Philippians 1:28

In the verses just before, Paul weighs whether to depart and be with Christ or to remain in the flesh (Philippians 1:21–26), and he settles it: “I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith” (Philippians 1:25). With verse 27 he turns from his own circumstances to their calling. This is the charge that the rest of the letter fills out, with its appeals to unity, humility and perseverance.

The verse opens with mónon, “only”, a word that limits what follows to one thing. Whatever becomes of Paul, this is the one thing that matters for them.

“Conversation” in the KJV’s English meant a person’s whole manner of life, and the verb behind it, politeúomai, means to live as a citizen. The word suited Philippi. The city was a Roman colony, and its citizens enjoyed privileges such as Roman law and freedom from certain taxes, which made them proud of their standing and loyal to Rome. Paul speaks to people who knew what citizenship meant and tells them to live as citizens of another commonwealth. Later in the letter he says it outright: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). The values of the kingdom of God are to shape their actions, their attitudes and their dealings with one another, whoever is watching.

“As it becometh” translates axíōs, “worthily” or “fittingly”. A life worthy of the gospel fits the good news about Jesus Christ and shows it truly to those who see it. Paul gives the same call to other churches, to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1) and to “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing” (Colossians 1:10). The call concerns the direction of a whole life, the steady aim of bringing thoughts, words and deeds into line with Christ, so that what we believe and how we live hold together.

The news Paul hopes for is that they “stand fast”. The verb stḗkō, built on hístēmi, “to stand”, means to stay in place, and figuratively to persevere. It describes believers who hold their ground in the faith and keep it when opposition comes.

They are to stand “in one spirit”, en heîs pneûma. The word pneûma is breath or wind, and by extension a spirit, human or divine. The unity in view is the work of the Holy Spirit, who lives in believers and binds them together, and it shows as one shared spirit among them. Paul writes of “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” and says, “There is one body, and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3–4).

“With one mind” is mía psychḗ in Greek. The word mía is “one”, and psychḗ is the word for breath and for the living, feeling self. Together they speak of a shared purpose and of agreement in will and affection. Side by side, one spirit and one mind take in both the spiritual and the personal sides of the church’s unity. Paul returns to the plea in the next chapter, asking them to be “likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:1–4), and he asks the same of the Corinthians, that they “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).

“Striving together” is synathléō, made from sýn, “with”, and athléō, to compete in a contest as an athlete does. Paul pictures believers contending side by side like a team, each one exerting himself for the same goal. Spreading and defending the gospel is shared work, and the Philippians had done it with him from the start, in “your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:5).

They strive “for the faith of the gospel”, pístis and euangélion. The faith here can be the truth the gospel teaches and also their own trust in it, and striving for it covers both defending that truth and carrying it further.

Verse 28 adds that they are to be “in nothing terrified by your adversaries”. The verb ptýrō means to frighten or startle, and it can describe being scared into flight. “In nothing” takes in every kind of opposition. The adversaries, antikeimenois, are those who set themselves against the believers and the gospel. In Philippi they may have included Jewish opponents, worshippers of idols, or Roman authorities who regarded the church as a disruptive or unlawful sect. In a colony proud of its loyalty to Rome, allegiance to Christ could look like disloyalty to Caesar and bring social exclusion, financial hardship or trouble with the law. Paul himself was writing as a prisoner, most likely in Rome, and he had already told them that his imprisonment had furthered the gospel (Philippians 1:12–14).

Their fearless stand is “an evident token”. The noun éndeixis means an indication or proof, a sign that can be seen. One and the same steadfastness points two ways.

To the adversaries it is a token of apṓleia, “perdition”, which means ruin, loss or destruction. When their threats fail to frighten God’s people, it shows that they are fighting against God himself, and the end of that fight is their own ruin.

To the believers it is a token of sōtēría, “salvation”, a word for rescue, safety and deliverance, which takes in the whole well-being and eternal life that God gives. Their endurance confirms that they stand secure in Christ and points to their final deliverance.

“And that of God” names the source of it all. The salvation comes from God, he keeps it, and it belongs to him, and so does the courage that shows it. Their endurance is God’s work in them, which is how Paul can say a chapter later, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). That is the ground of their assurance.

Verse 29 gives the reason the Philippians can stand without fear. “For unto you it is given”, and the verb charízomai, from cháris, “grace”, means to give freely as a favour. The giver goes unnamed, and it is plainly God.

The first gift is “to believe on him”. The verb pisteúō can mean to believe that something is true or to credit what someone says, and with “on him” it is trust placed in Christ himself, entrusting oneself to him. That trust is God’s gift. Paul says the same of salvation as a whole: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Seeing our faith as a gift humbles us and deepens our thanks for salvation.

The second gift is “to suffer for his sake”. The verb páschō means to suffer, to undergo something, usually something painful. Joined to “for his sake”, it means the hardship that comes to believers because they belong to Christ. Paul sets this beside faith as a gift of the same grace. Hardship borne for Christ is an honour and a way of knowing him more deeply, as Paul himself longed to know “the fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Those who suffer with him are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:17). Peter writes, “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you”, and “rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:12–16). Paul rejoiced in his own sufferings for the churches and spoke of filling “up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24).

“In the behalf of Christ” frames both gifts. Believing and suffering alike are for his cause and his glory.

“Having the same conflict” ties the Philippians’ struggle to Paul’s own. The word agṓn first meant the place where contests were held and then the contest itself, a struggle or fight. Like synathléō in verse 27, it comes from the world of the games, and it pictures the Christian life as strenuous effort that takes endurance. The conflict in view is outward opposition for the sake of the gospel, the hostility, persecution and legal trouble that come when the gospel is lived and preached.

“Which ye saw in me”, with eídō, “to see”, sends them back to Paul’s first visit to their city (Acts 16). After Paul cast a spirit out of a slave girl, her masters brought him and Silas before the magistrates, who had them beaten in public and thrown into prison (Acts 16:19–40). The Philippian believers had seen it happen, and it would still be fresh in their memory. “And now hear to be in me”, with akoúō, “to hear”, points to the reports reaching them of Paul’s present imprisonment, probably by way of Epaphroditus or other messengers. His conflict is still going on.

Everything in these verses leads back to Christ. To live worthy of his gospel is to follow him, who “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5–8). He stood unafraid before every adversary, from Satan in the wilderness to the hostile religious leaders and the cross. Hebrews calls him “the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”, and tells us to “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:2–3). The faith God gives has Christ as its source and its object.

At Pentecost Peter told the crowd that God had raised up the Jesus they had crucified (Acts 2:23–24), so his resurrection declared judgment on those who rejected him. For all who believe, his victory over sin and death is the ground of salvation, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). He told his disciples, “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20), and he also said, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He suffered for us, “leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21–24), and his Spirit gives his people courage to follow.

When believers strive together for the faith of the gospel, they share in Christ’s own work. He sent his disciples to teach all nations (Matthew 28:19–20), he said of his church that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), and the day is coming when “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

These four verses give the church a calling and the grace to carry it out. We belong to a heavenly commonwealth, and the gospel of Christ sets the shape of our life together. God gives his people one Spirit, so they can stand side by side and contend together for the faith. When opposition comes, the courage to meet it is his gift, and their steadiness is his own sign of the salvation that comes from him. Faith in Christ is his gift, and so is suffering for Christ’s sake, which joins us to the Lord who suffered first. At every point the passage shows God as the giver: he gives faith, he gives the strength to endure, and the salvation at the end of it all is his. Every believer who stands in that struggle stands with Paul, with the Philippians, and with Christ himself.