NOTES for Php 1:18-19
What is witness to Christ? Who can be a witness? It usually seems self-evident to us that only a Christian, a person who follows Christ and is faithful to him, can be Christ's witness. But Paul, judging by the words of his letter, thinks otherwise. It turns out that Christ can also be preached "in pretense." What does the apostle mean when he speaks of "pretended" preaching? Judging by his own words, he is speaking of people who preach Christ in order to worsen his situation, in particular to discredit him before the authorities (v. 16). It would seem that such witness cannot be considered witness at all.
And yet Paul regards it precisely that way. He understands that even fierce denial, lies, and slander draw attention to the One to whom he himself bears witness. Of course, if Christianity were simply one more new religion, such scandalous notoriety could only harm it. But that is precisely the point: Christianity is not a religion at all. Christianity is life with Christ in his Kingdom. And this life speaks for itself. Here it no longer matters what draws a person to it: sincere searching or interest in various sensational facts.
The apostle is not concerned with how a person learns about Christ and the Kingdom, from whom and in what context he hears about the new life. Paul understands perfectly well that as soon as a person experiences this new life, he will immediately forget all the bad things he may have heard about it from people hostile to Christ and to the Kingdom. If the matter concerned a new teaching or a new religion, much would depend on people's attitude toward it. Every human word would either support this teaching or religion and strengthen it, or deny it and undermine it.
Paul knows from his own experience, as no one else does, that no person can take anything away from the Kingdom or add anything to it. Just as no person can diminish Christ or exalt him. All words spoken by a person about Christ and the Kingdom characterize only the speaker himself and determine only his own path. A path leading either to salvation or to ruin. Those who listen to the speaker make their own choice. And what they choose or reject is not someone else's words, but the salvation offered to them themselves.