God’s Word for You

Philippians 1:16 pure doctrine

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, February 20, 2026

16 Some do so out of love, knowing that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel.

In the previous verse, we considered that “some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry,” and “others (preach Christ) out of good will.” In verses 16-17, those two groups are reversed, so that the “good will” preachers are now placed first as those who preach out of love. The others we will see in verse 17 as the troublemakers. This pattern, taking an A-B pairing and then reversing them as B-A, is known grammatically as a chiasm, or a chiasmus. One of the most obvious examples is “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Macbeth I:1). Another is “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me” (Richard II, V:5). These examples repeat the words in the same phrase, so they are technically a special category of chiasm known as an antimetabole. Paul’s longer example is a true chiasm.

What about those who preach Christ out of love? If the Gospel is effective no matter who preaches it, then why does it matter that we want our people to belong to churches in our fellowship? Why train pastors at all, as long as there are any Christian pastors in the world, in the country, and in our cities and towns?

First, this is answered at our own kitchen tables. Why feed our children at home if the family next door is making dinner? Why not send our children over there? The answer is simple: The first time, they might get fed. But after two or three such excursions, the family next door might start turning them away. But if it keeps up, they might question whether we are fit parents, and sue for custody of our children. In the church, this means losing our people and the dissolution of our churches. This is no abstract theory. When the Gospel is not preached, the people begin to starve, to hunger and thirst for the Gospel. Our own churches grow on account of this, when the Reformed churches close their doors and we need to add services to serve everyone. The pastor might get tired after three Sunday services, and five over the course of the weekend, but God gives rest and strength to the shepherds who watch over his flocks.

Secondly, and more importantly, God commands that we watch our doctrine closely (1 Timothy 4:16). This is no idle recommendation, but a firm command of God to his ministers. “The doctrine commonly confessed by the churches of the pure Christian religion is drawn together out of the Word of God.” Also, “in order to preserve the pure doctrine and to maintain a thorough, lasting, and God-pleasing concord within the church, it is essential not only to present the true and wholesome doctrine correctly, but also to accuse the adversaries who teach otherwise (1 Timothy 3:9; Titus 1:9; 2 Timothy 2:24, 3:16). ‘Faithful shepherds,’ as Luther states, ‘must both pasture and feed the lambs and guard against wolves so that they will flee from strange voices and separate the precious from the vile’ (John 10:12-16,27; Jeremiah 15:19).’”

There are many commands to “flee from division and wrong teaching” (1 Corinthians 6:18, 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:11). “Do not be caught by the fishhooks of false doctrine” (Ignatius to the Magnesians 11:1). There are also many warnings about false teachers (2 Peter 2:1-3; 1 John 4:1; 2 Corinthians 11:13). We teach these warnings to our youngest children. This is the way Martin Luther explained the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “God’s name is kept holy when his Word is taught in its truth and purity and we as children of God lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But whoever teaches and lives contrary to God’s Word dishonors God’s name among us. Keep us from doing this, dear Father in heaven!” If we fail to do this, then how will we or our children ever be able to call upon God in a day of trouble, as he invites us to do (Psalm 50:15)? Anyone who prays without faith does not pray at all, and God does not hear him, for (as I tell my students and my sons) God does not open other people’s mail. As John says, “If anyone does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him any greeting” (2 John 1:10). And Paul says even more simply: “Do not teach any false doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:3).

What is more, the devil can’t stand to have anyone teach or believe what is good and right. When his lies are exposed, he explodes into fury like a drunken fool, tearing and clawing and spitting his venom against us, turning the world against us, and even inciting our own sinful flesh against us in terrible ways, causing our own doubt, fear, uneasiness, anxiety, and especially our knowledge of our own sinfulness to slow us down and stop us from opposing him. This is why we need to throw ourselves back at the feet of Christ, so that we will be reminded again and again that our sins are forgiven, and that the devil has no power over us; no accusations to hold up against us that might dishonor the Savior we love so much. The blood of Jesus protects us against the old Liar’s lies.

Then we will be able to do what Paul’s brothers were able to do, to go back out into the world with a pure heart and speak up for Jesus. “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false” (Psalm 24:4). Then we can proclaim Christ out of love, with sincerity and honesty, and the firm conviction that what we preach and teach is nothing less than the holy and true Word of God, and that what we believe is the pure doctrine of Christ crucified for all sins of all mankind, forever (Hebrews 10:10).

Holy Father, bless our faith, our families, and the sermons we preach with our lives every day.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive