NOTES for Php 1:18

At first glance the apostle's words may seem strange. Indeed, preaching Christ and the Kingdom is too important a matter to do it with impure intentions. And how can a person be a true witness if inwardly he at least does not support what he is witnessing about? But apparently witness really can be different. In the biblical books there are examples of people far from the God of Abraham nevertheless witnessing to His power or wisdom when they encounter the obvious. Apparently Paul too understands that if someone mentions Christ, if he cannot simply remain indifferently silent, then Christ has touched this person; and if so, the very reaction becomes witness, even if it is not always positive. Enemies of Christ and the Kingdom, by witnessing to their hatred, prove the reality and power of what they hate. Attached hypocrites who try to make witness into a profitable business thereby witness to the Kingdom as something on which one can try to parasitize; after all, even parasites choose objects that can give them food. Of course, for such "witnesses" their "witness" gives nothing; it only distances them from Christ and the Kingdom. But it attracts the attention of those who may look at Christ and the Kingdom quite differently, actually becoming witness that the "witnesses" themselves never even intended.