Section 3
be initiated by learning certain basic principles. The secret of the Body is to take Christ as our life, to live Christ, to pursue Christ, to gain Christ, to magnify Christ, and to express Christ. These are the basic principles of the church, the Body of Christ. As one who had been initiated into the Body, Paul had learned the secret.
APPLYING THE SECRET
According to Philippians 4:10-13, Paul applied the secret he had learned to his circumstances in prison. As a prisoner in Rome, he was far away from many of the believers and from many churches which had been raised up through his ministry. No doubt, during his imprisonment, he suffered both psychologically and physically. He was in need of a material supply. It certainly was not easy for him to be in prison under such circumstances.
According to the record in the New Testa ment, when Paul was journeying in Europe for the ministry, the church in Philippi was unique in taking care of Paul's material needs. In 4:15 he says, "And you yourselves also know, Philippi ans, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I went out from Macedonia, not one church shared