Philippians 2

So then: if being joined to Christ gives you any encouragement, if his love gives you any comfort, if you share anything together in the Spirit, if you have any tenderness or pity,

1If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Note"bowels and mercies": in 1611 English "bowels" named the inner organs as the seat of strong feeling, much as we say "heart." The Greek word behind it means compassion felt in the gut. Also, "fellowship of the Spirit" translates koinonia, meaning a sharing or partnership in something held in common; the Greek phrase can mean sharing in the Spirit or the sharing that the Spirit creates, and Paul does not say which.

2then finish off my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being joined together in spirit, and being set on one purpose.

2Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

3Do nothing out of rivalry or empty pride. Instead, be humble in your thinking, and treat each other as more important than yourselves.

3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Note"strife" translates eritheia, a word that originally meant working for hire and came to mean self-seeking ambition, the maneuvering of someone chasing office. "Vainglory" is empty glory, wanting to be thought well of for nothing. "Lowliness of mind" renders a Greek word that usually carried a negative sense in ordinary speech, meaning servile or beneath notice; Greek and Roman readers did not normally count it a virtue.

4Do not each of you look only after your own concerns. Each of you should look after other people's concerns too.

4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

5Have the same attitude among you that Christ Jesus had:

5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6He existed in the form of God, but he did not count being equal with God as something to seize and hold on to.

6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Note"thought it not robbery to be equal with God": the Greek noun here, harpagmos, is rare and its sense is disputed. It can mean a thing snatched, a thing to be grabbed at, or a thing already held and clung to. So the line may mean that he did not try to seize an equality he lacked, or that he did not cling to an equality he already had. The rendering keeps both possibilities open, as the Greek does.

7Instead he emptied himself. He took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of human beings.

7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Note"made himself of no reputation" translates a verb meaning "emptied himself." Paul does not say what he emptied himself of. "Form of a servant": the Greek word is doulos, a slave, a person owned by someone else, not a paid employee.

8And when he appeared as a man, he made himself low. He obeyed all the way to death, and it was death on a cross.

8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

NoteCrucifixion was a Roman execution reserved for slaves, rebels and people without citizenship. It was slow, public and deliberately degrading, and Roman writers treated the word itself as unfit for polite conversation. The point of "even the death of the cross" is that this was the lowest death available.

9That is why God lifted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth,

10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Note"Things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" is a standard ancient way of naming the whole of reality in three levels: the sky above, the land where people live, and the realm of the dead below. Together the three mean everyone and everything, everywhere.

11and every tongue should say out loud that Jesus Christ is Lord, and so bring glory to God the Father.

11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Note"Confess" here means to declare something openly and publicly, not to admit a fault. "Lord" translates kyrios, the word Greek-speaking Jews used when reading aloud the personal name of God in their scriptures, and also the standard title given to the Roman emperor. Verses 10 and 11 closely echo Isaiah 45:23, where every knee bows and every tongue swears to the LORD.

12So, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now while I am away, keep working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Note"Work out your own salvation": both the pronoun and the verb are plural in Greek, so this is addressed to the whole congregation together, not to individuals one by one. The verb means to carry something through to completion, the way you work out a plan. "Fear and trembling" is a set phrase from the Greek Old Testament for awed seriousness before God or before someone in authority; it does not mean panic.

13For God is the one at work in you, giving you both the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

13For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Note"Of his good pleasure" uses "pleasure" in its older English sense of will or decision, as in "the king's pleasure." The Greek noun means a settled good purpose, what someone has chosen and is glad to do.

14Do everything without grumbling or arguing,

14Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15so that no one can find fault with you. Be innocent, children of God with nothing held against you, living among a crooked and twisted people. Among them you shine like lights in the world,

15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Note"Harmless" in 1611 meant unmixed or pure, like metal with nothing alloyed into it, rather than merely inoffensive. "Without rebuke" means with nothing anyone can charge against them. "A crooked and perverse nation" quotes Deuteronomy 32:5, where Moses describes Israel in the wilderness; the word translated "nation" means a generation, the people of one age, not a country.

16as you hold out the word of life. Then on the day of Christ I can be proud that I did not run for nothing or work for nothing.

16Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Note"Run in vain, neither laboured in vain" borrows the language of athletics: the foot race and the punishing training that went with it. "The day of Christ" adapts the prophets' phrase "the day of the LORD," a coming day when God settles accounts.

17And even if my own life is being poured out like wine over the sacrifice and service that come from your faith, I am glad, and I am glad along with all of you.

17Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.

NoteIn both Jewish and Greek and Roman worship, a measured amount of wine was poured out over or beside a sacrifice as a drink offering. Paul pictures his own life, and possibly his execution, as that wine, and the Philippians' faith as the sacrifice it is poured over. "Service" here translates a word used for public duties performed at one's own expense and for priestly duty at the temple.

18For the same reason you should be glad too, and be glad along with me.

18For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

19I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered when I learn how you are doing.

19But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.

Note"Timotheus" is simply the full Greek form of the name Timothy.

20I have no one else who thinks the way I do and will truly care about how you are.

20For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.

Note"Naturally" in 1611 meant genuinely, out of real feeling, the way a family member cares. The modern sense of "naturally," meaning "of course," would mislead here.

21For all the rest look after their own concerns, not the concerns of Jesus Christ.

21For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

22But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son working alongside his father, he has served with me in spreading the good news.

22But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.

Note"The proof of him" means his tested quality, what he showed himself to be under pressure, not evidence produced in an argument. The Greek word is used of metal that has been assayed and passed.

23So he is the one I hope to send, as soon as I can see how things will turn out for me.

23Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

Note"Presently" in 1611 English meant at once, immediately. It did not mean "after a while," which is how a modern reader hears it.

24And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come to you soon.

24But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.

25Still, I thought it was necessary to send Epaphroditus back to you. He is my brother, my fellow worker, and my fellow soldier, and he is the messenger you sent to take care of my needs.

25Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

Note"Your messenger" translates apostolos, one who is sent: Epaphroditus was the delegate the Philippian church sent to Paul with their gift, and Paul is now sending him home. "Wants" in 1611 means lacks or needs. The word behind "ministered" is the same public-service and temple-service word used in verse 17.

26He has been longing for all of you, and he has been very distressed because you heard that he had been sick.

26For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.

Note"Full of heaviness" translates a strong Greek word for anguished distress; it is the word used of Jesus in Gethsemane in Mark 14:33. It is much heavier than modern "heaviness" suggests.

27He really was sick, close to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me too, so that I would not have one sorrow piled on top of another.

27For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

28So I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you will be glad, and I will have less to grieve about.

28I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Note"The more carefully" in 1611 meant with greater eagerness and concern. It did not mean more cautiously.

29So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and hold people like him in high regard,

29Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:

30because he came close to death for the work of Christ. He risked his own life to make up for what was lacking in your service to me.

30Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Note"Not regarding his life" translates a verb taken from gambling: to stake something, to throw it down as a wager. "Your lack of service" points to what the Philippians could not do in person, since they were far from Paul's imprisonment; Epaphroditus delivered on their behalf what they could not bring themselves.