Read the passage several times through, slowly and prayerfully. It might help to use your imagination to picture the scene. At the end of the text you will find helpful background information in our ‘Setting the Scene’ section.

As you read, look out for shockers and blockers.

Shockers – a phrase, word, image or something from the text that resonates, stands out or connects with you.

Blockers – something from the text that raises questions for you.

Philippians 2.12–18

My dear friends, you always obeyed when I was with you. Now that I am away, you should obey even more. So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing. Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything that they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world, as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. Then on the day when Christ returns, I can take pride in you. I can also know that my work and efforts were not useless.

Your faith in the Lord and your service are like a sacrifice offered to him. And my own blood may have to be poured out with the sacrifice. If this happens, I will be glad and rejoice with you. In the same way, you should be glad and rejoice with me.

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Setting the Scene

At the beginning of the passage, Paul is focusing on ‘maturity’. Even though he is absent, they as a community will have to take on responsibility to think through what the Gospel means for them where they are.
Verse 12 is often misunderstood – salvation is God’s work, from start to finish. But the Philippians will need to work out what this means in their daily lives in practice.
Paul may not be around to advise them, they may not see him again – they need to get on with being God’s people. They are to shine as lights – as a beacon of hope, as a sign of God’s beauty in a dark and twisted world. Paul is alluding to Daniel 12.3 which speaks of ‘the wise’ (Israelites who were skilled in knowing and applying God’s law) – shining to the world around (as Daniel himself did – Dan 2.46-48)
‘Day when Christ returns’ (v.16) refers to the day when God will bring the whole cosmos to justice and peace, through the return of Jesus as Lord. Paul of course, does not know if he will be alive to see this day, but has confidence to know that Jesus will come again.

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