The Pulpit Commentary — Philippians — Section 68

hie Jc,ve. th<' immense i!"Dportanoe of & WisJ. xiii. 2, " where ,p.,,r,-ijpu 3up11,11oi, le pN'!l<'nt •nl.-Rtion from Bin, t~e momentous exactly equiralent to .,,.,,..,.ijp,s I• 1rorT1J,p pl'<'('innane;oi; ofR future sah•ahon from dooth. hero, the 1ro,,.,..&r of this pince being the Yer. 13.-For it iB God whioh worketh in material world, the firmament; not the you. "Prm!'E'ne ..-obis." says Benitel, "fltiam ethioal world, which hRB been nlreBdy ex- n1-nte me." Worltetl ('v~-y,i;,,); not th.:, pressed by the crooked and pervereo nation" snme wnrd ns "work out" (,c...,.,p-yd(«r6,) in (Trench,• Synonyms of the New 'festament'). wr. 12: B('t. powerfully, with <'nergy. lt1 Ver. 16.-llolding forth the word of life. !'n" : not m<>rC'ly among yon, but iu the Holding out to others. lll<'yer tmne!ntes Jwnrl of e.1c-h indh·iduRl ldiever. Both to "possessing," Bnd others, as Bengel, "hold- v:i.l. and to do: translate-, with RV., to tMrh; ing fast." This clause should be tnken with tltc eame word as before, lvep-ye"iv. "N os the first d1rnse of ver. 15, "That ye mny be ergo -..olumnE, sed Dons in nobis operator et blnmcless," etc., the words, "among whom," ..-clle: nos erf!O opemmur, sed Dens in nobis etc., being parenthetical. That! may rejoioe opere.tur et opcrari " ( -~ ugustin<', quoted by in the day of Christ; liternlly, for matte1· of lley<'r). 'fhc grnce of God is ail<'ged as a boasting to me agaimt the day of Chrut. He motive for earnest Christian work. The boasts or glories in their sBI vo.tion. "The doctrines of grace and free-will are not con- dBy of Christ," says Bishop Lightfoot, "is a tradictory: they may 1mcm so to our limited phrase peculi,u to this Epistle, more oom- understanding: bot in truth they complete monly it i~ 'the dny of the Lord.'" That I and supplement one another. St. Paul does have not run in vain, neither laboured. in not at.tempt to snh•c the problem in theory; vain ; translate, did not. The verbs a.re he bids us solve it in the life of faith (oomp. aorist. He looks back upon his finished l Cor. ix. 2-i, "So run that ye may obtain; " course (comp. Gal. ii. 2). and Rom. ix. 16, " It is not of him that Ver. 17.-Yea, and if I be offered. upon willeth. nor of him that runncth, but of God the saori11.oe and service of your faith. He that showcth nwrcy '"). Of his good pleasure again compares the advantages of life and ( <ulioi;:ias ). As th., glory of God is the nlti- death, as in eh. i. 20-25. In the le.et verse mo.te end (ver. 11), so ilie gnod will of God he was speaking of the possibility of looking is the first cause of our SR!vation: "God back from the day of Christ upon a lire of will h.l-..e all men to be saved" (1 Tim. ii. 4). prolonged labour. Here he supposes the Ver. 14.--Do all thingB withOlli murmur- other alterno.ti ve. The form of the sentence, lllgll and d.isputinga. Obedience most be the particles used ( •l 1ruC), and the indicative willing and cheerful. The word rendered verb, all imply that the apostle looked for. •·murmurings" (-yayy,,,rµ.l,r)iathatconet.antly ward to a martyr's death as the proboble used in the Septuagint of the murmurings of end of his life of warfare : Yea, if I am even the ~lites during their wanderings. /:1.m- offered, as seems likely, and ae I expect, AD-y1,rµ.ol may mean, as here rendered, " dis- Offered; the word menne "poured out" as 11 putings," or more probably, in accordance libation or drink offering. St. Paul regards with the New Testament use of the word, hie blood shed in martyr-dom as a libation questionings,doo btings. Submission to God's poured forth in willing sacrifice. See 2 Tim. will must be inward as well as outward. iv. 6, 'E-ycl, ")'Ap -lf1i71 tr1rl111ia,..u1, "I am already Ver. 15.-Th&t ye may be bls.meles& and being poured forth : the libation is commenc- harm.less ; read, with the best manuscripts, ing, the time of my departure is nt hand." that ye may l,ecome ; an exhortation to con- Compare also the similar words of Ignatius, tinued progre11e. "Harmless;" rotber, pure, • Born.' 2, and the words of the dying Seneca simple; literally, unmixed. The sons of God, (Tacitus, 'Annals,' :xv. 64). Some think that without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked the apostle, writing, as be does, to converted and perverse nation ; rather, children, with- heathen, draws his metaphor from heathen out the article. " The slave may murmur," sacrifices: in those sacrifice& the libation says Cbrysostom, -"but 'll"hatson will murmur, was a much more important element than who, while working for hie father, works also the drink offering in the llfosaic rit.es; and for himself? " Substitute " blamdess" for it was poured upon the ea.cri.fice, whcreas •· without rebuke," and "generation" for the drink offering seems to have been poured "nation." There is a close resemblance around the altar, not upon it. On the other here, £:specially in the Greek, and an evi,lent hand, the preposition brl is constnntly used nforence to Deut. :u:xii 5. The Pbilip- of the Jewish drink offering, and cloes not piaD£ are exhorted to exh.itit in ilieir lives nee(:eso.rily mean upon, but only"in ad,lition &. contrast to the behaviour of the rc,bellious to," or "at; " the drink offering being nn lsr:..elitee. Among whom ye oh.ine as light• accompaniment to the sacrifice, Service in the wc;rld; not ·•shine," hut, as R.V., are (J..u.-oup')'la). This important word denotes •un or OJiptar. Liuhts; l1temlly, lum.inariu. in classical Greek (l) certain costly publio 'l'ht \Hird is ustd in Geu. i. 14, Jfi of the offices at Athens, discharged by the richer ~uu ,..,,,J n,,Jon. f;r,mp. EcP]n,. xliii. 7 and citizens in rotation; (2) au y service or funo- on. u. l-30.) TllE EPISTLE TO TllE PIIILIPPIANS. ll3