Ver. 7. Meet for me to think this.—“To form this opinion.” That the apostle cherished a warm affection for these Philippians would have been, if alone, a very flimsy foundation for hopes so substantial. Was not Judas cherished in a warmer heart than Paul’s? But their sympathy and active co-operation made such an opinion not a pious hope, but a reasonable likelihood. Defence and confirmation.—The “defence” (ἀπολογία) is the clearing away of objections—the preparation of the ground; the “confirmation” is the positive settlement on the ground so prepared. “The two together will thus comprise all modes of preaching and extending the truth” (Lightfoot). Partakers of my grace.—The grace whether of preaching or of suffering for the Gospel. See ver. 29, where “given” requires the addition “as a favour.” “You are privileged . . . to suffer.”
Ver. 8. God is my record.—As in Rom. i. 9. When we feel language too weak to bear our impassioned feeling, it may be well to remember the “Yea, yea” of the Master rather than copy this oath. In the bowels of Jesus Christ.—R.V. “in the tender mercies.” This is quite an Eastern form of expression. Among the Malays a term of endearment is “my liver”; we choose the heart as the seat of the affections. For the figure, cf. Gal. ii. 20.
Ver. 9. In knowledge and in all judgment.—“Perfect knowledge (as in Eph. i. 17, iv. 13) and universal discernment.” “The one deals with general principles, the other is concerned with practical applications” (Lightfoot).
Ver. 10. That ye may approve things that are excellent.—St. Paul would have his dear Philippians to be connoisseurs of whatever is morally and spiritually excellent. That ye may be sincere.—Bearing a close scrutiny, in the strongest light, or according to another derivation of the word, perhaps more true if less beautiful, made pure by sifting. And without offence.—Might be either “without stumbling,” as Acts xxiv. 16, or “not causing offence.” Lightfoot prefers the former, Meyer the latter. Beet unites the two.
Ver. 11. Fruits of righteousness.—“A harvest of righteousness.” Which are through Jesus Christ.—A more precise definition of “fruits.”
Ver. 12. The things which happened unto me.—Precisely the same phrase as in Eph. vi. 21; is translated “my affairs” (so Col. iv. 17). These circumstances were such as naturally would fill the friends of the apostle with concern for him personally. As to the effect on the spread of the Gospel—ever St. Paul’s chief solicitude—they had been apprehensive. Rather unto the furtherance.—Not to the hindrance, as to your fears seemed likely. It is the same triumphant note which rises, in a later imprisonment, above personal indignity and suffering. “I may be bound, but the message I bear is at liberty” (2 Tim. ii. 9).
Ver. 13. Bonds in Christ are manifest.—R.V. “bonds became manifest in Christ.” It is not simply as a private prisoner that he is bound; it is a matter of public note that he is bound for Christ’s sake. In all the palace.—R.V. text, “throughout the whole prætorian guard.” R.V. margin, “in the whole prætorium.” “The best supported meaning of ‘prætorium’ is—the soldiers composing the imperial regiments” (Lightfoot). “The barracks of the imperial body-guard to whose ‘colonel’ Paul was given in charge on his arrival in Rome (Acts xxviii. 16)” (Meyer). “As the soldiers would relieve guard in constant succession, the prætorians one by one were brought into communication with ‘the prisoner of Jesus Christ’ ” (Lightfoot). In all other places.—The italicised places of the A.V. text must be dropped; the margin is better. A loose way of saying “to others besides the military.”
Ver. 14. Confident by my bonds.—The bonds might have been thought to be sufficient to intimidate the brethren; but the policy of stamping out has oftener resulted in spreading the Gospel.
Ver. 15. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife.—Not some of the brethren emboldened by the apostle’s chain, perhaps, although one sees no reason why the Judaisers would not, with redoubled energy, spread their views when he whom they so violently opposed was for the time being silenced, as they imagined. “Of envy.” Lightfoot refers to the saying of the comic poet Philemon with its play on the word, “Thou teachest me many things ungrudgingly because of a grudge” (on account of envy). This glaring inconsistency of preaching a Gospel of goodwill from such a motive as envy, the worst form of ill-will, must be closely observed here.
Vers. 16, 17.—These verses are transposed in R.V.; the order of the A.V. is against decisive testimony (Meyer).