Philippians 2:16

Holding forth the word of life,.... By which may be meant, either Christ the essential Word, in whom life was, and is, and who is called the quick or living Word, Joh 1:1; and here may be styled the Word of life, because he has all life in him; he has a divine life in him, as God, he is the living God; and it is given to him to have life in himself, as Mediator, for all his people; and he ever lives as man to make intercession for them: and because he is the author of life in every sense, of natural life to all men, of spiritual and eternal life to as many as the Father has given him: or else the Gospel is intended, and the doctrines of it; and which are sometimes called the words of eternal life, and of this life, Joh 6:68; and that because they are a means of quickening dead sinners, they are a savour of life unto life, Co2 2:16, and the Spirit that giveth life, and of enlivening and comforting living saints; they treat of Christ who is the life; by the Gospel, life and immortality are brought to light; that gives an account of everlasting life; points out Christ as the way to it, shows that meetness for it lies in regenerating grace, and a right unto it is in the righteousness of Christ. Now this Word of life is held forth, partly by the preaching of it to a dark world, as by some; and partly by professing it publicly, as it should be by all who are enlightened with it; and also by living lives and conversations becoming and suitable to it,

That I may rejoice in the day of Christ. The apostle having observed the advantages that would accrue to themselves, and the benefit they might be of to the men of the world, by regarding the several exhortations he had given them, and which ends he mentions as reasons and arguments to enforce them, closes with taking notice of the use and service it would be to himself; it would give him joy and pleasure when Christ should come a second time to judge the world; and when dead in Christ would be raised, and set at his right hand, and these among the rest, to whom the apostle had been useful; and who continued to bear an honourable testimony in the world to Christ, and his Gospel, to the end:

that I have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain; being blessed with such converts under his ministry, as were a credit to religion, an honour to the Gospel, and a crown of rejoicing to him. He expresses his ministerial function, and the discharge of it, by running in a race, as the ministry of a person is sometimes called his course, Act 13:25; in allusion to the Olympic games, which the apostle often refers to, when the conqueror obtained a crown; and it was enough for our apostle, and a crown of rejoicing to him, that his spiritual children walked in the truth, and as became it, to the end: and also by labour, and hard service, as the ministerial work is, when faithfully performed; and especially as his was, which was attended with so many difficulties, and yet with such constancy, diligence, and indefatigableness, all which was not in vain; and he could look back upon it with pleasure, when his followers stood fast in the faith, and adorned the doctrine of Christ.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Php_2:16

Holding forth the word of life--Here is

I.

A trust. The Word of God--which gives life.

II. A duty. To hold it forth in the conversation, spirit, practice.

III. A motive. Your salvation and our joy--in the day of Christ. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The word of life

The gospel is here thus called (Joh_6:68; Act_5:20), because--

I. By it we are born into a new life (1Pe_1:23).

II. It is the power of God unto salvation (2Co_2:16).

III. Therein Christ, who is our life, is offered to us.

IV. It is a lantern to our feet to lead us to eternal life. (H. Airay, D. D.)

The Bible

I. Is the word of life; it reveals, promises, communicates life.

II. Must be held forth by every believer, by word and example, for his own credit, the worlds benefit, Gods glory. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Holding forth the word of life

I. The character of the gospel. It is the word of life, because--

1. It unfolds the certainty of a blessed immortality. Reason has nothing to report except speculations and probabilities; as witness the conclusions of Socrates and Cicero. The gospel brings life and immortality to light.

2. It exhibits Christ who is essential life Himself, the Author of life natural, spiritual, and eternal. Hence He is called The Life; and He that hath the Son hath life, implying previous death in trespasses and sins. By faith the believer passes from death unto life.

3. It is the instrument of the Spirit in communicating life. Of His own will begat He us, etc., born not of corruptible seed, etc. It is also the means of sustaining life and maturing it.

II. The manner of its exhibition. Holding it forth. What the lighthouse is to the mariner the gospel is to a dark world.

1. Ministers are bound to hold it forth to their congregations as the only sure ground of hope, and adequate means of salvation. Can they with this in their hands amuse them with other topics, or inculcate a lifeless morality?

2. Christians are individually and collectively to hold it forth in their lives for the instruction of mankind. Men are unable to judge of any system save by its practical effects, and few will fail to appreciate a holy life.

3. Our country is bound to hold it forth to heathen nations. (D. Ruell.)

Holding forth the word of life

I. Be sure that you have the truth. You cannot hold forth what you do not possess. Business to be honest must have actual stock or capital. Our commercial and agricultural circles have been and are now disturbed by gambling in deals and futures. Thousands of barrels of oil that never existed, and millions of bushels of grain that never were harvested, have been made the basis of mere speculation. Mortgage and ruin have overtaken multitudes in this illegitimate traffic. There is a godless spiritualism, a Christless Unitarianism, and a Scriptureless new theology, which, however curious they may be, have no breath or life in them for a hungry soul. You might as well send a starving man to a bucket shop for bread as to satisfy your soul with such speculations. The wife of Abraham made cakes for the angels. There have been improvements in bread making since Sarahs day, but nobody yet has been able to make bread without flour. You must have the grain to begin with, and so you must have the truth, the bread of life, before you attempt to feed the famine of the soul.

II. Be sure that you have it unadulterated. Commissions have discovered food adulterations. Innutritious if not poisonous matter has been mixed with wholesome flour, cheapening and degrading it. So the truth has been vitiated by a mixture of philosophy, tradition, etc. It fails to nourish starving souls. The best test of purity is its effect on your own life. Daniel tested the wholsomeness of his coarse pulse, and showed a fairer hue than those who fed on royal dainties.

III. Be sure that you yourselves are living epistles of what you intellectually hold. It is not the printed book that does the work, but the truth which has become the vital texture of your soul. We have a revised version of the Bible for which we are thankful, but every Christian should be a new transcript, a walking word of God. A military man sees at a glance whether a soldier has been trained under old or new schools. Men are not slow to detect whether or not you have been trained by Christ.

IV. How to hold the truth.

1. Not as the miser holds his gold, but hold to give. The merchant gets to give. He is ruined if he cannot sell, and his goods are left to spoil. We ought to be as anxious to disperse as to acquire.

2. Lovingly. Tact is needed in business. Anybody can buy, but to sell is another thing. I once asked a salesman why he was so talkative to one customer and so taciturn to another, and he said that he had always studied character, and knew very quickly how to handle men.

3. Constantly. Notice the present participle in the text, and the continuous action implied. You cannot cover up the Christian character and live. It must have breath. In descending into deep wells, men first lower a candle. If it goes out, they know that death damps are there. No sane person would risk asphyxia. There are places in which no Christian ought to risk himself, because death is there. He will not go to drinking saloons, and other places I need not mention. It is not the darkness there that harms, any more than in the deep well, but it is the death damps!

4. Have confidence in the Word as Gods own message. It is His Word. He will give it success. He ordered the serpent of brass. It mattered not about the pole, whether it were rough or smooth, crooked or straight, large or small, low or high, so that the people could see it. All men had to do was just to look and live. A man once kept on his parlour mantel an ugly oyster shell. When asked why that incongruous thing was there, he told the story of his earlier years. He was a diver. Once he saw a shell in which was held a bit of paper. He took it to the surface, carried it home, deciphered it, and found it a part of a gospel tract. It was blessed to his salvation. The shell was reverently preserved, because it had silently held forth the word of life to him who had long neglected the appeals from human lips. (A. Blackburn, D. D.)

Holding forth the word of life

I. It is your business to hold forth the word of life. Your work on earth is not done when you have saved yourself from an untoward generation. You have to hold your lamps as far in as you can into the dark mass around. God does not call you to a timid, fugitive, skulking piety; a religion which has to lock its doors and bar its windows. There is a part of it which has to do with this. Our lamp must be kindled, trimmed, and fed, in secret. But the office of the lamp is to shine.

II. By what means?

1. By example. Let men see how you live. No one can set limits to the operation of a consistent example. Men are never too old or too young to be struck by it.

2. By sympathy. There is a dry, cold, harsh, stern, mode of expressing the truth; and there is a repulsive, ungenial, precise, stiff, sort of example which never leads men, seeing its good works, to glorify God. Let a man, a child, see that you feel for him and with him in his poverty or sorrow, and not as a superior might do, but as one compared with infirmity.

III. Practical counsels. Much is lest in spiritual as well as in worldly things, by too vague and discursive an aim. As long as we think generally of shining as lights in the world there will be something of unreality in the conception. Let us make the matter more practical by narrowing the bounds.

1. Begin with the home. Is all right there? Remember that those within your own doors see you as none else can.

2. Let each one have a few poor persons to whom he will steadily set himself to carry the word of life. (Dean Vaughan.)

Christian influence

I. What is meant by holding forth the word of life. As a standard bearer holds out an ensign to direct the march or animate the attack; as a man who holds forth a clear light in the midst of darkness to illuminate the path and direct the steps of travellers; as the fires which were kept burning at the entrance of harbours to direct ships into port, so are Christians to hold forth the light of life. It is to be held forth in--

1. Its great and distinguishing doctrines. These are the nerves and sinews of the Word. They must be understood intelligently, and defended valiantly. Be always ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you.

2. In its peculiar spirit. This distinguishes the gospel from every other religious system. It is a spirit of love to God and man (verse 5).

3. In its practice. The imitation of Christ, obedience, self-denial.

4. Eminently, conspicuously.

II. Motives to enforce this duty.

1. The nature and design of the gospel demand this.

2. This is the best means of high Christian attainment.

3. This is the most effective means of usefulness. (J. Hanes, D. D.)

Holding forth the light

When I was a young student, I breakfasted with Caesar Malan at Dr. John Browns. When the doctor told him that I was a young student of divinity, he said to me, Well, my young friend, see that you hold up the lamp of truth to let the people see. Hold it up and trim it well. But remember this: You must not dash the lamp in peoples faces, that would not help them to see. How often have I remembered these words! They have often been of use to me. (Dr. Morison.)

Christians are light holders

At the head of New York Harbour stands a colossal statue of Liberty, a gift from France to America. At night the outstretched hand of the figure holds forth a magnificent display of the electric light, which guides the ships to a safe anchorage. What that statue is to New York Harbour Christians are to the world. They must hold forth the word of life. (R. Brewin.)

Exposure of light bearers

Some years ago I went to see the lighthouse, which, standing on Dunnet Head--the Cape Orcus of the Romans--guards the mouth of Pentland Firth. On ascending the tower, I observed the thick plate glass windows of the lanthorn cracked--starred in a number of places. I turned to the keeper for an explanation. It appears that it is done by stones flung up by the sea. The wave, on being thrown forward against the cliff, strikes it with such tremendous force as to hurl the loose stones at its base right up to the height of three hundred feet. So are the great light bearers, by the exposure of their position, and, in spite of the elevation of their characters, liable to be cracked and starred by the violence of the world. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The prosperity of the pastor, the prosperity of his flock

As in the world a fine and fruitful flock is the riches of the shepherd, an honest and well conducted family the joy and honour of the father, a happy and flourishing state the strength and glory of the prince; so also in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, a holy and blessed Church, abounding in the fruits of righteousness, is the crown, the joy, and the triumph of its pastors. (J. Daille)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Philippians

A WILLING SACRIFICE

Php 2:16-18 {R.V.}.

We come here to another of the passages in which the Apostle pours out all his heart to his beloved Church. Perhaps there never was a Christian teacher {always excepting Christ} who spoke more about himself than Paul. His own experience was always at hand for illustration. His preaching was but the generalisation of his life. He had felt it all first, before he threw it into the form of doctrine. It is very hard to keep such a style from becoming egotism.

This paragraph is remarkable, especially if we consider that this is introduced as a motive to their faithfulness, that thereby they will contribute to his joy at the last great testing. There must have been a very deep love between Paul and the Philippians to make such words as these true and appropriate. They open the very depths of his heart in a way from which a less noble and fervid nature would have shrunk, and express his absolute consecration in his work, and his eager desire for their spiritual good, with such force as would have been exaggeration in most men.

We have here a wonderful picture of the relation between him and the church at Philippi which may well stand as a pattern for us all. I do not mean to parallel our relations with that between him and them, but it is sufficiently analogous to make these words very weighty and solemn for us.

I. The Philippians’ faithfulness Paul’s glory in the day of Christ.

The Apostle strikes a solemn note, which was always sounding through his life, when he points to that great Day of Christ as the time when his work was to be tested. The thought of that gave earnestness to all his service, and in conjunction with the joyful thought that, however his work might be marred by failures and flaws, he himself was ‘accepted in the beloved,’ was the impulse which carried him on through a life than which none of Christ’s servants have dared, and done, and suffered more for Him. Paul believed that, according to the results of that test, his position would in some sort be determined. Of course he does not here contradict the foundation principle of his whole Gospel, that salvation is not the result of our own works, or virtues, but is the free unmerited gift of Christ’s grace. But while that is true, it is none the less true, that the degree in which believers receive that gift depends on their Christian character, both in their life on earth and in the day of Christ. One element in that character is faithful work for Jesus. Faithful work indeed is not necessarily successful work, and many who are welcomed by Jesus, the judge, will have the memory of many disappointments and few harvested grains. It was not a reaper, ‘bringing his sheaves with him,’ who stayed himself against the experience of failure, by the assurance, ‘Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord.’ If our want of success, and others’ lapse, and apostasy or coldness has not been occasioned by any fault of ours, there will be no diminution of our reward. But we can so seldom be sure of that, and even then there will be an absence of what might have added to gladness.

We need not do more than note that the text plainly implies, that at that testing time men’s knowledge of all that they did, and the results of it, will be complete. Marvellous as it seems to us, with our fragmentary memories, and the great tracts of our lives through which we have passed mechanically, and which seem to have left no trace on the mirror of our consciousness, we still, all of us, have experiences which make that all-recovering memory credible. Some passing association, a look, a touch, an odour, a sun-set sky, a chord of music will bring before us some trivial long-forgotten incident or emotion, as the chance thrust of a boat-hook will draw to the surface by its hair, a long-drowned corpse. If we are, as assuredly we are, writing with invisible ink our whole life’s history on the pages of our own minds, and if we shall have to read them all over again one day, is it not tragic that most of us scribble the pages so hastily and carelessly, and forget that, ‘what I have written I have written,’ and what I have written I must read.

But there is another way of looking at Paul’s words as being an indication of his warm love for the Philippians. Even among the glories, he would feel his heart filled with new gladness when he found them there. The hunger for the good of others which cannot bear to think even of heaven without their presence has been a master note of all true Christian teachers, and without it there will be little of the toil, of which Paul speaks in the context, ‘running and labouring.’ He that would win men’s hearts for any great cause must give his heart to them.

That Paul should have felt warranted in using such a motive with the Philippians tells how surely he reckoned on their true and deep love. He believes that they care enough for him to feel the power as a motive with them, that their faithfulness will make Paul more blessed amidst the blessings of heaven. Oh! if such love knit together all Christian teachers and their hearers in this time, and if the ‘Day of Christ’ burned before them, as it did before him, and if the vision stirred to such running and labouring as his, teachers and taught would oftener have to say, ‘We are your rejoicing, even as ye are also ours in the Day of our Lord Jesus.’ The voice of the man who is in the true ‘Apostolic Succession’ will dare to make the appeal, knowing that it will call forth an abundant answer, ‘Look to yourselves that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.’

II. Paul’s death an aid to the Philippians’ faith.

The general meaning of the Apostle’s words is, ‘If I have not only to run and labour, but to die in the discharge of my Apostolic Mission, I joy and rejoice, and I bid you rejoice with me.’ We need only note that the Apostle here casts his language into the forms consecrated for sacrifice. He will not speak of death by its own ugly and threadbare name, but thinks of himself as a devoted victim, and of his death as making the sacrifice complete. In the figure there is a solemn scorn of death, and at the same time a joyful recognition that it is the means of bringing him more nearly to God, with whom he would fain be. It is interesting, as showing the persistence of these thoughts in the Apostle’s mind, that the word rendered in our text ‘offered,’ which fully means ‘poured out as a drink offering,’ occurs again in the same connection in the great words of the swan song in II. Timothy, ‘I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come.’ Death looked to him, when he looked it in the eyes, and the block was close by him, as it had done when he spoke of it to his Philippian friends.

It is to be noted, in order to bring out more vividly the force of the figure, that Paul here speaks of the libation being poured ‘ on ‘ the sacrifice, as was the practice in heathen ritual. The sacrifice is the victim, ‘service’ is the technical word for priestly ministration, and the general meaning is, ‘If my blood is poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice ministered by you, which is your faith, I joy with you all.’ This man had no fear of death, and no shrinking from ‘leaving the warm precincts of the cheerful day.’ He was equally ready to live or to die as might best serve the name of Jesus, for to him ‘to live was Christ,’ and therefore to him it could be nothing but ‘gain’ to die. Here he seems to be treating his death as a possibility, but as a possibility only, for almost immediately afterwards he says, that he ‘trusts in the Lord that I myself will come shortly.’ It is interesting to notice the contrast between his mood of mind here and that in the previous chapter {i. 25} where the ‘desire to depart and to be with Christ’ is deliberately suppressed, because his continuous life is regarded as essential for the Philippians’ ‘progress and joy in faith.’ Here he discerns that perhaps his death would do more for their faith than would his life, and being ready for either alternative he welcomes the possibility. May we not see in the calm heart, which is at leisure to think of death in such a fashion, a pattern for us all? Remember how near and real his danger was. Nero was not in the habit of letting a man, whose head had been in the mouth of the lion, take it out unhurt. Paul is no eloquent writer or poet playing with the idea of death, and trying to say pretty things about it, but a man who did not know when the blow would come, but did know that it would come before long.

We may point here to the two great thoughts in Paul’s words, and notice the priesthood and sacrifice of life, and the sacrifice and libation of death. The Philippians offered as their sacrifice their faith, and all the works which flow therefrom. Is that our idea of life? Is it our idea of faith? We have no gifts to bring, we come empty-handed unless we carry in our hands the offering of our faith, which includes the surrender of our will, and the giving away of our hearts, and is essentially laying hold of Christ’s sacrifice. When we come empty, needy, sinful, but cleaving wholly to that perfect sacrifice of the Great Priest, we too become priests and our poor gift is accepted.

But another possibility than that of a life of running and labour presented itself to Paul, and it is a revelation of the tranquillity of his heart in the midst of impending danger, all the more pathetic because it is entirely unconscious, that he should be free to cast his anticipations into that calm metaphor of being, ‘offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith.’ His heart beats no faster, nor does the faintest shadow of reluctance cross his will, when he thinks of his death. All the repulsive accompaniments of a Roman execution fade away from his imagination. These are but negligible accidents; the substantial reality which obscures them all is that his blood will be poured out as a libation, and that by it his brethren’s faith will be strengthened. To this man death had finally and completely ceased to be a terror, and had become what it should be to all Christians, a voluntary surrender to God, an offering to Him, an act of worship, of trust, and of thankful praise. Seneca, in his death, poured out a libation to Jupiter the Liberator, and if we could only know beforehand what death delivers us from, and admits us to, we should not be so prone to call it ‘the last enemy.’ What Paul’s death was for himself in the process of his perfecting called forth, and warranted, the ‘joy’ with which he anticipated it. It did no more for him than it will do for each of us, and if our vision were as clear, and our faith as firm as his, we should be more ready than, alas! we too often are, to catch up the exulting note with which he hails the possibility of its coming.

But it is not the personal bearing only of his death that gives him joy. He thinks of it mainly as contributing to the furtherance of the faith of others. For that end he was spending the effort and toil of an effortful and toilsome life, and was equally ready to meet a violent and shameful death. He knew that ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,’ and rejoiced, and called upon his brethren also to ‘joy and rejoice’ with him in his shedding of his martyr’s blood.

The Philippians might well have thought, as we all are tempted to think, that the withdrawal of those round whom our hearts desperately cling, and who seem to us to bring love and trust nearer to us, can only be loss, but surely the example in our text may well speak to our hearts of the way in which we should look at death for ourselves, and for our dearest. Their very withdrawal may send us nearer to Christ. The holy memories which linger in the sky, like the radiance of a sunken sun, may clothe familiar truths with unfamiliar power and loveliness. The thought of where the departed have gone may lift our thoughts wistfully thither with a new feeling of home. The path that they have trodden may become less strange to us, and the victory that they have won may prophesy that we too shall be ‘more than conquerors through Him that loveth us.’ So the mirror broken may turn us to the sun, and the passing of the dearest that can die may draw us to the Dearer who lives.

Paul, living, rejoiced in the prospect of death. We may be sure that he rejoiced in it no less dead than living. And we may permissibly think of this text as suggesting how

‘The saints on earth and all the dead But one communion make,’

and are to be united in one joy. They rejoice for their own sakes, but their joy is not self-absorbed, and so putting them farther away from us. They look back upon earth, the runnings and labourings of the unforgotten life here; and are glad to bear in their hearts the indubitable token that they have ‘not run in vain neither laboured in vain.’ But surely the depth of their own repose will not make them indifferent to those who are still in the midst of struggle and toil, nor the fulness of their own felicity make them forget those whom they loved of old, and love now with the perfect love of Heaven. It is hard for us to rise to complete sympathy with these serenely blessed spirits, but yet we too should rejoice. Not indeed to the exclusion of sorrow, nor to the neglect of the great purpose to be effected in us by the withdrawal, as by the presence of dear ones, the furtherance of our faith, but having made sure that that purpose has been effected in us, we should then give solemn thanksgivings if it has. It is sad and strange to think of how opposite are the feelings about their departure, of those who have gone and of those who are left. Would it not be better that we should try to share theirs and so bring about a true union? We may be sure that their deepest desire is that we should. If some lips that we shall never hear any more, till we come where they are, could speak, would not they bring to us as their message from Heaven, Do ‘ye also joy and rejoice with me’?

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:16 Hold firmly to the word of life: Believers must maintain their faith in Christ’s life-giving Good News. God is faithful, but they, too, must remain faithful (1:6; 2:12-13). • run the race: Paul frequently uses athletic language as a metaphor for the Christian life (see 3:12-14; 1 Cor 9:24, 26; Gal 2:2; 5:7; 2 Tim 4:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Php 2:16. Λόγον ζωῆς, the word of life) which I have preached to you. There is frequent mention of life in this epistle, ch. Php 4:3.—ἐπέχοντες) holding fast, upholding,[22] lest you should give way to the world.—εἰς καύχημα, for a source of glorying to me) Construe with holding fast.—εἰς ἡμέραν, in [against] the day) The Philippians thought the day of Christ so near, that the life of Paul might be lengthened out even till that day. Paul did not consider it necessary to confute this.—οὐκ εἰς κενὸν, not in vain) with your fruit.

[22] But Engl. V. Holding forth, referring to the metaphor in φωστῆρες, lighthouses, which hold forth a beacon-light to warn the unwary.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php_2:16. Λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντες] a definition giving the reason for φαίνεσθε ὡς φωστ. ἑν κ.: since ye possess the word of life. This is the Gospel, ἐπειδὴ τὴν αἰώνιον προξενεῖ ζωήν, Theodoret. See Rom_1:16; comp. Joh_6:68; Act_5:20; it is the divinely efficacious vehicle of the πνεῦμα τῆς ζωῆς which frees from sin and death (see on Rom_8:2), and therefore not merely the word concerning life (Weiss). Christ Himself is the essential λόγος τῆς ζωῆς (1Jn_1:1), His servants are ὀσμὴ ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν (2Co_2:16), therefore the word preached by them must be λόγος ζωῆς in the sense indicated. Paul does not elsewhere use the expression. As to ζωή without the article, of eternal life in the Messiahs kingdom (Php_4:3), see Kaeuffer, de ζωῆς αἰ. not. p. 73 f. As possessors of this word, the Christians appear like φωστῆρες in a world otherwise dark; without this possession they would not so present themselves, but would be homogeneous with the perverted generation, since the essence of the gospel is light (Eph_5:8; Col_1:12; 1Th_5:5; 1Pe_2:9; Luk_16:8; Act_26:18, al.), just as Christ Himself is the principal light (Joh_1:4-5; Joh_3:19; Joh_8:12; Joh_12:35, al); but the element of the unbelieving γενεά, whose image is the κόσμος in itself devoid of light, is darkness (2Co_4:6; 2Co_6:14; Eph_5:8; Eph_6:12; Col_1:13; Joh_1:5; Joh_3:19). Ἐπέχειν, to possess,[130] to have in possession, at disposal, and the like; see Herod. i. 104, viii. 35; Xen. Symp. viii. 1; Thuc. i. 48. 2, 2:101. 3; Anth. Pal. vii. 297. 4; Polyb. iii. 37. 6, 112. 8, v. 5, 6; Lucian, Necyom. 14. Not: holding fast (Luther, Estius, Bengel, and others, including Heinrichs, Hoelemann, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Ewald, Schneckenburger); nor yet: sustinentes (Calvin), so that the conception is of a light fixed on a candlestick. Others understand it similarly: holding forth (Beza, Grotius, and others, including Rheinwald, Matthies, Wiesinger, Lightfoot), namely, that those, who have a longing for life, may let it be the light which shall guide them to life, as Hofmann explains more particularly; comp. van Hengel. This would be linguistically correct (Hom. Il. ix. 489, xxii. 43; Plut. Mor. p. 265 A; Pind. Ol. ii. 98; Poll. iii. 10), but not in harmony with the image, according to which the subjects themselves appear as shining, as self-shining. Linguistically incorrect is Theodorets view: τῷ λόγῳ προσέχοντες (attendentes), which would require the dative of the object (Act_3:5; 1Ti_4:16; Sir_31:2; 2Ma_9:25; Job_30:26; Polyb. iii. 43. 2, xviii. 28. 11). Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact take ἐπέχ. correctly, but understand λόγον ζωῆς as equivalent to σπέρμα ζ. or ἐνέχυρα ζ., and indicate, as the purpose of the words: ὅρα, πῶς εὐθέως τίθησι τὰ ἔπαθλα (Chrysostom). This view is without sanction from the usus loquendi. Linguistically it would in itself be admissible (see the examples in Wetstein), but at variance with the N. T. mode of expression and conception, to explain with Michaelis, Storr, Zachariae, and Flatt: supplying the place of life (in the world otherwise dead), so that λόγον ἐπέχειν would mean: to hold the relation. Comp. Syr.

εἰς καύχημα κ.τ.λ.] the result which the γίνεσθαι ἀμέμπτους κ.τ.λ. on the part of the readers was to have for the apostle; it was to become for him (and what an incitement this must have been to the Philippians!) a matter of glorying (Php_1:26) for the day of Christ (see on Php_1:10), when he should have reason to glory, that he, namely (ὅτι), had not laboured in vain, of which the excellent quality of his Philippian converts would afford practical evidence, ὅτι τοιοῦτους ὑμᾶς ἐταίδευσα, Theophylact. Comp. 1Th_2:19 f.; 2Co_1:14. Thus they were to be to him on that day a στέφανος καυχήσεως (1 Thess. l.c.). Paul cannot mean a present καυχᾶσθαι in prospect of the day of Christ (Hofmann), for εἰς καύχημα κ.τ.λ. cannot be the result accruing for him from the ἐν οἷς φαίνεσθε κ.τ.λ. (since by it the position of the Christians generally is expressed), but only the result from the ethical development indicated by ἵνα γένησθε ἄμεμπτοι κ.τ.λ. Hence also ὅτι cannot be a statement of the reason (Hofmann); it is explicative: that.

The twofold[131] yet climactic, figurative description of his apostolical exertions (on ἜΔΡΑΜ., comp. Gal_2:2; Act_20:24; on ἘΚΟΠΊΑΣΑ, comp. 1Co_15:10; Gal_4:11), as well as the repetition of εἰς κενόν (see on Gal_2:2; 2Co_6:1; Polyc. Phil. 9), is in keeping with the emotion of joy, of triumph.

[130] Hofmann erroneously pronounces against this, representing that ἐπέχειν could only be thus used in the sense of having under ones control. Compare, in opposition to this, especially such passages as Thuc. iii. 107. 4, where the word is quite synonymous with the parallel simple ἔχειν; also Anth. Pal. vii. 276. 6.

[131] Comp. Anthol. Pal. xi. 56. 2 : μὴ τρέχε, μὴ κοπία.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Phi 2:16 . λ . ζωῆς . For the connexion between this expression and φωστῆρες see Joh 1:4 , ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων . When Paul speaks of “life” as belonging to the Christian he means not merely the new power of holy living imparted to him, but the real presence of a truly Divine life which, although largely concealed for the present by the fleshly nature, is the pledge and actual beginning of life eternal. This is, in the Apostle’s view, the supreme goal of the Christian calling. The Christian gospel, therefore, is a λόγος ζωῆς . ἐπέχοντες . Its common meaning (as in Homer, etc.) is “holding forth”. But the Apostle is not thinking of the influence exercised by his readers upon others. It is their own steadfastness in the faith that is before his mind in this passage. That tells against the interpretation of Field ( Otium Norvicense , iii., pp. 118 119, following Pesh. with Michaelis, Wetstein, etc.), who translates, “being in the stead of life” (to it, sc. , the world), “holding the analogy of life”. No doubt there are good exx. of the phrase in later Greek, but we are safe in saying that the ordinary N.T. reader would not understand λόγ . ζ . in this sense. Chr and Thphl. take it as = “having in them” (a strengthened ἔχειν ). Theodore of Mopsuestia has “holding fast,” which is also the gloss of Hesychius on the word ( κρατοῦντες ). There is practically no difference between the two last explanations. Either suits the context well. It was quite customary in late Greek to use intensified forms like ἐπέχειν as stronger equivalents for the simpler words. εἰς καύχ . “For a ground of boasting.” Cf. Zep 3:20 , δώσω ὑμᾶς ὀνομαστοὺς καὶ εἰς καύχημα . ἡμέρα Χ . A combination only found in this Epistle. As the Apostle advanced in years the final result of his labours would have increasing prominence in his thoughts. ὅτι . Does this introduce the ground of his boasting, or is it used in an “anticipative” sense = because? The latter seems necessary, as the reason of his boasting has already been given, their blamelessness and steadfastness. ἔδραμον … ἐκοπίασα . These aorists look back from the day of Christ over the whole course of Paul’s life and work. It is now finished, and it has not failed. We must translate by English perfects, “I have not run,” etc. Lft [1] . thinks that ἐκοπ . is a metaphor from “training” in athletic contests. See his important note on Ignat. ad Polyc. , vi., συγκοπιᾶτε ἀλλήλοις , συναθλεῖτε , συντρέχετε . But its occurrence in Isa 49:4 ( κενῶς ἐκοπίασα , εἰς μάταιον καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν ἔδωκα τὴν ἰσχύν μου ) shows that it may be taken without any metaphorical significance.

[1] Lightfoot.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. λόγον ζωῆς. The Gospel, as the revelation and offer of eternal life in Christ. So the Saviour’s teachings are ῥήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου, Joh 6:68, and the message of His grace is λόγος ζωῆς, 1Jn 1:1 (see Westcott in loco against a reference there to the Personal Logos). The essence of the λόγος is (1Jn 5:11), ὅτι ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεός· καὶ αὔτη ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ ἐστίν.

ἐπέχοντες. “Holding forth” for notice and acceptance. So Homer, Od. XVI. 443:

κρέας ὀπτὸν

ἐν χείρεσσιν ἔθηκεν, ἐπέσχε τε οἶνον ἐρυθρόν

He drops the metaphor of the luminary, and thinks of the banquet and its provision. Ἐπέχειν occurs in some other N.T. passages, but in the sense of giving attention, or (Act 19:22) of lingering.—On the phrase λόγον ἐπέχειν see Appendix I.

εἰς καύχημα ἐμοὶ. Ἐμοὶ is slightly emphatic; he thankfully claims his part in their work and its fruits, as he had brought the light to them.—For the thought of such καύχημα cp. 1Th 2:19, τίς ἡμῶν … στέφανος καυχήσεως; ἤ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν … ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ; There as here he looks forward to a personal recognition of his converts at the Lord’s Coming, and to a special joy over them.

εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ. “Unto the day,” in view of it. He anticipates the “exultation” to be actually felt ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Χριστοῦ.

εἰς κενὸν. A phrase exclusively Pauline in N.T. See 2Co 6:1, μὴ εἰς κενὸν τὴν χάριν … δέξασθαι; Gal 2:2, μήπως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω, 1Th 3:5, εἰς κενὸν … κόπος.

ἔδραμον … ἐκοπίασα. “Did run,” “did toil.” He anticipates his retrospect from “the day of Christ,” and sees the present race and present toil summed up into recollections. For such an aorist cp. 1Co 13:12, τότε ἐπιγνώσομαι καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην.

On the metaphor of ἔδραμον, a favourite one with St Paul, giving the thought of both the energy and the goal of life, cp. e.g. Act 20:24, τελειῶσαι τὸν δρόμον μου: Gal 2:2, μή πως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἤ ἔδραμον: 2Ti 4:7, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα: and see 1Co 9:24; 1Co 9:26; Rom 9:16; Heb 12:1.

Lightfoot thinks that in ἐκοπίασα we have a probable allusion to the training of the athletic runner; he finds μὴ τρέχε, μὴ κοπία, in a connexion suggestive of this (Anthol. III. p. 166). He quotes (as a possible echo of St Paul here) Ignatius (ad Polyc c. 6) συντρέχετε, συγκοπιᾶτε. On St Paul’s athletic metaphors see Appendix L.

L. ST PAUL’S USE OF ATHLETIC METAPHORS[20]. (CH. Php 2:16, Php 3:14)

[20] Contributed almost entirely by the kindness of Dr J. Armitage Robinson.

IN his constant illustration of the Christian life by the requirements and rewards of the Greek athletic contests, St Paul at once displays his own Hellenic sympathies and appeals to the noblest enthusiasm of the national life of his Greek converts. The Olympian games were closely connected with all that was most precious in the contribution made by Greece to the providential education of the world. Once in every four years the perpetually quarrelling states of the Panhellenic union proclaimed a solemn armistice for a single summer month, and met on the sacred plain of Olympia in a brotherly contest, city against city as well as man against man, for the highest glory that life could offer. Nothing might take precedence of this supreme festival. Even the sending of forces to support the heroes of Thermopylæ[21] must wait till the sacred month was over. Round this centre of Greek life religion, literature and art ranged themselves spontaneously in their most splendid forms. Historians read their histories to the assembled multitudes; poets proclaimed the glories of the successful champions, and sculptors perpetuated their noble forms. Time for the next four years was marked by the name of the victor in the foot-race, who though he carried off but a crown of wild olive returned to his city to receive substantial honours for the remainder of his days.

[21] Herod. VII. 206. The advance force under Leonidas was to be supported πανδημεί by the Spartans after the Carneia, the Spartan festival which coincided with the Olympia; and the other States were purposing the like action: but ἦν κατὰ τὠυτὸ Ὀλυμπιὰς τούτοισι τοῖσι πρήγμασι συμπεσοῦσα.

Something may be usefully noted here as to the training, the testing of candidates, and the actual contest. The training extended over ten months. A strict diet was enforced (ἀναγκοφαγία). The length and severity of this preparatory discipline led to a professionalism which is sharply criticized by several Greek writers. Athletes as such became marked off from ordinary competitors. Euripides[22] denounces the uselessness of the mere athlete’s life, and Galen[23] (cent. 2) its brutalizing tendency. Extreme exertion, even flagellations, inordinate overfeeding, and as a consequence excessive sleep—these were the exaggerations which accompanied the athletics of a baser period. Yet a certain moral witness was given by the necessity of abstinence from unchaste lusts: and the discipline and self-control demanded by these labours were in striking contrast with the lightness and carelessness which characterized so much of the Greek citizen’s life.

[22] In a long fragment of his tragedy of Autolycus (in Athenæus X. p. 413: Dindorf, Poetæ Scenici, Fragmenta).

[23] In his περὶ Ἰατρικῆς κτλ., c. xlvi. (Galeni opp., v. 894, ed. Kühn), and often.

A month before the contest all the candidates were tested by the Hellanodicæ. Every competitor must be able to shew that he was a pure Greek, and that he had undergone the regular training. He must further declare his determination to abide by the customary rules, and take a solemn oath to this effect.

Of the contest itself two forms only need be noticed here. The Foot-race, in the Stadium, was the central event of the Festival; the Olympiad was marked by the name of the winner. The Herald proclaimed:

“Foot by foot

To the foot-line put.”

The starting-rope (ὕσπληξ), the race, the goal, the revel, the hymn—all these are familiar from the splendid verse of Pindar. And it is to this race that St Paul most frequently refers. But the severer contest of the Boxing-match, sometimes even fatal in its issue, also finds a place in his vocabulary of illustration. The Boxer’s hands and arms were furnished with the dangerous cestus of twisted leather loaded with metal[24]. In training the competitors would practise even upon “dummies,” or upon nothing, “striking the air”: but their crushed ears attested more serious and painful preparations[25].

[24] See e. g. Theocritus, Idyll. XXII. 80, and cp. Virg. Æn. v. 400.

[25] Theocr. XXII. 45, δεινὸς ἰδεῖν, σκληραῖσι τεθλασμένος οὔατα πυγμαῖς.

The following passages in St Paul present more or less distinctly athletic metaphors. The passing character of the allusion in some cases serves to shew how familiar, and how instinctive, was the illustration.—The words printed in thicker type recall, often with unmistakable intention, sometimes perhaps half unconsciously, the phraseology of the games.

1Th 2:1-4. αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε, ἀδελφοί, τὴν εἴσοδον ἡμῶν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὅτι οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν ἀλλὰ προπαθόντες καὶ ὑβρισθέντες … ἐν Φιλίπποις ἐπαρρησιασάμεθα … λαλῆσαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς … ἐν πολλῷ ἀγῶνι … καθὼς δεδοκιμάσμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ … οὕτω λαλοῦμεν … ὡς … ἀρέσκοντες … τῷ θεῷ τῷ δοκιμάζοντι τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν.

1Th 2:18-19. ἠθελήσαμεν ἐλθεῖν … ἀλλὰ ἐνέκοψεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς. τίς γὰρ ἡμῶν … στέφανος καυχήσεως; ἠ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς κτλ.;

2Th 3:1. ἵνα ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κυρίου τρέχῃ καὶ δοξάζηται.

Gal 2:2. μή πως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον.

Gal 5:7. ἐτρέχετε καλῶς· τίς ὑμᾶς ἐνέκοψεν;

Php 1:27; Php 1:30. συναθλοῦντες … τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα ἔχοντες.

Php 2:16. οὐκ εἰς κενὸν ἔδραμον οὐδὲ εἰς κενὸν ἐκοπίασα.

Php 3:12; Php 3:14. οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον … διώκω δέ, εἰ καὶ καταλάβω … τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος κατὰ σκοπὸν διώκω εἰς τὸ βραβεῖον κτλ.

Col 1:29; Col 2:1. εἰς ὃ καὶ κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος … θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ἡλίκον ἀγῶνα ἔχω κτλ.

Col 2:18. μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω.

Col 3:15. ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ Χριστοῦ βραβευέτω κτλ.

1Ti 4:7-10. γύμναζε σεαυτὸν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν· ἡ γὰρ σωματικὴ γυμνασία πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὠφέλιμος … εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ κοπιῶμεν καὶ ἀγωνιζόμεθα (ita leg.) κτλ.

1Ti 6:11-12. δίωκε δικαιοσύνην … ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα … ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς … ἐνώπιον πολλῶν μαρτύρων.

Cp. Heb 12:1. ἔχοντες περικείμενον ἡμῖν νέφος μαρτύρων, ὄγκον ἀποθέμενοι πάντα … διʼ ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα.

2Ti 2:5. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στεφανοῦται ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ.

2Ti 4:7-8. τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὀν δρόμον τετέλεκα … λοιπὸν ἀπόκειταί μοι ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης στέφανος.

Cp. Act 13:25. ὡς ἐπλήρου ὁ Ἰωάνης τὸν δρόμον. Act 20:24. τελειῶσαι τὸν δρόμον μου.

By far the most elaborate illustration is found in 1Co 9:24-27, where almost every word receives its signification from the Greek games.

Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον; οὕτω τρέχετε ἵνα καταλάβητε. πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος πάντα ἐγκρατεύεται· ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν ἵνα φθαρτὸν στέφανον λάβωσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄφθαρτον. ἐγὼ τοίνυν οὕτω τρέχω, ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως· οὕτω πυκτεύω, ὡς οὐκ ἀέρα δέρων· ἀλλʼ ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγῶ, μήπως ἄλλοις κηρύξας αὐτὸς ἀδόκιμος γένωμαι.

It is interesting to set beside this the splendid appeal on behalf of purity in Plato, Laws, Bk viii. p. 840. After recording instances of famous athletes and their temperance in the period of training, the Athenian stranger says:

“And yet, Cleinias, they were far worse educated in their minds than your and my fellow-citizens, and in their bodies far more lusty.

“Cleinias. No doubt this fact has been often affirmed positively by the ancients of these athletes.

“Ath. And shall they be willing to abstain from what is ordinarily deemed a pleasure for the sake of a victory in wrestling, running, and the like; and our young men be incapable of a similar endurance for the sake of a much nobler victory, which is the noblest of all, as from their youth upwards we will tell them?” (Jowett’s Plato, Vol. v., p. 409.)

I. “HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE.” (CH. Php 2:16)

THE late Dr F. Field (Otium Norvicense, pars tertia, p. 118) has an interesting note on λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντες. He points out that ἐπέχειν where we might expect προσέχειν is a usage unexampled, or at best supported by remote examples. And he adduces from later Greek authors examples (collected by Wetstein) of the phrase λόγον ἐπέχειν τινός in the sense of “correspond to,” “play the part of.” E.g. Diogenes Laertius, VII. 155, about a theory of the universe: μέση ἡ γῆ, κέντρου λόγον ἐπέχουσα, “doing duty as a centre”; St Basil, Hexaëmeron IX. (tom. i. p. 83 E), κακὸν δὲ πᾶν ἀρρωστία ψυχῆς, ἡ δὲ ἀρετὴ λόγον ὑγιείας ἐπέχει, “all evil is a sickness of the soul; virtue is as it were its health.” He compares the better-known phrases, τάξιν or τόπον ἐπέχειν τινός: e.g. Theodoret (tom. III. p. 489), ἡ εὐαγγελικὴ πολιτεία σώματος ἐπέχει τάξιν, ὁ δὲ νόμος σκιᾶς. And he quotes the Syriac Peshitto of this passage of Philippians, which is, “to whom ye are in place of life.” His own rendering of the passage would be, “In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, being (to it) in the stead of life.” “To the last clause a marginal note might be added: ‘Gr., holding the analogy of life.’ ”

The suggestion is important, and from a source which must always command attention. Yet the quotation from Homer, in the notes on ch. Php 2:16, still seems on review pertinent, and need not be called “remote,” coming from the great Poem. With some hesitation we recommend adherence to the more ordinary rendering.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Again he pricketh them forward, setting before them his true Apostolic care that he had of them, comforting them moreover, to the end they should not be sorry for the greatness of his afflictions, no not although he should die to make perfect their oblation with his blood, as it were with a drink offering.

The Gospel is called the word of life, because of the effects which it worketh.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Holding forth--to them, and so applying it (the common meaning of the Greek; perhaps here including also the other meaning, "holding fast"). The image of light-bearers or luminaries is carried on from Phi 2:15. As the heavenly luminaries' light is closely connected with the life of animals, so ye hold forth the light of Christ's "word" (received from me) which is the "life" of the Gentiles (Joh 1:4; Jo1 1:1, Jo1 1:5-7). Christ is "the Light of the world" (Joh 8:12); believers are only "light-bearers" reflecting His light.

that I may rejoice in--literally, "with a view to (your being) a subject of rejoicing to me against the day of Christ" (Phi 4:1; Co2 1:14; Th1 2:19).

that I have not run in vain--that it was not in vain that I labored for your spiritual good.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. Holding forth the word of life] An allusion, some think, to those towers which were built at the entrance of harbours, on which fires were kept during the night to direct ships into the port. Genuine Christians, by their holy lives and conversation, are the means of directing others, not only how to escape those dangers to which they are exposed on the tempestuous ocean of human life, but also of leading them into the haven of eternal safety and rest.

That I have not run in vain] This appears to be a part of the same metaphor; and alludes to the case of a weather-beaten mariner who has been long tossed on a tempestuous sea, in hazy weather and dark nights, who has been obliged to run on different tacks, and labour intensely to keep his ship from foundering, but is at last, by the assistance of the luminous fire on the top of the tower, directed safely into port. Live so to glorify God and do good to men, that it shall appear that I have not run and laboured in vain for your salvation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16 Holding forth the word of life The reason why they ought to be luminaries is, that they carry the word of life, by which they are enlightened, that they may give light also to others. Now he alludes to lamps, in which wicks are placed that they may burn, and he makes us resemble the lamps; while he compares the word of God to the wick, from which the light comes. If you prefer another figure — we are candlesticks: the doctrine of the gospel is the candle, which, being placed in us, diffuses light on all sides. Now he intimates, that we do injustice to the word of God, if it does not shine forth in us in respect of purity of life. This is the import of Christ’s saying,

“No man lighteth a candle, and putteth it under a bushel,” etc. (Matthew 5:15.)

We are said, however, to carry the word of life in such a way as to be, in the mean time, carried by it, inasmuch as we are founded upon it. The manner, however, of carrying it, of which Paul speaks, is, that God has intrusted his doctrine with us on condition, not that we should keep the light of it under restraint, as it were, and inactive, but that we should hold it forth to others. The sum is this: that all that are enlightened with heavenly doctrine carry about with them a light, which detects and discovers their crimes, if they do not walk in holiness and chastity; but that this light has been kindled up, not merely that they may themselves be guided in the right way, but that they may also shew it to others.

That I may have glory. That he may encourage them the more, he declares that it will turn out to his glory, if he has not labored among them in vain. Not as if those who labored faithfully, but unsuccessfully, lost their pains, and had no reward of their labor. As, however, success in our ministry is a singular blessing from God, let us not feel surprised, if God, among his other gifts, makes this the crowning one. Hence, as Paul’s Apostleship is now rendered illustrious by so many Churches, gained over to Christ through his instrumentality, so there can be no question that such trophies will have a place in Christ’s kingdom, as we will find him saying a little afterwards, You are my crown. (Philippians 4:1.) Nor can it be doubted, that the greater the exploits, the triumph will be the more splendid.

Should any one inquire how it is that Paul now glories in his labors, while he elsewhere forbids us to glory in any but in the Lord, (1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17,) the answer is easy — that, when we have prostrated ourselves, and all that we have before God, and have placed in Christ all our ground of glorying, it is, at the same time, allowable for us to glory through Christ in God’s benefits, as we have seen in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The expression, at the day of the Lord, is intended to stimulate the Philippians to perseverance, while the tribunal of Christ is set before their view, from which the reward of faith is to be expected.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(16) Holding forth the word of life.—This translation seems correct, and the reference is to the comparison above. There may, indeed, be (as has been supposed) a reference, involving a change of metaphor, to the holding forth of a torch, for guidance, or for transmission, as in the celebrated torch race of ancient times. But this supposed change of metaphor is unnecessary. The “luminaries” hold forth their light to men, and that light is the “word of life.” Note the same connection in Joh_1:4, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

The word of life.—The phrase “the word of life” is remarkable. Here it signifies, of course, the gospel of Christ. But the gradual progress of this expression should be noted. Of Him His disciples declared that He “has the words” (i.e., the expressed words; see Note on Eph_6:17) “of eternal life” (Joh_6:68); He Himself goes further, and declares that His words are themselves spirit and life (Joh_6:63); here the gospel, as giving that knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ which is “eternal life” (Joh_17:3), is a “word of life;” and all these lead up to the final declaration that He Himself is “the Word of life” (1Jn_1:1).

Run in vain, neither laboured in vain.—St. Paul’s usual metaphor includes the “race” and the “struggle” of wrestling or boxing (as in 1Co_9:24-26; 2Ti_4:7). In Gal_2:2 he speaks only of the “running in vain.” Here, perhaps, the more general word “labour” (united in Col_1:29 with the word “struggling”) may be taken to express at any rate that element of endurance and watchfulness which the struggle in the arena represents.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. Holding forth] as offering it for acceptance; presenting it to the notice, enquiry, and welcome, of others. The metaphor of the luminary is dropped.—It is intimated that the faithful Christian will not be content without making direct efforts, however humble and unobtrusive, to win attention to the distinctive message of his Lord.

the word of life] The Gospel, as the revelation of eternal life in Christ. Cp. Joh_6:68; 1Jn_1:1 (where the reference of the phrase is not to the personal Logos; see Westcott there); and see also, in illustration of the meaning of “word” here, 1Jn_5:11-12; and above, on Php_1:14.

that I may rejoice] Lit., “to (be a) rejoicing for me.” For the thought, cp. 1Th_2:19. He looks forward to a special recognition of his converts at Philippi, at the Lord’s Coming, and to a special “joy of harvest” over them.

in the day of Christ] Lit., “unto the day &c.”; in view of it, till I am in it. On the “day” see note on Php_1:6.

that I have not run] Better, that I did not run. He speaks as if already looking back on life as on one collected past.—“Run”:—a favourite metaphor with St Paul, to represent the energy and progress of life, moving towards its goal. Cp. Act_13:25; Act_20:24 (both Pauline passages); 1Co_9:24; 1Co_9:26; Gal_2:2 (a close parallel), Gal_5:7; 2Ti_4:7. See also Rom_9:16; 2Th_3:1; Heb_12:1.

laboured] Better, did labour; see last note. Cp. 1Th_3:5 for nearly the same words.

in vain] Lit., “to what is empty,” in vacuum. The phrase is peculiar to St Paul in N.T.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Ver. 16. Holding forth the word] επεχοντες, as an ensign, or rather as the hand doth the torch, or the watch tower the light, and so the haven to weather beaten mariners.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Holding forth the word of life - That is, you are under obligation to hold forth the word of life. It is a duty incumbent on you as Christians to do it. The “word of life” means the gospel, called the “word of life” because it is the message that promises life; or perhaps this is a Hebraism, denoting the living, or life-giving word. The gospel stands thus in contrast with all human systems of religion - for they have no efficacy to save - and to the law which “killeth;” see the Joh 6:63, note, and 2Co 3:6, note. The duty here enjoined is that of making the gospel known to others, and of thus keeping up the knowledge of it in the world. This duty rests on Christians (compare Mat 5:14, Mat 5:16), and they cannot escape from the obligation. They are bound to do this, not only because God commands it, but:

(1) Because they are called into the church that they may be witnesses for God, Isa 43:10.

(2) Because they are kept on the earth for that purpose. If it were not for some such design, they would be removed to heaven at once on their conversion.

(3) Because there are no others to do it. The frivolous ones will not warn the fools, nor will the proud warn the proud, nor the scoffer the scoffer. The thoughtless and the vain will not go and tell others that there is a God and a Saviour; nor will the wicked warn the wicked, and tell them that they are in the way to hell. There are none who will do this but Christians; and, if they neglect it, sinners will go unwarned and unalarmed down to death. This duty rests on every Christian.

The exhortation here is not made to the pastor, or to any officer of the church particularly; but to the mass of communicants. They are to shine as lights in the world; they are to hold forth the word of life. There is not one member of a church who is so obscure as to be exempt from the obligation; and there is not one who may not do something in this work. If we are asked how this may be done, we may reply:

(1) They are to do it by example. Everyone is to hold forth the living word in that way.

(2) By efforts to send the gospel to those who have it not. There is almost no one who cannot contribute something, though it may be but two mites, to accomplish this.

(3) By conversation. There is no Christian who has not some influence over the minds and hearts of others; and he is bound to use that influence in holding forth the word of life.

(4) By defending the divine origin of religion when attacked.

(5) By rebuking sin, and thus testifying to the value of holiness. The defense of the truth, under God, and the diffusion of a knowledge of the way of salvation, rests on those who are Christians. Paganism never originates a system which it would not be an advantage to the world to have destroyed as soon as it is conceived. Philosophy has never yet told of a way by which a sinner may be saved. The world at large devises no plan for the salvation of the soul. The most crude, ill-digested, and perverse systems of belief conceivable, prevail in the community called “the world.” Every form of opinion has an advocate there; every monstrous vagary that the human mind ever conceived, finds friends and defenders there. The human mind has of itself no elastic energy to bring it from the ways of sin; it has no recuperative power to lead it back to God. The world at large is dependant on the church for any just views of God, and of the way of salvation; and every Christian is to do his part in making that salvation known.

That I may rejoice - This was one reason which the apostle urged, and which it was proper to urge, why they should let their light shine. He had been the instrument of their conversion, he had founded their church, he was their spiritual father, and had shown the deepest interest in their welfare; and he now entreats them, as a means of promoting his highest joy, to be faithful and holy. The exemplary piety and holy lives of the members of a church will be one of the sources of highest joy to a minister in the day of judgment; compare 3Jo 1:4.

In the day of Christ - The day when Christ shall appear - the day of judgment. It is called the day of Christ, because he will be the glorious object which will be prominent on that day; it will be the day in which he will be honored as the judge of all the world.

That I have not run in vain - That is, that I have not lived in vain - life being compared with a race: see the notes at 1Co 9:26.

Neither laboured in vain - In preaching the gospel. Their holy lives would be the fullest proof that he was a faithful preacher.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To my glory, &c. That is, I beseech you to continue in faith, and comply with the word and doctrine of the gospel, that I may have glory, and rejoice together with you in the day of Christ, when he shall come to judgment. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Holding forth the word of life; carefully bearing before you, and stedfastly showing, not only by your profession, but conversation, the Lord Jesus Christ, 1Jo 1:1, whose gospel is the word of life, in that it is the power of God to salvation, Act 13:26; Rom 1:16. He doth not say, holding forth carnal institutions, nor human traditions; but that word, wherein is to be had eternal life, Joh 5:39; 6:68.

That I may rejoice in the day of Christ: he quickens them from the consideration of the glorious joy he should have in their salvation, at the day of Christ, {see Phi 1:6} when he and they should, of God’s free grace, receive an abundant reward, viz. of his ministry and exhortation, and of their embracing it, and working out their salvation by God’s special assistance.

That I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain; for it would be evident to his, as well as their, everlasting comfort, when he should see them, that his laborious ministry amongst them had not been frustrate, or fruitless in the Lord, Mat 25:21; 1Co 3:8,9; 15:58. Then, in a more glorious way they would be his joy and crown, than they were at present, Phi 4:1.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. The word of life—The gospel. Not only ministers, but private Christians, teaching its doctrines, pointing to its salvation, living in its purity, and illustrating its power in their conduct, are holding it forth, and diffusing its light.

Run in vain—The figure is of the race-course, where the contestant puts forth his best powers, and yet loses the prize.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Holding forth the word of life. Holding out to others. Meyer translates "possessing," and others, as Bengel, "holding fast. This clause should be taken with the first clause of Ver. 15, "That ye may be blameless," etc., he the words, "among whom," etc.. he being parenthetical. That I may rejoice in the day of Christ; literally, for matter of boasting to me against the day of Christ. He boasts or glories in their salvation. "The day of Christ," says Bishop Lightfoot, "is a phrase peculiar to this Epistle, more commonly it is "the day of the Lord. That I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain; translate, did not. The verbs me aorist. He looks back upon his finished course. (comp. Gal_2:2)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the day

(See Scofield "1Co 1:8").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. Holding forth the word of life. Always preaching Christ in word, in life, and in deed. That was their work. Unless they did this they were a failure. That I may rejoice. Unless they had done so he would be made to feel, in the day of Christ, the day of accounts, that his labor at Philippi was in vain.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

16. λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντες: ‘holding forth the word of life.’

λόγον ζωῆς: the gospel: a word which has life in itself, and which leads to life. The phrase not elsewhere in Paul. (Comp. Joh 6:68; Act 5:20; 1Jn 1:1.) By ζωὴ is not to be understood Christ himself, nor the eternal life, but the life which the Christian possesses through faith in Christ, and leads in fellowship with Christ (Rom 6:13, Rom 6:8:6, Rom 6:10). The genitive is the genitive of contents: not, ‘the word concerning life,’ but the word ‘which has in itself a principle as well as a message of life’; or, as Mey., “the divinely efficacious vehicle of the spirit of life.” (Comp. Joh 6:68.) Life and light appear in correlation in Joh 1:4; Eph 2:1; and especially since heathenism is regarded as a state alike of death and of darkness (Eph 2:1; Col 2:13). Ζωὴ is the correlative of salvation. With quickening from the death of sin the believer enters upon ‘newness of life’ (Rom 6:4, Rom 6:11). This life, as to its quality, is that which shall be lived with the exalted Christ. Now it is hidden with Christ, because the exalted Christ is still hidden (Col 3:3; comp. Col 1:5). But it will be manifested in glory when Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested (Col 3:4). Then will come the change into ‘the likeness of the body of his glory’ (Php 3:21), and “mortality” will be “swallowed up of life” (2Co 5:4).

ἐπέχοντες: ‘holding forth.’ In Paul only here and 1Ti 4:16. In LXX only in the sense of ‘apply,’ as Job 18:2, 30:26; or ‘forbear’; ‘refrain,’ as 1 K. 22:6, 15. Lit. ‘to hold upon’ or ‘apply.’ So ‘to fix the attention’ (Luk 14:7; Act 3:5, Act 19:22). In the sense of ‘to hold out’ or ‘present’ it occurs only in class.

‘Holding forth,’ as Ellic., Alf., Ead., Lightf.; ‘holding fast’ (Luth., Beng., De W.); ‘having in possession’ (Kl., Lips., Mey., Weiss). Lightf. regards ἐν οἷς … κόσμῳ as parenthetical, and connects λόγ. ζω. ἐπέχ. with ἵνα γέν … διεστραμ. (vs. 15). He finds an incongruity in the images φαίν. and ἐπεχ. Surely this is hypercritical. ‘Ye appear holding forth the word as a light.’ It is common to personify a luminary as a light-bearer. Paul was not always so consistent in his metaphors as this criticism would imply. See for inst. 2Co 3:2, 2Co 3:3, and Lightf. on 1Th 5:4, Notes on Eps. of St. P. from unpublished Commentaries. (See Mey.’s citn. from Test. 12. Patr.)

εἰς καύχημα ἐμοὶ: ‘for a matter of glorying unto me.’ For καύχημα see on 1:26. Their success in working out their own salvation and proclaiming the gospel to others will be a cause of boasting to Paul. (Comp. 2Co 1:14; 1Th 2:19.) Εἰς καύχ. ἐμ. belongs to the whole passage ἵνα γεν … ἐπέχ.; not merely to λόγ. ζω. ἐπέχ.

εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ: ‘against the day of Christ.’ (See on 1:10, and comp. Gal 3:23; Eph 4:30.) The day is the point with reference to which the boasting is reserved. Not ‘until the day,’ etc. The glorying is put in relation to the decisions and awards of the parousia, as 2Co 1:14.

Ὅτι may be taken as explicative either of the nature of the glorying (‘that’), or of its ground (‘because’).

εἰς κενὸν: ‘in vain’; ‘to no purpose.’ See for the phrase, 2Co 6:1; Gal 2:2; 1Th 3:5. LXX, εἰς κενὸν, τὸ κεν., κενὰ, Lev 26:20; Job 2:9, 20:18, 39:16; Isa 29:8; Jer 6:29. ‘In vain’ is the dominant thought here, as is shown by the repetition.

ἔδραμον: Metaphor of the stadium, as Gal 2:2. (Comp. Act 20:24; 1Co 9:24; 2Ti 4:7.) The aorist is used from the point of view of the day of Christ.

ἐκοπίασα: Κοπιᾷν, lit. ‘to labor to weariness’; κόπος, ‘exhausting toil.’ (See 1Co 15:10; Gal 4:11; Col 1:29; 1Th 2:9, 1Th 3:5.)

Lightf. thinks that ἐκοπίασα is a continuation of the metaphor in ἔδραμον, — ‘labor such as is bestowed in training for the race.’ In his note on Ign. Polyc. vi. he says that κοπιᾷν is used especially of such training, and cites 1Co 9:24-27; Col 1:29; 1Ti 4:10. I do not find any evidence of this special sense of the verb either in classical or N.T. Greek. Certainly in the athletic contests the wearisome labor was not confined to the preparation.

Paul does not shrink from these labors. He will rejoice even in his martyrdom, since he believes that it will promote the work of salvation among his Philippian brethren. The assumption that vs. 16 implies his conviction that he will be alive at the parousia, and that vs. 17 is an admission of the contrary possibility, is entirely gratuitous.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Holding forth [επεχοντες] . The verb means literally to hold upon or apply. Hence to fix attention upon, as Luk 14:7; Act 3:5; 1Ti 4:16. In Act 19:22, stayed : where the idea at bottom is the same - kept to. So in Sept., Job 27:8, of setting the heart on gain. Job 30:26, "fixed my mind on good." In Gen 8:10, of Noah waiting. In classical Greek, to hold out, present, as to offer wine to a guest or the breast to an infant. Also to stop, keep down, confine, cease. Here in the sense of presenting or offering, as A. V. and Rev. holding forth.

That I may rejoice [εις καυχημα εμοι] . Lit., for a cause of glorying unto me.

In the day of Christ (eijv hJmeran Cristou). Lit., against the day, as ch. 1 10. The phrase day of Christ is peculiar to this epistle. The usual expression is day of the Lord.

Have not run [ουκ εδραμον] . Rev., better, did not run. Aorist tense. Ignatius writes to Polycarp to ordain some one "beloved and unwearied, who may be styled God 's courier" (qeodromov. To Polycarp, 7.).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.