Philippians 1:8

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. It occurs in similar connexions, Romans 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Timothy 1:4; below, Philippians 2:26; and its cognates, Romans 15:23; 2 Corinthians 7:7; 2 Corinthians 7:11 (?), 2 Corinthians 9:14; below, Philippians 4:1. St Paul employs the verb also, with beautiful significance, to denote the believer's yearning for heavenly rest and glory, 2 Corinthians 5:2; St James, for the Spirit's yearning jealousy for our spirits" loyalty, James 4:5; St Peter, for the regenerate man's longing for the "milk" of Divine truth, 1 Peter 2:2.

in the bowels of Jesus Christ MS. evidence favours the order Christ Jesus, see note on Philippians 1:1. "In the bowels":better perhaps in the heart. The Greek word in the classics means, strictly, the "nobler vitals," including the heart, as distinguished from the intestines (Æschylus, Agam., 1221). On the other hand the Septuagint in their (rare) use of the word do not observe such a distinction, and render by it the Heb. rachamîm, the bowels, regarded as the seat of tender feeling. But in any case, the question is not of anatomy, but of current usage and reference; and our word "heart"is thus the best rendering. The phrase here carries with it no assertion of a physicospiritual theory; it only uses, as a modern naturalist might equally well do, a physical term as a symbol for non-physical emotion. R.V. paraphrases "tender mercies."

The phraseology (" inthe heart of Christ Jesus") is deeply significant. The Christian's personality is never lost, but he is so united to his Lord, "one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17), that the emotions of the regenerate member are, as it were, in continuity with those of the ever-blessed Head. Tyndale (1534), Cranmer (1539), and Geneva (1557) render "from the very heart root in Jesus Christ." The ministration of His life to the member is such that there is more than sympathy in the matter; there is communication.