The Philippians had some experience with people who preach the gospel with wrong motives. In this week’s passage, Paul addresses this, and clarifies the difference between such people and himself.

Take a look at this passage in Philippians 1:15-16:

In Paul’s experience, and apparently the Philippian believers had experienced it as well, people preached the gospel from two motives. Some preached out of envy and rivalry, while others preached the message out of goodwill and love. In Paul’s opinion, either motive resulted in Christ being preached, and thus brought joy to him.

Remember, Paul is in prison, and word has reached him that many others are preaching the message, but Paul senses that the Philippian believers are troubled by those with wrong motives. The preaching he is referring to is that mentioned in the previous verse, but not all of them are doing so appropriately.

The main concern here is the motive, and not the message. Paul doesn’t indicate that those preaching with the wrong motives are preaching the wrong message, or a heretical one. It seems that the message was correct, but the motives were not.

There are many reasons why this rivalry may have existed, but the most likely is that some men aspired to leadership positions within the church, and were jealous of Paul’s position. They may have believed that vigorous preaching would lead to more legal trouble for Paul, and remove him as an obstacle to their leadership. Such men had no real desire to see people come to Christ, but were more interested in their own recognition as leaders.

Of course, this is conjecture, but it seems to fit the terms that Paul uses here: “rivalry,” “envy,” “selfish ambition,” and “not sincerely” all seem to fit this possibility.

However, there are others who preach with the correct motives. They preach out of goodwill and love. This could be goodwill and love towards Paul, or towards God. If towards Paul, then this is respect given to his position of authority as one appointed by God to the task of apostle. Quite probably, both are included. Those with the proper love toward God would respect his chosen leaders, such as Paul.

Paul’s final phrase in this passage creates some confusion. Paul states that he has been “put here” for the purpose of defending the gospel. Put where? Here on earth to preach the gospel? Or, more specifically, in prison for the sake of defending the gospel? This language gives the sense of a “divine appointment” regardless of which meaning is taken. Paul understood that he was placed here for one purpose. And if that meant he accomplished that purpose from a prison cell, then so be it.

If that was the case, then those preaching with wrong motives could not harm the cause of the gospel, because God could and would use such circumstances to build his Kingdom.

And he still does.

Question: What motives do you have for sharing the message of the gospel? You can leave a comment by clicking here.