With all of the issues that Paul has addressed so far with the Philippian church, arrogance and conceit, lack of unity, and more, it is no surprise that complaining and arguing is cropping up. This is what Paul addresses next.

You can see this week’s passage in Philippians 2:14-16:

As Paul continues through this letter to the Philippian church, he becomes more and more practical. As is typical with Paul’s letters, he spent the first part dealing with doctrine and philosophical issues, “This is what is wrong.” Now he moves more into the practical application side of teaching, “This is how we can fix it.”

Complaining and arguing

First of all, he says, do everything without complaining or arguing. There isn’t anything else mentioned in this letter about complaining or arguing, so the question comes to mind that this could refer to Euodia and Syntyche in 4:2, although that is not certain. It could be that, with all of the other issues that were going on, some were finding reason to complain. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Blameless and pure

There is a reason for the Philippians’ need to set such things aside. It is for their own good, so that they can become blameless and pure. As they set aside their differences and focus on unity and humility, they will grow in their own spiritual health. Our main concern is the holding forth of the word of life, and if we don’t live such lives, our task goes unfinished. We shoot ourselves in the foot, because we look no different than the world, when we should look quite different.

Crooked and depraved

Paul uses these two words to describe the world in which the Philippians live, and it could describe the present day just as easily. The contrast is strong: we are to live blameless lives, in contrast to the blameworthy culture around us. We are to live pure lives in a depraved world.

Shine like stars in the universe

The result is that the Philippians, as well as believers today, will stand out. We will shine like stars; we are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16). We cannot display Christ brightly and clearly is we are rife with disharmony.

Hold out the word of life

Our main task is to reach the lost with the message of the gospel, thus holding out the word of life. This is reminiscent of the Great Commission in Matthew 28, and is our prime task. Another possibility here, though, is that this could be translated to say “hold on to the word of life.” This would convey the idea of being steadfast and tenacious. Both of these themes are found in this letter, so either one is possible.

In order that I may boast

The end result of all of this, Paul says, gives him cause to boast. Because of his great love for the church, and perhaps especially this church at Philippi, Paul wants them to succeed spiritually. This will give him the opportunity to boast, not for the cause of gloating, but with a sense of pride that his children in the faith are continuing strong. After all, he has expended a lot of effort on this church, just as he had done in several other locations, and he longed for them to succeed.

Though Paul gives a personal preference here, his first since the first chapter (1:6), his instruction is very practical, both for the Philippian church and for the church of today. Disunity is far worse than unity, and will not allow us to shine and be the example to the world that God has called us to be.

Instead, doing things without complaining and arguing makes the church far more effective. When we focus on the unimportant things that we complain and argue over, we miss the big point, and that is living lives that are above reproach in order that the word of life will not be dirtied by our actions and attitudes.

It is far better to present it with unity, and without fault, allowing it to be received by those who hear it.

Question: How do you remind yourself to avoid such things as complaining and arguing? How does help you stay effective in holding out the word of life? You can leave a comment by clicking here.