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 motives. And how can a person be a genuine witness if inwardly he at least does not support what he is witnessing to?

But, as can be seen, witness truly can be different. In the biblical books there are examples of people far from the God of Abraham who nevertheless testified to His power or wisdom when they encountered 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, his very reaction becomes witness, even if not always positive.

The enemies of Christ and the Kingdom, testifying to their hatred, prove the reality and power of what they hate. Hypocrites who attach themselves to the cause and try to make witness profitable for themselves thereby testify to the Kingdom as something on which one can try to parasitize; and even parasites choose objects for parasitism that can give them food. Of course, for such "witnesses" this kind of "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, truly becoming a witness of which the "witnesses" themselves never even thought.