Section 1:1–2

Paul began his letter to the Christians in Philippi

In New Testament times it was the custom for writers to put their names at the beginning of a letter. Then they put the name of the person or group they were writing to. They usually included some kind of blessing. All of these are in the first two verses of this letter to the Philippians. In some languages the recipients are always mentioned first. If it is not polite to put the author’s name first, it may be necessary to reorder this introduction so that the Philippians are mentioned first, and then Paul and Timothy. However, try to maintain the original order if possible in order to accurately reflect how Paul actually began his letter.

Paragraph 1:1–2

1:1a

Paul and Timothy: Commentators agree that only Paul was the author of the letter to the Philippians. The reason is that the author used the first person singular “I” and “me,” not “we,” throughout the rest of the letter, and he referred to Timothy in the third person as “he” or “him” or “Timothy.”

The fact that Paul mentioned Timothy’s name here may imply that Paul consulted Timothy when he wrote the letter. Or perhaps Timothy wrote the letter while Paul told him what to write. Certainly Timothy was with Paul and agreed with what Paul said in the letter. Two ways of showing this in the translation are:

Timothy joins me in writing to you.
-or-
I and Timothy are sending this letter to you.

Timothy: In some languages it is necessary to introduce a new participant such as a secondary author with a short phrase such as “our brother Timothy.”

servants: The Greek word doulos means “slave.” Most English versions translate it here as “servant,” but the term refers to a worker who was not paid and who was not free to leave his employment. It may therefore be better to use your word for “slave” here. Paul was not saying that he and Timothy were servants or slaves of people. He meant that they belonged to Jesus and served him as their master. This was not degrading to them but was a position of honor and dignity.

Christ Jesus: There are seven Greek forms of Jesus’ name or title in Philippians. A literal translation of these is:

(a) Christ Jesus,
(b) Jesus Christ,
(c) Lord Jesus,
(d) Lord Jesus Christ,
(e) Jesus,
(f) Lord, and
Christ.

You need to decide how you will translate each of these seven names or titles so you can use them consistently throughout the New Testament. The two phrases “Jesus Christ” and “Christ Jesus” mean the same thing. However, the New Testament writer may have had a reason to put one name first in each case, perhaps for emphasis. However, there is no way to be sure this is what the authors meant. The Translator’s Notes on Philippians follows the literal order of the Greek in such phrases. But in your language, you must decide whether to translate the phrase Christ Jesus literally as “Christ Jesus” or whether to translate it as “Jesus Christ.”

Christ: The word Christ is used in two ways in the New Testament. In the Gospels it is used as a title for Jesus. It was the Greek equivalent of “Messiah,” which literally means “the person who has been anointed.” However, by the time Paul was writing his letters, it had become a name for Jesus rather than a title. So here and in the other New Testament letters, you should simply spell Christ according to the rules of your language.

1:1b

To: The Greek does not have a verb here, and in some languages it is necessary to supply one. For example: “Paul and Timothy…write to all the saints…” Another possible verb is “send,” implying “send this letter.” In the context of the whole letter, it seems most likely that “write” is the implied verb here. If a verb is supplied, it may also be necessary to supply a first person pronoun (“I” or “we”) as the subject.

the saints: This is literally “the holy ones” or “the holy people.” It refers to those whom God has set apart for himself. Some versions avoid the word saints because this word has come to be used only for a few special people. But the word saints in the New Testament in fact refers to all Christians. See “holy”, sense A3a in Key Biblical Terms. Possible translations are “God’s people,” “God’s chosen people,” “Christians,” “people who belong to God” or “people whom God has set apart for himself.” This word appears again in 4:21–22.

in Christ Jesus: The phrase in Christ Jesus and similar phrases such as “in the Lord” and “in him” occur twenty-two times in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Most English translations keep the literal wording in Christ Jesus here, and this is also possible in many other languages. This phrase means to be united with Christ, to personally relate to him and to belong to him. A book that Hale wrote (1991) specifically about this topic is helpful (see Bibliography).

1:1c

together with: Paul probably meant that he was including the overseers and deacons among “the saints” to whom he was writing.

overseers and deacons: Most commentators agree that at the time Paul wrote this letter, the church did not yet have clearly defined leadership positions or titles, but they did have leaders. Although their exact duties are not certain, it is clear that overseers and deacons were the recognized leaders within the church.

overseers: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as overseers is translated by some English versions as “bishops.” It refers to teachers, leaders and others in positions of authority. In some languages it can be translated by an expression meaning “leaders,” “those who watch over the believers,” or “church elders.”

deacons: The word deacons refers to people who served as assistants to the overseers and managed practical matters. You could translate the word deacons as “helpers,” “those who work for God among the believers,” or “those who help the believers.” In some languages there is already an accepted church term for “deacon,” so the translator must decide whether he will use that term or another term.

In some languages the Berean Standard Bible order (“saints,” “overseers,” deacons) might imply that the elders and deacons were not among the saints. If this is true in your language, you could reverse the order and translate it as:

to the overseers and deacons and to all the other saints.

© 2002 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.