20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but in all boldness, as always, now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether by life or by death.
for ye have been bought with a price: glorify now then God in your body.
For the anxious looking out of the creature expects the revelation of the sons of God:
but if as a christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name.
and hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by [the] Holy Spirit which has been given to us:
But the Lord Jehovah will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, unto the ages of ages.
and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised.
For and if I should boast even somewhat more abundantly of our authority, which the Lord has given [to us] for building up and not for your overthrowing, I shall not be put to shame;
and that the most of the brethren, trusting in [the] Lord through my bonds, dare more abundantly to speak the word of God fearlessly.
But I am pressed by both, having the desire for departure and being with Christ, [for] [it is] very much better, but remaining in the flesh [is] more necessary for your sakes;
Now, I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for his body, which is the assembly;
Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly: and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore I will be careful to put you always in mind of these things, although knowing [them] and established in the present truth. But I account it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting [you] in remembrance, knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle is speedily [to take place], as also our Lord Jesus Christ has manifested to me; but I will use diligence, that after my departure ye should have also, at any time, [in your power] to call to mind these things.
Neither yield your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God as alive from among [the] dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God.
Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.
Uphold me according to thy ùword, that I may live; and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
for surely there is a result, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But on account of this have I come to this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, I both have glorified and will glorify [it] again.
But I make no account of [my] life [as] dear to myself, so that I finish my course, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God.
But Paul answered, What do ye, weeping and breaking my heart? for *I* am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
I speak humanly on account of the weakness of your flesh. For even as ye have yielded your members in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness.
according as it is written, Behold, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling and rock of offence: and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For both if we should live, [it is] to the Lord we live; and if we should die, [it is] to the Lord we die: both if we should live then, and if we should die, we are the Lord's. For to this [end] Christ has died and lived [again], that he might rule over both dead and living.
There is a difference between the wife and the virgin. The unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but she that has married cares for the things of the world, how she shall please her husband.
But thanks [be] to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place. For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish: to the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life; and who [is] sufficient for these things?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Philippians 1
Commentary on Philippians 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 1
He begins with the inscription and benediction (v. 1, 2). He gives thanks for the saints at Philippi (v. 3-6). He speaks of his great affection and concern for their spiritual welfare (v. 7, 8), his prayers for them (v. 9-11), his care to prevent their offence at his sufferings (v. 12-20), his readiness to glorify Christ by life or death (v. 21-26), and then concludes with a double exhortation to strictness and constancy (v. 27-30).
Phl 1:1-2
We have here the inscription and benediction. Observe,
Phl 1:3-6
The apostle proceeds after the inscription and benediction to thanksgiving for the saints at Philippi. He tells them what it was he thanked God for, upon their account. Observe here,
Phl 1:7-8
The apostle expresses the ardent affection he had for them, and his concern for their spiritual welfare: I have you in my heart, v. 7. He loved them as his own soul, and they lay near his heart. He thought much of them, and was in care about them. Observe,
Phl 1:9-11
These verses contain the prayers he put up for them. Paul often let his friends know what it was he begged of God for them, that they might know what to beg for themselves and be directed in their own prayers, and that they might be encouraged to hope they should receive from God the quickening, strengthening, everlasting, comforting grace, which so powerful an intercessor as Paul asked of God for them. It is an encouragement to us to know that we are prayed for by our friends, who, we have reason to think, have an interest at the throne of grace. It was intended likewise for their direction in their walk, and that they might labour to answer his prayers for them; for by this it would appear that God had answered them. Paul, in praying thus for them, expected good concerning them. It is an inducement to us to do our duty, that we may not disappoint the expectations of praying friends and ministers. He prayed,
Phl 1:12-20
We see here the care the apostle takes to prevent their being offended at his sufferings. He was now a prisoner at Rome; this might be a stumbling-block to those who had received the gospel by his ministry. They might be tempted to think, If this doctrine were indeed of God, God would not suffer one who was so active and instrumental in preaching and propagating it to be thrown by as a despised broken vessel. They might be shy of owning this doctrine, lest they should be involved in the same trouble themselves. Now to take off the offence of the cross, he expounds this dark and hard chapter of his sufferings, and makes it very easy and intelligible, and reconcilable to the wisdom and goodness of God who employed him.
Phl 1:21-26
We have here an account of the life and death of blessed Paul: his life was Christ, and his death was gain. Observe,
Phl 1:27-30
The apostle concludes the chapter with two exhortations:-