Thursday 02 October 2014

Background

In today's passage we turn from Paul's concern for the people inthe local church community to a concern for his own situation. Itseems clear that the prison sentence he is undergoing is not just atemporary separation from the world but is much more serious,a probably a life sentence. His words take us to thesituation of Job in the Hebrew Scriptures: when he was facing thecrisis in his health Job declares that "issue of it all will be mysalvation" (Job 13:16). Job was only concerned that heshould keep faithful to his cause despite the crisis he findshimself in.

Paul alludes to those words of Job in his present situation: theissue for him was not whether he lived or he died but only that heshould not be ashamed, and whichever way human judgement happenedin his case, the truth of Christ should continue to be proclaimedand shine out through his witness. It would seem that he had nofear of dying, despite the fact that the event would lead to himcoming to God's judgement. His main concern seemed to be that hewould come into an even closer relationship with Christ than he hasalready had, and for that he was thankful. He does however seem tofeel that he had an obligation to stand by his churches, and thushe desired to be spared the fate of a death sentence to be freed tocontinue to work with them.

The letter then turns into something of a sermon, which mighthave the heading 'let your conduct be worthy of the gospel ofChrist'. The last verses of chapter one give the introduction tothis sermon, reminding his readers to stand firm in the one spiritwhilst they wait to see whether he is able to come to them. Theyare to live their lives with courage, taking any suffering thatmight come their way as a way in which they too can suffer forChrist in the same way as he suffered for them.

The sermon continues into chapter two and we will come to thattomorrow.

To Ponder

• What is your reaction when you are faced with seeminglyinsurmountable situations? To what extent are you able to see thesituation as a test which will lead to 'my salvation'?

• Do you consider that the way in which you deal with crisis inyour life will enable others to deepen their faith? Why? Or whynot?

• Do you always stand firm when faced with the issues of thesecular world, or are you inclined to compromise your faith for thesake of popularity?