. 1:29 says, "because being for Christ was given to you not only in the sense of believing but also in the way of suffering for him." Thus, suffering for Christ (to hyper Christou) is a gift that results from a willingness to contend for the gospel. That willingness is increased and made more effective by a unity of spirit and soul among the citizens of the Church.³

The Mariological Implications of the Pauline Koinonia

Thus far, I have sketched an outline of Paul's doctrine of koinonia as participation. We have seen two trajectories involved in koinonia. One has been the horizontal direction in which a mutual giving and receiving (reciprocity) is evident in the way Paul speaks to, and about, the Philippian Christians. We have seen indications that this reciprocal share is conceived by Paul as a sharing in the grace which Christ has given to Paul in his apostolic ministry. Though I have not had time to do so, it should be evident to all that these expressions in Philippians are an essential part of Paul's doctrine of the Church as the mystical body of Christ (soma Christou). The second trajectory has been the vertical relationship that exists between Paul and the Paschal Mystery. A fuller investigation would logically lead to a higher level of analysis in which Paul's doctrine of the Church would reveal the richness of participation as a central connection between the death and resurrection, and the experience of the members of the mystical body.

Let me employ a metaphor from classical astronomy to explain this higher level of structure in Paul's theology of redemption and coredemption.⁴ We can now begin to see how redemption and coredemption in Paul form two centers of revolution around which the orbits of his theology circle. These centers of revolution reveal the asymmetry between redemption and coredemption. In Paul's theology, the redemption accomplished by Christ in the Paschal Mystery is the absolute, real center of Christian theology. Nothing can substitute for this historical foundation. This foundation, however, is complemented by an eccentric point, a point completely defined by the absolute center but which is necessary to explain the apparently irregular orbits of the Church's existence (e.g., persecution and suffering). As the Church continually returns to its center in the Paschal Mystery-annually in the Triduum, daily in the liturgy, personally in private prayer-it finds that it cannot maintain its ministry and vocation without having another point to which it must refer. This eccentric point derives its significance and meaning from the Paschal Mystery but, at the same time, functions as a point of radiation through which the Paschal Mystery emanates out to the Church on pilgrimage. This eccentric point is the somatic manifestation of the Paschal Mystery. In other words, the Church is not only the recipient of the Paschal Mystery; it is also the body which acts as a conduit for the radiation of grace outwardly to the world. The body (soma) of Christ is the primary locus where the Paschal Mystery is expressed and lived out in the real world.

This link between the Paschal Mystery and the Church is koinonia, a real sharing in Christ's redemptive work that, in turn, allows the grace flowing from Christ to radiate out to other members of the body. This way of stating the matter shows the wisdom of thinking of Mary as the most perfect (sanctissima) embodiment of redemption. Because the Mother of God was and is so profoundly perfected in grace, She is also a model of the Church, that is, of the Church in its eschatological epiphany. She is the model of what St. Paul says he was striving for, that is, to grasp that for which he was grasped by Christ Jesus (Phil 3:12).