Philippians 1:19

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 process of saving mercy, from the giving of the Saviour to the final glory of the saved. In the life of the Christian it points now to his first faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 6:2), now to his life-long preservation in Christ (e.g. 2 Timothy 2:20); more frequently to the heavenly issue of the whole (e.g. Romans 13:11; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5). The same may be said of σώζειν, only that it refers more often than σωτηρία to the life-long “saving.” Here the probable reference is to the final glory, to the attainment of which, by way not of merit but of training, all gifts of grace contribute. The lower meaning, that of saving of bodily life (as e.g. Acts 27:34), is excluded here by the reference to “the supply of the Spirit” just below.

διὰ τῆς ὑμῶν δεήσεως. For St Paul’s estimate of the positive power of intercession, see e.g. Romans 15:30; Colossians 4:3.

ἐπιχορηγίας. Χορηγία is properly the work of a χορηγός (Attic, χοραγός), the “leader of a chorus” in the theatre. Χοραγός came, in time, to mean the citizen who paid the costs of the performance, and then χορηγία meant his bounty. Thence χορηγία passed on to mean “supply” in general; and so ἐπιχορηγία means additional or abundant supply. It occurs in N. T. only here and Ephesians 4:16. Ἐπιχορηγεῖν occurs 2 Corinthians 9:10; Galatians 3:5; Colossians 2:19; 2 Peter 1:5; 2 Peter 1:11; passages which all illustrate the slightly intensive force of the ἐπι-. In classical Greek the verb is rare and the noun unknown.

τοῦ πνεύματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. The genitive (πνεύματος) here denotes the Spirit as not the Supplier but the Supply, or more exactly the Resource, “of” which comes the supply. For the thought cp. Galatians 3:5, ὁ ἐπιχορηγῶν ὑμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα.

What is τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰ. Χ.? Not merely Jesus Christ’s principles and temper; such a meaning of πνεῦμα is almost if not quite unknown in Greek, classical, biblical, and ecclesiastical. The analogy of e.g. Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6; 1 Peter 1:11, taken along with our Lord’s own teaching about the relation between the Paraclete and Himself (John 14-16), assures us that “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” is here none other than the Eternal Personal Spirit, “sent” by the Son (John 15:26), occupied with Him as Revealer and Imparter (John 15:26; John 16:14). His whole work for the Church and for the soul is connected always with the glorified Lord, with Whom He is so One that where the Spirit comes Christ is (John 14:18; cp. Ephesians 3:16-17).

St Paul expects, in answer to his converts’ prayers, a new effusion of the power of the Spirit, developing in him the presence of Jesus Christ.