to reproduce in translation. The point is that the words Paul uses for to begin (enarchesthai) and for to complete (epitelein) are technical terms for the beginning and the ending of a sacrifice.
There was an initial ritual in connection with a Greek sacrifice. A torch was lit from the fire on the altar and then dipped into a bowl of water to cleanse the water with its sacred flame; and with the purified water the victim and the people were sprinkled to make them holy and clean. Then followed what was known as the euphēmia, the sacred silence, in which the worshippers were meant to make their prayers to their god. Finally a basket of barley was brought, and some grains of the barley were scattered on the victim and on the ground round about it. These actions were the beginning of the sacrifice, and the technical term for making this beginning was the verb enarchesthai, which Paul uses here. The verb used for completing the whole ritual of sacrifice was the verb epitelein, which Paul uses here for to complete. Paul’s whole sentence thinks in terms and pictures of sacrifice.
Paul is seeing the life of every Christian as a sacrifice ready to be offered to Jesus Christ. It is the same picture as the one that he draws in Romans when he urges Christians to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).
On the day when Christ comes, it will be like the coming of a king. On such a day, the king’s subjects are required to present him with gifts to mark their loyalty and to show their love. The only gift Jesus Christ desires from us is ourselves. So, our supreme task is to make our lives fit to offer to him. Only the grace of God can enable us to do that.
THE MARKS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
3. CHRISTIAN PARTNERSHIP
Philippians 1:3–11 (contd)
IN this passage, the idea of Christian partnership is strongly stressed. There are certain things which Christians share.
(1) Christians are partners in grace. They are people who owe a common debt to the grace of God.
(2) Christians are partners in the work of the gospel. Christians not only share a gift, they also share a task; and that task is the furtherance of the gospel. Paul uses two words to express the work of Christians for the sake of the gospel; he speaks of the defence and the confirmation of the gospel. The defence (apologia) of the gospel means its defence against the attacks which come from outside. Christians have to be ready to be defenders of the faith and to give a reason for the hope that is in them. The confirmation (bebaiōsis) of the gospel is the building up of its strength from within, the spiritual encouragement of Christians. Christians must further the gospel by defending it against the attacks of its enemies and by building up the faith and devotion of its friends.
(3) Christians are partners in suffering for the gospel. Whenever Christians are called upon to suffer for the sake of the gospel, they must find strength and comfort in the memory that they are part of a great fellowship in every age and every generation and every land who have suffered for Christ rather than deny their faith.
(4) Christians are partners with Christ. In verse 8, Paul uses a very vivid expression. The literal translation is: ‘I yearn for you all with the bowels of Jesus Christ.’ The Greek word for bowels is splagchna. The splagchna were the upper intestines, the heart, the liver and the lungs. These the Greeks believed to be the location of the emotions and the affections. So Paul is saying: ‘I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.’ He is saying: ‘I love you as Jesus loves you.’ The love which Paul feels towards his Christian friends is nothing other than the love of Christ himself. J. B. Lightfoot, the New Testament scholar, writing on this passage, says: ‘The believer has no yearnings apart from his Lord; his pulse beats with the pulse of Christ; his heart throbs with the heart of Christ.’ When we are really one with Jesus, his love goes out through us to our fellow men and women, whom he loves and for whom he died. Christians are partners in the love of Christ.
THE MARKS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
4. CHRISTIAN PROGRESS AND THE CHRISTIAN GOAL
Philippians 1:3–11 (contd)
IT was Paul’s prayer for his people that their love would grow greater every day (verses 9–10). That love, which was not merely a matter of sentiment, was to grow in knowledge and in sensitive perception so that they would be more and more able to distinguish between right and wrong. Love is always the way to knowledge. If we love any subject, we want to learn more about it; if we love someone, we want to learn more about that person; if we love Jesus, we will want to learn more about him and about his truth.
Love is always sensitive to the mind and the heart of the one it loves. If it blindly and blunderingly hurts the feelings of the one it claims to love, it is not love at all. If we really love Jesus, we will be sensitive to his will and his desires; the more we love him, the more we will instinctively shrink from what is evil and desire what is right. The word Paul uses for testing the things that differ is dokimazein, which is the word used for testing metal to see that it is genuine. Real love is not blind; it will enable us always to see the difference between the false and the true.
So, Christians will themselves become pure and will not cause others to stumble. The word used for pure is interesting. It is eilikrinēs. The Greeks suggested two possible derivations, each of which presents a vivid picture. The word may come from eile, sunshine, and krinein, to judge, and may describe that which is able to stand the test of the sunshine without any flaw appearing. On that basis, the word means that the Christian character can stand any light that is turned upon it. The other possibility is that eilikrinēs is derived from eilein, which means to whirl round and round as in a sieve and so to sift until every impurity is extracted. On that basis, the Christian character is cleansed of all evil until it is completely pure.
But Christians are not only pure; a Christian may also be described as aproskopos – never causing any other person to stumble. There are people who are themselves faultless, but who are so austere that they drive people away from Christianity. Christians are themselves pure, but their love and gentleness are such that they attract others to the Christian way and never repel them from it.
Finally, Paul sets down the Christian aim. This is to live such a life that the glory and the praise are given to God. Christian goodness is not meant to win credit for any individual; it is meant to win praise for God. Christians know, and witness, that they are what they are, not by their own unaided efforts, but only by the grace of God.
THE CHAINS DESTROY THE BARRIERS
Philippians 1:12–14
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has resulted rather in the advancement of the gospel, because it has been demonstrated to the whole Praetorian Guard and to all the others that my imprisonment is borne for Christ’s sake and in Christ’s strength; and the result is that through my bonds more of the brothers have found confidence in the Lord the more exceedingly to dare fearlessly to speak the word of God.
PAUL was a prisoner – but, far from his imprisonment ending his missionary activity, it actually expanded it for himself and for others. In fact, the chains of his imprisonment destroyed the barriers. The word Paul uses for the advancement of the gospel is a vivid word. It is prokopē, the word which is specially used for the progress of an army or an expedition. It is the noun from the verb prokoptein, which means to cut down in advance. It is the verb which is used for cutting away the trees and the undergrowth, and removing the barriers which would hinder the progress of an army. Paul’s imprisonment, far from shutting the door, opened the door to new spheres of work and activity into which he would
