As you offer them the message of life should be connected to the preceding clause to form a complete sentence (the verb offer is a participle in Greek). The participial phrase can be expressed in two ways, depending on how one interprets verse 15. Some scholars claim that Paul is there simply speaking of the contrast between the church and the world, and they generally take the participle to mean “holding fast” or “adhering to” (Moffatt Revised Standard Version New American Bible). However, it is more likely that Paul is thinking about the missionary influence of the Philippian church upon the surrounding evil world, as implied in the Good News Translation rendering. It is therefore better to take the participle in the sense of “holding forth” or “offering” (Goodspeed Jerusalem Bible New English Bible). In order to be more explicit, it is desirable to make the message of life the direct object and supply an indirect object, them, hence as you offer them the message of life.

This is the only instance in which Paul uses the phrase the message of life, literally, “the word of life.” There seems to be no need to take this expression in the Johannine sense of “as the very principle of its life” (John 1.1-5), as suggested in the New English Bible footnote. The genitive construction here is better taken in the sense of “the message that brings life,” not “the message concerning life.” Thus “the word of life” is here used synonymously with “the gospel.” Paul calls upon his readers to shine like stars by making their lives a constant demonstration of the Christian gospel.

If one assumes that the message of life is to be understood as “the message that brings life,” one may use a causative expression, for example, “the message that causes people to really live.” Such a causative relation, however, is rather difficult in some languages because it would involve a human agent. Therefore it may be preferable to translate the message of life as “the message that shows people how they can really live.” It may be necessary to use some type of qualification for the term life, for the good news is not merely an explanation about how human existence is to be continued. The life spoken of in the New Testament is characterized as “real life,” in contrast with mere human existence.

The Greek prepositional phrase rendered in Revised Standard Version as “so that in the Day of Christ I may be proud” appears to carry a conditional force. Thus Goodspeed has “then I will have reason to boast of you” (with an “if” clause implied; cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). One can go a step further, as Good News Translation does, and render it explicitly as If you do so, I shall have reason to be proud of you (Barclay “for, if you do, … I will be able proudly to claim…”). Obviously, Paul is not speaking about the pride he now has in his readers, but he is suggesting a reason for such pride as he expects to have in the future, namely, on the Day of Christ. As in 1.6 and 1.10, the Day of Christ refers to the Parousia, the second coming of Christ (Barclay “on the day when Christ comes”; cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The pronoun it in the expression because it will show must refer to the behavior of the Christians in Philippi. It may be important to make this rather specific, for example, “because what you have done will show,” or “because what you are like will show.”

Paul now proceeds to explain the basis for his pride by picturing himself as looking back on his life from the time of the Day of Christ. He does this by using two aorist tense verbs, literally, “that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain” (American Standard Version). “That” is an added explanation of the preceding clause, thus because it will show that (New English Bible “proof that”).

The verb “run” is a favorite Pauline metaphor. It is taken from the life of an athlete and depicts a runner in the stadium dashing toward the finish line (Acts 13.25; 20.24; 1 Cor 9.24, 26; Gal 2.2). The phrase “in vain” (used in the New Testament only by Paul) is found in the papyri as describing water running to waste. The metaphor can be kept in the translation, thus “I did not run the race in vain” (New American Bible), “I did not run a loser’s race” (Barclay), or “I had not run in the race … for nothing” (Jerusalem Bible). For some languages, it may be best to substitute a nonmetaphor, as Good News Translation does, all my effort and work have not been wasted.

It is possible that the second verb work is a continuation of the metaphor picturing the hard work of the athlete’s training for the race. It means “to work to the point of exhaustion” (Jerusalem Bible “exhausted myself for nothing”).

One may find it difficult to speak of effort and work being wasted. It may be easy enough to speak of wasting a substance, but not of wasting an activity. One may therefore need to restructure the final part of this verse as “what you are like will show that when I engaged in all my hard work I did not do it for nothing,” or “… this was not useless.” In some languages it is important to combine effort and work in a single expression indicating the exhausting nature of the work, for example, “when I worked so hard that I became exhausted,” or “when I worked to the point where I hardly had any more strength.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .