Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Philippians 1:13

"so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest;" — Philippians 1:13 (ASV)

There were at least two ways in which the Gospel had been advanced through Paul’s circumstances. The first was that it had been made clear throughout “the whole palace guard” that Paul’s imprisonment was “for Christ.” During the first century, prisoners sent to Rome in cases of appeal were entrusted to the care of praetorian guards. As these guards were assigned in succession to Paul, it soon became clear to them that he was no ordinary captive. The words “for Christ” are connected with “clear” in the Greek text; thus Paul was claiming that his relationship to Christ had been made clear to his guards.

Paul’s bold testimony to the Gospel of Christ in spite of his imprisonment had also been borne “to everyone else” who came to his quarters, including members of the Jewish community (Acts 28:17ff.), at least one Gentile (Phm 10), and many Christian coworkers. Instead of falling into self-pity, he took every opportunity to make the Gospel known.