"What then?" by Charles H. Welch in The Berean Expositor circa 1914-15.

"What then? notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ
is preached, and I therein rejoice, yea and will rejoice" (Phil. i. 18).

The words "what then," taken alone, have little or no meaning, but read in the
light of the context in which they occur in Phil. i., a very precious lesson
may be learned.  Possibly the day had been when the apostle would have been
roused by the miserable pettiness of those who refrained not from making the
sacred proclamation of Christ a means of adding affliction to his
imprisonment, and of seeking to make a party in opposition to the blessed
unity which the apostle so loved.  But now he had learned that the wrath of
man even in the cause of truth hindered but never helped.  He had learned to
find his cause of rejoicing in "things above," and to seek to know "the
fellowship of His sufferings" as something far more precious than the peace
and quietness of earth.  The grand yet difficult lesson of this passage is the
complete subjection of everything personal.  This is seen very clearly in the
structure of the passage which is as follows:-

Phil. i. 12-26.

A | 12,13. What Paul would have them know.
           Bonds were for furtherance of gospel.

  B | 14-18-. "Christ is preached." Personal consideration,
               such as "envy and strife," lost sight of.

    C | -18. Paul rejoicing in result of bonds.
    C | 19-20-. Paul expecting deliverance from bonds.

  B | -20-24. "Christ shall be magnified." Personal consideration,
             such as "life and death," lost sight of.

A | 25,26. What Paul knew.
           His continuance was for their furtherance of faith.

The two members "B" ("Christ is preached") and "B" ("Christ shall be
magnified") are the two foci around which the other passages are arranged.
Some were preaching Christ even of envy and strife.  Each of the words "envy,"
"strife," and "goodwill" occur nine times in the New Testament.  Envy moved
the leaders of Israel to deliver the Lord Jesus to death (Matt. xxvii. 18).
It is found in the midst of abominations (Rom. i. 29), and is the work of the
flesh (Gal. v. 21).  So also strife is found in Rom. i, 29 and Gal. v. 20. It
was prevalent among the carnal Corinthians ( I Cor. i. 11; iii. 3; 2 Cor. xii.
20).

Goodwill, on the other hand, is a fitting frame for heralding Christ and His
gospel (Luke ii. 14).  The heart's desire of the apostle to those who were
moved with envy and malice against himself was for their salvation (Rom. x.
1).  Goodwill (good pleasure A.V.) is the grand setting of the glorious
purposes of God according to Eph. i. 5 and 9.  Those who preached out of
goodwill were actuated by love.  True, in Phil. i., love is linked with
knowledge.  First, in the prayer of verse 9, the apostle who desired that they
may have knowledge and discernment and ability to "try the things which
differed" asks that "their love may abound."  Knowledge without love would
have given an acid tongue and a pharisaic spirit.  In the passage immediately
before us love is linked with knowledge.  Some regarded the imprisonment of
the apostle as a judgment from God, but others knew that he had been "set" for
the defence of the gospel.  In his noble endurance they loved him the more,
and, moved by love out of goodwill, carried on the work he loved so well.

There is a solemn note struck here to which we should all give heed.  The
matter of the preaching was excellent.  All preached Christ.  The motive,
however, was diverse.  Those who preached Christ of envy and strife, of
contention and pretense, did so "not sincerely."  The word for sincere is
rendered "chaste" in 2 Cor. xi. 2, and "pure" in Phil. iv. 8, while the noun
"pureness" occurs in 2 Cor. vi. 6 (see parallel though different word in. 2
Cor. ii. 17).  This reference leads us to see how the apostle ever sought to
make his "doctrine, purpose, manner of life" agree.  "Whatsoever things are
honest ... *if* there be any virtue, and *if* there be any praise (logizesthe)
think, reckon, impute these things" (Phil. iv. 8).  He knew that Christ was
preached of envy and strife, of contention and hatred, but he meets it with
the glorious "WHAT THEN?  *Christ is preached.*"  Stop there! he seems to say.
Go no further.  The Lord alone has the right to judge men and motives; if
there be any virtue, if there be any praise, I will reckon these things, I
will think on these things.  WHAT THEN?  Christ is preached, and I rejoice.

The readers of this magazine may at times find themselves the objects of
hatred, malice, misrepresentation.  Meet it beloved readers with Paul's "What
then."  If reviled, revile not again, if suffering, threaten not; you are in
good hands.  The perfect One Himself never attempted selfvindication; how much
less His failing followers.  If these few words are of any consolation, it is
only in fulfilment of the passage, "the God of all comfort, Who comforteth us
in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any
trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Cor.
1:3,4).