Philippians 1:12-18 (Prison is Awesome!)

Hey guys! Let's go ahead and start off by reading the entire passage for context.

^"12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵  Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice," ~ Philippians 1:12-18

Alright so let's go ahead and dive in with verse 12. What does Paul mean by "what has happened to me."? Well, we know from the following verses that he is talking about his imprisonment. So he is saying that his being in prison is a good thing because the gospel in being spread. In verse 13 he says that all the guards and "all the rest" (almost everyone) knew he was imprisoned for Christ. And it is understood that Paul means that all these people are hearing the gospel. Also in verse 14, Paul says that most of the Christians that knew of his imprisonment were being encouraged and spoke even more boldly now! So because of Paul's testimony, the other Christians were becoming that much bolder! That is amazing when you think about it. If one of your friends is talking about Jesus at Starbucks, and he gets kicked out for it, i don't think you're going to immediately start witnessing there. But that's exactly what happened! Paul got thrown in jail for sharing the gospel, and then all the brothers in Christ were encouraged to be even bolder!

Verse 15 says that some were preaching from envy and rivalry. What does that mean? Most people were doing it for the sake of Christ, but others didn't do it to follow Jesus. They were doing it to try to gain more fame than Paul. Verse 16 gives more information on the people doing it for Jesus. It adds that they were also doing it out of love for Paul knowing that they needed to keep strong while Paul was in prison. Verses 17-18 are interesting. We see what I stated above that some people were spreading the gospel out of envy for Paul, but verse 18 is powerful. Paul is saying that it doesn't matter that he's in prison, or that the gospel is being proclaimed out of that envy, he says that as long as Christ is proclaimed, he will rejoice. Wow! We see so many examples from Paul in his letters that are great for us to follow. We should always rejoice no matter what affliction comes our way if Christ is being proclaimed.

So in conclusion, Paul's main point in these verses (paraphrased obviously) is, "Dude I'm in prison, but it's awesome because 1. the gospel is being shared, and 2. most of the brothers are being even more bold than before! Some people share just because they don't like me and they're jealous, but it doesn't matter because Christ is being proclaimed! So while im sitting in this jail cell, I'm just gonna keep rejoicing while the gospel is being preached!" I'm sorry, but i don't believe i could write that from jail. I would be too caught up in the badness of jail instead of the good that comes out of it. But this is just another example of Romans 8:28 :) (If you don't what that verse is, google it ;) Thank you guys for studying with me again, and i can't wait to start on the next section! ~ The Disciple Jesus Loves.