because he is so worked up about the issue with church X that he simply cannot hold back
as he writes to Church Y. In other words, when Paul addresses his Christian audience in a
letter, some of the issues he discusses are writer-directed rather than reader-directed. I
think that this fits well with what we know from the Bible of Paul's personality.
Let me propose a few possible examples. Scholars have long recognized that
going from Philippians 3:1 (Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord) to Philippians 4:4
(Rejoice in the Lord always) would give a seamless letter. But between these two
verses is a section that begins with a scathing denunciation of those who insist that
circumcision is necessary for believers (i.e., Judaizers). Some scholars propose that a
separate letter is inserted at this point, as if a careless editor simply plopped a second
letter written to the Philippians at this point rather than, let's say, before 3:1. This, I
believe in unacceptable; being an editor myself, I suggest that editors, both modern and
ancient, are more intelligent than that! Others suggest that Paul had suddenly received
some information about the Judaizers infiltrating Philippi and stopped himself short after
his first rejoice in the Lord in order to address this situation.
What I propose is that Paul did receive some new information here, but it was not
about what was going on in Philippi but what was going on some other locality, such as
the churches of Galatia or perhaps Corinth. Personally, I am of the opinion that
Philippians was written during an Ephesians imprisonment, though my scenario is not
dependent on that hypothesis. What I suggest is that Paul, in prison, suddenly receives
some news about what the pesky Judaizers are doing and it grinds on his nerves. He gets
so worked up about that ongoing problem that he has to express himself, and since he is
already in the process of writing a letter to the Philippians, he vents his feelings to them