Verse 14-17:
The first way that the gospel is advancing is through Paul’s preaching in his imprisonment. The second way is through the preaching of other believers.
“Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”
Paul says that because of his chains these believers began to speak with courage and without fear. We would think that they would have seen what happened to Paul, and, covered their tail by not speaking up. If speaking the word of God got Paul in prison, then naturally if they spoke the word of God, they too would end up getting arrested. “It’s not worth it”, they might say, and, “Why should I risk injury, persecution, mocking, and rejection just to speak the word of God to people?” They might have even been tempted to say, “This isn’t working, preaching isn’t doing anything but getting people arrested.”
And by worldly standards, maybe it seemed like it. Whenever someone wants to start a business they have to make a business plan. They have to plan ahead and anticipate the way things will work and make decisions to create the most profitable outcome. I’m sure that if these believers were to have sat down to write a plan of evangelism, it didn’t include people getting thrown into prison. Churches today go through a lot of trouble to help people get over the fear of sharing Jesus Christ.
But, when they saw the courage and boldness of Paul while he was in chains, then they too became emboldened to share the gospel.
The word courage is the Greek word “talma”, and it means boldness. It is usually associated with someone who is daring to do something extreme. When I think about something extreme, I think of things I’m afraid of – like heights. I would never go bungie jumping or skydiving. I don’t even like being up on that stage! People who do those things are daring and death-defying. They have no fear of the risks or the experience of the crazy stunt they are doing.
We might look at these newly courageous preachers as daredevil preachers. They were no longer afraid of the risks or the experience of speaking the word of God because they had seen Paul in his chains. They saw Paul persecuted, yet, somehow the power of God’s Spirit filled them and they too began to speak with courage and boldness. They became preachers who were not afraid of how they might get hurt in their preaching.
How can I explain that? How can I explain that fearlessness that comes over Christians in the face of persecution? There really is no human explanation. It is the power of God’s Spirit. We see it in Acts 4:29 when the believers were praying, “Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.’ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”
Paul would say in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” This is the spirit of which these new preachers were operating with. The Holy Spirit, He is the One who enabled them to speak and He is the One who enables all of us to speak.
But, as we enter into verse 15 we see that the Word of God can be preached from different motives. “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.”
Paul begins a kind of parenthesis here to verse 14 regarding these men who now have all kinds of courage to speak the word of God.
First, some were preaching out of goodwill and knew Paul was put there in Rome to defend the gospel. These good-hearted and sincere preachers recognized that Paul was an apostle, that he was called and appointed by God for the defense and proclamation of the gospel. And, therefore, they were sincerely rallied for the cause of the gospel themselves.
Then there were the other kind of preachers that arose. They were envious of Paul and considered themselves his rival. According to verse 17 these men had selfish ambition and were trying to stir up trouble for Paul while he is in chains. The literal Greek translation there says they are trying to add pressure to his chains. They wanted his suffering to be worse.
That is envy. Envy is not simply ‘wanting what someone else has’. It is the resentment – and even hatred – of someone for having what you want. There is at the heart of envy an attitude of superiority that says you deserve what they have more than they do. And because they have it and you don’t, a spiteful attitude arises. These preachers Paul talks about were envious of Paul’s prominence among the Christian church and sought to gain what he had and they felt they didn’t.
It’s important to notice that these were men who preached the true gospel. Paul does not point out what they’re teaching, but, what they’re trying. Some people believe that these were Judaizers: Jews who said that circumcision and obeying the Mosaic Law were required for salvation. But, Paul in his letters, vehemently attacks these men as preachers of a false gospel who are to be condemned. He even opens up on them later on in chapter 3 of his letter to the Philippians and calls them dogs.
But, Paul does not attack the teachings of these men in verse 15-17. It would seem then that these were men who were legitimate Christians, a part of the believers he mentions in verse 14 who were newly courageous preachers of the true gospel, but, that there is a self-centered ambition in their preaching. It is their motive – not their message – that Paul criticizes.
However, the insincere and selfish preachers did not recognize Paul as appointed by God the way the others did. So, they became his rivals not realizing this is not some political game. What were they rivals about? What could they possibly compete with him over? “I thought in church everybody was humble and there was great unity.” Yeah right. These men wanted to have prominence in the church and wanted to be recognized as leaders. They saw Paul’s chains as an opportunity to advance them selves and gain their own following. ‘Does that happen’ you ask?
Yes. And Scripture is not shy in exposing the prideful heart of men – even believers. For instance, Paul addresses the rivalry of the believers in 1 Corinthians 1 when he says, “My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul?
Paul rebukes the Corinthian believers because they were creating rivalries over which “preacher” they followed. Their focus fell to men when they were to all focus on Christ. Their association was not to be with a preacher, but, with the risen Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We even see this in the gospels with the disciples in Luke 9:46, “An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.” And later in chapter 22 Luke records the disciples arguing again over the matter, “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest”. The disciple’s were arguing with each other over who was going to be the greatest among them in heaven. Who’s the best? I’m better than you. I want to be better than you and I want you and everyone else to know it. That was an attitude of the disciples that Jesus corrected, it was an attitude of the believers in Corinth that Paul corrected, and it was an attitude of these preachers in Rome that were envious of Paul.
This is an issue of the heart. This is the difference between being sincere in your faith, and being selfish. What are your motives as a Christian? What are your motives for coming to church? For serving? Is it for your credit? Is it for applause to you? We need to remember that God is the judge of our hearts. His eyes see every thought, every motive, every intention of our hearts. Nothing goes un-examined by the eyes of God. And as Paul says in verse 9, he wants the Philippians to have a pure heart until the day of Christ, so too we should have a pure heart. Is what is happening on the outside really happening on the inside? Do we do everything, as Paul prays, for the praise and glory of God and to magnify Christ Jesus – or, do we do things in His name for our praise and our glory among men? I must decrease, and He must increase John the Baptist said about Jesus. We each must decrease in our lives, and Jesus Christ must increase. In other words, there needs to more of Him and less of me. My life needs to be all Him and not at all me. When all of you is arrested by Jesus Christ you will be sincere in all you do for Him so that He is glorified and not you.
The first way that the gospel is advancing is through Paul’s preaching in his imprisonment. The second way is through the preaching of other believers.
“Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”
Paul says that because of his chains these believers began to speak with courage and without fear. We would think that they would have seen what happened to Paul, and, covered their tail by not speaking up. If speaking the word of God got Paul in prison, then naturally if they spoke the word of God, they too would end up getting arrested. “It’s not worth it”, they might say, and, “Why should I risk injury, persecution, mocking, and rejection just to speak the word of God to people?” They might have even been tempted to say, “This isn’t working, preaching isn’t doing anything but getting people arrested.”
And by worldly standards, maybe it seemed like it. Whenever someone wants to start a business they have to make a business plan. They have to plan ahead and anticipate the way things will work and make decisions to create the most profitable outcome. I’m sure that if these believers were to have sat down to write a plan of evangelism, it didn’t include people getting thrown into prison. Churches today go through a lot of trouble to help people get over the fear of sharing Jesus Christ.
But, when they saw the courage and boldness of Paul while he was in chains, then they too became emboldened to share the gospel.
The word courage is the Greek word “talma”, and it means boldness. It is usually associated with someone who is daring to do something extreme. When I think about something extreme, I think of things I’m afraid of – like heights. I would never go bungie jumping or skydiving. I don’t even like being up on that stage! People who do those things are daring and death-defying. They have no fear of the risks or the experience of the crazy stunt they are doing.
We might look at these newly courageous preachers as daredevil preachers. They were no longer afraid of the risks or the experience of speaking the word of God because they had seen Paul in his chains. They saw Paul persecuted, yet, somehow the power of God’s Spirit filled them and they too began to speak with courage and boldness. They became preachers who were not afraid of how they might get hurt in their preaching.
How can I explain that? How can I explain that fearlessness that comes over Christians in the face of persecution? There really is no human explanation. It is the power of God’s Spirit. We see it in Acts 4:29 when the believers were praying, “Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.’ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”
Paul would say in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” This is the spirit of which these new preachers were operating with. The Holy Spirit, He is the One who enabled them to speak and He is the One who enables all of us to speak.
But, as we enter into verse 15 we see that the Word of God can be preached from different motives. “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.”
Paul begins a kind of parenthesis here to verse 14 regarding these men who now have all kinds of courage to speak the word of God.
First, some were preaching out of goodwill and knew Paul was put there in Rome to defend the gospel. These good-hearted and sincere preachers recognized that Paul was an apostle, that he was called and appointed by God for the defense and proclamation of the gospel. And, therefore, they were sincerely rallied for the cause of the gospel themselves.
Then there were the other kind of preachers that arose. They were envious of Paul and considered themselves his rival. According to verse 17 these men had selfish ambition and were trying to stir up trouble for Paul while he is in chains. The literal Greek translation there says they are trying to add pressure to his chains. They wanted his suffering to be worse.
That is envy. Envy is not simply ‘wanting what someone else has’. It is the resentment – and even hatred – of someone for having what you want. There is at the heart of envy an attitude of superiority that says you deserve what they have more than they do. And because they have it and you don’t, a spiteful attitude arises. These preachers Paul talks about were envious of Paul’s prominence among the Christian church and sought to gain what he had and they felt they didn’t.
It’s important to notice that these were men who preached the true gospel. Paul does not point out what they’re teaching, but, what they’re trying. Some people believe that these were Judaizers: Jews who said that circumcision and obeying the Mosaic Law were required for salvation. But, Paul in his letters, vehemently attacks these men as preachers of a false gospel who are to be condemned. He even opens up on them later on in chapter 3 of his letter to the Philippians and calls them dogs.
But, Paul does not attack the teachings of these men in verse 15-17. It would seem then that these were men who were legitimate Christians, a part of the believers he mentions in verse 14 who were newly courageous preachers of the true gospel, but, that there is a self-centered ambition in their preaching. It is their motive – not their message – that Paul criticizes.
However, the insincere and selfish preachers did not recognize Paul as appointed by God the way the others did. So, they became his rivals not realizing this is not some political game. What were they rivals about? What could they possibly compete with him over? “I thought in church everybody was humble and there was great unity.” Yeah right. These men wanted to have prominence in the church and wanted to be recognized as leaders. They saw Paul’s chains as an opportunity to advance them selves and gain their own following. ‘Does that happen’ you ask?
Yes. And Scripture is not shy in exposing the prideful heart of men – even believers. For instance, Paul addresses the rivalry of the believers in 1 Corinthians 1 when he says, “My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul?
Paul rebukes the Corinthian believers because they were creating rivalries over which “preacher” they followed. Their focus fell to men when they were to all focus on Christ. Their association was not to be with a preacher, but, with the risen Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We even see this in the gospels with the disciples in Luke 9:46, “An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.” And later in chapter 22 Luke records the disciples arguing again over the matter, “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest”. The disciple’s were arguing with each other over who was going to be the greatest among them in heaven. Who’s the best? I’m better than you. I want to be better than you and I want you and everyone else to know it. That was an attitude of the disciples that Jesus corrected, it was an attitude of the believers in Corinth that Paul corrected, and it was an attitude of these preachers in Rome that were envious of Paul.
This is an issue of the heart. This is the difference between being sincere in your faith, and being selfish. What are your motives as a Christian? What are your motives for coming to church? For serving? Is it for your credit? Is it for applause to you? We need to remember that God is the judge of our hearts. His eyes see every thought, every motive, every intention of our hearts. Nothing goes un-examined by the eyes of God. And as Paul says in verse 9, he wants the Philippians to have a pure heart until the day of Christ, so too we should have a pure heart. Is what is happening on the outside really happening on the inside? Do we do everything, as Paul prays, for the praise and glory of God and to magnify Christ Jesus – or, do we do things in His name for our praise and our glory among men? I must decrease, and He must increase John the Baptist said about Jesus. We each must decrease in our lives, and Jesus Christ must increase. In other words, there needs to more of Him and less of me. My life needs to be all Him and not at all me. When all of you is arrested by Jesus Christ you will be sincere in all you do for Him so that He is glorified and not you.
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