God’s Word for You

Philippians 1:18b-19 Continue to rejoice

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, February 23, 2026

Not only that, but I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that what has happened to me ‘will turn out for my salvation,’ through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Paul just said, “And because of this I rejoice.” Now he seems to repeat himself, saying, “I will continue to rejoice.” But there is a Greek word, the conjunction alla (ἀλλά) that often gets translated “But.” In this case, however, it is confirmatory and continuative, so I have translated it, “Not only that, but also…” This is also due to the tenses of the two verbs for rejoicing. Earlier in verse 18, we had the present tense chairo (χαίρω). Now we have the future tense charesomai (χαρήσομαι). In the future, this word means to continue to rejoice, to keep on rejoicing. Why make an extra point about this, Paul? Because, he says, this will turn out for his salvation.

His exact words, “This will turn out for my salvation,” are in Greek τοῦτό μοι ἀποβήσεται εἰς σωτηρίαν, more literally “this for me will result (or “turn out,” as we would say), in salvation.” This is exactly the wording of Job 13:16 in the Greek translation, the Septuagint. In the context of Job 13, the patriarch Job is responding to a verbal assault from his cruelest so-called friend, Zophar the Naamathite. Zophar has accused Job of calling out to God without repenting, and he has thown a savage insult at Job: “Before an empty-headed man gets understanding, a wild donkey colt will be born as a man” (Job 11:12). But Job defended himself. He began with some sarcasm, “Surely wisdom will die with you!” (Job 12:2), but he defends the righteousness that he has (Job 13:4) and silences his accuser (“I wish you would shut up, For you, that would be wisdom,” Job 13:5). Then he shows his faith, which is true righteousness. He says, “Even if God slays me, I will wait for him with hope. No matter what, I will defend my ways to his face. Even this may turn out for my salvation, for no godless person would dare to face him” (Job 13:15-16).

When Paul says, “This will turn out for my salvation,” what does he mean? It could be one of three things, and we need to be very careful which one we understand to be correct.

1, Could Paul mean by “salvation” his “deliverance” from bondage? But how could men preaching Christ from false motives and yet spreading the Gospel do anything to free Paul from his chains and imprisonment? This can’t be the correct meaning.

2, Could Paul mean that his “salvation” is his eternal salvation, the rescue of his soul from sin? On the one hand, the Gospel is a means of grace (along with the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and the proclamation of the Gospel turns hearts from sin and to Christ, and therefore it saves souls. As Professor David Kuske explained in our 1982 Catechism, “A water pipe is the means by which the water from a water tower or well is brought to the faucet in our sinks. In a similar way the gospel in God’s Word is the means by which God’s grace (forgiveness of sins and eternal life) is offered and given to us.” “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2). But then we must ask, was Paul languishing in prison in Rome as an unbeliever? Did the preaching of the men with false motives move Paul’s heart to trust the words that they preached more than the Gospel that Christ had preached to him personally, face-to-face, on the road to Damascus and in the desert of Arabia (Acts 9:5; Galatians 1:15-18)? This can’t be the correct meaning either.

3, The noun “salvation” (soterian, σωτηρίαν) has no article in Greek. This detail tells us that the quality, not the definite state of the noun, is being emphasized. This quality is the spiritual benefit of what Paul is going through. He is talking about his imprisonment and inability to preach in person as a cross that he must pick up and carry, and which he carries joyfully. Remember, he already sent his emotional response “rejoice” out into the future. He will continue to rejoice, whether he will be set free from prison, or taken somewhere and put to death by the Romans. This can be the only correct meaning of the text.

And this is why Paul adds, “through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” He knows that their prayers are being spoken for him. And he invites the Philippians to keep on praying for him. Thank you! he says, and keep at it! Jesus says, “Your heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). And one of the gifts the Holy Spirit brings that would be so very useful to Paul and to all Christians is the strengthening of our faith through the Holy Spirit.

Here as elsewhere in the Scriptures, “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” is the Holy Spirit. Luther explains the usage and the concept in the quickest manner I’ve ever read: “Since the Son is true God, he lives in God’s Spirit, in whom without a doubt the Father also lives; and in another passage (Romans 8:9) Paul calls him the Spirit of God just as he calls him the Spirit of the Son (in Galatians 4:6)” (Luther’s Works 27:290). So when Paul says we are given help by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, it is no different from saying we are given help by the Holy Spirit, or by the Spirit of the Father. But the emphasis is on Christ because he is the one being preached, and about which Paul rejoices and will continue to rejoice.

And so say we all.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive