The Spread of the Gospel in Rome
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear. It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.
But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.
Phil 1:12-18
Paul’s Boldness to the Brink of Living or Dying
And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honour to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.
Phil 1:19-26
Conduct Yourselves in a Manner Worthy of the Gospel
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
Phil 1:27-30
My attempt to tempt my readers to give your own title to the divisions of the text above failed miserably. Not one person took the bait. Oh well, you win some you lose some. It was for your benefit I suggested you do that but I think it failed because the exercise was spread over a weekend and you had other more important things to do. That’s fine. I will try again at another time. I did tell you that you had the option of skipping the exercise and going straight to the divisions I made for you along with the titles I have given you.
I was surprised by my comparison of the titles given to the pericope or the text divisions across a number of printed Bibles. Surprised firstly by the number of bland headings given which were in reality no help at all. I wish Paul had written his own headings. But it was not the done thing in those days and besides his words just flowed from him to his amanuensis (scribe) without pausing to think of adding titles. The second thing which surprised me was the fact that each published Bible varied in the approach to subtitles on the pericope. Thirdly, anything in terms of digital comparison is standardised to the same divisions and titles, which was less of a surprise to me because on reflection they could not have done it any other way. Hence my reason for looking at the printed Bibles I had to see how they handled it.
Anyhow, those matters are now behind us as we look to investigate what Paul actually wrote in detail. In fact Philippians 1:12 is the way Paul opens his letter to the saints in Philippi after he has finished with the opening greetings and his expressions of love and esteem for them. You can see clearly now that Paul’s expression of his feelings for the saints in Philippi is the most affectionate of all his letters. Paul was very fond of those people. Our key verse in what has gone before is Phil 1:6. Hold that in your long term memory. Then note below there is another verse which stands out. In fact I have separated it out for that very reason. It’s verse 18 which I have made to stand alone. It is the bridging verse which glues the Spread of the Gospel in Rome to what follows it. The flow of the text between what Paul said before verse 18 and what he said after verse 18 is the reason many versions combine together everything from verses 12 to 26 and give it a general, all-encompassing title. Simply because Paul moves quickly from what was happening in Rome related to the spread of the Gospel to his talk about being willing to die for the Gospel or his decision to remain for the sake of the saints in Philippi. That is why verse 18 is the pivotal verse.
Now we will begin our work on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.
The Spread of the Gospel in Rome
And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear. It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.
But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Phil 1:12-18
Take particular note of the details of these verses and highlight for yourself your questions or the things you want to know. I suggest we need to focus on:
- I want you to know
- everything has happened to help the spread of the Gospel
- everyone here
- including the palace guard [praitōrion]
- in chains because of Christ
- because of my imprisonment
- results among the believers
- reaction among others who preach
- a careful examination of verse 18
Feel free to add anything else to the list you think needs attention or what you want to know or want me to respond to that is not included in the above list.
At the end of my life, I want to be able to say that I contributed more than I criticised.
Edward Suhardi
One day you are the best thing since sliced bread and the next day you are toast.
Ian Vail
What I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do.
Donald Millar
If your theology has caused you to see your fellow Christians as your enemies, it is not a gospel-based theology.
Ed Stetzer