In his letter to the Philippian church, apostle Paul expressed his joy that they had worked out their own salvation by the will of God. He commended their obedience and steadfastness in the gospel. He concluded by describing himself as a drink offering presented to God (Phil 2:12-17). We will try to find out why Paul described himself as a drink offering and how did the drink offering come about?
Drink offering was first mentioned by Jacob in the Book of Genesis. Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. As Jacob wasn’t the first-born, he wasn’t entitled to Isaac’s blessing. Jacob impersonated Esau to deceive Isaac. Eventually Jacob received his father’s blessing. God spoke to Jacob and changed his name to Israel. Jacob set a stone pillar and poured a drink offering to honour God (Gen 35:10-14).
It could be that Paul thought that drink offering expressed the similarity in his life with Jacob’s. Paul committed offence by persecuting Christians before his conversion (Acts 8:1-3) just like Jacob committed an offence by deceiving his father. Paul was a chosen vessel (Act 9:15), just like Jacob was given a chosen name by God. Paul recognized God’s blessing was not limited to Jews, but to the Gentiles as well. Jacob recognized his blessing shouldn’t be limited to first-born, but to all his sons.
Paul and Jacob contributed to the growth of God’s people in their respective era. Jacob blessed his 12 sons, they became the 12 tribes of Israel (Gen 49:28). Paul evangelised to the Gentiles and wrote most of the New Testament epistles.
Another reason why Paul expressed himself as a drink offering is that he knew he had to sacrifice for God’s sake (Acts 9:16). In Philippians 2:17, Paul expressed his joy to help the Philippians live for Christ even if he had to die. Paul showed his obedience to God through sacrificial service. He found the secret to an abundant life by submitting his control to God and letting God work in and through him. Before Paul died as a martyr in Rome about AD 68, he wrote the second epistle to Timothy. He wrote he was ready to be poured out as a drink offering, that he had been faithful to God and had finished the race (2 Tim 4:6-7).
What can a Christian learn from this account of Paul as a sacrificial drink offering? Paul was so absorbed in following Christ that he was willingly to give up himself. We may not be like the apostle Paul yet, but we can develop our devotion slowly. Often we are busy with a secure life that we don’t make much time to dwell in God’s words, I am guilty of this as well.
There are many ways to develop ourselves. One of the ways is to engage in writing to and for the church, just like Paul. I believe every one of us can write. One benefit of writing is that it helps us align our thoughts to God’s.