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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Philippians 2:16 - 2:16
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
As lights in the world (hōs phōstēres en kosmōi). As luminaries like the heavenly bodies. Christians are the light of the world (Mat 5:14) as they reflect the light from Christ (Joh 1:4; Joh 8:12), but here the word is not phōs (light), but phōstēres (luminaries, stars). The place for light is the darkness where it is needed.
Holding forth (epechontes). Present active participle of epechō. Probably not connected with the preceding metaphor in phōstēres. The old meaning of the verb epechō is to hold forth or to hold out (the word of life as here). The context seems to call for “holding fast.” It occurs also with the sense of attending to (Act 3:5).
That I may have (emoi). Ethical dative, “to me as a ground of boasting.”