Philippians 1:12, commentary and pictures

Paul wrote to assure the believers that his imprisonment and afflictions had advanced the gospel rather than hindered or stopped it, correcting their fear that his troubles had ended the work. It was not by his preaching but by his bonds as a captive that the attention of the Roman court was drawn to Christianity, and even under a corrupt king the faith gained a foothold and won converts from Nero's own household who became open and unashamed believers. His patience and cheerfulness in long unjust suffering acted as a continual sermon that forced conviction that a higher than earthly power was with him, and by his example other Christians were made more bold to speak the word without fear and to push forward the work from which he was withdrawn. Though apparently cut off from active travel, he exerted a wider and more lasting influence by writing letters of warning and instruction, sending out workers to new fields, and keeping constant supervision, so that his words written in bonds commanded greater attention than his personal presence had. What happened to him shows the broader truth that persecution, displacement, and efforts to hinder the truth fall out to the furtherance of the gospel by spreading it and prompting people to examine it, so that God can bring victory from apparent defeat.

Paul's Imprisonment Advanced Gospel

Paul wrote to keep believers from fearing that his imprisonment and afflictions had stopped the work, assuring them that what had happened to him had fallen out to the furtherance of the gospel rather than hindering it. What looked like the stopping of his usefulness became the opening of the way, and God's grace upheld him in prison and enabled him to rejoice while suffering with faith and full assurance. His troubles brought converts to the faith and freed souls from slavery to sin.

The churches had expected his coming to Rome to be a signal triumph, winning souls even in Nero's court and making Rome a great center from which the gospel would spread rapidly to all nations until it prevailed in the earth. They were deeply disappointed when he arrived in bonds and could not labor as he had hoped. Human calculations failed, but God's purpose did not.

It was not by his sermons but by his bonds as a captive that the attention of the court was drawn to Christianity. Before the close of his two years' imprisonment his bonds in Christ were manifest in all the palace and in all other places. Even in the uncongenial atmosphere of the Roman court under a fierce, debased and corrupt king with vile attendants, the gospel gained a foothold and won trophies of the cross. From the vile attendants of a viler king converts were gained from Nero's household and Caesar's household who became sons of God openly and without shame, proving the weapons of warfare are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

His patience and cheerfulness during long unjust imprisonment, unlike the afflicted of the world, with his meekness, courage and faith, acted as a continual sermon. That spirit in bearing affliction drew public attention and forced conviction that a higher than earthly power was with him and that his willingness to suffer came from unwavering faith. His example nerved other Christians to greater energy and made them more bold to speak the word without fear. They felt they would not lose by advocating truth and pushing forward the work from which he was temporarily withdrawn, and were driven to greater energy while he was withdrawn from public labor. So when his power and usefulness seemed cut off and he seemed able to do least, he gathered sheaves for Christ in fields from which he seemed wholly excluded.

His bonds and the trials that took him before kings, princes, governors and rulers gave him opportunities to testify of Jesus and tell of his conversion to hearers who otherwise might not have heard it, spreading knowledge of Christ and leading many to believe. His sea journey also gave the ship's crew and those he met occasion to witness God's power, hear the name of Jesus, and be converted through his teaching and miracles.

Though apparently cut off from active travel among the churches, he exerted a wider and more lasting influence by writing letters of warning and practical instruction, by sending out consecrated workers both to churches he had established and to fields he had never visited, and by keeping constant communication so he could wisely supervise all. As a prisoner for Christ and prisoner of the Lord he held a firmer place in believers' affections and gained a firmer hold upon them. His words written in bonds commanded greater attention and respect than his personal presence had, commanding greater attention in absence than in presence.

His removal taught believers how heavy the burdens he had borne for them were. It led them to prize his warnings, counsels and instructions as never before. It forced them to take up responsibility and burden-bearing they had shunned and excused themselves from. Seeing his courage, faith and meekness in long imprisonment stirred them to greater fidelity and zeal for Christ and in the cause of Christ.

Persecution Still Advances Gospel

What befell Paul illustrates the wider law of the verse that persecution, displacement, and every effort to hinder the truth fall out to the furtherance of the gospel rather than against it. His imprisonment advanced the cause by carrying it before kings, princes, and rulers who otherwise might never have heard it. Opposition so works that it spreads what it would suppress and prompts onlookers to examine what they had ignored.

When gospel teachers were driven from their homes and shut out from public preaching, they taught in other places and the truth reached remote parts and provinces of France. This was seen when the reformers were driven from Paris and Meaux and preached elsewhere, so scattering became sowing. The same result followed when the message forbidden to be preached from the pulpit was proclaimed in the palace, and what had been regarded as unfit even for servants to hear was heard with wonder by the masters and lords of the empire. Then kings and great men were the hearers, crowned princes the preachers, and the royal truth of God the sermon, a greater work and more magnificent confession of Jesus Christ than any since the apostolic age.

Imprisonment for faith does not silence testimony, because God is with the prisoner and the witness cannot be shut up. So it was in apostolic days, and so again in seventeenth-century England when dissenters were persecuted for their faith. John Bunyan, shut in a loathsome dungeon at Bedford crowded with profligates and felons, breathed the very atmosphere of heaven there. There he wrote his wonderful allegory of the pilgrim's journey from the land of destruction to the celestial city. For over two hundred years that voice from Bedford jail has spoken with thrilling power to the hearts of men, and Pilgrim's Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners have guided many feet into the path of life.

Persecution and hardship can advance the gospel by stirring the public conscience, as when the punishment imposed on two believers, sentenced to pay a fine or be placed in the stocks, stirred public indignation. That sense of injustice made people ready to hear and brought calls for an explanation of the reasons of their faith. God thus brings victory from apparent defeat, so that affliction, chastisement, or loss of active usefulness may serve a person's good and further God's work. Under chastisement a Christian may sometimes do more for the Master than during active service, and what appeared to hinder the work instead advances it.