epistle, as an athlete `forgetting' the things that are behind, `reaching forth' or `stretching forth' unto the things which

are before, while he `pressed' to the mark for the prize of the high calling.

What was this earnest expectation and hope that so gripped the apostle? It had nothing to do with his

deliverance from prison, or even with the hope of future glory. One overwhelming desire possessed him, which he

immediately proceeds to announce and which was related to present service in view of the day of Christ.

`In nothing' en oudeni, verse 20. `In nothing' en medeni, verse 28. Oudeis, is an independent unconditional

negative, medeis is a conditional negative. Oudeis deals with a matter of fact, medeis with a matter of supposition.

The apostle uses each of these words three times in this epistle. It will help us to observe the contexts of each

Oudeis. The unconditional negative :

` In nothing I shall be ashamed' (1:20).

` I have no man likeminded' (2:20).

` No church communicated with me' (4:15).

Medeis. The conditional negative :

` In nothing terrified by your adversaries' (1:28).

` Let nothing be done through strife' (2:3).

` Be careful for nothing' (4:6).

For himself the apostle can speak positively; for others he allows a certain amount of relativity and supposition.

We may not be able to explain every passage satisfactorily and show why the one word was chosen rather than the

other, but we can see that the choice of oudeis in Philippians 1:20, is all of a piece with fixedness of purpose that is

so manifest through the entire epistle.

`In nothing I shall be ashamed'. Here again his earnest expectation is seen to be concerned with faithful service

rather than with the blessed hope. Paul seems to have had a special sensitiveness to being `ashamed' and uses the

word on more than one occasion in connection with ministry.

The root of the word employed by Paul is aischros, `vile'. The following samples of the way in which this word

is found in his writings will supply sufficient reason for his shrinking from any approach to anything so despicable.

Aischros, `filthy lucre's sake' (Tit. 1:11).

Aischrotes, `neither filthiness' (Eph. 5:4).

Aischrokerdes, `filthy lucre' (1 Tim. 3:8).

Aischunomai, `ashamed' (Phil. 1:20).

Aischune, `despising the shame' (Heb. 12:2).

Kataischuno, `hope maketh not ashamed' (Rom. 5:5).

Epaischunomai, `nevertheless I am not ashamed' (2 Tim. 1:12).

Anepaischuntos, `a workman that needeth not to be ashamed' (2 Tim. 2:15).

In Mark 8:38, the Saviour is recorded as saying `whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words

in this adulterous and sinful generation: of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory

of His Father with the holy angels'.

In Matthew 10:33, the word `deny' is used as a synonym of `be ashamed', and this leads us to the words of

2 Timothy 2:12, where in view of the `prize' or `crown' and as a direct outcome of `the salvation' which is `with

eternal glory', the apostle uses the word `deny' in the same sense and context that the Saviour used the word

`ashamed' in Mark 8.

`If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him:

If we deny Him, He also will deny us' (2 Tim. 2:12).