Translation commentary on Philippians 1:9

The Greek has the word “this” before the content of Paul’s prayer (“I pray this: that…”), but normally this addition would be superfluous in translation.

Your love should not be restricted to the Philippians’ love for God, for Paul, or even to their love for one another. It is much more likely that Paul has in mind the most comprehensive Christian love. In some languages your love may seem to abstract, and this expression may be better rendered as “your loving heart.”

Furthermore, in some languages it is not possible to speak of “love growing more and more,” although one may say “I pray that you will keep on loving more and more.” Again, it may be necessary to indicate in some languages who is loved, and therefore one may need to translate “that you will love one another more and more.”

True knowledge and perfect judgment are essential elements of love. “Love” should keep on growing (present tense), that is, it should develop into and be accompanied by spiritual and moral insights. The word translated true knowledge is frequently used by Paul to convey the idea of a mental grasp of spiritual truth and especially that practical and experiential knowledge of God which is available to those who have become Christians. Perfect judgment (literally “all insight” or “all perception”) appears only here in the New Testament. It refers to a person’s ability to make moral decisions. The adjective “all” is not intensive, but extensive; that is, it signifies “every form of” perfect judgment (New English Bible “insight of every kind”).

True knowledge and perfect judgment may be viewed as the result of increased love, and so they may be indicated in some languages as result, and in other languages as purpose. On the basis of this type of interpretation, one may translate “that you may love one another more and more, and as a result have true knowledge and perfect judgment.” On the other hand, one may understand true knowledge and perfect judgment as an accompanying feature of love and accordingly translate “that you may love one another more and more, and at the same time have true knowledge and perfect judgment.”

In a number of languages it is necessary to translate knowledge and judgment as verbs, and this requires syntactic restructuring, with resulting expressions such as “that you may know what is true and judge perfectly,” or “… judge in a completely right way.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:10

Paul now goes on to define the purpose of his prayer in verse 9. The same Greek expression translated to choose what is best appears also in Rom 2.18, where Good News Translation renders it as “to choose what is right.” The Greek term here translated to choose is sometimes used in the technical sense of testing coins to determine whether they are genuine. Thus the Good News Translation rendering carries the force of accepting or choosing what is proved to be right or best or essential in religion (Moffatt Goodspeed “to have a sense of what is vital”; New Engish Bible footnote “may teach you by experience what things are most worthwhile”). The phrase what is best means literally “things which differ” or “things that excel.” The latter meaning seems to suit the context better. It is a reference to the ability, not so much to distinguish right from wrong or good from bad, but to determine what is best among all that is good.

What is best is a general qualification which it is not always possible to employ. Certainly it is not a reference to particular things or objects, but rather to behavior and experience. It may be necessary to render the first part of verse 10 as “so that you will be able to choose what is best to do,” or “… how you should best behave.”

Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ (literally, “so that you may be pure and blameless with a view to the Day of Christ”) is taken as the result of having the ability to discriminate what is best. The adjective rendered free from all impurity occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in 2 Peter 3.1. It means “unmixed,” “genuine,” or “unadulterated.” It may be rendered in some languages as “not having anything bad about you,” or “without any wrong.” The adjective translated free from … blame can mean either “not causing others to stumble” or “not stumbling.” Paul seems to have in mind the fitness of the Philippians to stand before Christ on the Day of judgment. In this context it is better to adopt the meaning of “blameless.” This concept may be expressed in some languages as “without having done anything for which you could be blamed,” or “without having done what was wrong.”

On the Day of Christ, as in Pp. 1.6, refers to the Parousia, so it is possible to render it more explicitly as “on the Day when Christ comes back.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:11

In Greek this verse is a participial (perfect passive) phrase connected with verse 10, but Good News Translation supplies your lives to make it a separate sentence.

Truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce is literally “fruit of righteousness which is through Jesus Christ.” Good News Translation changes Jesus Christ from a secondary to a primary agent (Moffatt “harvest of righteousness which Jesus Christ produces”; Jerusalem Bible “the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces”). The Greek word rendered “righteousness” in some translations (Revised Standard Version Moffatt) is used with several different senses in the Pauline letters. It is sometimes used in the sense of “the requirements of God,” at other times in the sense of “what is right.” It is also used to refer to an attribute of God. Most significantly, this term is used by Paul to convey the idea of the saving activity of God whereby he puts men in a right relation to himself through Jesus Christ. In the present context, however, “righteousness” refers to a person’s inner status, or as Good News Translation renders it, the truly good qualities of Christians (Jerusalem Bible “perfect goodness”; Phillips “true goodness”). These are the natural consequences of being restored to a right relationship with God. Paul is careful to add that this quality is not something that a man can acquire for himself; it is something which only Jesus Christ can produce.

In some languages one cannot speak of “lives being filled with good qualities.” One can say, however, “that all that you do may be truly good.” In this context the noun lives refers to one’s behavior, and the verb filled suggests the totality of such activity.

The qualifying clause, which only Jesus Christ can produce, may be rendered as “only Jesus Christ can cause you to do this,” or “… to have such goodness.”

The supreme end of Christian life is the glory and praise of God. The word glory is an important term in the Bible. In the Old Testament it means basically “weight” or “importance,” and it is often associated with a revelation of the majestic character of God. The same thought appears often in the New Testament also. In the Pauline letters glory appears many times as an ascription of praise (Rom 4.20; 2 Cor 1.20, etc.), and it is prominent in the doxologies (Rom 11.36; 16.27; Gal 1.5; Eph 3.21). In these contexts, glory is equivalent to praise. The phrase can sometimes be rendered “to give glory and praise to God,” but it is must often be expressed as a separate sentence, for example, “all of this is for the glory and praise of God.” However, implied in both glory and praise is an underlying causative relation, for it is people who must give these things to God. Therefore one may need to translate this final phrase as “in order that people may honor and praise God.” In some languages an expression such as “praise God” must be indicated as a type of discourse, either direct of indirect, for example, “say how great God is,” or “say, God is truly great.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:12

My brothers is Paul’s favorite way of describing his fellow believers in the Christian community. Though in a number of languages it is possible to identify fellow believers by such a phrase, in other languages a different kinship term with practically the same meaning may be employed, for example, “my close relations” or “you of the same family with me.” In some languages, however, one may need to use such a phrase as “my fellow believers” or “you who also believe together with me.”

The things that have happened to me is sometimes translated as “my present situation” (Bruce). It refers to the apostle’s arrest and imprisonment and may be expressed as “what I have experienced” or even “what I have suffered.”

The word translated progress, which appears again in verse 25, is a military metaphor describing a scout who identifies and, if possible, removes obstacles before an advancing army. This word signifies advancement in spite of the dangers and obstacles which block the way of the traveler.

The progress must often be stated in terms of the greater number of people hearing or believing. The verb helped in this context indicates primarily a causative relation, and for that reason one can translate “caused more and more people to hear,” or “… to believe.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:13

As a result indicates that what follows in verses 13-14 is the consequence of the progress of the gospel (cf. Bruce “the upshot of it all has been this”). Even though the phrase has been discarded by many translators, it is best to have it for a better connection. As a result may also be rendered as “because of this” or “because of what happened.”

Good News Translation restructures the sentence by making the phrase the whole palace guard and all the others the subject, instead of “my imprisonment” (New English Bible New American Bible; Jerusalem Bible “my chains”) or the impersonal “it” (Goodspeed Revised Standard Version). The word rendered palace guard, literally “praetorium” (a Latin word borrowed into Greek), refers either to a particular residence or to a particular group of men. If the former is meant, it would be a reference to the imperial palace in Rome (King James Version “palace”) or to the ruler’s residence (cf. Mark 15.16; Acts 23.35). In such a case, it could be translated as “the house where the emperor lives.”

The context, however, indicates that the “praetorium” refers to a body of men, thus the palace guard (so also Phillips; Goodspeed “Imperial Guard”). One can also use a more generic term such as “headquarters guard” (New English Bible “all at headquarters”) and leave the place of Paul’s imprisonment an open question. The whole palace guard may be expressed as “all of the soldiers who are guarding the palace,” or “… the house where the emperor lives.”

There is no need to restrict the meaning of all the others here to “the rest of the soldiers”; it may be understood as “the public at large” (New English Bible), “everyone else here,” “all the other people here,” or simply “everyone here.”

Because I am a servant of Christ (literally, “in Christ”) explains the cause of the apostle’s imprisonment (New English Bible New American Bible “in Christ’s cause”; Goodspeed “for the sake of Christ”). Good News Translation employs “servant,” the only title Paul claims in this letter (v. 1), to focus upon the apostle’s relation to Christ. As in verse 1, a servant of Christ may be made a verbal expression, for example, “because I serve Christ,” “because I work on behalf of Christ,” or “because all I do is to help Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:14

In Greek the first clause is literally “most of the brothers having confidence in the Lord because of my bonds.” Good News Translation restructures this by changing “because of my bonds” (dative of cause) into the subject and “most of the brothers” (subject of the participle) into the direct object, thus my being in prison has given most of the brothers more confidence in the Lord (cf. Moffatt “my imprisonment has given the majority of the brotherhood greater confidence in the Lord”). My being in prison constitutes the cause for Paul’s fellow believer’s becoming more confident. This relation must be expressed in some languages by a clause of cause, for example, “because I am in prison, most of my fellow believers have more confidence in the Lord.”

The exact relation of the phrase in the Lord to the context is debated. In Greek it lies between “the brothers” and “having confidence,” and it is therefore grammatically possible to connect it with either. King James Version and American Standard Version connect it with “the brothers.” New English Bible favors this construction by rendering “fellow Christians” (Goodspeed “Christian brothers”; New American Bible “brothers in Christ”). But this exegesis is questionable. In 2.24 Paul uses the same verb with “in the Lord.” Besides, whenever he speaks of “brethren” he always means “Christians,” and so to add “in the Lord” is really redundant. Consequently, to connect in the Lord with confidence, as Good News Translation does, makes better sense (cf. Moffatt; Phillips “taking fresh heart in the Lord”). The Lord is the basis of confidence and hope. That being the case, in a number of languages this relation must be expressed as one of cause, for example, “are more confident because of the Lord,” or even of agency, “the Lord has caused them to be more confident.”

They grow bolder may be expressed negatively as “they do not fear so much,” or “they fear less and less.” The fundamental change expressed in grow bolder all the time must be rendered in some languages as “becoming bolder constantly,” or “are constantly more and more bold.”

To preach the message is literally “to speak the word.” The earliest manuscript reading supports the Good News Translation rendering without adding “of God” after “the message” (but see Revised Standard Version New English Bible New American Bible “the word of God”). The fact that the genitive qualifier “of God” appears in different positions in various manuscripts and the fact that it has a variant reading “of Lord” suggest that it was not in the original.

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:15

Paul now speaks of two classes of preachers with different motives. Of course is used in the sense of “it is true” (Goodspeed Jerusalem Bible New American Bible) or “indeed” (Revised Standard Version New English Bible). Some of them seems to refer to a segment of most of the brothers mentioned in the previous verse (it may be useful to render this phrase as “some of the brothers” or “some of our fellow believers”). However, it is sometimes argued that Paul is here referring to preachers in general on the ground that jealous and quarrelsome motives can hardly be compatible with the attitude of confidence in the Lord which some of them apparently had. It is very difficult to determine who these preachers are. That they are Jewish Christians who insist on going back to Jewish ways seems unlikely, since Paul does not accuse them of any false teachings. In any case, they are “pro-Christ” but “anti-Paul” preachers.

The word translated preach is the standard New Testament word for the preaching of the gospel. It has substantially the same meaning as the word translated proclaim in verse 17 and as preached in verse 18. The latter is a compound verb which may signify “to proclaim with authority,” but the two words are used interchangeably in this context (cf. vv. 15, 17, 18). It may be impossible to translate preach Christ literally, since in many languages one can only “preach about Christ” or “tell people about Christ.” To indicate clearly that this is a proclamation of the good news about Christ, it may be useful to render preach Christ as “tell the good news about Christ.”

Because they are jealous and quarrelsome (literally, “on account of envy and strife”) explains the motives of the preachers (New American Bible “from the motives of envy and rivalry”; New English Bible “in a jealous and quarrelsome spirit”). One may find it necessary to indicate the so-called “object” of jealous, in which case it is probably best to say “because they are jealous of me.” Yet one must be cautious in the use of a term such as “jealous,” for it may imply meanings which do not fit this context. Hence one may need to use such an expression as “they are unhappy because of what I have been able to do,” or “they are envious because of my success.” Quarrelsome may be rendered as “they quarrel with others,” “they habitually quarrel with people,” or “they quarrel with me.” In some languages “to quarrel” is “to fight with words.”

The meaning of the biblical word translated good will varies greatly according to the context. It is used of God’s “choice and pleasure” in Matt 11.26; Luke 10.21; and Eph 1.5. It is sometimes used in the sense of a person’s “wish” or “desire” (e.g. Rom 10.1). In the present context it means “good will” or, as Jerusalem Bible renders it, “right intention” (Phillips “good faith”). It is possible that the meaning here refers to good will toward Paul, since Paul is speaking of the preachers’ attitude toward him in the context. “Good will” toward the gospel which he proclaims is, of course, presupposed.

If good will is understood to refer to the attitude of these preachers toward the gospel, then one may translate from genuine good will as “because they like the gospel,” or “because they are fully in favor of the gospel.” Similarly, if one understands that the good will is directed toward Paul, one may translate “because they are favorably disposed toward me.” One may, however, wish to emphasize, in rendering good will, the concept of “right intentions,” in which case one may translate from genuine good will as “because their purposes are altogether good” or “because what they want to accomplish is perfectly right.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Philippians 1:16

King James Version follows the Received Text in reversing the order of verses 16 and 17. This change seems to have been made to conform the text to the order of the two classes of preachers mentioned in verse 15; but the change is not supported by the best textual witness, and it is not followed in most translations. The authentic text has a chiastic (crisscross) order; that is, verse 16 discusses what is mentioned in verse 15b, and verse 17 refers to the content of 15a.

These do so from love is literally “the ones on the one hand out of love.” Paul does not say for whom. One possibility is “out of love for him,” meaning Christ (so German common language translation [Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch]). The context indicates, however, that love is directed to the apostle, for he is dealing with the influence of his imprisonment on the preaching of the gospel. Moffatt translates explicitly “the latter do it from love to me” (New English Bible “moved by love for me”; Phillips “out of their love for me”).

In rendering these do so from love, it is important to make certain that these points to the last mentioned group, namely, the others who preached Christ from genuine good will. It may be necessary to say “these latter do so from love.”

Good News Translation renders a Greek causative participle by a finite verb: because they know (Goodspeed Phillips “for they know”; Knox “because they recognize”).

God has given me the work translates a single Greek verb which literally means “I recline” or “I am set” (Barclay [Barclay] “I am lying in prison”). It is a military term describing a soldier posted as a sentinel (Bruce “I am posed here”), but the term can also be used figuratively with the meaning of “to be appointed” or “to be chosen” (cf. Luke 2.34). The appointment to defend the gospel comes from God, and Good News Translation makes this fact explicit: God has given me the work. If this interpretation is adopted, the word defending may have the sense of “vindicating.”

God has given me the work implies that God had assigned the particular work to Paul by way of a direct command. It may be appropriate to indicate this in some languages in the form of direct discourse, for example, “God has said to me, This is your work,” or “God said to me, Your work is to defend the good news.”

As in Pp. 1.7, of defending the gospel may be rendered as “to show that the good news is true,” or “to prove that the good news is right.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .