Paul's Chains Advance the Gospel
12Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
15It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Dig Deeper
The young man was devastated when he was told by his boss that he would be losing his job at the end of the month. This would be a hard blow to take for a young Christian with a wife and two small children. How could he go and tell his wife that he would be without a job in just over a week? Then this questions began to swirl about in his head about why God had allowed this to happen and how this could possibly work out to God’s glory somehow. What seemed like a horrible situation got even worse when he realized that he would have to temporarily move his family back into his parents house. What he didn’t know, at the time, though was that God specializes in working through human weakness and tough situations. The young man took a less-paying job but within a couple of months, three people from his new job had become disciples of Christ due to his influence and sharing. On top of that, before he was able to move his family back into their own house, he was able to bring both of his parents into the life of Christ. God truly can work through seemingly, impossibly negative situations.
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, had been thrown into prison for sharing the gospel and stirring up trouble. This could have been a deeply devastating blow to the young Christian communities around the Gentile world. What would they do now that their great champion of the gospel had been tossed into Roman detention? From any sort of human perspective, this was bad. A traveling apostle being locked in chains? How could that be good? As with so many other things, Paul wants his young brothers and sisters in the faith to view things from a Godly perspective. Rather than his chains limiting the gospel, God has used them to continue to advance the cause of Christ.
In the ancient world, the primary purpose of personal letters was to let people know how you were faring wherever you might have been. Without forms of instant communication like we have today, letters were extremely important in keeping the bonds of relationship and concern between parties separated by a vast distance. In truth, the very fact that Paul chose to write his letters in such an obvious personal letter format would have been a clear sign to the early Christians that what he was writing, although still God-inspired Scripture, was not a theological treatise or a doctrinal handbook. They were personal letters that were full of important principles for God’s people, but were not mini rule books.
As soon as Paul got the opening statements out of the way, his words, "Now I want you to know," would have fostered the expectation that he was now about to inform them of his personal welfare, something in which they were greatly interested. What should not be missed is that Paul tells very little about himself and his personal details and constantly takes the attention off of his own personal welfare, mentioning it only when it relates to the gospel. It is, in fact, the gospel and its continuing advancement that Paul wants to talk about. This is instructive for those of us who are tempted to separate our personal lives from our spiritual lives, or even the health of the ministry of which we are a part. I know a young man right now who has the same attitude that Paul had. When you ask him how he’s doing, he will immediately began to tell you about the exciting things that are happening in his local ministry. Paul understood that his life really did belong to Christ, so if you wanted to know how Paul was really doing, all you had to do was look at his ministry. He is clear that he does not think he is suffering because of Christ as though he were suffering for someone else. He was suffering because his life is Christ (Phil. 1:21). Paul was not concerned with his own personal status or identity at all in relation to his identity and status in Christ.
Paul wants them to remember that Christians should always see how God is using seemingly bad situations rather than simply seeing things from a defeated, human perspective. His imprisonment was being used powerfully by God, a fact that was so obvious to those in Paul’s vicinity that even the Roman soldiers from the praetorium that were guarding him could see it. Paul was in chains in Christ (which is what the the text literally says). In other words just as with his overall suffering, Paul was not saying that he was in prison because he served Christ, although that was certainly true. He was in prison because it was part of his life in Christ. As a result of his being in prison, the Romans had been, to some degree or another, impacted by the gospel, but just as important, many of the Christians had been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. As they should be able to see, they need not worry about Paul’s situation because it has proven to be a vehicle for his ministry of reconciliation, not a hindrance. It demonstrates a powerful truth: God doesn’t merely work despite the circumstances, he often works through negative circumstances. In fact, God doesn’t normally work through the channels of power and prestige that are so valued in the world today. Rather, he usually works through the weakness and suffering that world teaches us to avoid at all costs.
If imprisonment was one of those negative situations through which God would work, then those who were preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry was another situation that could seem like a problem from a worldly perspective. Paul carefully and eloquently describes the juxtaposition between those who preach Christ from good motives and those who do not. Those who preach Christ from a motivation of goodwill, did so in love, in truth, and in knowing that Paul was put in chains for the defense of the gospel. While those who preached him from a motivation of envy and rivalry, did so from selfish ambition and insincerity, false motives, and supposing (rather than knowing) that they can stir up trouble for Paul.
Paul is not clear here who these envious individuals are, but we can conclude that it was not the Judaizers that accosted the Galatians (Gal. 1:6-7), nor was it the false apostles that the Corinthians dealt with (2 Cor. 11:13-14), as they were accused of preaching a different gospel and a different Christ. This is not the case here. They seem to be those who spread the gospel but are personally opposed, for selfish reasons of envy, to Paul’s ministry. That still seems problematic if Paul is actually talking about other Christians. It is hard to envision a scenario in which Paul would not be concerned with Christian teachers teaching from such a perverted motivation. If that was the case, he would surely have had great concern about that attitude spreading into the church at Philippi, but he seems to have no such concern here.
Although we are left to speculate, it seems likely that Paul is actually referring to non-Christians where Paul was imprisoned. His imprisonment, no doubt, became the talk of the town, and those who were opposed to him were more than happy to spread the story of this Jew preaching some gospel about a crucified Messiah who had resurrected and began a new creation of sorts. Only they did so thinking that they were bringing derision on the message of Paul. They were probably even angry and envious that Paul was getting so much positive attention from some who were curious and impressed by his demeanor, and thought that they could do damage to his mission by putting him and his gospel down. Paul knows better than that. He sees it as another opportunity for the gospel of Christ to be preached, and on top of that, it was likely this increase in the discussion of Christ that contributed to the increased boldness of the disciples. Paul and his Christ had become the talk of the town, which opened the door for the gospel. That’s how it is for the Christian. When all the chips seem down, we can rest assured that that’s when God is at His very best.
Devotional Thought
When circumstances seem to go poorly, how often are you tempted to see them in a negative light and feel discouraged? Try to see things the way that Paul understood them. Try seeing God’s purposes working through the negative situations. Christ can be announced through our problems and that is worth celebrating.
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