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Therefore, the thematic structure of Philippians 2:6-11 suggests that this writing is an encomium. It is interesting to note that Bailey and Vander Broek, cited above as saying that Philippians 2:6-11 is a hymn, never consider encomia as a literary form used in the New Testament. Likewise the exhaustive Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, which has a four-page article on hymns, does not even list encomia as a form.63 It is possible that encomia may simply have been overlooked as an important literary style for letters like Philippians which have a thoroughly Greek audience. If one accepts that Philippians 2:6-11 is indeed an encomium, then instead of seeing the work in the context of worship, one might understand these verses in the context of evangelism. It is generally understood that Paul saw himself first and foremost as an evangelist who became a Jew to the Jews and a Greek to the Greeks (1 Cor 9:19-23) and who used Greek and Roman beliefs and ideas as a place to start evangelistic conversation (see Acts 17:16ff, for example). It is certainly possible that Paul is using an encomium, a hero poem used for evangelism in Philippi, to make a broader point when writing this letter to the Philippian church. Furthermore, it is highly possible that the Philippian Christians would have known and used this encomium, for they were not just converts themselves, but true partners in the evangelistic work of the Church, as described above.64 Reumann in the Yale Anchor Commentary Series upholds this view. He expresses his “working theory” of the literary style and purpose of these verses saying, “Paul employs in vv 6-11 an encomium the Philippians had worked out to use in mission proclamation about Christ and God in their GrecoRoman world.”65 Reumann makes this claim by referring to the study done by Malina and Neyrey described above as well as studies in German by K. Berger written between 1980-1984. Therefore, there is enough historical and literary evidence to make the claim that Philippians is a Hellenistic letter which includes Philippians 2:6-11 as an encomium—an evangelistic poem about the Lord Jesus Christ which reveals Christ’s origin, nurture, and accomplishments and compares him to others. This is important because if Philippians 2:6-11 is an encomium, it can be compared to other encomia within a similar time period in the Greco-Roman world. It can be very helpful for interpreting the passage as a whole to see how difficult words in this pericope are translated in other encomia and Greco-Roman literature during this time period.
63 Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993). 64 R. Brown, 484-485. 65 Reumann, 333.