Philippians 1
1 From: Paul and Timothy, workers enslaved to Christ Jesus
To: All the sacred with Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, along with the overseersa and servers.b
2 Good fortune and peace to you from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I give thanks to my God every time I remember you. 4 With every request of mine on behalf of all of you, I always make the request with joy 5 because of your participation in communityc for the triumphant message from the first day until now. 6 I have been convinced of this very thing: that the one who began beneficial work with you will bring it toward completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 Just as it is justified for me to think this about all of you because of you having me in your heart,d you are all my fellow participants through generosity both regarding my imprisonmente and regarding the explanationf and firm establishment of the triumphant message. 8 With God as my witness—I miss all of you with the deep feelingg of Christ Jesus— 9 and I pray this: that your love still grows more and more with knowledge and every insight 10 for you to evaluate between different ways, so that you can be authentic,h and not tripped up, for the day of Christ, 11 having been made to live out the fruit, justness,i which is through Jesus Christ for the high reputation and affirmation of God.
12 I am resolved for you to understand, Family,j that the things that have happened to me have actually shown themselves to be for the advancement of the triumphant message, 13 as far as my imprisonment in connection with Christ becoming apparent among the whole Praetoriumk and everyone else, 14 and most of the Family in the Lord having abundantly growing confidence because of my imprisonment not to be too afraid to speak the message without fear.
15 Some people are actually announcing Christ motivated by envy and contention, but also some because of positive intentions. 16 The latter ones do so from love, seeing that I am placed for the explanation of the triumphant message, 17 but the ones without sincerity who are announcing Christ motivated by provoking contention, they envision causing suffering with my imprisonment. 18 What does it matter? Only that either way, whether as a pretense or with sincerity, Christ is being announced, and I am happy about that 19 because I can see that, for me, the outcome of this will be liberationl through your ongoing requests and the aid of the Life-breath of Jesus Christ. 20 It is proportionate with my vigilant expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed under any circumstance but always have courage to speak, just as now and always Christ will be made more visiblem with my body, whether through life or through death. 21 To me, continuing to live is Christ and to die is profit. 22 But if I am living in my body, this is an opportunity for me to produce fruit through action,n and I do not know which I prefer, 23 so I am torn between the two: I have the desire to be released and to be with Christ, since it is much more to my advantage, 24 but staying here with the body is indispensable for you. 25 And since I am convinced of this, I have come to see that I will remain and stay close to all of you for your progress and joy in faithfulness, 26 so what you have to be affirmed will grow abundantly in connection with Christ Jesus through me when I arrive again with you.
27 Be citizenso only in ways appropriate for Christ’s triumphant message, so that whether while I am coming and seeing you or while I am still absent, I may hear about you that you are standing with one Life-breath, one being—contending alongside each other with faithfulness to the triumphant message. 28 Do not be intimidated by anything from the opponents, whoever they may be; their opposition signals destruction for them but liberation for you, and itp is from God. 29 This is because you have been generously appointed to represent Christ,q not only to be faithful toward him but also to suffer for his sake, 30 since you are experiencing the same conflict that you saw me experience and now hear about me.
FOOTNOTES:
a This word is episkopos, literally, ‘over-seer’ or ‘supervisor.’ Various traditions have used the word ‘bishop’ or even just referred to the Greek with ‘episcopal.’
b This word is diakonos, meaning ‘server,’ ‘servant,’ or ‘helper.’ Usually, it was a servant or slave who attended to serving meals. Traditionally, this word has been transliterated from Greek as ‘deacon.’
c The Greek word translated as ‘participation in community’ is koinonia. Traditionally, this word has been translated a number of ways, including ‘fellowship,’ ‘participation,’ ‘partaking,’ ‘communion,’ and ‘sharing.’
d The Greek here is ambiguous. It could equally validly be read as “you having me in your heart” or “me having you in my heart.” There is not a consensus on which is preferred. Throughout Philippians, Paul makes mention of how well they have supported him, so I have selected “you having me in your heart,” but there is not a clear preference.
e Literally, ‘bonds.’ ‘Bonds’ refers to the ropes or chains used to restrain him while he is a prisoner.
f This is the Greek apologia, and most literally a ‘verbal defense’ in the sense of a debate, giving a reasoned argument in favor of a position.
g The word splanchnon literally means ‘intestines,’ ‘bowels,’ or ‘guts.’ It is used to represent deeply felt emotion, such as compassion, much like the English idiom ‘from the bottom of my heart.’
h Or ‘genuine’ or ‘true,’ maybe ‘consistent’? This word refers to something being held up to the sunlight and being shown to be clear, passing a quality test.
i Literally, this phrase is ‘having been filled with fruit of justness.’ The genitive ‘of justness’ is being taken as a genitive of apposition, indicating that the ‘fruit’ is being identified as ‘justness.’
j Most literally, this word means ‘brothers.’ However, it can equally be used to mean ‘siblings’ or ‘cousins’ or even something like ‘fellow Jews’ as the members of the family descended from Abraham. While the most literal meaning is ‘brothers,’ legitimate usage refers to most any relative, maybe except direct ancestors and descendants of the person in mind.
k Literally, ‘Praetorium’ is the headquarters of the imperial administrators or soldiers in Rome or the provinces. It is used metonymously to represent the soldiers or government officials who were stationed there.
l Traditionally, ‘salvation.’ The word is not a specifically religious word in the original context and should not be assumed to refer to a cosmic, spiritual state that determines destination in the afterlife. Soteria carries a meaning of providing safety or security. It could be preventative, with a meaning of ‘preserve’ or ‘protect’ and could be about protecting from illness or human attack or any other kind of threat. It could be responsive, with a meaning of ‘rescue’ or ‘heal’ or ‘liberate.’ Since Paul is speaking about being imprisoned and people who are motivated by envy and competition using his imprisonment to inspire suffering as a means to increasing their own power, ‘liberation’ or ‘rescue’ seem to be the most appropriate in this context.
m Literally, this word is ‘enlarged’ or ‘magnified’ and it can have to figurative uses: 1) that the object will be made more conspicuous, more visible and widely known or 2) that the object will have a more highly esteemed reputation and be seen as even more important or authoritative. The context is not explicit, but since Paul is discussing people coming to know the triumphant message through his imprisonment, it seems that the sense of ‘more widely known’ may be the preferred interpretation.
n Literally, the Greek phrase is something like “So if living in a body, this is fruit of work to me.”
o In the Roman empire, a citizen was more than a legal resident or someone even born in a place, like a US citizen. There was a whole tier of value as a member of society, a higher social status and explicit legal privileges, reserved for “Roman citizens” (official citizens of the empire) regardless of their ethnicity or place of residence. Paul seems to be warning the Philippians not to conform to all the expectations for citizens of the empire but only in the ways that promote Christ’s triumphant message.
p Or ‘this.’ It’s not clear whether this statement refers to the opposition or to the liberation.
q Paul writes about his own calling with this same language in Galatians 1:15.