“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world — grumblings (goggysmoi, murmurings, echoing Israel's wilderness complaints) and disputes (dialogismoi, reasonings, inner doubts) are purged. 'Blameless and innocent' (amemptos kai akeraios, unblemished and unmixed) are terms from purity law, now applied spiritually. 'Children of God' (tekna theou) asserts their adopted status; 'without blemish' (amomos) echoes sacrificial language (Levitical spotlessness). The contrast with the 'crooked generation' is stark: they are cosmic counterculture.
Church Fathers on Philippians 2:13
The admonitions which we give ought to be accompanied with commendations; for thus they become even welcome, when we refer those whom we admonish to that measure of zeal which they have themselves exhibited; as Paul, for instance, did here; and observe with what singular discretion; “So then, my beloved,” he says; he did not say simply “be obedient,” not until he had first commended them in these words, “even as you have always obeyed”; i.e. “it is not other men, but your own…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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