TITLE. ΠΡῸΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΗΣΊΟΥΣ. So אABK2 and many cursives. D2G2 read αρχεται προς Φιλιππησιους (D2, -ηνσιους). L has του αγιου αποστολου Παυλου επιστολη προς Φιλιππησιους; and several other forms of the title appear, all considerably later than that given in the text. A. ST PAUL’S RESIDENCE AT ROME (In... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΥ͂ΛΟΣ. The name first appears Acts 13:9. It was probably from the first the alternative name (for use in intercourse with Gentiles) of Saul; given him as bearing a sound resembling his Hebrew home-name. It seems to have been a favourite name at Tarsus (Lewin, _Life &c. of St Paul_, i. 6). He adds... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΆΡΙΣ ὙΜΙ͂Ν ΚΤΛ. Χάρις is a near equivalent to the English “favour,” with its alternative meanings of comeliness and goodwill, of pleasingness and pleasure. The latter is its far commoner direction in LXX. and N.T., the former in the Greek Apocrypha. Linguistically, the word seems to be connected fi... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕΥ̓ΧΑΡΙΣΤΩ͂. So also in the opening of Rom., 1 Cor., Eph., Col., 1 Thess., Philem. His “thanksgivings” for the two Macedonian Churches, Philippi and Thessalonica, are peculiarly warm and full. ΤΩ͂Ι ΘΕΩ͂Ι ΜΟΥ. The phrase is almost peculiar in N. T. to St Paul. In O. T., cp. Psalms 22:1 (appropriated... [ Continue Reading ]
THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER FOR THE PHILIPPIAN SAINTS... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΕΉΣΕΙ. “Request, petition”; a narrower word than προσευχή, which may and often does denote _worship_ at large. ΜΕΤᾺ ΧΑΡΑ͂Σ. Emphatic words by position. They strike a note continually repeated in the Epistle. ΤῊΝ ΔΈΗΣΙΝ. “_The_ request” just mentioned. ΠΟΙΟΎΜΕΝΟΣ. The middle suggests a personal f... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠῚ ΤΗ͂Ι ΚΟΙΝΩΝΊΑΙ ὙΜΩ͂Ν. “Over (on account of) your fellowship,” your making yourselves one with me, whether in deed or in spirit. See further just below, Philippians 1:7 and notes. The immediate but by no means whole reference was no doubt to their generous gifts of money; cp. Philippians 4:10-19.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΕΠΟΙΘῺΣ. “Feeling confident.” The word sometimes denotes _reliance_, on sure grounds, expressed or not (so e.g. Matthew 27:43; 2 Corinthians 1:9; below, Philippians 2:24; Philippians 3:3-4); sometimes a more arbitrary _assurance_ (Romans 2:19); in every case, a feeling of personal certainty. This e... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 1:6 is a parenthesis in the thought, suggested probably by the last words of Philippians 1:5. We now take up the thread of Philippians 1:4-5; the thankful remembrance, the glad prayer, occasioned by their “fellowship in the Gospel.” He now justifies the assertion in detail. ΔΊΚΑΙΟΝ. Not... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΆΡΤΥΣ … Ὁ ΘΕΌΣ. Cp. Romans 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:10; and see 2 Corinthians 1:18; for similar solemn appeals, characteristic of an ardent heart, often tried by unkind suspicions. ἘΠΙΠΟΘΩ͂. The word is not common in classical Greek, nor in Biblical Greek before the N.T., where i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΠΡΟΣΕΎΧΟΜΑΙ. He defines thus the “request” of Philippians 1:4. ἽΝΑ ΚΤΛ. Here ἵνα _c. conj_. denotes rather _purport_ than _purpose_; less the aim than the idea of his prayer. This usage, as distinct from the strictly _final_ usage, belongs to the later classical and the Hellenistic Greek... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΤῸ ΔΟΚΙΜΆΖΕΙΝ. “With a view to (to qualify you for) testing.” ΤᾺ ΔΙΑΦΈΡΟΝΤΑ. See Romans 2:18 for the same phrase.—Τὰ διαφέροντα may be either “the things which _excel_,” or “the things which _differ_” (as in margin R.V.). On the whole we prefer this latter, partly as agreeing better with the (s... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΕΠΛΗΡΩΜΈΝΟΙ. The perfect participle seems to anticipate “the day.” He sees the Philippians as they will be then, “having been filled,” and therefore then full; trees whose every branch had put forth, in their earthly life, “the fruit” described Galatians 5:22-23.—On the reading, see critical note.—... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤᾺ ΚΑΤʼ ἘΜῈ. “The things relating to me, my position, my affairs.” For the phrase cp. Romans 1:15; Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7. It does not appear in LXX. or Apocrypha, and is not common in classical Greek. The special reference is to his imprisonment, as an unlooked for advantage for his mission... [ Continue Reading ]
ST PAUL’S PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND INWARD EXPERIENCE... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΑΝΕΡΟῪΣ ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΩ͂Ι. Certainly connect these words. Briefly, they are as if he had written φανεροὺς ὡς ἐν Χριστῷ ὄντας. What was “manifest” about the captivity was that it was “in Christ”; it was due to no political or social crime, but to his union with his Lord. ΓΕΝΈΣΘΑΙ. Literally, “Proved, cam... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟῪΣ ΠΛΕΊΟΝΑΣ. “The majority.” There were exceptions, a minority. He has in mind what comes out below, the difference between friendly and unfriendly sections among the Roman Christians. Acts 28:15, and the Epistle to the Romans as a whole, assure us that the friendly were the majority. On the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΙΝῈΣ ΜῈΝ ΚΑῚ ΔΙᾺ ΦΘΌΝΟΝ ΚΑῚ ἜΡΙΝ. “Some actually for envy and strife, while others, (as) actually, for goodwill.” Here he refers to that Judaistic school within the Church which followed him with persistent opposition, especially since the crisis when, in council, he won a decisive victory over the... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΜῈΝ ἘΞ�. On the order of the clauses here, see critical note. ΕἸΣ� … ΚΕΙ͂ΜΑΙ. _In defensionem … positus sum_ (Vulgate).—For ἀπολογία, see note on Philippians 1:7 above.—Κεῖμαι: “I am set.” For a similar use of the verb see Luke 2:34, οὗτος κεῖται εἰς πτῶσιν κτλ.; 1 Thessalonians 3:3. The thought... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΞ ἘΡΙΘΕΊΑΣ. “Prompted by faction, partizanship.” On the spelling ἐριθίας see Westcott and Hort, _N. T. in Greek_, II. Appendix, p. 153.—Ἐριθεία (cp. for this meaning Romans 2:8; 2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20; below, Philippians 2:3; James 3:14; James 3:16) is the work of an ἔρῖθος, a day-labo... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊ ΓΆΡ; “Well, what of that?” Τί γάρ; is common in classical Greek in quick steps of more or less argumentative statement. Lightfoot cites Xen. _Mem_. II. vi. §§ 2, 3, where τί γάρ; (varied by τί δέ; τί οὖν;) repeatedly thus takes up the thread in dialogue. ΠΛῊΝ ὍΤΙ. “Only that.” A beautiful modifi... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἾΔΑ ΓᾺΡ. He explains _why_ he “shall rejoice.” Next to the highest reason, that “Christ is being proclaimed,” comes in this attendant certainty, that his own spiritual good will be furthered. ΤΟΥ͂ΤΌ ΜΟΙ�. “I shall find this resulting.” ΣΩΤΗΡΊΑΝ. The word includes in its widest reference the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤᾺ ΤῊΝ ΚΤΛ. “The supply of the Spirit” will evidence itself in the “magnification of Christ in his body.” That the Lord _will_ be so “magnified” is his eager expectation. Thus, the “supply of the Spirit” will be “according to,” correspondent to, that expectation. ἈΠΟΚΑΡᾹΔΟΚΊΑ. “Longing expectatio... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΜΟῚ ΓᾺΡ. Ἐμοὶ is emphatic, with the force not of self-assertion but of intense personal experience. This passage is linked with the former by explaining the secret of his holy equanimity in this suspense between life and death. Life and death are to him a dilemma of blessings, in Christ. ΤῸ ΖΗ͂Ν ΧΡ... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME SUBJECT: THE ALTERNATIVE OF LIFE OR DEATH: EXPECTATION OF LIFE... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ΔῈ ΤῸ ΖΗ͂Ν ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚΊ, ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΚΤΛ. His thought, after the avowal that for him “to die is gain,” is that the other alternative—to live still in the body—has a charm in it, for it implies so much more time for fruitful toil for Christ; and so he is in suspense between bliss and bliss. We may translat... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΈΧΟΜΑΙ ΔῈ. On the reading, see critical note.—Δὲ takes up the last clause, with a slightly differencing addition; “What to choose I do not see, _but_ stand in suspense.” ἘΚ ΤΩ͂Ν ΔΎΟ. With συνέχομαι, the imagery is of a man “_compressed_” by forces acting “_from_ both (ἐκ τῶν δύο) sides” upon him... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΙΜΈΝΕΙΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΣΑΡΚῚ. T. R., ἐπιμ. ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ. Either reading gives a pertinent meaning, “to hold by the flesh,” i.e. to cling to this life (as to the Commander’s post of duty: cp. e.g. Acts 13:33; Romans 6:1; Romans 11:22-23, for illustrative cases of ἐπιμένειν _c. dat_.), or, “to stay on in the f... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἾΔΑ, ὍΤΙ ΜΕΝΩ͂. We have good ground for saying that this οἶδα was verified in the event; see 1 Timothy 1:3 for an intimation of a visit _to Macedonia_ after this date. ΠΑΡΑΜΕΝΩ͂ ΠΑ͂ΣΙΝ ὙΜΙ͂Ν. T. R., συμπαραμενῶ, which seems preferable; see critical note. Not only will he “stay” (μενῶ) “in the fles... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΎΧΗΜΑ. A favourite word with St Paul, and especially in Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians; a fact bearing on the date of this Epistle. See Introduction, ch. ii. Καύχημα is an act of exultation, of _glorying_; or otherwise (see Lightfoot on Galatians 6:4) a _ground_ for exultation, as distinct fro... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΌΝΟΝ. “Only”; a word of corrective caution, as if to say, “Whether I come to you or not, remember the call to a holy and united life; let not _that_ vary for you with my nearness or distance.” Μόνον is similarly used Galatians 5:13, ἐπʼ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε … μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς�: and see 2 T... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTREATIES TO CHERISH CONSISTENCY, AND ESPECIALLY UNITY, MORE THAN EVER NOW IN HIS ABSENCE... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΤΥΡΌΜΕΝΟΙ. “Scared.” The verb (akin to πτοέω) appears to occur here only in the whole range of Biblical Greek. In (later) classical Greek it is used of the starting or “shying” of frightened animals, and thence of alarm in general, as in the _Axiochus_ (attributed to Plato) 370 A, οὐκ ἄν ποτε πτυρε... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΙ … ἘΧΑΡΊΣΘΗ. The link of thought (ὅτι) is that their trying circumstances, and the benefits of them, _were_, as he has just hinted, no evil, but a gift of love (ἐχαρίσθη) from their Divine Friend. ὙΜΙ͂Ν. Slightly emphatic by position. As if to say, “Yes, it is _you_ whose ‘salvation’ is thus ‘in... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸΝ ΑΥ̓ΤῸΝ�. The participle, with its nominative, is out of construction with the ὑμῖν of Philippians 1:29, and in construction with the πτυρόμενοι of Philippians 1:28. So that, grammatically, the words from ἥτις ἐστὶν to πάσχειν must be reckoned parenthetical. But the _thought_ of Philippians 1:29... [ Continue Reading ]