3. What had been the effect of Paul’s imprisonment on the other Christians? Philippians 1:14.
NOTE: ‘Paul’s patience and cheerfulness during his long and unjust imprisonment, his courage and faith, were a continual sermon. His spirit, so unlike the spirit of the world, bore witness that a power higher than that of earth was abiding with him. And by his example, Christians were impelled to greater energy as advocates of the cause from the public labours of which Paul had been withdrawn. In these ways were the apostle’s bonds influential, so that when his power and usefulness seemed cut off, and to all appearance he could do the least, then it was that he gathered sheaves for Christ in fields from which he seemed wholly excluded.’ Acts of the Apostles, page 464.
4. Even though some of those Christians were preaching Christ from wrong motives, what was Paul’s conclusion? Philippians 1:18.
NOTE: ‘The minds of the people must be agitated; every controversy, every reproach, every effort to restrict liberty of conscience, is God’s means of awakening minds that otherwise might slumber. How often this result has been seen in the history of God’s messengers! When the noble and eloquent Stephen was stoned to death at the instigation of the Sanhedrin council, there was no loss to the cause of the gospel. The light of heaven that glorified his face, the divine compassion breathed in his dying prayer, were as a sharp arrow of conviction to the bigoted Sanhedrist who stood by, and Saul, the persecuting Pharisee, became a chosen vessel, to bear the name of Christ before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And long afterward Paul the aged wrote from his prison-house at Rome: “Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, ... not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds.... Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached.” Through Paul’s imprisonment the gospel was spread abroad, and souls were won for Christ in the very palace of the Caesars. By the efforts of Satan to destroy it, “the incorruptible seed” of the Word of God, “which liveth and abideth forever,” is sown in the hearts of men; through the reproach and persecution of His children, the name of Christ is magnified, and souls are saved.’ Sons and Daughters of God, page 261.