God’s Word for You

Philippians 1:10 pure and blameless

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, February 14, 2026

10 so that you may be able to approve of what is truly right, so that you will be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

“Able to approve” is my translation of this form of dokimazo (εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν). It shows the result or purpose of the love of the Philippians increasing “more and more in knowledge and every insight” (verse 9). This increasing love brings God’s people to be able to test, like a refiner with silver in a crucible, what is good and right.

“What is truly right” is a versatile expression in Greek. It can mean “more valuable” (“How much more valuable is a man than a sheep” Matthew 12:12), or it can mean “to be different” (“a loud blessing in the morning is no different than a curse” Proverbs 27:14). Here it is the “be more valuable” sense, taken almost as a superlative, “what is most valuable; truly right in God’s sight.”

In our English translations the pairing “pure and blameless” occurs just two times (perhaps three, counting Psalm 19:13), and the other is Philippians 2:15. But the nouns are different. Here we have eilikrineis (εἰλικρινεῖς) in the sense of “honest” or “sincere” (see also 2 Corinthians 1:12) and aproskopoi (ἀπρόσκοποι), which is most often used of a smooth road (1 Corinthians 10:32; Sirach 32:21), but here means “a clear conscience” (as we also see in Acts 24:16).

When we hold up our hearts to the Law of God, we test ourselves against his holy will. Have I kept his commandments? Have I loved his Word and set myself to using it as a guide in my life? Do I use his name the way he would have me use it? Do I look to no other god for the good things that I need? Do I look to Jesus Christ alone for my salvation? Do I turn my back on the lure of wealth, power, glory, and even the temptation to elevate my opinion or my human reason above the word of God?

Having done these things, have I exposed any other sins? I do not want to use wealth as a god, but do I find myself leaning too much the other way, and falling into the sin of having contempt for the blessings God gives? My college advisor warned, “It is a sorry spectacle indeed when someone imagines that all laughter and pleasure, the joys of marriage and children, the vigor of a healthy body and sound mind are evil.” Paul says: “Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and by prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4). Therefore if God has given you something valuable—financial security, a loving spouse, a satisfying job, Christian children, respect among people you know, then be grateful for these things, and thank God for them. But trust God to give you those things, and at the same time know that if he removes them from you, that it is also for your good. “How,” you might ask, “can it be for my good if God tears away my good name and my reputation?” Is God the one who took it away, or did he permit it to fall on account of an error you made, or a sin? And even if you did nothing wrong, but you were wrongfully accused, isn’t the spiritual result the same? Doesn’t God turn us to him so that we look only to him when troubles come?

And so we return to the language of our text. The one who is “pure and blameless” in his heart is known to God, even if the world thinks he is smeared with sin and filth. If he is wrongly accused, then this is a cross for him to carry.

In July of 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh died of a gunshot wound. Despite the fact that the wound was in his abdomen at an angle that would have been very unusual and difficult so as to be self-inflicted, and that no gunpowder residue was found on the artist’s hands at all, and his dying request was not to blame anyone, the wound was officially declared to be suicide (van Gogh believed suicide to be a sin). It is thought by some that a few boys who often teased him may have accidentally shot him (one of them often dressed up like an American cowboy). If indeed he suffered the wound and knew it would be declared suicide by the police in order to protect some young men from being prosecuted, then he carried that cross to his grave; a heavy cross indeed.

Using the Word of God, the Christian strives to test and approve of everything—thoughts, words, and actions—with the goal of giving glory to God “who is pleased with integrity,” and striving to be pure and blameless when Christ returns. For that is the meaning of “the day of Christ,” his second coming, when he will raise the dead and judge all mankind, the angels, the demons, Satan, and the Antichrist. Come, Lord Jesus. Keep us until that day. Amen.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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