Philippians 1:29

Because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf: having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Here one glimpses the impact of terrible persecutions upon the soul of the beloved apostle. "This allusion, of course, is to the lawless scourging and imprisonment of Acts 16:22-24."[51] That outrage deeply impressed itself upon Paul's heart, as indicated, at the very first, by his demand that the magistrates apologize and by subsequent references to it in 1Thess. 2:2,2 Timothy 3:10.

The same implacable and evil hatred of the darkness against the light was the motivation of persecutions against both Paul and the Philippians. His own sufferings were the same as theirs with regard to cause and motivation of both.

On behalf of Christ ... Paul's evident purpose here was to bring home to the Philippians the high dignity and privilege of suffering for the cause of the Lord. By these words, he shared with them the fellowship of suffering in the name of Christ.