Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 2:15

"that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world," — Philippians 2:15 (ASV)

Blameless and harmless.—“Blameless” as to external law and judgment (1 Thessalonians 2:10); “harmless” in internal purity and simplicity (as in Matthew 10:16, harmless as doves; and Romans 16:19).

The sons of God, without rebuke.—The word “without rebuke” is, according to the best manuscripts, the same as that which is used in Ephesians 1:4 (where see Note), and elsewhere, to signify “unblemished.” The whole passage seems certainly a reminiscence of Deuteronomy 32:5, as it runs in the Greek version, speaking of the Israelites as no children of God, full of blemish, a crooked and perverse generation. The word “crooked” is similarly applied to the unbelieving Jews by St. Peter in Acts 2:40, and the epithet faithless and perverse generation used by our Lord in Matthew 17:17; Luke 9:41.

Lights.—Properly, luminaries; so used in the Old Testament, and probably in Revelation 21:11. Christians are as the lesser lights of heaven, dim in comparison with the Sun of Righteousness, perhaps shining by His reflected light, and seen only in the night of this life, until He shall rise on us again in the “day of Christ” spoken of in the next verse. The word, therefore, stands half-way between “light” itself, as in Matthew 5:14, and the merely artificial “light” (or, candle) of John 5:35.