<p>2:16 <i>Holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain</i>- The context of shining as lights in the world encourages me to translate &quot;holding fast&quot; as in AV, &quot;holding forth&quot;. The Lord Jesus was the light of the world; and by doing &ldquo;all things without murmuring and disputing&hellip; blameless and harmless as the Lamb&hellip; <i>you</i> shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life&rdquo; i.e. the Lord Jesus; Phil. 2:14-16. Paul felt he would have &quot;run in vain&quot; if his converts didn't in their turn preach. The quality of our converts affects the nature of our final reward- for Paul elsewhere uses the image of a race as a symbol for the Christian life which ends in the victory of the Kingdom. But whether he won or lost, he felt that the whole thing would be meaningless if they did not spiritually develop. If as suggested on 1:1 and 2:12,17,23; 3:13,20; 4:1,13 Paul was writing this at around the time he wrote 2 Tim. 4, his comment there that he had run a good race in 2 Tim. 4:7 therefore meant that he was satisfied with the fruit of his labours amongst his converts; for here in 2:16 he says that his race would have been run in vain if they were not spiritually fruitful. And yet all in Asia left him, and so many of his converts clearly fell away, according to how he writes to the Galatians and Corinthians. But some did not, especially some at Philippi, and so he considered his race to have been successful. We too can follow his example and see the glass half full rather than half empty. Paul's joy at the last day was to be a function of the efforts he made in this very brief life for others. And this is the thought which gives eternal significance to our patient teaching and involvement with others who are on the path to the Kingdom. Even a career helping unbelievers will not have the same eternal result; for those folks shall be eternally dead. But life lived for others in Christ shall have this eternal joy of fulfilment. Paul, like us, therefore had a personal investment in the spiritual success of those in his life.</p>