Philippians 1:20

‘According to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.'

As he faced his future not a shadow of doubt now crossed his mind. He had come through to a position where he was totally confident that nothing that happened to him would be to his shame (in God's eyes), or to the shame of his message, as he faced his trial, whether it be his release to fight on having given a good confession, or his execution (shameful in the eyes of men) which would result in his triumphant vindication before the throne of God. Either way his concern was that Christ should be magnified through his weak earthly body. As he had said elsewhere, ‘we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not of ourselves' (2 Corinthians 4:7).

‘As always, so now --.' What a ringing testimony Paul had. As he looked back on the past he could confidently claim that he had not failed Christ but had ‘always' boldly proclaimed His Name. That was why he was so confident that he would ‘now' not fail Christ at the final hurdle.

The idea of being ‘put to shame' is very much a Scriptural one found constantly throughout the Psalms and in Isaiah and Jeremiah, where it is also constantly paralleled with the idea of vindication (e.g. Psalms 34:3; Psalms 35:26; etc). Not to be put to shame was to be vindicated. Compare also John's reference to those who in contrast would be ‘ashamed before Him at His coming' (1 John 2:28), and Jesus' own words, ‘whoever will be ashamed of Me and of My words ---, of him also will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of the Father with the holy angels' (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26). Paul knew that he would not be put to shame in this way because he himself was not ashamed to confess Christ whatever the consequences, with the result that he knew that Jesus Christ would openly ‘confess him before the Father'.

The word for ‘earnest expectation' indicates an earnest stretching forward to see what lay ahead (compare Philippians 3:13), and importantly was accompanied by ‘hope' (expectant certainty). He had no doubts about the fact that his future was in God's hands. And it was this that gave him the certainty that, whether he faced life or death, it would result in a bold confession which would magnify Christ. For as he looked ahead the one thing that mattered to him most was that Christ would be magnified.