John Chrysostom

"That ye may be blameless," says he, "and harmless"; i.e. irreproachable, unsullied; for murmuring occasions no slight stain. And what means "without disputing"? Is it good, or not good? Do not dispute, he says, though it be trouble, or labor, or any thing else whatever. He did not say, "that ye be not punished," for punishment is reserved for the thing; and this he made evident in the Epistle to the Corinthians; but here he said nothing of the sort; but he says, "That ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ." Observest thou that he is instructing these not to murmur? So that murmuring is left for unprincipled and graceless slaves.

This it is which deserves our admiration, the being "blameless"; for that they might not urge this plea, he himself set it down by anticipation. For the stars too give light in the night, they shine in the dark, and receive no blemish to their own beauty, yea they even shine the brighter; but when light returns, they no longer shine so. Thus thou too dost appear with the greater lustre, whilst thou holdest straight in the midst of the crooked.