(15) Blameless and harmless.--"Blameless" as to external law and judgment (as in Luke 1:6; 1Thessalonians 2:10); "harmless" in internal purity and simplicity (as in Matthew 10:16, "harmless as doves;" and Romans 16:19).

The sons of God, without rebuke.--The word "without rebuke" is, according to the best MSS., the same as that which is used in Ephesians 1:4 (where see Note), and elsewhere, to signify "unblemished." The whole passage seems certainly a reminiscence of Deuteronomy 32:5, as it runs in the Greek version, speaking of the Israelites as "no children of God, full of blemish, a crooked and perverse generation." The word "crooked" is similarly applied to the unbelieving Jews by St. Peter in Acts 2:40, and the epithet "faithless and perverse generation" used by our Lord in Matthew 17:17; Luke 9:41.

Lights.--Properly, luminaries; so used in the Old Testament, and probably in Revelation 21:11. Christians are as the lesser lights of heaven, dim in comparison with the Sun of Righteousness, perhaps shining by His reflected light, and seen only in the night of this life, till He shall rise on us again in the "day of Christ" spoken of in the next verse. The word, therefore, stands half-way between "light" itself, as in Matthew 5:14, and the merely artificial "light" (or, candle) of John 5:35.

Verse 15. - That ye may be blameless and harmless; read, with the best manuscripts, that ye may become; an exhortation to continued progress. "Harmless;" rather, pure, simple; literally, unmixed. The sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation; rather, children, without the article. "The slave may murmur," says Chrysostom, "but what son will murmur, who, while working for his father, works also for himself?" Substitute "blameless" for "without rebuke," and "generation" for "nation." There is a close resemblance bore, especially in the Greek, and an evident reference to Deuteronomy 32:5. The Philippians are exhorted to exhibit in their lives a contrast to the behaviour of the rebellious Israelites. Among whom ye shine as lights in the world; not "shine," but, as R.V., are seen or appear. Lights; literally, luminaries. The word is used in Genesis 1:14, 16 of the sun and moon. Comp. Ecclus. 43:7 and Wisd. 13:2, "where φεστῆρες ὀυρανοῦ is exactly equivalent to φωστῆρες ἐν κοσμῷ here, the κοσμός of this place being the material world, the firmament; not the ethical world, which has been already expressed by the crooked and perverse nation" (Trench, 'Synonyms of the New Testament').

2:12-18 We must be diligent in the use of all the means which lead to our salvation, persevering therein to the end. With great care, lest, with all our advantages, we should come short. Work out your salvation, for it is God who worketh in you. This encourages us to do our utmost, because our labour shall not be in vain: we must still depend on the grace of God. The working of God's grace in us, is to quicken and engage our endeavours. God's good-will to us, is the cause of his good work in us. Do your duty without murmurings. Do it, and do not find fault with it. Mind your work, and do not quarrel with it. By peaceableness; give no just occasion of offence. The children of God should differ from the sons of men. The more perverse others are, the more careful we should be to keep ourselves blameless and harmless. The doctrine and example of consistent believers will enlighten others, and direct their way to Christ and holiness, even as the light-house warns mariners to avoid rocks, and directs their course into the harbour. Let us try thus to shine. The gospel is the word of life, it makes known to us eternal life through Jesus Christ. Running, denotes earnestness and vigour, continual pressing forward; labouring, denotes constancy, and close application. It is the will of God that believers should be much in rejoicing; and those who are so happy as to have good ministers, have great reason to rejoice with them.That ye may be blameless,.... This, and what follows, show the end to be answered, by observing the above exhortation. This respects not their being blameless in the sight of God, which the saints are not in themselves, being not without sin, though they are, as considered in Christ, clothed with his righteousness, and washed in his blood; but their being blameless before men: and this may be understood both actively and passively; actively, that they might be without blaming others; some are so unhappy in their disposition and conduct, as to be always finding fault with, and blaming all persons they are concerned with, and all things in them, and done by them, right or wrong, without any just reason; and this ought not to be, and may be prevented by doing all things, as before directed: or passively, that they might not be blamed by others justly; for no man can escape the blame and censure of everyone; our Lord himself did not, nor this our apostle; but doing, as before exhorted to, will, in a great measure, preclude any just reason for blame and complaint: it is added,

and harmless; that is, that they might be, and appear to be so; harmless as doves, in imitation of Christ, who was holy in his nature, and harmless in his conversation, as his followers should be; doing no injury to any man's person or property, behaving in an inoffensive manner to all men, to Jew and Gentile, and to the church of God: it follows,

the sons of God; not that they might be sons by so doing; but be "as the sons of God", as the Syriac version renders it, be like them, and behave as such; for they were the sons of God already; not by creation only, as angels, and all men are, not merely by profession of religion, but by adopting grace; they were predestinated to the adoption of children, and were taken into this relation in the covenant of grace, Christ had redeemed them from under the law, that they might receive this blessing, and it was actually bestowed upon them by him in conversion: but the sense is, that they might appear to be the children of God, by acting as becomes such; not that they might appear so to themselves, for they were openly and manifestly to themselves the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, and through the testimony of the Spirit, witnessing to their spirits that they were in such a relation to God; but that they might appear so to others, that they were the adopted sons of God, and also begotten again by him, and made partakers of the divine nature; by their being followers of God as dear children, and by their being obedient ones to him in all holiness and godly conversation, yielding a ready and cheerful obedience to his will, without repining at it, or disputing about it; and to be

without rebuke; not without the rebuke of their heavenly Father, for whom he loves he rebukes, and every son that he receives into his family he scourges and chastises, not in wrath and anger, or with rebukes of fury, but of love; but without the rebuke of men, both of the churches and ministers of Christ, whose business it is to reprove and rebuke, publicly and privately, as cases and their circumstances require; and of the men of the world, who when they have any occasion, make use of it to speak reproachfully, as a railing Rabshakeh did, when it is a time of rebuke and blasphemy, and to be shunned and guarded against as much possible: especially since the saints live

in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation: or age and generation, as every age is; saints are like lilies in the valleys, liable to be trampled upon by the foot of every wild beast; like roses among thorns, to be scratched and torn; and like Lots in the midst of Sodom, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: the whole world lies in sin, and the saints are enclosed on every side with wicked men. Philippi, where these saints lived, was a place of wickedness, and so no doubt was the whole region of Macedonia; the inhabitants were evil for the most part; their ways were crooked, and their works perverse, being contrary to the law of God, and Gospel of Christ; and therefore the following exhortation to the saints there was very suitable,

Among whom ye shine; or "shine ye", as it may be rendered,

as lights in the world. This world is, in a moral sense, what the original chaos was in a natural sense, covered with darkness; the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, of impiety and superstition, has spread itself over the far greater part of the world; the men of it are children of the night, and of darkness; their works are works of darkness, and they are going on in darkness, not knowing where they are going. The saints are the lights of the world, they were once darkness itself, but are made light in and by the Lord; they are called into marvellous light, and are filled with light spiritual and evangelical; they are like the moon and stars, that give light to the world in the night; and as they receive their light from the sun, and communicate it to the world, so do the saints receive theirs from Christ, the sun of righteousness, and show it forth to others, both by doctrine and practice: or rather the churches of Christ are as candlesticks, in which the light of the Gospel is put, and held forth to men, as follows, see Matthew 5:14.