Kenneth S. Wuest

Cutting a Path

"Paul is in prison in Rome, writing to his beloved Philippians. He is assuring them that the circumstances in which he finds himself, are contributing to, rather than Hindering, the advance of the gospel. He says in Philippians 1:12 that the things that have happened to him have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. The word "furtherance" is from a Greek word...used in the 1st century to refer to a company of wood cutters preceding the progress of an army, cutting a road through the forest so that it might advance. Paul says that his circumstances are divine wood cutters, cutting a way through the opposition so that the gospel might be advanced.

His liberty was gone. He was chained to a Roman soldier night and day. God had built a fence around the apostle. He had put limitations about him. He had placed handicaps upon him. But Paul says that they are God's wood cutters making a road for the advancement of the gospel."