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The one particular church problem the Philippians faced was the threat of disunity (cf. 2:1-3; 4:2-3). Paul urges them to stand firm united in one spirit (pneumati), and as one man (lit. with one psychē) in their battle of the faith (i.e., the truth) of the Gospel. This united front will enable them to resist the influence of those who oppose them (possibly those mentioned in 3:2; see comment there), and faithfully to preserve the true faith of Christ. Their faithful, united preservation of the truth will prove to be their salvation while it will signal the opposers' destruction in God’s judgment.
As already indicated, 1:29-30 emphasizes a key concept in Paul and in NT Christianity generally, i.e., suffering as a Christian. Note that Paul describes it as a privilege. Not only is belief a privilege, but to suffer for Christ is also a privilege. For it has been granted to you, he says (cf. 2:17, 30; 3:10, 18; 4:11-14). Paul does not have a martyr complex nor feel victimized by the gospel; he is a realist. He knows “how the nature of the Christian calling gets its model from the incarnate Lord himself (2:6-11). . . . The life of the church is thus cruciform since it derives from him who exemplified the ‘dying to live’ pattern” (Martin, 81).
Those who advocate a “success theology,” which in essence makes it obligatory upon God to make a believer “healthy, wealthy, and happy” in this world, profoundly misunderstand the Cross and the whole scope of biblical religion generally. Paul was an advocate of triumph to be sure. But it was triumph through suffering, not through exemption from it.