... Philippians 1.28; 4.5. In the midst of the depiction in Wisdom of Solomon 2.12–5.13 of the righteous child of God, persecuted and put to death by the godless but raised to life by God, the wicked express their intention to persecute God’s child "that we may know his gentleness" (ἵνα γνῶμεν τὴν ἐπιείκειαν αὐτοῦ, Wisdom of Solomon 2.19). In Philippians 4.5, Paul’s command τὸ ἐπιεικὲς ὑμῶν γνωσθήτω πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ("let your gentleness be known to all people") introduces a clear intertextual allusion to this persecuted righteous figure of Wisdom. The obvious nature of the allusion in Philippians 4.5 renders it highly likely that also in Philippians 1.28, where the Philippians’ fearless testimony to the gospel is a proof to the opponents of their destruction (ἀπωλείας), but of the Philippians’ salvation (σωτηρίας), Paul’s language again recalls the righteous one of Wisdom of Solomon 2.12–5.13, whose persecution and death (Wisdom of Solomon 2.12-20) results in the destruction of his persecutors (ἀπωλείας, 5.7), but his salvation (σωτηρίας, 5.2) ...