“All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.”
The fourth category of people greeting the Philippians was “Caesar’s household.”
“but especially those who are of Caesar’s household”
The word “especially” means in greatest degree. With a special touch, Paul concluded the book of Philippians with emphatic emphasis upon God’s sovereign work despite his adversity in jail. He singled out the Praetorian Guard for special mention.
Caesar’s household did not refer to the members of the family of Caesar. They were not his kin. The imperial guard was the institution that chose the Caesar. Paul led many of these men to Christ while in prison. The Philippians had a part in their salvation by their support of the apostle. The Praetorian Guard (one of the most powerful political institutions of the Roman Empire, Php 1:13) gave a greeting to this motley little church in Philippi!!
No wonder Paul could say that what had happened to him advanced the gospel (Php 1:12). If the Praetorian Guard could live for Christ in that institution, we can live for Christ in school, business, and the police force.
Principle:
God uses the weak to win the strong.
Application:
Sometimes we preempt God’s work in our lives. We undervalue what God can do through us. A false belief among some is that God could never use them to reach people more intelligent, wealthier, or more important than they are.
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” (1 Cor. 1:27)
If God could use a jail-bird to reach the Praetorian Guard, he can use us. If God could use the Philippians to facilitate world evangelism in the first century, He can do that through us in the twenty-first century.
