A Hymn Before the Letter That Quotes It

The Christ hymn of Philippians 2 has shaped Christian doctrine about the incarnation more than almost any other single passage outside the Gospels, cited constantly in the christological debates of the 4th and 5th centuries that produced the Nicene and Chalcedonian formulas about Christ's two natures. Its rhythmic, parallel structure, unusual vocabulary not found elsewhere in Paul, and self contained theological completeness have persuaded most scholars that it began life as an early liturgical hymn, sung in worship before Paul incorporated it into this letter, which would place its core confession about Christ's divine and human natures extremely early in Christian history, possibly within two decades of the crucifixion.

The letter's abrupt shifts in tone, particularly the sudden, sharp warning against "the dogs, the evil workers" who insist on circumcision that interrupts the letter's warmth in chapter 3, have led some scholars to propose that the canonical letter combines fragments of two or three shorter notes Paul sent to Philippi over time, though the theory remains a minority position without manuscript support. Philippians is also the primary New Testament source for Paul's own account of his credentials as a zealous Pharisee before his conversion, material he offers nowhere else in comparable personal detail.