“That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” Philippians 2:15
Paul shares the end result of walking worthy, of having the mind of Christ in us, of humbling ourselves to God’s will as the Savior did. When that is our state we will be different from those around us. Paul tells us what the end result looks like.
That you Paul gets very personal. His desire is that those whom he
has led to the Lord be changed – transformed.
May become This is one Greek word that means coming into existence. It describes the fulfillment of actions or prophecies. Paul knows this is the will of God for every believer –to be what He desires us to become. This result is visible to others – our lives become evidence of God living inside us.
Blameless The first result is a believer will be blameless just as the Lord, before His accusers was blameless, without fault. It conveys the idea of moral integrity and uprightness, often in the context of one’s conduct before God and others. Thus no one is able to criticize or accuse a believers of violating the truth they profess. When this happens God makes even our enemies confess the truth as Erasmus did of his great adversary Martin Luther. He states, “Even Luther’s enemies cannot deny but that he is a good man.” Blamelessness extends to the Lord’s judgment of believers at the Bema Seat.
And harmless Harmless is translated innocent in Matthew 10:16 “innocent as doves”. We will not be hurtful to others for we have humbled ourselves before them. Paul wants the Philippian saints to be “blameless in the sight of others; guileless in their own hearts”. The believer’s heart is pure.
Children of God This phrase is to be pondered. The Holy Spirit guides Paul to remind believers of who we represent in front of a wicked world. The world is desperate to prove what believers say is false. When we murmur and dispute it gives them justification
to deny that God’s word is truth
Without fault This word describes what the Christian is in the sight of God. This word is specially used in connection with sacrifices that are fit to be offered on the altar of God. It is uses of a sacrifice to God “without blemish”. This requirement applies to all sacrificial offerings, even .a living one.
In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation Paul reminds the Philippian church that God placed them in the midstof this world. It is crooked not straight. It has turned away from God. It is perverse, twisted and distorted. The world system is deformed in every way yet God has made no mistake in placing His children where they can live spotless before a world in total defiance to His truth.
What can we learn? Spurgeon wrote of this passage “The heathen thought the Christians the worst of men, but were compelled to confess them to be the best, even though they were Christians. We cannot be blameless if we murmur and dispute, for such things
naturally lead to sin. Our lights cannot shine if instead of trimming them we occupy ourselves with blowing out the lamps of
others.” But how can a believer live that way? It is only as the mind pf Christ is in us and as we walk worthy in God’s truth. This reminds us of the instruction of Micah. ” What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?” The end result of the mind of Christ transforming us? “Wise as serpents, harmless as doves!“