Growing up in church, I’ve seen this verse often shared when someone's discouraged, like if plans don't work out or if ministry is difficult. And while this Bible verse certainly encourages during a hard time, for the fellow saints Paul was writing to in the church of Philippi, they understood this promise to be mean more.
For Paul's original Roman audience (and for us today), this promise is about salvation and sacrifice.
You see, Paul is a master missionary, and as such, he regularly borrows from the customs and rituals of the culture he’s ministering to, in order to teach truths about the Gospel.In this passage, the language used by Paul points to a religious sacrifice commonly performed in ceremonies across the Roman empire, like the Roman colony of Philippi. And when Paul uses the Greek words for “to begin” (enarchesthai) and for “to complete” (epitelein), he is pointing to the technical terms denoting the beginning and the ending of this well-known sacrifice.
NT commentator William Barclay explains this ritual. He says that the following sacrificial actions were called “the beginning”, or enarchesthai:
A torch was lit from the fire on the altar and then dipped into a bowl of water to cleanse the water with its sacred flame; and with the purified water the victim and the people were sprinkled to make them holy and clean. Then followed what was known as the sacred silence, in which the worshiper was meant to make his prayers to his god. Finally, a basket of barley was brought, and some grains were scattered on the victim, and on the ground.And the word used by the Greeks for completing this entire ritual is the same Greek word used by Paul, epitelein, “to complete.”
Therefore, Paul is communicating that the life of every Christian is a prepared sacrifice to be offered to Jesus Christ.
And, it’s a sacrificial work that’s God’s already begun. It’s the same imagery Paul uses in Rom. 12:1 when he instructs the Roman Christians to “present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”For followers of Christ, the completion of this sacrifice and our salvation happens on the day of Jesus Christ, i.e., when the King of Kings physically returns and we stand before him, face to face.
On this day, we will be duty bound to present to the King a mark of our love and loyalty.And on this day, the only gift that Jesus Christ will desire from us, is ourselves.
So then, we are called to live lives that are worthy to be offered to King Jesus. This is such a high calling that it can’t be achieved by our good works. Only the grace of God can enable you to be a living sacrifice that’s holy and acceptable to God, and this grace can only be obtained through the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, by having is body broken and his feet and hands nailed to a wooden cross.Therefore, when we come to this table, we are remembering what Jesus did, and we are presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice before the living God.
And as we partake in the bread and the juice, we’re reminded that, us being found acceptable before a holy God, is only possible because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.It’s not about how good we are, or what we do or don’t do.
Instead, it’s all about Jesus Christ and what he did.
That’s the Gospel, and that’s the Good News we declare when we come forward. So, stand, and if this describes the good work that God has begun in you, then come to this table.
