In the previous couple of verses, Paul expressed his desire to boast about the faith of the Philippian believers. As he finishes this paragraph in this week’s passage, you can see the urgency in his wish.

Take a look at this week’s passage in Philippians 2:17-18:

Paul uses imagery here that is very vivid. He compares his life to being poured out like a drink offering. It is generally believed that he is speaking about his own forthcoming death. It is doubtful if he means an execution, because in verse 24, he expresses hope that he will soon be released.

That means that his terminology here is more along the lines of “even if.” He has run the race. He has labored. And he is willing to die if necessary for the sake of the gospel.

He uses an Old Testament image as a means to illustrate this. A drink offering was something that accompanied a sacrifice, and was to be poured out on the altar, or at the base of it (See 2 Kings 16:13 for an example). In this case, the sacrifice stems from the faith of the Philippians, and Paul is willing to be the drink offering partnered with that sacrifice, if necessary.

It is noteworthy to remember that a drink offering was not worth anything on its own. It was to always accompany a regular sacrifice. What Paul is implying here is that the faith of the Philippian believers is what makes his offering valid. Without their faith, his efforts are in vain.

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.