Philippians 2:16

Holding forth the word of life that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain.

Holding forth the word of life ... This is explanatory of the clause in the preceding verse to the effect that the Philippians "are seen as lights in the world." The light which they are able to shed abroad is not of themselves but of the word of God which they have received. A problem well known to many scholars involves an alternative translation of "holding forth," which would make it "holding fast"; but the resolution of it is unimportant, the meaning being about the same either way it is rendered. As Mounce explained it:

If Paul is continuing the metaphor (of the Christians being lights in the world), then the place should be translated "holding forth" like a torch held out before the bearer ... But if the final clause is parenthetical (Lightfoot) and the apostle is contrasting the Christians with the perverse generation, it will be translated "holding fast."[47]

Run in vain ... labor in vain ... Paul did not mean by this that his ultimate redemption depended in any manner upon the fidelity of the Philippians, but that if they should not live properly his "running" and "labors" would prove to be in vain as far as the Philippians were concerned. Therefore, this verse does not bear upon the so called doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints.