Paul’s imprisonment has served the gospel’s cause
Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
One of the primary reasons that Paul wrote his epistle to the Philippians was to tell them how things were going for him in Rome. The Philippians were concerned about the apostle. They wondered what would happen to him, and they were concerned about the effect his imprisonment would have on the overall cause of the gospel. Would people continue to respond positively to a message whose best known and most eloquent advocate was now a prisoner of the state?
Paul’s first words about his situation are intended to lay the Philippians’ fears and worries to rest. With enthusiastic joy he reports that the Lord has taken all the negative things that happened to him in connection with his imprisonment and trial and used them to advance the cause of the gospel. Paul’s imprisonment and trial have become a tool in God’s hands to remove prejudices and obstacles and to provide a positive atmosphere for a clear and effective proclamation of the gospel in the capital city of the world. In his own life the apostle is now experiencing the truth of the divine promise that the Lord had earlier given the Roman believers through him: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). That promise remains true for believers of every age, from the greatest apostle to the humblest Christian.
God was working through Paul’s imprisonment to advance the cause of the gospel in Rome. That was clear to Paul from at least two important developments. First, his case—and, consequently, the gospel’s cause—had received favorable publicity, first among the members of the palace guard and then throughout the whole city of Rome. The mention of the palace guard (its official title was the Praetorian Guard) would be of particular interest to the Philippian veterans. This well-known military company was a detachment of elite imperial troops stationed in Rome. Its soldiers served as the emperor’s bodyguards, among other things.
Paul doesn’t fill in all the details for us here, but apparently some members of the guard were also assigned on a rotation basis to guard prisoners like the apostle, who had come to Rome to appeal their cases to Caesar. As Paul awaited his trial and then received his first hearing, he became acquainted with many of the soldiers of the palace guard. These soldiers gradually began to realize that Paul was no ordinary prisoner and certainly no criminal. As they observed the apostle and heard him speak to his friends, his secretary, his judges, and to them, even these hardened soldiers could not help but become interested in Paul’s case and the cause for which he stood. It became clear to them that Paul was a prisoner solely for his connection with Jesus Christ, not because he had committed any crime.
The guard members spoke about Paul and his case to one another, to their families, and to others in Rome. As a result, the gospel of Christ and the remarkable ambassador who was willing to suffer imprisonment for the sake of the gospel became front-page news, the talk of all Rome. The mistrust and hostility that many in Rome had harbored toward this new religion called Christianity were broken down as the real issue in Paul’s case became clear and as the gospel message itself became more generally known. Paul’s eloquent defense and confirmation of the gospel at his public hearing likewise served to generate favorable publicity for the gospel throughout the imperial city.
A second positive development was that many of the “brothers in the Lord”—that is, believers who were already in Rome before Paul arrived in the city—found new courage to proclaim and confess the gospel. Years earlier a congregation had been founded at Rome. It consisted mostly of gentile converts. After Paul arrived in the city, large numbers of Jews, including several entire synagogues, were also converted to Christianity. The reaction to Paul’s case had produced a positive attitude toward Christianity in Rome, and the Lord was blessing the apostle’s testimony of Christ in a marvelous manner. This gave all the believers in Rome fresh courage to identify themselves publicly as Christians and to share the good news of the gospel with others.