<p>2:15- see on Mt. 3:11; Jn. 3:18.</p><p><i>That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world</i>- &quot;Blameless and harmless&quot; alludes to Lk. 1:6 (as does 1 Thess. 3:13). We are to have the serene spirituality, all down the years, of Zacharias and Elizabeth. &quot;Become...&quot; continues the idea that the Philippians had been given the Spirit, but had much growth left. Lights shining is alluding to the Septuagint of Dan. 12:3, concerning the saints in the Kingdom shining as the stars. Once it is appreciated that we are now in the spiritual heavenlies (Eph. 2:6) then this makes sense. And Paul was using language which Moses had earlier used of how apostate Israel were the &quot;crooked and perverse generation&quot; (Dt. 32:5). The point of his allusion may have been that despite the darkness and apostasy of the surrounding brotherhood, we must all the same shine with the constancy of the stars. Those among God's people who break their covenant with Him, He sees as the world. Thus Moses prophesied of an apostate Israel: &quot;They have dealt corruptly with God, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation&quot; (Dt. 32:5 RSV). These very words are used by Paul here regarding the Gentile world. Apostate Israel are the&nbsp;pagan world; and therefore the rejected at the day of judgment will be condemned along with the world (1 Cor. 11:32). Likewise Is. 42:1,2 concerning Christ's witness to the <i>Gentiles</i> is quoted in Mt. 12:19 regarding His witness to an apostate Israel. Israel were to be made like &ldquo;the tope of a rock&rdquo; just as Gentile Tyre would be (Ez. 24:7; 26:4). &ldquo;Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers&rdquo;, the Lord said to Israel (Mt. 23:32)- yet He was alluding to how the Gentile Amorites filled up the cup of God&rsquo;s judgments and then had to drink it. Pharaoh's heart was hardened to bring about God's glory, but Paul uses the very same language, in the same context, to describe what was happening to an apostate, Egypt-like Israel (Rom. 9:17). Korah and his company were swallowed by the earth, using the very language which Moses so recently had applied to how the Egyptians were swallowed by the earth at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:12).</p>