Our church recently went through the book of Acts together. One member of the church told me after our study of Acts, she has come to a greater appreciation for the Apostle Paul. Reading of his missionary journeys where we see his boldness in preaching and his willingness to suffer for Christ put on full display, is like a shot of adrenaline in the arm. Paul gave everything for Jesus and His bride, the Church.
Reading the stories of Paul’s church planting efforts is invigorating but equally so are his letters to those churches. Often Paul would start a church and then later write to check in on them and address concerns. Four of these letters were written while he was imprisoned: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. They are often called the “Prison Epistles,” or Captivity Epistles.1
One of the more interesting points of debate about these letters is the question of provenance: where was Paul in prison when he wrote these letters?
The traditional view is that the Prison Epistles were all written in Rome, during the same two-year imprisonment, probably between 60 and 62 AD. However, N.T. Wright says that the majority of contemporary scholars actually now believe that Paul was imprisoned earlier in Ephesus when he wrote the Prison Epistles.2 Many of these scholars say that even though Luke only refers to three imprisonments (one night in Philippi, two years in Caesarea, and two years in Rome), there is ample reason to believe Paul was jailed on other occasions in other places too. Of course, we know that Paul was also in prison in Rome a second time, during which he wrote Second Timothy before his death. But Clement of Rome explicitly says that Paul was jailed some seven times (1 Clement 5:7). Moreover, they argue that Paul’s own writings seem to imply that he was imprisoned in Ephesus as well (see 1 Corinthians 4:9-13; 15:32; 2 Corinthians 1:8; 4:8-12; 6:4-5; 11:23-25). More on the Ephesian theory below.
The Letter to the Philippians
The question of whether or not they were all written during the same imprisonment is really a question of where Philippians was written from, since the other three Prison Epistles, seem to have all been written from the same place, and were delivered by the same person, Tychicus. Ralph Allen Smith explains:
“In Colossians 4:7-9, Paul tells the Colossian church that he is sending Tychicus and Onesimus to them. It is clear that they are to deliver the letter Paul has written to the church and that they are also to report to the church the details of Paul’s ministry in chains while he is in Rome. However, in Ephesians 6:20-21, we discover that Tychicus is also delivering the letter to the Ephesian church. And although Tychichus is not mentioned in Philemon, it seems clear that he would have delivered that letter as well, since it concerned the return of Onesimus — Philemon’s former slave and Tychichus’ traveling companion.”3
The Traditional View
As mentioned above, the traditional view is that all four of the Prison Epistles were written during Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome. Philip Long states the traditional view this way:
“The traditional view assigns the captivity Epistles to Rome. We know from Acts that Paul was in fact placed under house arrest in Rome for two years (Acts 28:30). “House arrest” means Paul was free to proclaim the gospel (Acts 28:16, 17, 23, 31; Eph 6:18-20; Phil 1:12-18; Col 4:2-4). Paul mentions the “palace guard” and the “emperor’s household” in Phil 1:13 and 4:22, implying he is in Rome. Paul greets Aristarchus in Col 4:10, in Acts 27:2 he accompanied Paul on the journey to Rome.”4
G. Walter Hansen points out perhaps the one major difficulty with the traditional view: the number of journeys mentioned or implied in the letter. “The letter reports four trips between Rome and Philippi and projects four more.” To get from Rome to Philippi, one would have to travel at least 700 mile by land route or some 900 miles by the sea. So many trips over such a great distance does not seem to match the sense given in the letter of messages being sent quickly back and forth, suggests Hansen.5
Silva, on the other hand, writes in response: “In my opinion, commentators have greatly overestimated the weight that can be placed on this argument.” He argues that only three communications are required in Philippians. I’ve listed them below:
- The Philippians hear that Paul is imprisoned in Rome. (It may well be, however, that the Philippians became aware of the circumstances even before Paul actually reached Rome.)
- Paul receives a gift through Epaphroditus.
- The Philippians receive news that Epaphroditus has fallen ill. (However, if this incident took place during the journey, the distance involved would be reduced considerably.)
Based on reliable scholarship that has investigated the amount of time such a journey from Rome to Philippi would require, Silva argues that it is “quite possible to fit those journeys into a period of four to six months.” This fits well within the time frame for the length of his imprisonment in Rome. He goes on to say, “It is very difficult to understand why this argument against a Roman origin continues to be taken seriously. The matter should be dropped from consideration.”6
On the topic of the traditional viewpoint, G. F. Hawthorne, points out: “As the hypothetical place from which Paul wrote Philippians, Rome not only meets most of [the needed] criteria, but is the oldest and longest-held view, dating from as far back as the second century AD…”7
The Popular Alternative Viewpoint: Ephesus
There are two popular alternative viewpoints. Ephesus and Caesarea. As mentioned above, the one receiving a great deal of support in contemporary scholarship is Ephesus. Philip Long again helpfully summarizes the arguments in favor of an Ephesian imprisonment:
“There is no mention in Acts of any imprisonment in Ephesus, though in 2 Cor 6:5 and 11:23 Paul does say that he has often been in prison. Acts records no imprisonment until Philippi (Acts 16:19-40). Where were the others? One possibility is that these occur before Acts 13, another is that there was an imprisonment in Ephesus which is not recorded in Acts. In 1 Cor 15:32 the apostle speaks about fighting wild beasts at Ephesus. That may be a proverb or merely a metaphor. But if taken literally, it could mean that Paul was actually thrown to the lions in the arena. In 2 Cor 1:8-10 Paul alludes to some serious trouble that overtook him in the province of Asia, and in Romans 16:3, 4 he tells us that Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives to save him. We know that the pair were with Paul in Ephesus, and this opens up the possibility that it was here that they protected him. Ephesus is a natural location to send letters to the cities in the Lycus Valley. Epaphras would have the shortest route to reach Paul from Colossae (Col 4:12; Philem 23) and Epaphroditus from Philippi (Phil 2:25-30). Ephesus has a large Christian community which would assist Paul writing the letters (Col 4:10, 11). Paul asked Philemon to have a guest room ready for him in Colossae (Philemon 22) when he was released implying that he was nearby. Finally, Onesimus is more likely to have fled to Ephesus than Rome.”8
For a full discussion of the pros and cons of the Ephesian view, see Ralph Smith’s excellent article here.
Conclusion
While there are other viewpoints to consider—Caesarea (and, even more rarely, Corinth)—they do not seem to be nearly as likely as either Rome or Ephesus. If I had to lean one way or the other, I would lean in the direction of the traditional viewpoint that has the favor of church history. Thankfully, a decision one way or the other does not greatly impact our interpretation of the letter. Silva suggests that the main area where the impact is significant would be determining who Paul’s opponents were. Passages like Philippians 1:15-17, 1:27-28, 3:2 and 3:18-19 reveal that there are problem people that Paul is concerned with. As we interpret the letter, who these people are, will be impacted by where Paul is writing from (and also, when).9
At the end of the day, despite our inability to decisively nail down where Paul writes the letter to the Philippian Church from, the message is clear: “Paul wrote this letter to express his joyful faith in Christ Jesus, his exalted Lord and eagerly expected Savior, while he was ‘in chains’ (1:7, 13, 14, 17) and to communicate his appreciate love (1:7-8; 4:1, 10-18) for his generous friends in Philippi.”10
These notes sound out in all of Paul’s “Prison Epistles,” wherever they were written from.
Footnotes
- Second Timothy too was written in prison, just before Paul’s death, but because it was written during a different imprisonment at the end of his life, it is often not included in the group with the other prison epistles.
- See this interesting discussion here: https://theopolisinstitute.com/paul-in-prison-ephesus-or-rome/.
- See https://theopolisinstitute.com/tychicus-and-onesimus/
- See Long’s article “Paul’s Time in Prison and the Letter of Philippians” here: https://readingacts.com/2009/10/09/acts-16-and-the-letter-of-philippians/.
- G. Walter, Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009), 20-21.
- Moises Silva, Philippians, 2nd Ed., BECNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 5-6.
- G. F. Hawthorne, “Letter to the Philippians,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1993), 709.
- See Long’s article “Paul’s Time in Prison and the Letter of Philippians” here: https://readingacts.com/2009/10/09/acts-16-and-the-letter-of-philippians/.
- Who these enemies are, as you might imagine, is a subject also of much debate. Hansen, at the time he was writing his commentary (2009), said “Current research proposes at least eighteen different identities for the opponents” (page 28). He reduces the number down to four categories: ambitious preachers, intimidating powers, Jewish Christian teachers, and enemies of the cross (page 30). (The Letter to the Philippians, PNTC.)
- Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, 25.
