iv. Meanwhile the "charity" of the saints is not by any means the mere

amiability which makes itself pleasant to every one, and forgets the solemn fact that we who believe are the servants of a Master whom the world knows not, the messengers of a King against whom it is in revolt. The Philippian disciple was to renounce the spirit of unkindness, of self; he was to live _isolated_ from (_choris_) "murmurings and disputings." But he was not to hide the sacred Light, for the sake of so-called peace, from the world around. He was to "hold out the word of life"; confessing his blessed Lord as the life of his own soul, and so commending Him to the souls of his fellows. He was to make this a part of his very existence and its activities. As truly as it was to be his habit to live a life of sweet and winning consistency, it was to be his habit to offer (_epechein_) the water of life to the parched hearts around him, the lamp of glory to the dark and bewildered whom he encountered upon the difficult road. The truth and beauty of a _life_ possessed by Christ was to be the basis of his witnessing activities. But the witness was to be articulate, not merely implied; he was to "hold out _the word_ (_logon_) of life"; he was to seize occasion to "give _a reason_ (_logon_) of the hope that was in him, with meekness and fear" (1 Pet. iii. 15). To be, in his way, an evangelist was to be one main function of his life. In benignant and gracious conduct he was to be as a "luminary" (_phoster_), moving calm and bright in the dark hemisphere of the world. But he was to be a voice as well as a star. He was not only to shine; he was to speak.

Here is one of the passages, by the way, in which the Apostle assumes, and stimulates, the "missionary consciousness" of the converts. It is remarkable that neither he nor his brethren have much to say in the Epistles about the duty of enterprises of evangelization, as laid upon all believers. The stress of their appeals is directed above all things on the supreme importance of holiness, at any cost, in common life. But a passage like this shews us how entirely they take it for granted all the time that the Churches would never concentrate themselves upon merely their own Christian life; they would go out continually, with the beauty of holiness and with "the word of life," to bring the wanderers in, and to extend the knowledge of the blessed Name. So, and so only, would their Apostle feel, in his prison at Rome, that his "running" (_edramon_) on the great circuit of his evangelistic journeys, and his pastoral "toil" (_ekopiasa_) for the souls of his converts, had not been thrown "into the void" (_eis to kenon_).

So, and so only, would his life and death of sacrifice for them be crowned with its perfect joy. Let him see his beloved converts living and speaking as indeed the Lord's _witnesses_, and then with what inward "gladness" (_chairein_), with what a call for "congratulation" (_sugchairein_) on their part, would he go out to death as the Lord's _martyr_!

[1] _Upekousate_: the aorist. It gathers into one thought the whole recollection of his work at Philippi.

[2] "There is not the slightest contradiction here to the profound truth of the Justification by Faith only; that is to say, only for the merit's sake of the Redeemer, appropriated by submissive trust; that justification whose sure issue is glorification (Rom. viii. 30). It is an instance of independent lines converging on one goal. From one point of view, that of justifying merit, man is glorified because of Christ's work alone, applied to his case through faith alone. From another point, that of qualifying capacity, and of preparation for the Lord's individual welcome (Matt. xxv. 21; Rom. ii. 7), man is glorified as the issue of a process of work and training, in which in a true sense he is himself operant, though grace lies below the whole operation." (Note on this verse in _The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges_).

[3] It is possible to render _logon xoee epechontes_, "serving as life (to the world)." But it is unlikely. See Philippians in _The Cambridge Greek Testament_, Appendix.

[4] The aorists obviously are anticipatory; giving the review of the past as he will then make it. Cp. e.g. _kathos epegnosthen_, 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

[5] "He views the Philippians, in their character of consecrated believers (cp. Rom. xii. 1), as a holocaust to God; and upon that sacrifice the drink-offering, the outpoured wine, is his own life-blood, his martyrdom for the Gospel which he has preached to them. Cp. Num. xv. 5 for the Mosaic libation, _oinon eis sponden_ . . . _poisete epi tes holokautoseos_. Lightfoot thinks that a reference to pagan libations is more likely in a letter to a Gentile mission. But surely St Paul familiarized all his converts with Old Testament symbolism. And _his own_ mind was of course full of it (Note here in _The Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools_).--This and Rom. xv. 16 are the only two passages where St Paul connects the language of "sacerdotalism" with the distinctive work of the Christian ministry; and both passages speak obviously in the tone of figure and, so to say, poetry.

[6] _Chairete_: _sugchairete_. The form leaves us free to render either _indicative_ or _imperative_. But the latter is most likely in the context.

[7] _Soteria_ must here include not only final glory but the whole blessing possessed now and always in the _Soter_.

[8] "Observe the holy paradox of the thought here. The fulness of divine power in the saints is to result primarily not in 'doing some great thing' but in enduring and forbearing, with heavenly joy of heart. The paradox points to one deep characteristic of the Gospel, which prepares the Christian for service by the way of a true abnegation of himself as his own strength and his own aim." (Note on Col. i. 11 in _The Cambridge Bible_).

[9] A. Vinet, _Hymn on the Crucifixion_, translated by C. W. Moule.

"O thou who makest souls to shine With light from brighter worlds above, And droppest glistening dew divine On all who seek a Saviour's love,

"Do Thou Thy benediction give On all who teach, on all who learn, That all Thy Church may holier live, And every lamp more brightly burn.

* * * * *

"If thus, good Lord, Thy grace be giv'n Our glory meets us ere we die; Before we upward pass to heav'n We taste our immortality." J. ARMSTRONG.

TIMOTHEUS AND EPAPHRODITUS

"Puisse la meme foi qui consola leur vie Nous ouvrir les sentiers que leurs pas ont presses, Et, dirigeant nos pieds vers la sainte patrie Ou leur bonheur s'accroit de leurs travaux passes, Nous rendre ces objets de tendresse et d'envie Qui ne sont pas perdus, mais nous ont devances." A. VINET