Philippians 1:28

‘And in nothing affrighted by the adversaries, which is for them an evident token of perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God.'

Nor, because of their confidence in their salvation, were they to be at all afraid of their adversaries (or, as the word can signify, ‘they were not to shy away from their adversaries'), for their fearlessness and steadfastness in the face of persecution would serve to underline and emphasise both the destruction coming on their adversaries, and their own salvation, in that it was a fearlessness that was from God. The main emphasis in mentioning ‘salvation' (as is evidenced by the fact that ‘salvation' is used in parallel with ‘perdition' on their adversaries) is on the future aspect of their salvation when all will finally have been accomplished and they will be presented before God, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. But, as Philippians 2:12 brings out, salvation is also to be for them a continuing process going on at the present time. God's salvation is in fact a total process which commences at the moment of first ‘believing'. It is initially permanent, complete and certain from the moment of believing because of the nature of the One Who saves (it is guaranteed), it then results in a continual life process as the Saviour continually carries out His saving work, and it comes to its final completion on that Day (compare Titus 3:4) when we are presented perfect before Him.

The word for ‘adversaries' is a strong one, indicating violent opposition. These would be pagans, although no doubt including some Jews (who although present, were a comparative rarity in Philippi, for there was apparently no synagogue or Lydia and the others would not have met for prayer by the river). The pagans had been stirred into virulence, partly because of their pride in the worship of the god Roma and of the emperor, and partly because of the impact of the Gospel and its message of purity, which both brought their own lives into disrepute, and resulted in the destruction of the reputation of their gods. They were necessarily affected by the ‘fire kindled' by the presence of Christ (Luke 12:49), which differentiated true righteousness from unrighteousness. The violence in mind here is probably mob violence, rather than of official persecution by the state. It was to be expected, for, as Paul stressed elsewhere, ‘all who would live godly in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution' (2 Timothy 3:12; compare Acts 14:22), and we know that he suffered more than his fair share of it.

Note on ‘Perdition (apoleia).'

In Philippians 3:19; Matthew 7:13; Romans 9:22 the word signifies ‘destruction', and in the last case has in mind the idea of vessels which are destroyed. In Acts 25:16 it refers to ‘execution' by the Roman judiciary. Both Judas and the man of sin are described as ‘sons of perdition' (John 17:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3), that is, ‘those fitted for destruction'. In Hebrews 10:39 those who are apostates are described as ‘drawing back to perdition'. They are failing to grasp salvation. In 1 Timothy 6:9 Paul speaks of ‘hurtful desires that drown men in destruction (olethros) and perdition (apoleia)' because they have caused them to truly respond to Christ. There may thus appear to be an emphasis on the fact that, once having been suitably punished (with many stripes or with few stripes - Luke 12:47), they would face final destruction. In Revelation 17:8, however, the beast who comes up from the Abyss will (along with the Devil) ‘go into perdition', being thrown alive into ‘the lake of fire which burns with brimstone' where he will be ‘tormented day and night for ever and ever' (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10). The question then must be as to whether, like Satan himself, the beast, along with the false prophet, must be seen as special cases, for they alone are said to be thrown into the lake of fire ‘alive'.

The fact that these descriptions are not to be taken too literally is apparent both:

· From the fact that Death and Hades will also be destroyed in the lake of fire, thereby ceasing to exist. Such a destruction in the lake of fire could hardly literally occur as ‘death' is not a literal entity. The idea, vividly put, is that it has simply ceased to exist.

· From the fact that a spirit being like Satan would not be affected by physical fire.

The lake of fire is rather, therefore, to be seen as descriptive of the awfulness of God's judgments, and the certainty of the defeat of all God's enemies, put in the worst terms that the human mind could think of, but not to be taken too literally.

End of note.