God’s Word for You
Philippians 2:17-18 The happy hiss
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, March 20, 2026
17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad, and I rejoice with all of you. 18 In the same way, be glad and rejoice with me.
The drink offering was called in Hebrew a nesech (Numbers 4:7). Drink offerings were made by pagans in their worship (Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17) as well as by faithful Jews (Ezra 7:17). The drink offering was the conclusion of a sacrifice. After an animal had been killed and then burned in whole or in part in the fire of an altar, the worshiper or priest would pour liquid onto the ashes or smoldering remains. The liquid might be wine, water, or oil. The act would send up smoke in a column above the altar into the air, or in some cases, the drink would be poured out onto the ground in front of the altar. In the case of the twice-daily morning and evening sacrifices in Israel, a quarter of a hin of wine (that is, about a quart or a liter) was to be used for this purpose (Exodus 29:38-41). When the wine was poured directly onto the carcass of the animal, “the liquid would immediately vaporize into rising steam, symbolizing the ascent of that sacrifice into the nostrils of the deity for whom it was being offered” (E.R. Wendland).
The drink offering (Greek σπoνδή) marked the conclusion of the sacrifice in the worship service, whether it was made in repentance for sin, the petition of a prayer, or thanksgiving and prayer.
Did Paul think that his physical life was about to end? This is an interesting question, connecting Philippians and the only other time Paul mentions his life being poured out as a drink offering, 2 Timothy 4:6. In both letters, Paul is nearing the end of an imprisonment in Rome. In Philippians, this was his first Roman imprisonment; in 2 Timothy, it was at the end of his second and final Roman imprisonment, when he was executed; martyred for his faith.
In Philippians, Paul’s death was only a possibility, but it wasn’t as likely as in 2 Timothy, where he perhaps already knew the verdict and that his life was about to end. But this time, his sacrifice to God which had resulted in four years in all in prison, two in Caesarea and two more in Rome, was finally coming to an end. In Philippians 2:24, just seven verses from this one, he says, “I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come (to you) soon.” Therefore Paul was not so much thinking here of his entire earthly life coming to an end, but this particular sacrifice, the last four years of imprisonment, hardship, and almost constant prayer.
But we should see the distinction Paul makes by calling the Philippians’ life of faith and worship their own “offering of faith.” It is not his death that is the offering, but his life of faith, just as the Philippians offered their lives of faith to God as a constant offering of thanks and praise.
Paul was their pastor. He could take pride (verse 16) in the way they had transformed from a city of pagans and heathens, worshiping Greek or Romans gods or no god at all, or as Jews who did not know about the coming of the Messiah, into Christians who knew and loved Christ for everything he has done for all mankind. This is why he can say “that I did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Philippians 2:16).
Pastors, from Paul all the way down to humble men like me, want their flock to believe in Jesus for their forgiveness, to be willing to share that faith with other people, and to want to serve one another in whatever way presents itself. This desire to serve and to spread the Good News is the life of service that often involves crosses and sacrifices—sacrifices of our time, of our resources, of our comfort zone, and other things. But isn’t this just what we see Jesus doing when he seemingly wanders into Samaria and sits down at Jacob’s Well (John 4:6)? When he approaches a funeral at Nain and walks up to touch the platform of the dead boy (Luke 7:14)? When he waits four days to walk a half an hour’s stroll from Jerusalem up to Bethany to see the tomb of his friend Lazarus (John 11:17)? When he pauses under the weight of his own cross in the streets of Jerusalem to stop and warn the women following him not to weep for him, but for themselves and the disaster that was on its way (Luke 23:28-31)? Isn’t this what pastors want to do with their own lives, modeling faith so that their people, our people, will have a modern example of our Savior’s self-sacrificing love? To see our flock trusting, following, and modeling Jesus and his life—this is the happy hiss of the drink offering on a ministry.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.