Title The oldest known form is the briefest, To the Philippians, or, exactly, To the philippesians (see on Philippians 4:15). So in the "Subscription" to the Epistle, which see. The title as in the Authorized Version agrees with that adopted in the Elzevir editions of 1624, 1633.... [ Continue Reading ]
Philippians 1:1-2. Greeting 1. _Paul_ See Acts 13:9. The Apostle probably bore, from infancy, both the two names, _Saul (Saoul, Saulus_) and _Paul_. See on Ephesians 1:1, and _Romans_, p. 8, in this Series. _Timotheus_ Named 24 times in N. T. See Acts 16:1 for his parentage and early home, and for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Grace be unto you_, &c. See, on the whole verse, the notes in this Series on Ephesians 1:2, where the wording is identical. _"Grace,"_as a Scriptural term, demands careful study. In its true idea, kindness is always present, with the special thought of _entire and marked absence of obligation_in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Philippian Saints 3. _I thank_ So Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 1:16; Col 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 1Th 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Philemon 1:4. St Paul's thanksgivings for the two Macedonian Churches, Philippi and Thessalonica, are pe... [ Continue Reading ]
_every prayer_ EVERY REQUEST. The Greek word is narrower than that, e. g. Ephesians 1:16, which includes the whole action of _worship_. See below on Philippians 4:6. _for you all_ See, for the same phrase, or kindred words, Philippians 1:7-8; Philippians 1:25; Philippians 2:17; Philippians 2:26. We... [ Continue Reading ]
_For your fellowship in the gospel_ Lit. _"on account of your participation unto the Gospel";_i.e. because of your efforts, in union with mine, for the furtherance of the Gospel. See R.V.; and cp. 2 Corinthians 2:12, and Philippians 2:22 below. The immediate reference doubtless is to the pecuniary h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Being confident_ This verse is a parenthesis in the thought, suggested by the _continuity "until now"_of the Philippians" love and labour. The past of grace leads him to speak of its future. The English word _"confident"_happily represents the Greek, which like it sometimes denotes _reliance_, on d... [ Continue Reading ]
_meet_ Lit., and better, JUST, RIGHT. _for me_ The pronoun is emphatic in the Greek; "for _me_, whatever may be right for others." _to think this_ Better, TO BE OF THIS MIND, to feel the thankfulness and joy described above (Philippians 1:3-4). The Greek verb (a favourite with St Paul) almost alway... [ Continue Reading ]
_God is my record_ Better, WITNESS; for which word _"record"_is a synonym in older English, e.g. in Chaucer. For this solemn and tender appeal cp. Romans 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:10; and see 2 Corinthians 1:18. _long after_ The Greek verb is full of a yearning, homesick tenderness... [ Continue Reading ]
_I pray_ He takes up the words, Philippians 1:4, "in every _request_for you all." _that_ Lit., by classical rules, "_in order that_." But in later Greek the phrase has lost its more precise necessary reference to _purpose_, and may convey (as here) the idea of _purport_, significance. So we say, "a... [ Continue Reading ]
_That_ Better, as better marking a close sequence on the last clause, SO THAT. _approve_ Better, in modern English, TEST. The spiritual "judgment" was to be thus applied. _things that are excellent_ "the things, &c." R.V. An alternative rendering is, THAT YE MAY PROVE (TEST) THE THINGS THAT DIFFER... [ Continue Reading ]
_Being filled_ Lit. and better, HAVING BEEN FILLED. He anticipates the great Day, and sees the Philippians as then, completed and developed as to the results of grace. His prayer for them is that they may be then found "filled" with such results; bearers of no scanty or partial "fruit"; trees whose... [ Continue Reading ]
Account of St Paul's present Circumstances and Experience 12. _But_ Better, NOW, as R.V. _I would_, &c. More lit. and simply, I WISH YOU TO KNOW; I desire to inform you. _the things_which happened _unto me_ More lit. and simply, MY CIRCUMSTANCES, with no special reference to the past. Wyclif rend... [ Continue Reading ]
_So that_, &c. Render, SO THAT MY BONDS ARE BECOME MANIFEST (AS BEING) IN CHRIST. In other words, his imprisonment has come to be seen in its true significance, as no mere political or ecclesiastical matter, but due to his union of life and action with a promised and manifested Messiah. _in all the... [ Continue Reading ]
_many_ Better, MOST. It is noticeable that the Apostle should imply that there were exceptions. Possibly, he refers here to what comes out more clearly below, the difference between friendly and unfriendly sections among the Roman Christians. We can scarcely doubt (in view of Romans 16 and Acts 28)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Some indeed_ Here he refers to members of that Judaistic party, or school, within the Church, which followed him with persistent opposition, especially since the crisis (Acts 15) when a decisive victory over their main principle was obtained by St Paul in the Church-council at Jerusalem. Their dist... [ Continue Reading ]
_The one preach Christ_, &c. There is good critical evidence for reading Philippians 1:16-17 in the opposite order to that of the A.V. Render, with R.V., THE ONE do it OF LOVE, KNOWING THAT I AM SET FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL; BUT THE OTHER PROCLAIM CHRIST OF FACTION, &c. It is possible to render... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am set_ Lit., "_I lie_." But the A.V. and R.V. are right. See the same verb clearly in the same sense, Luke 2:34; 1 Thessalonians 3:3. The thought is as of a soldier posted, a line of defence laid down. Still, there may be also an allusion in the word, used in this context, to the fact of his lit... [ Continue Reading ]
_What then?_ "What matters it? _Qu'importe?_" The right order of the two previous verses gives full force to such a question. _notwithstanding_ Better, ONLY. With beautiful significance he modifies the thought that it _matters not_. There is one respect in which it matters; it promotes the diffusio... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I know_ A development of the thought implied in "I shall rejoice," just above. Subordinate to the supreme fact that "Christ is being proclaimed," comes in here the delightful certainty that the attendant discipline will further his own spiritual and eternal good, always in connexion with servic... [ Continue Reading ]
_According to_ He describes this "supply of the Spirit" by its longed for and expected results, which would thus prove the test "according to" which it would be known as present. _earnest expectation_ Lit., "_waiting with outstretched head_"; one forcible word in the Greek. It occurs here and Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
The same subject: the Alternative of Life or Death: Expectation of Life 21. _For_, &c. He takes up and expands the thought of the alternative just uttered, and the holy "indifference" with which he was able to meet it. _to me_ Strongly emphatic in the Greek. It is not self-assertion, however, but... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if I live in the flesh_, &c. The Greek construction here is difficult by its brevity and abruptness. R.V. renders "_But if to live in this flesh if this is the fruit of my work, then_&c."; and, in the margin, "_But if to live in the flesh_be my lot, _this is the fruit of my work; and_&c."; a re... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ Read BUT, with conclusive evidence. The word here marks addition rather than distinction. An English writer would have dispensed with a transitional particle, probably. _in a strait betwixt two_ More precisely, with R.V., THE TWO; the two alternatives just spoken of, life and death. The image... [ Continue Reading ]
_to abide in the flesh_ Quite lit., as Bp Lightfoot, TO ABIDE BY THE FLESH, _to hold fast to_its conditions of trial, for the sake of the Lord and His flock. _more needful_ MORE NECESSARY. Desire, and the sense of betterness, lie on the side of death; obligation, in view of the claims of others, li... [ Continue Reading ]
_having this confidence_ The Greek is the same as in Philippians 1:6 above, where see note. _I know_ An unqualified assertion, made more explicit still by the next verse. We have the strongest ground, from the merely historical point of view, for saying that this expectation was verified by the eve... [ Continue Reading ]
_rejoicing_ Better, with R.V., GLORYING; not the same word as that just previous, nor akin to it. The Greek word is a favourite with St Paul, especially in the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians. This fact is an item in the evidence for the time of writing of this Epistle. See Introd... [ Continue Reading ]
Entreaties to cherish Consistency, and especially Unity, more than ever now in the Apostle's absence 27. _Only_, &c. The mention of his anticipated coming and its joyful effects leads him to speak by way of caution and entreaty of the unvarying law of Christian duty, the same always whether he visi... [ Continue Reading ]
_terrified_ More precisely, SCARED. The verb (found here only in N.T., and nowhere in LXX. and Apocrypha) is used in classical Greek of the starting, or "shying," of frightened animals, and thence of alarm in general. The word would specially suit the experience of the "little flock" in violent Phil... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_, &c. He carries out the statement just made (see last note but one), by saying that not only the grounds of faith in Christ, and the power to believe, but the occasion of suffering for Christ, and the power to meet the suffering, are things of Divine grant and gift. _it is given_ Lit. "_it was... [ Continue Reading ]
_Having_&c. The Greek construction, if strictly taken, points back to the first clause of Philippians 1:28, and leaves the intermediate words as a parenthesis. But it is much likelier that the construction here is free, and that this verse accordingly carries out the last words of Philippians 1:29 i... [ Continue Reading ]