Chapter 1
Philippi was the city the Romans had re-established for the purpose of taking its retired military and putting them there, and giving them rewards. At the time of writing the Romans had a system whereby any Roman soldier who won a decoration was given a certain amount of money and, at the time of his retirement, a certain amount of land. They were retired in grand style. So it will be understood that the basic group of people in the Philippian church were retired military personnel. They also had some Jews and some Greeks.
There are three paragraphs in this chapter. Paragraph one: the super-grace congregation at Philippi, verses 1-11; paragraph two: the super-grace prisoner of war [Paul], verses 12-19; paragraph three: verses 20-30, the anticipation of ultra super-grace.
Verse 1 – “Paul.” Pauloj is a Roman surname; “Timotheus” – [qeoj = God; timo = honour], he who honours God.
1. He was the son of an unbeliever father, a Greek, and his mother was a believer and a Jewess—Acts 16:1-3.
2. He was reared by his grandmother, Lois. Timothy was not only blessed by personal spiritual advice through doctrine but he was blessed by association with super-grace grandmother and super-grace mother. Consequently, Timothy received great spiritual heritage and great rearing—2 Timothy 3:15.
3. Timothy was circumcised by Paul—Acts 16:3, and ordained to the ministry—1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:5. Timothy did not have to be circumcised but he was circumcised for a purpose. Paul anticipated that Timothy would be the greatest man in the next generation. Circumcision was a sign of maturity in Israel. That was its origin—Abraham was circumcised at age 99. He was 99 before he finally reached super-grace.
4. He accompanied Paul, with Silas and Luke, to Philippi. He had been in Philippi before. He remained there as the first pastor after Paul left—Acts 16:12; Philippians 2:22.
5. He also pastored the Berean church after he was replaced by Epaphroditus—Acts 17:14.
6. After leaving Berea he joined Paul in Athens, and he pastored the church at Thessalonica for a short time—1 Thessalonians 3:2.
7. The fourth missionary journey. As pastor, Timothy had failed at Corinth—1 Cor. 16:10. This failure was not in Bible teaching but in his inability to handle bullies. He couldn’t get tough with women!
8. Timothy shared Paul’s first Roman imprisonment—Philippians 1:1; 2:19; Colossians 1:1; Philemon 1.
9. After Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment Paul and Timothy went to Ephesus where Timothy remained as the pastor. It was here in Ephesus that Timothy went into reversionism. This is where the women bullied him.
“servants of Jesus Christ” – the nominative plural from douloj, translated “slaves.” “Slaves of Jesus Christ” is an anartharous construction and it calls attention to the uniqueness of the profession. These are pastors, communicators of doctrine, and they are responsible to God. This is brought out by the absence of the definite article. All pastors are slaves. This means that the master of the slaves, Jesus Christ, is totally responsible for their provision, their blessing, their term of office, and their authority in the local church. Slavery therefore becomes the best form of life when Jesus Christ is the master, and it is a form of life for pastors only.
“to all” – dative plural indirect object from the adjective paj, which means all of the congregation are merged for the moment into one lump. With it is a noun, a(gioj, correctly translated “saints.”[1]; “in Christ Jesus” – e)n plus the locative of I)hsou Xristoj. The point of equality among believers is the point of union with Christ.
“which are” is the articular present active participle from e)imi. The definite article is used for a relative pronoun to describe the royal family of God located in a specific place—at Philippi. The present tense is the present of duration, it denotes what was begun in the past and continues into the present time. The participle is circumstantial which expresses attendant circumstances and gives us an additional fact or thought.
“at Philippi” – e)n plus the locative, and this is the prepositional phrase which emphasises the concept that as long as you live on this earth you have to be somewhere, and when you are in the local church and assembled you are recognised as royal family. The objective of the local church is to provide a classroom for the transmission of Bible doctrine from the page of the Word of God to your individual souls, under the authority of the pastor-teacher.
“with the bishops” – another title for the pastor-teacher. This is the preposition sun plus the instrumental of e)piskopoj. It originally meant “overseer” but it also means “guardian.” This is a guardian who not only protects the people but he has a system that protects the people. The pastor-teacher is the top authority but he must also have a system functioning under him so that the congregation is properly administered when it is brought together. The pastor is the guardian of a system as well as the ruler of the congregation.
“and deacons” – diakonoj.
Translation so far:
Verse 1 – “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saitns [royal family of God] in Christ Jesus who are located at Philippi, together with bishop-guardians and deacons:
Verse 2 – “Grace to you [dative of advantage; for your benefit].”
“and peace” – the ascensive kai, also used as an emphatic kai. In the emphatic use it is translated “and so.” The next word is a direct result of grace. The word “peace” is not world peace, peacefulness or tranquillity. It was taken from the Hebrew originally—shalom. Brought into the Greek it is e)irhnh. It means “prosperity.” While it is used as a salutation in the Greek language, that is not its meaning here in any sense of the word—”and so prosperity.” This is grace prosperity. Prosperity here refers to the attainment of mature status. The Philippians at the time of writing were mature believers, and as a result of this they were now under the logistical support of grace which included a lot of prosperity. As a result they were enjoying this prosperity under great pressures. This was more than a mere salutation. “Grace to you, and so prosperity” is an entire way of life. Prosperity is a part of spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, and it is one of the ways in which Jesus Christ is glorified in the devil’s world. God can only give prosperity to those who have the capacity for it. You either have capacity for prosperity or you have capacity for discipline. If you are in reversionism you have capacity for discipline. If you are in maturity, then you only have capacity for prosperity.
“from God our Father” – the preposition a)po plus the ablative denotes ultimate source. We have the ablative of source mentioned as God—qeoj. Then comes a genitive singular of apposition, pathr—”from God our Father.” The source of all logistical grace is God the Father, the author of the divine plan of grace. This is an anartharous construction in which there are no definite articles, even though we put one in in the English, and the reason is because of the qualitative aspect of the source. Notice that the source is very personal, for we have the possessive genitive plural from the personal pronoun e)gw—”our Father.” For all members of the royal family God is our Father.
“and” – here is the way we enter the plan of God. Here is the door by which we enter—the cross; “the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the connective use of kai, plus the ablative of kurioj, used here for the deity of Christ; the ablative of I)hsouj, used for the humanity of Christ; the ablative of Xristoj, used for the messianic appointment of Christ. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is also said to be the source of grace and prosperity, along with the Father. The Father is the logistical supply; Jesus Christ is the door. Notice that there is no reference to God the Holy Spirit. This is the dispensation of the royal family of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in this dispensation is to glorify Jesus Christ, therefore He is not mentioned in verses such as these.
Translation: “Grace to you, and so prosperity, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
At this point the apostle who has lived a very full life has the opportunity of pausing to give way to a great principle called “memory.”
Verse 3 – “I thank my God” is the beginning of a wonderful memory, and it starts in the right direction because this implies first of all a good set of priorities, a good scale of values. Who wants to be remembered by someone who has no priorities? “I thank” is the present active indicative of the verb e)uxaristew [e)u = good; xarij = grace], and the word “good grace” comes to connote gratitude. Grace oriented people have gratitude, appreciation, capacity. It means here to be mindful of benefits, therefore to be thankful, and it is correctly translated “I am giving thanks.” This is a customary present tense which denotes what habitually occurs when a person like Paul is in maturity, has great capacity for life. The Philippians were the greatest of memories to Paul; he loved them dearly. He remembers his association with them and obviously he remembers their positive volition toward Bible doctrine. The active voice: Paul as a teacher produces the action of the verb. He remembers them in a very special way at this time. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of thanksgiving based upon the fact that these people are a pleasant memory. His high priority: “my God” – dative of indirect object from the definite article and from the noun qeoj. There is also the possessive genitive singular from the personal pronoun e)gw. Literally, “I am giving thanks to my God.”
“upon every remembrance” we have the preposition e)pi plus the dative singular of paj, and the noun mneia, meaning “memory”—”for every memory.” Then the phrase, “of you”—genitive of reference plural from the personal pronoun su.
Translation: “I am giving thanks to my God for every memory[2] of you.”
1. To become pleasant memory for someone else requires, in the royal family, spiritual growth and spiritual advance.
2. The Philippians were a pleasant memory because of the mutual rapport of spiritual advance.
3. Believers who attain super-grace become a blessing by association. This is the memory of blessing by association.
4. Blessing by association moulds the believer into a pleasant memory to others.
5. The overflow into the principle of historical impact is also involved because many of the people that you remember are also involved in the historical impact.
6. As the Philippians advance spiritually they also became very wealthy. Since Paul was in their memory they wanted to do something for him and share their grace blessings with him as he had shared his grace blessings with them. His grace blessing had been doctrine; theirs was financial success.
7. This super-grace wealth was used out of the principle of blessing by association, and on three different occasions, having amassed large fortunes, they sent an offering to Paul at Corinth—2 Corinthians 11:9; Philippians 4:15; to Paul at Thessalonica—Philippians 4:16; to Paul at Rome during his first imprisonment—Philippians 4:10, 14.
Verse 4 – Parenthesis. “Always” is the adverb of time, pantote, meaning always or at all times.
“in every prayer of mine” – Paul does not say he prays always, but he does say that when he does pray he always remembers the Philippians. We have e)n plus the locative singular from the adjective paj, plus the noun dehsij—”in every prayer.” Then the possessive genitive of the personal pronoun e)gw—”in my every prayer,” which reminds us of the fact that prayer is a personal matter. It is our privilege but it is also personal and private.
“for you” – the preposition u(per plus the ablative of the adjective paj, and with it the object, the personal pronoun plural su. It is translated, “on behalf of all of you.”
“making” – present middle participle from poiew. This means to perform, to produce, to accomplish. Prayer is the object, dehsij again, and so when poiew is put with dehsij it means “offering prayer.” The iterative present describes something that occurs at successive intervals. It recurs. It is known as the present tense of repeated action. The iterative present means that when you pray, you pray effectively but you don’t pray all the time. The middle voice is the indirect middle, it emphasises Paul as the agent producing the action of the verb rather than participating in its results. The participle is a temporal participle. Temporal participles have to be translated in a certain way, usually “when” – “when offering prayer.” The word “request” is prayer, the accusative singular direct object, and going with poiew it means “offering prayer.”
“with joy” – the preposition meta plus the genitive of xara, “with inner happiness.” Inner happiness is sharing God’s +H.
Translation: “Always in my every prayer for all of you when offering prayer with inner happiness.” End parenthesis.
Verse 5 – “For your fellowship, e)pi plus the dative of koinwnia. It should be translated, “Because of your contribution.” E)pi plus the dative is “because,” not “for.” Not only does he give thanks for the memory (v.3) but he also gives thanks for the contribution. Omitting the parenthesis, (v.3) “I am giving thanks to my God for every memory of you (v.5) because of your contribution.” Verse 4 is parenthetical: prayer with pleasure. Paul is thankful to God for the Philippians’ financial contribution.
“in the gospel” is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of e)uaggelion, which means “for the purpose of spreading the gospel.” That is the way people enter the plan of God. This was a major part of Paul’s service, though it is not emphasised because the Bible emphasises his thinking, and not just regarding salvation but his thinking with regard to every realm of doctrine.
“from the first day” – a)po plus the ablative singular of the adjective prwtoj, plus h(mera. It is correctly translated, “from that first day.” The definite article here is used as a demonstrative pronoun to call attention to the first time the Philippians ever contributed to Paul.
“until now” is a Classical Greek phrase. There is an Attic adverb, a)xri, used as an improper preposition with the genitive of the definite article, plus the adverb nun. This is an articular adverbial prepositional phrase, and that is Classical Greek.
Translation: “Because of your contribution [offering] from that first day until now for the purpose of spreading the gospel from the first day until now.”
Principle
1. God uses advancing believers or positive believers to provide the logistical support for right pastors. This liberates the pastor—his time.
2. The pastor’s spiritual prosperity is transformed into material prosperity of the Philippians so that their material prosperity will become logistical support to sustain Paul.
3. In this way each one becomes a blessing by association to the other.
4. No one ever loses by taking in doctrine whether it is the pastor or the congregation.
Verse 6 – confidence in the Philippian progress. “Being confident” is a perfect active participle from the verb peiqw, which generally means to obey, to believe, to convince, to persuade. In the perfect tense it means to have confidence. This is the perfect tense of existing state in which the past is dropped from the perfect and the emphasis is placed on the existing state of confidence. Paul has a state of confidence at this moment rather than emphasising any future results. This is the branch of the intensive perfect in which special attention is directed to the results of the action, hence the existing state is intensified. Paul has complete confidence, not only in his own spiritual advance to the final objective but even much more so in those who are following him closely in the Philippian congregation. The passive voice: Paul receives this confidence from Bible doctrine resident in his soul plus his own observation of the Philippian congregation. This is a causal participle, it denotes that which is the ground for the action of the main verb, and it is translated “Because I have confidence.”
“of this very thing” –a)uto, the accusative singular of reference from the intensive pronoun a)utoj, and it emphasises the identity of Paul’s confidence. It also makes it very clear that there is no place in the spiritual life for ‘I hope so.’ Confidence is a spiritual asset, it is not a sign of arrogance. The more doctrine you have in your soul the more confidence you have about almost everything in life. There is a demonstrative pronoun with this as well—o(utoj, the immediate demonstrative which emphasises something in the immediate vicinity of the context. It should be translated, “in this doctrine itself.” Paul is confident in the Philippian advance. He is confident in the principle that when anyone is positive long enough they are going to get there. Some people take longer than others; some have more set-backs than others; but if you live long enough the tenacity of your own positive volition toward doctrine, plus many types of grace provision, you are going to reach that final objective, and with it you will have everything that God designed for you. And every blessing that you have glorifies God.
“that he which hath begun” – it begins with the conjunction o(ti used as a substantive for the epexegetical infinitive after a preceding demonstrative. The articular aorist middle participle is from the verb e)narxomai—”begin.” The definite article is used as a relative pronoun—”he who.” It refers to God the Father, the author of operation grace. The aorist tense is ingressive, it emphasises the Philippian progress to super-grace from the standpoint of its beginning. The beginning was the point of salvation. Like the constative aorist it gathers into one entirety the progress of the Philippians from salvation to super-grace. The middle voice is the indirect middle, it emphasises God the Father as the agent producing the action of the verb through logistical grace. The participle is circumstantial, emphasising logistical grace. So we have, “that he who has begun.”
“in you” – e)n plus the locative plural from the plural personal pronoun su; “a good work” – the accusative singular direct object from the adjective a)gaqoj for intrinsic good. God is absolute perfection. Anything that comes from God has to be intrinsic good, it can’t be anything else. The noun e)rgon is also in the accusative. It has numerous related meanings such as “deed, action, accomplishment, work.” Here it connotes that which is brought into being by the work of logistical grace. The anartharus construction emphasises the high quality of logistical grace.
“will perform it” – future active indicative from the verb e)pitelew. It means to perform, to accomplish, to fulfil, to complete: “will complete it.” The future tense is a gnomic future for a statement of doctrine, the Father’s logistical support of believers in advance to maturity. The active voice: God the Father provides the logistical support for those who are pressing toward the final objective. The indicative mood is declarative for statement of an absolute dogma of doctrine: that for any believer who is positive, in any stage of spiritual growth, God provides logistical grace.
“until the day of Jesus Christ” – in this statement of the Rapture we have an Attic Greek adverb of time a)xri, used as an improper preposition. The object is the descriptive genitive of I)hsouj Xristoj, emphasising the central person involved in the resurrection of the Church, the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Logistical grace is available, then, to the royal family of God until the resurrection of the royal family occurs.
Translation: “Because I have confidence in this doctrine itself [logistical grace], that he who has begun a good work will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
1. God has a plan for every Church Age believer and that plan has defined objectives—spiritual maturity. Notice that the divine objective is never stated in terms of Christians works or production. Reason: Works and production do not advance the believer. They are the result of advance but never the means.
2. This plan and objective demands logistical support from the planner. Therefore God’s logistical grace will continue with the royal family until their resurrection or the Rapture.
3. Logistical support will no longer be needed after the Rapture since the believer is in phase three.
4. Out of these first three principles comes a conclusion: As long as you are alive God has a plan for your life.
5. But you can never divorce that plan for your life from Bible doctrine resident in your soul.
6. All objectives in the Christian life are accomplished through the daily function of GAP.
7. All positive logistical grace comes through positive volition toward doctrine. (All logistical grace is divided into two categories: positive and negative)
8. For those who are recalcitrant, who resist and reject Bible doctrine, there is the provision of grace which is the various stages of discipline for reversionism and the influences of the Satanic policy of evil.
Verses 7 -- the further you advance in the spiritual life the more your priorities change, your scale of values, and the more interesting becomes the rapport factor in
your life. It moves out and extends in areas that you would never dream possible.
“Even as it is meet” – kaqwj e)stin dikaion. Kaqwj is a conjunctive adverb usually used to indicate comparison. Here it is a little different and is used here in its causal sense, correctly translated “since.” The present active indicative of e)imi is next—e)stin. The customary present denotes what habitually occurs when a pastor has a positive congregation toward Bible doctrine. The active voice: Paul produces the action doubling as a pastor here. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of absolute reality. The predicate nominative neuter dikaion is translated “right”—”Since it is right.”
“for me” – dative of advantage singular from the personal pronoun e)gw.
“to think this” – present active infinitive of the verb fronew, used here for objective thinking. Even in the area of the greatest conflicts of life the believer is capable of very objective thinking. Hence, this comes to mean to be holding an opinion—”for me to hold this opinion.” The customary present denotes what habitually occurs when believers are positive toward doctrine and have reached this stage of maturity; they hold opinions—correct opinions. The active voice: Paul is producing the objective thinking, he is holding the opinion. The infinitive is the infinitive of a conceived result assumed by the consequence of the Philippian attainment of super-grace.
There is also an accusative neuter singular direct object from the immediate demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. It emphasises here confidence in a principle, but it is a principle related to people. When people are hooked up with doctrine you can have confidence.
“of you all” – u(per plus the ablative from the adjective paj plus the pronoun su. Literally, “in behalf of all of you.” Paul is holding an opinion about his favourite congregation which is composed of those who have been consistently positive and whose progress is right behind his own.
“because I have you in my heart”—begins with the preposition dia. The words dia to e)xein me is Classical Greek. We have no comparable idiom today. The preposition dia takes the accusative singular definite article means “because of,” not “through” as it would be in the genitive. The present active infinitive of e)xw means to have and to hold. Literally, “through the to have.” It doesn’t make sense in English. Me is the accusative singular from the personal pronoun e)gw. The present tense is a historical present, it views the past event with the vividness of a present occurrence. In other words, it is just as though Paul wrote it a few minutes ago and the ink is not even dry. The active voice: Paul produces the action, he had rapport with the Philippians. The prepositional phrase, “in my heart” is e)n plus the locative singular of kardia—”in my right lobe.” This is the place where love exists. Anyone we truly love we lock up in our soul.
“inasmuch as” – no such word exists in the original manuscript. Next comes the prepositional phrase, e)n te toij desmoij, which is literally, “in my imprisonment.” The preposition e)n plus the locative of desmoj. E)n plus te can be translated “while in prison.” With that is the adverbial genitive of place from the personal pronoun e)gw—”my.”
Then comes the repetition of the conjunction kai—”both in the defence,” e)n plus a)pologia in the locative; “and confirmation”—kai bebaiwsij which is translated “and establishment”; “of the gospel” – the descriptive genitive singular e)uaggelia, “good news.” Sometimes this refers to the good news of the gospel only, i.e. salvation doctrine. Sometimes it means the good news of doctrine in general. Sometimes it means good news without a doctrinal connotation. The words around it determine the meaning and in this chapter we see it once simply for the gospel (salvation), once for doctrine in general, and once simply for good news without any doctrinal connotation at all. He we have “both in defense of establishment of the good news.” The defence of the gospel or the good news is evangelisation, while the establishment of the gospel is doctrinal teaching to new converts. So this is not talking about the gospel as the means of evangelisation, this is talking about good news or doctrine you learn after you are saved. The establishment of the gospel also includes the organisation of the local churches where Bible doctrine is taught to believers under strict academic discipline, and that is the means of it in this passage.
“you all are” is a present active participle from e)imi. The present tense is a perfective present, it denotes a continuation of Philippian offerings as a result of their spiritual growth and advance to super-grace status. The active voice: the Philippians produce the action. The participle is circumstantial. With it is the accusative plural from the adjective paj plus the accusative plural of the personal pronoun su—”all of you are.”
“partakers” is the accusative plural direct object from sugkoinwnoj, meaning “partners”; “of my grace”— the possessive genitive of the personal pronoun e)gw. It modifies “partners”: ‘You are my partners’; “of grace” – the genitive singular meaning “in grace.” In this partnership Paul provides the doctrine for their spiritual growth and they provide the monetary offerings which is a part of his logistical support.
Translation: “Since it is right for me to be holding this opinion in behalf of you, because I have you in my right lobe while in prison, both in the defence of establishment of the gospel, all of you are my partners in grace.”
Verse 8 – “For God is my record.” The Greek is martouj gar mou o( qeoj. This is why gar is called an enclitic particle, it does not come first in the sentence, it is simply the enclitic conjunctive particle which has an explanatory use here which can be translated “for” or “you see” or “for you see.” Then martouj is in the predicate nominative form, it is a nominative singular and means a judicial witness. There is also an implied present active indicative of e)imi. The verb is not there, it isn’t necessary because of the predicate nominative. There is a possessive genitive singular personal pronoun e)gw [mou], and then the nominative singular subject o( qeoj. (The definite article has a subject but the predicate nominative does not have a subject) “For God is my witness.” But this is an idiom and is not really what the idiom is saying. The idiom is saying, “I am telling the truth.”
“how greatly” – the adverb w(j is used as a conjunction to introduce the characteristic quality of Paul. There is no word “greatly” in the original manuscript, it is simply “how.” And now we have the adverb used as a conjunction to reveal something in Paul.
“I long after” – the present active indicative from the compound verb e)pipoqew [e)pi = upon; poqew = to miss someone, to long for someone who is absent], and with the preposition it is simply intensified into a verb of strong love. Paul has the capacity for love; he has the expression of love. Capacity expresses itself. God has provided the object of Paul’s love, a whole congregation of wonderful believers advancing. The present tense of e)pipoqew is a static present, it represents a condition which is assumed as perpetually existing. The active voice: Paul produces the action of teaching doctrine and directed toward those who are consistently positive. And from this comes capacity on the part of Paul. He studies to get his capacity for love, and then he communicates doctrine. That is the way those who are positive grow up. Between Paul and the Philippians is category #3 love. The indicative mood is declarative, it represents the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality: maximum category #3 love toward this congregation.
“ye all” – the accusative plural direct object from the adjective paj plus the personal pronoun su. This is translated “all of you.”
“in the bowels of Jesus Christ” – the preposition e)n plus the instrumental plural of splagxnon, plus the possessive genitive of Xristoj and the possessive genitive of I)hsouj. In scripture a portion of the anatomy is often used that does not refer to anatomy of the body but to an attribute of the soul. A known portion of the body is used to describe an invisible portion of the soul. From this is taken the principle of affection or the emotional response in the soul. So the word splagxnon is used for the affection response of the emotion. The absence of the definite article stresses the qualitative aspects of the noun rather than the mere identity of the noun as “bowels.” If the background is understood this can actually be translated “affection.”
Translation: “For God is my witness [I am telling the truth], how I deeply desire all of you with the same affections of Christ Jesus.”
Paul is saying that his love for the Philippians is so deep that he loves them as Jesus Christ would love them.
9. There is no greater standard of love than that related to the Lord Jesus Christ.
10. Paul as a believer in super-grace has maximum love capacity for the Philippians, so much that he is bold to relate it to the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ.
11. So great is his love capacity that he can with boldness describe his love as the affections of Christ Jesus.
12. A positive congregation toward doctrine provides additional motivation to the pastor to fulfil Philippians 2:17.
13. The pastor is motivated to study and teach through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, his own spiritual growth, and a love response from his congregation.
14. When a pastor finds a congregation responds to his doctrinal teaching he has both the love for the congregation and the desire to lead them to the maximum objective. This leads to maximum glorification of Jesus Christ.
In verses 9-11 we have a paragraph which tells us how to pray for a congregation of mature believers.[3]
Verse 9 – behind this prayer is love, Paul’s love for the Philippians, and also the greatness of the Philippians; they are a mature congregation. How do you pray for people who have everything? who are being blessed to the maximum by God? The prayer in this verse is for further advance, that they will complete their objective.
“And this” is the emphatic use of the conjunction kai which here means “in fact,” and the accusative neuter plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. The demonstrative is used as a direct object of the verb. The immediate demonstrative is what we have there. It calls attention to Paul’s prayer for the Philippians.
“I pray” – the present middle indicative from the verb proseuxomai, which means to pray for someone else and therefore it connotes intercessory prayer. This is an iterative present tense, it describes what recurs at successive intervals, therefore the present tense of repeated action. The middle voice is the indirect middle in which Paul as the agent is producing the action of the verb rather than participating in its results. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the standpoint of reality. Translation: “In fact I pray this prayer.”
“that” is the conjunction i(na which denotes a final clause, used to indicate a purpose and objective. The objective in this final clause is the intensification of category #1 love, or occupation with Christ.
“your love” – the nominative singular subject from a)gaph, which involves the mentality of the soul and not necessarily the emotion or other factors. It is used here to refer to category #1 love as a matter of concentration. It is also used because the object of love in not physically visible to the eye. With this word is the possessive genitive plural from the personal pronoun su, indicating that they do possess occupation with Christ or maximum category #1 love.
“may abound” – not quite correct, it is a little stronger than that. This is the present active subjunctive of the verb perisseuw, which means to be present and abundant, or to overflow, or to be outstanding, or to excel to the maximum. It can be translated “that your love may be caused to excel” or “to be caused to abound to the maximum.” This is a customary present which denotes what habitually occurs when one reaches super-grace status. This is a static present also for a condition which will perpetually exist in super-grace. The active voice: occupation with Christ produces the action. The subjunctive mood is not only the contingency potential subjunctive but with the conjunction i(na it is simply used to denote an objective. This is an objective not accomplished, therefore potential at this point. It is contingency, otherwise there would be no need for including it in prayer.
“yet more and more” – e)ti means “still,” an adverb of time which denotes that a given situation, such as maturity, is continuing and that once a person reaches maturity there are many areas within it. These people are in super-grace but they have not reached the final objective, as indicated next by not only the adverb of time but a comparative word, mallon, which is the comparative of mala, and it means “more” or “even to a greater degree.” It indicates the fact that even though they have a mature love it can still go higher.
How can this prayer be accomplished? Paul cannot simply pray for their continued advance unless he mentions in his prayer the means why which this advance is continued. The only way to advance in the spiritual life is cognisance. You must know doctrine.
“in knowledge” – growth always is related to knowledge of doctrine and there is no spiritual growth any other way. Deeds and production are the result of growth but never the means of growth. This is emphasised by a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the instrumental of e)pignwsij, the growing material. Doctrine doesn’t cause the believer to grow when it is stored permanently in the Word of God, it is doctrine in the soul that causes his growth—”by means of e)pignwsij.” So Paul is praying for them to grow. There is no other way to grow.
“and in all judgement” – the word “all” is the adjective paj in the instrumental, and we have the instrumental of the noun a)isqhsij which means spiritual discernment, and it is comparable to the unbeliever’s common sense. It is the application of doctrine, the power of judgment and discrimination based upon doctrine resident in the soul. First comes e)pignwsij, then comes discernment.
Translation: “In fact I pray that your love may be caused to abound still more, even to a greater degree, by means of knowledge [epignosis doctrine] and resultant all discernment.”
15. This is a prayer for the Philippian advance to ultra-super-grace. They are mature believers, they have reached a certain stage of maturity; they have not, however, reached the final stage of maturity. This is a prayer for the advance to ultra-super-grace with emphasis on occupation with Christ being intensified in this status.
16. Category #1 love or occupation with Christ occurs in super-grace as a spiritual blessing. This is a prayer for the intensification of occupation with Christ.
Verse 10 – “That ye may approve” is the preposition e)ij plus the articular present active infinitive from the verb dokimazw which means to test for the purpose of approval, to put to the test, to examine with reference to the result of the examination, to prove by testing, to approve. Here it means to approve, and it must be related to the last word of the previous verse which is “discernment.” When you are approving is disapproving something it is merely an expression of your scale of values. You are deciding which is more important. Are you going to go with your friends? Or are you going to stick with doctrine? There must be the definite article here to define the meaning of the preposition because of e)ij plus the articular present active infinitive of dokimazw, and the definite article makes the infinitive adaptable to prepositions. So it is e)ij plus the accusative of the definite article plus the present tense of dokimazw, and the static present represents a condition to be taken for granted as a fact for the believer who is approaching or is in super-grace. The active voice: the super-grace believer produces the action. The infinitive is conceived result, which simply means to follow the natural consequences of reaching super-grace status. To those who stick with doctrine it is inevitable that they will crack the maturity barrier. We might even translate e)ij plus the articular infinitive, “With the result that you may approve after testing.” Approval is based on your scale of values. You may not realise it but everything in life you test by your scale of values. The words “after testing” is a part of dokimazw. After testing, does this make any changes in doctrine being number one? So discernment is based upon always keeping doctrine in the number one slot in your priorities in life.
“things” is the accusative plural definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun to emphasise areas of discernment and the super-grace scale of values—”those things.”
“that are excellent” – present active participle from the verb diaferw, which means to differ to one’s advantage, to be worth more, to be of greater value. With the definite article it means here, “things of greater value.” With a definite article this participle acts as a substantive. This is an articular participle and is a noun rather than a verb.
This is the result of the e)pignwsij and discernment of the previous verse. The two go together. E)pignwsij means more doctrine accumulated since doctrine has number one place in your soul. Discernment is the use of your accumulated doctrine.
You must approve doctrine above all.
“that” – the conjunction i(na used to introduce a second purpose or objective: “in order that.”
“ye may be” – present active subjunctive from the verb e)imi. The present tense is a futuristic present, it denotes what has not yet occurred: the ultra-super-grace status. They are on the verge, and this is a prayer to get them in, as it were. This is regarded as so definite that it is put in the present tense, even though it is a future objective. The active voice: the ultra-super-grace status produces the action. They will get there. The subjunctive mood goes with i(na, indicating a purpose or an objective.
“sincere” – the predicate nominative plural from the compound e)ilikrinhj [e(ili = sunlight; krinw = to judge], which means to judge by sunlight. This does not mean “sincerity.” Sincerity is not even considered a virtue in Christianity. This means to judge the quality of something by holding it up to sunlight. Purity is determined by the sunlight test—”that you might be tested by sunlight.” Sunlight refers to doctrine. The word “sincere” really means to be completely pure and unmixed. It was used in the ancient world to test wine to see if there were any impurities in it, or if there was too much water in it. So to get rid of the ‘water’ of the soul and to replace and displace it with doctrine we have a word that doesn’t really mean sincere, but it means completely pure. But it doesn’t mean sinlessness, it simply means genuine—a genuine, totally mature believer. In other words, the soul is free from contamination. The scale of values is perfect because by making the written Word number one in your scale of values and assigning number one priority to doctrine you have eventually come to the place where you have made your number one priority the living Word—Jesus Christ whom you now see through doctrine. So the super-grace believer is completely pure in soul, and that means free from contamination and infiltration of Satanic policy. It has to do with thought, not with sin.
“and without offence” – the connective kai plus the predicate nominative plural from the compound a)proskopoj [a – negative; proskoph = offence or stumbling], which means undamaged, blameless, or without offence. “Blameless” means freedom from human good and the expression of evil.[4]
“till the day of Christ” – e)ij plus the accusative singular of h(mera, “with reference to the day.” Then the descriptive genitive singular from Xristoj, indicating the fact that this is the Rapture.
Translation: “In order that you might be completely pure in the light of doctrine; and blameless [in the area of human good and evil] with reference to the day of Christ.”
Verse 11 – prayer for ultra-super-grace production in contrast to the production of human good and arrogance. “Being filled” is the perfect passive participle from the verb plhrow. It means here to be filled with the highest possible quality. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect, which is the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect. The intensive perfect always takes the action of the verb and shows it as completed, and then shows the continuation of results from that completed action. The passive voice: the ultra super-grace believer receives the action of the verb. The participle is telic, indicating a purpose, and this denotes the 3rd purpose which has been expressed in this prayer. Literally, “Having been filled up.”
“with the fruits of righteousness” – the word “fruits” is the accusative singular direct object from the noun karpoj, which means fruit in the sense of production. It could be much better translated “production of righteousness.” With it is doikaiosunh, which dies not mean ‘righteousness,’ as such. It means the total fulfilment of spiritual progress and is a technical word here for ultra-super-grace.
“which are” is not found in the original. However the accusative singular direct object of the definite article is used here as a relative pronoun and can be translated “which comes.” The word “comes” is not found but is implied.
“by Jesus Christ” – dia plus the genitive of I)hsouj Xristoj should be translated “through Jesus Christ.”
“unto the glory” – this is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of doca, and is correctly translated “for the glory.” Jesus Christ is personally glorified when the believer is prosperous under paragraph SG2.
“and praise” – a continuation of the prepositional phrase, a)painoj, which means praise, approval, recognition, is the object of e)ij; “of God” is a descriptive genitive singular qeoj. The entire prepositional phrase is anartharus, there is no definite article, emphasising the quality of the glory, the quality of the praise, emphasising the object of glory in praise.
Translation: “Having been filled up with production of spiritual progress [righteousness], which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.”
Ultra-super-grace production glorifies God forever and has the most fantastic temporal reproduction.
Verse 12 – the super-grace prisoner in Rome. The principle and pattern of life in super-grace. This verse is like Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28. They all demonstrate the same principle.
“But I would” – the enclitic particle de used as a transitional conjunction and translated “Now,” plus the present active indicative of the verb boulomai which is used of a person desiring something. It means to wish, to want, to desire, and it is often used in the sense of desiring to clarify a point with someone you love. Paul has already declared his love; these are his greatest friends. Because they are his loved ones an explanation is forthcoming. The present tense is a perfective present, used here to denote the continuation of existing results. It refers to a fact which has come to be in the past but is emphasised right at this moment as a present reality. The active voice: Paul produces the action in his desire to communicate a point of doctrine.
“ye” is the accusative plural direct object from the personal pronoun su; “understand” is the present active infinitive of ginwskw, which means to understand, to comprehend, to learn. Here is it “comprehension” because of an explanation. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what may be reasonably expected to occur in the case of super-grace. The active voice: the Philippians will produce the action of perceptive comprehension. This is the infinitive of intended result, when the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate object. Hence, it is a blending of purpose and result. This is a deliberate explanation to someone you love.
“brethren” is a vocative plural, a)delfoj, indicating that not only is this explanation due them but Paul recognises that he will have students in every generation for the rest of the Church Age and forever, and he wants all of the royal family to come in on this very important point.
“that the things which happened to me” – o(ti, a causal conjunction meaning “because”; ta, a nominative neuter plural definite article, translated “things”; kat’, the preposition, plus the accusative singular of the personal pronoun, eme. Literally, “the things according to me,” but it is an Attic idiom for “my circumstances.”
“have fallen out” – perfect active indicative of e)rxomai, which means to come, but when used of things or events it means to “turn out.” It therefore has the same connotation as all things working together. This is a dramatic perfect, again the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect, completed action, emphasising the existing results as being intensified. The turning out is an intensified result. The active voice: the circumstances of the mature believer produces the action. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality. This is a dogmatic principle of doctrine that Romans 8:28 is fulfilled in super-grace.
“rather” is mallon, the comparative of the adverb mala. It originally meant to a greater degree, or it can be translated “for a better reason,” but here we have another word with it. We have the enclitic particle de, and that changes the meaning. As a super-grace believer the Roman imprisonment has worked together for good, has turned out in a certain way. Four epistles were written, and of these four Philippians was the last one. Ephesians prepares a person to crack the maturity barrier and in effect tells the believer what he must know to be a mature believer.
“unto the furtherance of the gospel” – e)ij plus the accusative singular of the noun prokoph, meaning progress; then a descriptive genitive e)uaggelia—”gospel”—”for the advance of the gospel.”
Verse 13 – the impact of the Praetorian Guard. The conjunction w(ste is used to introduce an independent clause and should be translated “With the result that.” We have just seen the principle of “All things work together for good” for mature believers. It is no accident that for two years of Paul’s life he is a prisoner in Rome and that for two years the final decision on his appeal has been delayed before he goes before the ruling Caesar who is Nero. Paul had am impact on the military organisation of that day, an organisation without which no man ever ascended to the throne of Caesar.
“that my bonds” – accusative plural of general reference, which means it is going to be the subject of an infinitive, from the noun desmoj which refers to the chains that were used to shackle people in prison. But since Paul was not shackled (he was under house arrest) it is better to translate desmoj as “imprisonment.” There is a descriptive genitive singular from e)gw, indicating his status quo, and it is translated therefore “With the result that my imprisonment.”
The next phrase deals with the fact that every believer, no matter where he is in time, he is also in union with the Lord Jesus Christ: “in Christ” – e)n plus the locative of Xristoj. It is true that Romans 8:28 applies to the believer. It is also true that due to the fact that every believer is in union with Christ that for every believer, before reaching maturity, the concept of Romans 8:28 is operational in the life. It is obvious, therefore, that for anyone who is positive toward doctrine, or anyone who is operating within the framework of the plan of God, that all things are working in the proper direction. Reason: Every believer is in history and in Christ as of the moment of his salvation. Because he is in Christ and at the same time living on this earth it is impossible for the person who is in Christ not to have a foreshadowing of the principle of Romans 8:28. The principle is therefore very obvious that while Paul’s circumstances vary in phase two his position in Christ never changes. There are three principles that must be pulled together: a) Jesus Christ controls history; b) Every believer is in union with Jesus Christ who controls history: c) Therefore the varying circumstances of life have to turn out right because we are in union with Christ, the same Jesus Christ who controls history.[5]
“are manifest” is the aorist active infinitive of ginomai. This is translated in the KJV by the verb to be, but it should not be. It should be translated “has become.” With this is the predicate nominative singular from faneroj, meaning “manifest” or “well-known.” Thus far we have, “With the result that my imprisonment in Christ has become well-known.” The aorist tense here is a culminative aorist, it views Paul’s imprisonment in its entirety but it emphasises the existing results. The active voice: Paul’s imprisonment produces the action of the verb. The infinitive is a part of the accusative of general reference, as well as actual result.
“and in all the palace” is an incorrect translation. This is the preposition e)n plus the locative singular from an adjective o(loj—”in all.” But “the palace” is the noun praitwrion which is called in English “Praetorium.” This is a reference to the Praetorium Guard. The Praetorium Guard was a brigade of 10,000 Roman soldiers stationed at the palace of Caesar and in a camp near Rome.
“and in all other places” – the connective kai, plus the locative plural definite article and the locative plural from the adjective paj. The locative plural from loipoj is not correctly translated. It means rest, remainder—”all the rest [of Rome].”
Translation: “With the result that my imprisonment in Christ has become well-known through the entire Praetorium Guard, and to all the rest [of Rome].”
Verse 14 – the influence of super-grace leadership. “And many brethren” – the conjunction kai, translated here “in fact,” plus the accusative plural definite article and the accusative plural of pleion, a comparative of poluj, and it means actually “the majority” here. The accusative case is a part of the accusative of general reference with the present active infinitive of lalew which means to communicate; “of the brethren” – i.e. the royal family of God, a descriptive genitive plural of a)delfoj.
“in the Lord” – the preposition e)n plus the locative of kurioj. This time it doesn’t refer to positional truth, it refers to an object. Prepositional phrase is used an object. The participle comes up next, the object of the participle peiqw—perfect passive participle, it means to obey, but in the perfect tense it means to have confidence. Translated, “having received confidence in the Lord.” The perfect tense is intensive in which the action is completed with special emphasis on the results. The results are said to be intensified. The passive voice: the majority of believers in Rome are receiving the action of the verb through the superb leadership of the apostle Paul. Even though the Roman church was in very bad condition it was Paul’s courageous leadership that turned the tide.
“In fact the majority of the brethren, because they had received confidence in the Lord.” This is a causal participle. Such confidence comes not only from the consistent function of GAP but it comes from leadership. Everyone needs a leader. No one understands mankind better than God Himself, and He has made it clear that 98% of all mankind needs some kind of supervision, and therefore a system of authority—establishment, even authority principles related to love. You can’t have anything in life that is worthwhile without authority, even your own self-discipline. The leadership discussed here is a spiritual leadership whereby God Himself provides the commission. He commissioned Paul at the point of his salvation by giving him the gift of apostleship. And there are several spiritual gifts which are the basis for all spiritual leadership. Since apostleship is extinct all that is left is the gift of pastor-teacher, and to a very limited extent evangelism.
“by my bonds” – the instrumental of cause from desmoj. An instrumental of cause means that you are getting back to some origin concepts. Paul is saying the origin of his leadership, his base of action, his base of operation for leadership, is imprisonment. This is translated “because of my imprisonment.” The believers had received confidence because of his imprisonment—not because he was in prison but because in prison he maintained his leadership activities. He continued to teach the Word of God and to rule the church.
“are much more bold” – the comparative adverb perissoteroj. It means “much greater” or “far more,” and the present active infinitive tolmaw, which means to have courage here. With the comparative adverb it means to have “much greater courage.” The infinitive has a descriptive present, it indicates what is now going on. The fact that Paul is in prison and awaiting a very serious trial has not intimidated him at all. The active voice: certain Roman believers seeing that Paul is not intimidated, bolder than ever, produce the action of production. The infinitive is the infinitive of actual result.
“to speak” – present active infinitive of lalew, and it means to communicate. The present tense is iterative, it describes what recurs at successive intervals. Witnessing isn’t something you do all the time, it is something you do as a result of doctrine resident in the soul, as a result of spiritual progress, and at times when God when God gives opportunity. It is something you never force, it is something that God drops in your lap.[6]
“the word” – accusative singular direct object of logoj, referring specifically to the gospel; the adverb a)foboj—”without fear.”
Translation: “In fact the majority of the brethren, since they have received confidence in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have much greater courage to communicate the word without fear.”
Verses 15 & 16, true and false motivation.
Verse 15 – “Some indeed,” tinej, the nominative plural subject from the indefinite pronoun tij. ‘Indefinite’ means a specific category. An indefinite pronoun always refers to a specific category of people and therefore it is translated “Certain ones.” It is called an indefinite pronoun because the category is referred to without naming the people in the category. The affirmative particle men in classical Greek is usually used with the particle de: “on the one hand; on the other hand.” This category [certain ones] is the category of false motivation. “On the one hand certain ones.”
“preach” – present active indicative from the verb khrussw. This word is derived from the noun khruc, which is a herald for a king, a representative for a VIP. He must go around and declare the policy of the king, and khrussw means to go around and declare the policy of the king as a herald of the king. The present tense is a descriptive present, it indicates the witnessing is in the process of occurrence. We translate this, “Certain ones [reversionists] are making known.” The active voice: the reversionist, the legalist, under the principle of false motivation is performing the witnessing or testifying. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of actual historical reality.
“Christ” – accusative singular direct object ton Xriston, “the Christ.” The anrtharous construction (without the definite article) always emphasises the person; the definite article merely identifies the noun. The definite article is put in here to indicate that they are talking about Christ, but they are not getting it straight. They are doing it from a false motivation: “even of envy and strife.”[7] This is the ascensive use of kai—”even,” and then dia plus the accusative. The preposition dia plus the genitive means “through,” but here we have dia plus the accusative and it means “because.” The first object is fqonoj—”jealousy.” From this, going into the right lobe and combining with evil the production is “strife, discord, contention” – e)rij: “even because of jealousy and discord.”
1. Arrogance creates hang-ups of the soul. These hang-ups become a source of false motivation in life.
2. When these hang-ups which produce false motivation are reversed by the suppression of pride or arrogance a change reaction of mental attitude sins and evil place the reversionistic believer directly under the command of Satan. False motivation puts them under his policy.
3. Pressure on pride causes that pride to depress, creating a trigger mechanism which sets off the entire range of other mental attitude sins.
4. Not only does the trigger mechanism release these mental attitude sins to the soul but drives them like a projectile into evil, so that evil and mental sins combine to produce a Christian monster who causes dissention and strife in the name of the Lord.
5. The Christian monster resists Bible teaching from his right pastor and reacts to the authority of his right pastor. And by resisting his authority he produces strife and discord in the local church.
6. When the suppression of pride cocks the trigger the trigger released produces jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, bitterness.
7. These mental attitude sins are combined with the resistance to doctrine to produce evil in the soul and false motivation in the soul. Therefore legitimate functions, such as witnessing and helping around the church, become an operation of evil.
8. The resultant strife or discord undermines the pastor’s authority and causes strife in the local church.
9. Combined with evil resident in the soul from resisting doctrine and rejection of authority of right pastor, reversionists, then, in emotional revolt, uttering pious phrases, rationalising their alliance with evil as a good thing, cause division among the brethren.
10. And when they are reprimanded by the pastor, or even by friends or associates, they gather their coterie of friends and their social clique and lead them into a labyrinth of confusion, into a maze of reversionism from which recovery is almost totally hopeless, for they are in a baffling network of wrong turns.
11. The right turns demanded for recovery are unthinkable to such arrogance because they demand recognition of the authority of hated right pastor and concentration on that very doctrine which condemns their thought and motivation.
“and some” – tinej de, “on the other hand.” Tinej is the nominative plural subject from the indefinite pronoun tij. Also the ascensive use of the conjunction
kai—”also.” Now we have the good motivation crowd: “of good will,” dia plus the accusative of e)udokia, which means good will or good motivation—”because of good motivation.”
Translation: “On the one hand certain ones [reversionists] are making known the Christ even because of jealousy and strife [discord]; on the other hand certain ones [positive and advancing believers] because of good motivation.”[8]
Pride becomes the basis of all false motivation among those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pride is often a blind spot in the soul of the individual, and especially believers who have been exposed to, or are influenced by, any form of legalism. Pride makes the individual with hang-ups of the soul extremely vulnerable, for pride is highly sensitive to anything in the periphery which in any way attacks it, and an attack upon pride immediately causes it to be compressed and become a trigger system of the soul for all sorts of things that are a source of misery and dishonouring to the Lord.[9]
Verses 16 & 17 in the King James version are reversed in the Greek. Verse 16 – Good motivation, not as in the KJV in verse 17. Bad motivation occurs at verse 17, not as in the KJV in verse 16.
Verse 16, which is really verse 17—Good motivation amplified. The verse begins o(i men e)c a)gaphj. The nominative plural of the definite article o(i refers to the good motive category. This is not to be translated but simply used as a reference point to one of the categories previously given by the indefinite relative pronoun tij, which while it is called indefinite refers to a specific category without naming names, i.e. the good motivation group. Next is the affirmative particle men used correlatively with the particle de to emphasise a contrast between the two categories of motivation. Then comes e)c, which is from the preposition e)k, used because the next word begins with a vowel, plus the ablative of a)gaph. This describes true motivation. A)gaph is a soul with no hang-ups and total capacity for love. The sooner hang-ups are eliminated the sooner and more rapid becomes the believer’s advance spiritually. So this is occupation with Christ. But it is more than that, for the same capacity which is directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ in category #1 is directed toward a member of the opposite sex—a right woman/man, and toward friends, so that the believer is a totally wonderful person because he has capacity for love. It is the exact opposite of pride being depressed. All good motivation is based on capacity for love.
“knowing” is the perfect active participle from o)ida. This is a consummative perfect tense, it denotes a completed process as an implied result from a process. In other words, the reason it is a consummative perfect is because it emphasises the process whereby you are free from hang-ups. The active voice: properly motivated believers produce the action. The proper motivation comes from doctrine in the soul. This is a circumstantial participle to show that there is something which is exactly opposite from what we have been studying. This is the antithesis of the Christian monster!
“that I am set” – the conjunction o(ti [after verbs of cognisance to show the content of the cognisance], translated “that”, plus the present active indicative of keimai which means to recline, to lie down. It therefore comes to mean to be appointed, to be destined. Here it means “I am appointed.” This is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes what was begun in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice: Paul produces the action. The indicative mood is declarative for reality, the reality of being totally free in life from any hang-up about anything.
“for the defence” – e)ij plus the accusative of a)pologia; “of the gospel” – the descriptive genitive singular from e)uaggelion, “good news.”
Translation: “The latter category from the motivation of love [occupation with Christ], knowing that I am appointed for the defence of the good news [the policy of God for the Church Age].”
Verse 17 – False motivation amplified. This refers to the category of verse 15. This verse begins o(i de, the former category making known Christ because of jealousy and discord. In other words, the false motivation crowd is now presented. Next is e)c plus the ablative of e)riqeiaj, which indicates motivation for those who have an erroneous one. It denotes self-seeking. It means to gain one’s objective by causing strife and factions, to derive happiness from someone else’s unhappiness. In other words, to be petty, arrogant, a trouble-maker—”The former category from the motivation of divisive self-promotion.” In other words, one who contrives from intrigue, duplicity, deception, and machination; to promote himself at the expense of creating factions.
“not sincerely” is wrong. It is the strong negative o)uk plus the adverb a(gnoj, and it means “not from pure motive.”
“supposing” – present active participle from o)iomai, which means to think, to presume, to assume. The verb means inference without fact. That is a summary of anyone with hang-ups. The present tense is a descriptive present to indicate what is now going on, the events in the process of occurrence in Rome. Witnessing from false motivation is the background. The active voice: it is really a middle voice with an active meaning. The reversionists in Rome produced the action, they have false motivation, false inference, and they are witnessing in order to retaliate against Paul. The participle is a causal participle, translated therefore, “since they presume.”
“to add” – present active infinitive of e)geirw, which means to wake, to rouse, or to activate. This is an iterative present tense, it describes what recurs at successive intervals. When Paul hears of their false witnessing. The active voice: the reversionists in Rome produce the action, seeking to retaliate against Paul and trying to make him miserable by their false witnessing. The infinitive is intended result in which the result seeks to fulfil a deliberate objective: to make Paul unhappy while he is in prison waiting for trial.
“affliction” – mental pressure or distress, the accusative singular direct object from qliyij; “to my bonds [or incarceration].”
Translation: “The former category
from the motivation of divisive self-promotion, not from pure motive, since
they presume to arouse [or, activate] mental distress with regard to my
incarceration.”
The conclusion begins in verse 18 with the phrase “What then?”—Ti gar. Ti is literally “What,” the gar is used in the sense of an inference with the interrogative pronoun. It is an idiom which means “What is my conclusion?” The conjunctive particle gar sometimes is used to express inference when used [in this case] with a nominative neuter singular of the interrogative pronoun tij.
“notwithstanding” – an old English translation of an adverb plhn which is used as a conjunction meaning “only, nevertheless, or however.” We translate it only here.
“that in every way” – o(ti is a conjunction used to express verbs of thought. With it, translated with the adverb plhn, “only that,” is the locative neuter of sphere from paj plus the locative from tropoj—”only that in every way.”
“whether in pretence or in truth” – the words whether or is Classical Greek again: e)ite e)ite. After the first e)ite we have the word profasei, the locative of profasij, which means pretext but it is much deeper than that, it means false motive. Then following the second e)ite comes a)lhqeia in the locative which means here a true motive. “Whether in false motivation or true” is the correct translation.
“Christ is preached” – the subject Xristoj refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only saviour. It could be translated “Christ and only Christ.” The present passive indicative of kataggellw means to proclaim. It is a verb not indicating the accuracy involved but the person involved is proclaimed. This is a descriptive present for what is occurring in Rome in AD 62. The passive voice: the subject Jesus Christ is receiving the action. Whether it is accurate or inaccurate is not the point, the fact is that He is proclaimed. The indicative mood is declarative for historical fact. The verbal action is the fact that in witnessing, whether true or false motivation is involved, it does bring out the name of Christ and does present Christ before the people as an issue. The principle is, and the thing that Paul is going to use in his conclusion is that people are making an issue of Christ without realising it because of their bad motivation. So God is using the wrath of man to praise Him. At the same time Paul is going to draw a specific conclusion from it. Christ is proclaimed regardless of their motivation and regardless of their accuracy.
“and I therein do rejoice” – incorrect. We have kai e)n touto xairw. Kai can usually be translated “and,” but here is a very unique use of kai. It is the emphatic use of the conjunction and it should be translated “in fact.” “Therein” is actually a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative of the demonstrative o(utoj. The demonstrative gives special emphasis on the true issue. The true issue is not the pettiness and false motivation, it is that Christ is being presented by people who are really not interested in presenting Christ but in hurting Paul. But it is boomeranging on them. Jesus Christ controls history. The whole thing is turning around on them and they haven’t even accomplished their objective which is to make Paul unhappy. Paul is not only happy but he is happy in the very thing that they are using against him. We actually have “in fact in this [the thing they are doing].” “I rejoice” is the present active indicative of xairw—”I am happy.” The present tense is a descriptive present for what is now going on. Active voice: Paul produces the action in spite of the efforts to reverse it. The indicative mood is declarative for unqualified assertion of a fact—false motivation—and all of the other things that accompany this false motivation cannot possibly hurt the person who is insulated with doctrine, occupied with Christ, and about to step into ultra-super-grace. Paul is able to ignore all the pettiness. Xairw means inner happiness. But here xairw means inner happiness under a certain concept: minus hang-ups of the soul.
“yea” is an old English word. It is the affirmative use of the conjunction a)lla [a)lla is generally used as an adversative conjunction], translated here “in fact.”
“and will rejoice” – kai is used with the rhetorical ascensive of the conjunction a)lla, and it is translated “not only at this time but.” Kai is used here as an idiom. “I will continue being happy” – future middle indicative of xairw. The progressive future denotes the idea of progress in future time.
Translation: “What is my conclusion? Only that, in every way. Whether in false motivation or true, Christ is being proclaimed; in fact, in this I am happy, not only now, but I will continue to be happy.”
The Pauline modus
operandi
1. Paul does not condone false teaching or false doctrine. Nor does this verse imply it.
2. Paul does not concern himself with false motivation, therefore he does not become involved in pettiness.
3. False motivation becomes self-destructive and a part of satanic policy of evil.
4. Therefore false motivation is a matter for God and His administration of justice. Paul does not become involved.
5. Paul ignores the false teaching, the false motivation, and finds happiness in the fact that Christ is being proclaimed to the citizens of Rome—falsely, but at least He is being presented.
6. Not only is Paul happy at this moment but his happiness will be perpetuated into intensification. It will be perpetuated regardless of any personal circumstances or catastrophes of history.
7. Bible doctrine resident in the soul is the basis for Paul’s happiness, not the false or true motivation of others.
8. Furthermore, Paul’s ministry and happiness will both continue since they do not depend on what others do.
9. This fact leads to the super-grace [maturity] interpretation of contemporary history: Catastrophe and disaster in history cannot change the blessing or the happiness of the mature believer.
10. Principle: Happiness belongs to the person with no hang-ups in the soul, no hypersensitivity.
Verse 19 – the super-grace interpretation of history. Jesus Christ controls history under three separate categories. He controls history directly through His
power and perfect attributes, His essence. He controls indirectly through the laws of divine establishment. He controls permissively by permitting evil to run its course in history in order that the angelic conflict might be completed. This must now be related to the principle of advance to maturity. The advance to maturity is accomplished by persistent intake of Bible doctrine.
“For I know” – this begins with the inferential use of the conjunctive particle gar, the word translated “for,” but is actually used to express a self-evident conclusion from Paul’s ability to interpret history. The perfect active indicative of o(ida—the perfect is used as a present tense for knowledge or doctrine in the right lobe of the apostle. This is a perfective present denoting continuing results, and the continuation of these results goes on at that moment in history. This is a part of the correct interpretation of contemporary history. Paul, through doctrine, has come to understand the significance of the Roman empire. We translate the inferential use of the conjunction “indeed”—”Indeed I know.” This is the expression of total confidence. The perfect tense used as a perfective present tense is an expression of a confidence when he realises that history demands his continuation. The situation in history, the tremendous intensity of opposition, suddenly turned everything around for him. That opposition is meaningful, supernatural, extra-natural. It has some meaning or purpose that has eluded him up until now, and in the next few verses we see one of the most beautiful pictures of how common sense, maximum doctrine in the soul, the reasoning power which is given to anyone who has divine viewpoint, is brought to focus in a perfect interpretation of contemporary history, and then a perfect interpretation of the meaning of his own life and why he must go on.
“that this” – the conjunction o(ti introduces an objective clause. This is used to show a conclusion, after verbs of knowing, after verbs of confidence expressed. It indicates a conclusion, and the principle. The subject of the objective clause is the nominative singular neuter from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj—”this.” This is an immediate demonstrative because it is emphasising something in the context. “Indeed I know that this event.”
“shall turn” – the future middle indicative from a)pobainw. The word means to come back, to turn out, to disembark from a ship, and possibly to result from something. Here it means to turn out as another illustration of the principle of Romans 8:28. The future tense is a predictive future for an event which has not occurred but is expected to occur in the near future. The middle voice is a dynamic middle, it emphasises the part taken by the subject in the action of the verb. The subject is the nominative neuter singular of the demonstrative pronoun referring to the events described in verses 13-18 as a part of contemporary history. Paul interprets this extensive witnessing for Christ as an inference that his soon release is about to occur. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality, and bringing all of these things together in his mind and correctly interpreting history gives him a new lease on life.
“to my salvation” is wrong. This includes the dative singular indirect object from the personal pronoun e)gw—very important in the interpretation of history on the part of the believer because he must start with the awareness of his own existence. In interpretation of history it is normal to relate yourself to what is going on in history. Ego is not arrogance or pride, it is self-consciousness, awareness of one’s own existence, and the ability to use doctrine in the soul to face the reality of contemporary events. Then a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of swthria—translated deliverance, not salvation. It should be translated, “Indeed I know that this shall turn out to me for deliverance [or, deliverance for me].” Note that this is an anartharous construction in the prepositional phrase, no definite articles of any kind. That indicates the highest quality of deliverance, a divine deliverance, the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ to turn around courtroom procedures and to hold back the trial. So we have, then, when a person can take doctrine and integrate it with current events and come up with the answer. It also confirms the fact that Romans 8:28 applies to the mature believer without any questions or doubts.
Principle
12. Paul now relates the events of contemporary history to two other events which are involved in his deliverance.
13. Both of these factors come directly from the Philippian congregation, namely their prayers and their monetary offering.
“through your prayer” – Paul notices the power of prayer, dia plus the genitive singular of dehsij. This means “through intercessory prayer,” but he also
specifies the origin, for their origin indicates their love and personal interest. It is the ablative plural of means from the personal pronoun su. Ordinarily the ablative is not used to express means, but it may be used to express means when accompanied by the implication of origin or source. The Philippians loved Paul so much that they prayed for him all the time. This is the prayer of those who have broken through the maturity barrier and have followed Paul.
“and the supply” – the continuative use of the conjunction kai, used to indicate that the prepositional phrase is not over and that there will be another object of the preposition, i.e. the genitive or ablative of e)pixoregia. This is an Attic Greek word and one of the oldest words in all of the history of drama. It was originally used for a very wealthy Athenian who provided the money for the chorus to train for a year for Greek tragedy. The next phrase, “of the Spirit,” emphasises the source of all this true giving, but in effect the Philippian offering is e)pixoregia, it provides Paul with what he needs by way of money for the next five years plus. So we call this logistical provision—”and logistical provision.” Then we have to add a word not found in the original—”motivated.” They were motivated by God.
“of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” – the ablative singular of means for pneuma, referring here to God the Holy Spirit. This is the origin of their motivation. Again, the ablative is used when the origin is emphasised. Then the genitive of relationship from I)hsouj Xristoj. Jesus Christ is mentioned because it is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in this dispensation to glorify Jesus Christ. So the motivation for all of these things: doctrine resident in their souls and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
Translation: “Indeed I know that this shall turn out for deliverance to me through your intercessory prayer, and logistical provision, motivated by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
Verse 20 – the esprit décorps of the mature believer—especially the super-grace believer.
“According to me earnest expectation” is a Greek prepositional phrase, Kata plus the accusative of the definite article, plus the accusative of the noun a)pokaradokia [a)po = from; kara = head; dokuw = to watch], which means to watch with the head stretched forward, and comes to mean intense concentration which, of course, is involved in the daily function of GAP. It should be translated, “According to my intense concentration.” The principle behind this prepositional phrase: Intense concentration denotes giving Bible doctrine number one priority. It also denotes the modus vivendi of the daily function of GAP. It comes to means that all esprit décorps in the royal family of God must originate from doctrine inside of the believer’s own soul.
“and my hope” is the continuation of the prepositional phrase. This time there is the word e)lpij in the accusative and it does not mean hope this time, it actually means here confidence. Confidence is based upon the fact that Bible doctrine has the number one priority, and from this you have the reversal of the pride trigger mechanism which starts all the mental attitude sins that combine with evil to form a believer serving up with Satan. Bible doctrine knocks out evil and the process is reversed.
“that” is the conjunction o(ti used after a verb of perception to indicate what is being taught; the content of thought.
“in nothing” is a prepositional phrase, again, e)n plus the locative of o)udeij. This means to the various aspects of life.
“I shall be ashamed” – the future passive indicative of a)isxunw which means here to be disgraced. He is talking about the disgrace of being vulnerable to having hang-ups of the soul resulting from pride—hypersensitivity, etc. This means total freedom from the arrogance complex.
“but” is an adversative conjunction, a)lla, that sets up a contrast between the person with hang-ups and the person with no hang-ups, the person with blind arrogance in the soul and the person with no arrogance at all.
“with all boldness” – the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of parhsia which means courage or confidence, boldness in the presence of persons, joyous confidence in relationship with God, etc. The problem with determining the meaning of parhsia here is that the various connotations all relate to the political sphere, the private sphere, moral concepts of integrity, and the word was actually developed in the Attic Greek in that line, especially where it was used for freedom of speech and expressing the courage of the soul or the integrity of the soul. So in the private sphere it was used for someone who was not afraid to censor a friend, hence boldness of speech, and eventually it came to mean candour or frankness. Eventually it went back into the origins of the soul where it meant to have no hang-ups, to be totally relaxed and therefore to be a good friend. It finally comes to mean integrity, which is its meaning here—”but with integrity.” Integrity is the state or quality of being unbroken, complete, undivided, with honour and sometimes with moral courage added.
“as always” – the relative adverb w(j, used as a comparative particle indicating the manner in which something proceeds, plus the adverb of time pantote, always. The two words together mean “as always.”
“so now also” – kai nun is literally “even now.” This is the ascensive use of kai and it should be translated even; nun is an adverb of time.
“Christ shall be magnified” – the nominative singular of Xristoj used as the subject. Here is true esprit décorps in the royal family of God, Christ magnified. Christ is magnified, not by running around doing things for God but by having a soul that is free from hang-ups. The subject is the Lord Jesus Christ; this is anartharous, there is no definite article. The absence of the definite calls attention to the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ. He is the only one in history worth glorifying. That is the principle of the absence of the definite article. The reason is because He is unique, the God-Man. The unseen battle is the major emphasis on glorifying Him.
“shall be magnified” is the gnomic future of megalunw which means to be exalted. The gnomic future is for a statement of fact expected under normal conditions of being a super-grace believer. The passive voice: Jesus Christ receives the glorification or exaltation from believers in super-grace.
“in my body” – e)n plus the locative of swma, used here for the entire person alive in phase two, rather than just the body. Swma is used for just the body, but also it is used for a person being alive in time. Translated under those conditions it is translated “in my person.”
Now Paul brings the issue. He has been leaning toward dying. He thought for a while that he was going to be executed by Nero at this time, now he has been told to start leaning the other way.
“wether by life, or by death” – this is the dilemma of his personal interpretation of history. Is it time for him to leave this life and to go to be with the Lord, or should he anticipate staying around for a while longer? What is the Lord’s will for his life? He is ready to go to be with the Lord but is now facing a very serious dilemma. The translation here is correct: e)ite dia zwhj; dia plus the genitive of zwh; e)ite e)ite is Attic Greek and is translated “either, or.” Then comes dia plus the genitive of qanatoj, which can be translated either “through” or “by.”
Translation: “According to my intense concentration [on doctrine] and resultant confidence, that in nothing I shall be disgraced, but with integrity [or, spiritual maturity], even now as always, Christ shall be exalted in my person, whether by life, or by death.”
Verse 21 – the principle of this verse is: You carry around your own solutions long before you face the problems. This verse is not for new believers.
“For” is the explanatory use of the postpositive conjunctive particle gar—”For you see.”
“to me” is a dative of indirect object singular from the emphatic personal pronoun e)gw—”for me.” This refers to Paul in super-grace. This is also dative of advantage.
“to live” – the articular present active infinitive from the verb zaw. The articular infinitive is a verbal noun used here as the subject, and when the infinitive is used as a substantive it is translated like a gerund—”For me living.” The noun force of the infinitive is found in the articular use of the infinitive.
“Christ” – Xristoj, predicate nominative indicating occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ comes in three stages: For the believer who has cracked the maturity barrier and is in super-grace, as a part of his SG2, category #1, he has occupation with Christ—maximum love of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the capacity to love Jesus Christ who is invisible. Then, in super-grace B he is under the logistical support of Bravo grace, and so occupation with Christ is taken out of SG2 and becomes his logistical support. He is going to be ambushed by friends and loved ones who come out of nowhere as reversionists and try to lead him astray. But when getting into ultra-super-grace occupation with Christ, along with all of these blessings, intensifies to the maximum.
“and” is the adjunctive use of kai and should be translated here, “likewise.”
“or by death” – the articular aorist active infinitive of a)poqnhskw; This is a noun, a substantive, and it should be translated “dying.”
“gain” – predicate nominative, kerdoj, for great profit or unusual gain. This is a reference to dying grace and the fact that being a mature believer he is going to accrue profit for all eternity after the judgment seat of Christ.
Translation: “For me living is Christ [occupation with Christ], likewise dying is gain.”
Verse 22 – the dilemma of the mature believer. “But” is an enclitic particle de, used here as an adversative conjunction to emphasise the contrast between life and death; “if” is a conditional particle e)i to introduce a first class condition, a supposition from the viewpoint of reality—”if I live,” and the supposition here is a correct one although he will explore the possibility of death.
“I live” is the articular present active infinitive from the verb zaw, used as a noun to repeat the alternative of the previous verse. The first alternative, then, is living. “But since living is Christ” is the way it should be translated. It must be related to the previous verse. We don’t translate e)i as “if” because this is the actual first class condition and it can be legitimately translated “since.” Or, as we might translate it, “But since living in the flesh is Christ,” because we have e)n plus sarc—”in the flesh.” This refers to physical life on earth as a mature believer; being in the body.
“this” – nominative neuter singular subject from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. This emphasises phase two being lived in spiritual maturity: “this status of maturity” is the way we could translate it. It is the near demonstrative. The word “is” must be added, though it is not found in the original because we have a predicate nominative singular from karpoj—”fruit” is all right, karpoj does mean fruit in Greek. It also means “result, outcome, profit, gain, advantage.” Here it means “result.” Also, there is the dative singular indirect object from the personal pronoun e)gw. “This status of maturity is for me a result.”
“of my labour” – there is no my in the original, it is simply the genitive of possession singular of e)rgon, used here for accomplishment or achievement. The accomplishment here is grace achievement.
“yet” – the emphatic use of kai should be translated “really”; “what” is the accusative neuter singular from the interrogative pronoun tij. The accusative with this is the direct object of the verb of perception, the present active indicative of gnwrizw—”really I do not know what [I am going to decide/do].” “Not” is the negative o)uk. The present tense is a descriptive present to indicate what is now going on. The active voice: the subject is Paul, he produces the action of the verb of not knowing what his preference is between living and dying. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of Paul’s dilemma.
“I shall choose” – future middle indicative of a)irew. The middle voice changes the meaning of a)irew a little. In the middle voice it means to choose or exercise an option, and since the verb connotes selective preference, and since the subject is a dilemma with few possibilities, it is correctly translated “I prefer,” because it is a deliberative future. The deliberative future is used for a question of uncertainty, expressed therefore in the future indicative. The middle voice: the subject is Paul and he participates in the results of the action of the verb as the agent. The direct middle refers the results of the action directly to the agent Paul with reflexive force. The indicative mood is potential, a potential indicative of obligation; it is not declarative.
Translation: “But since living in the flesh is Christ, this status of maturity is for me a result of grace achievement [accomplishment]. Really, I do not know what I myself prefer.”
Verse 23 – “For” is the enclitic particle de which is used here as an emphatic conjunction and translated “In fact.”
“I am in a strait” – present passive indicative from the verb sunexw [sun = together with; e)xw = to have and to hold]. It means to hold together with, to have the means to hold together, also to hold in custody. But is also has another meaning, especially in the passive voice: to be hard pressed, to receive pressure. To receive pressure in this case from several points. In fact, this is a Greek idiom for a dilemma. “In fact, I am hard pressed from two alternatives” is the real meaning here. It is idiomatice for, “I am hard pressed to choose between the two alternatives.” We also have “betwixt two”: e)k plus the ablative of the definite article plus the ablative of duw, and it should be translated “from the two”, and it refers to the two alternatives. So sunexw plus the prepositional phrase is all part of a Greek idiom expressing a dilemma, and expressing the fact that there are two alternatives to be considered. The present tense of sunexw is a descriptive present for what is now going on—the dilemma. The passive voice: Paul receives the action of the verb—pressure from both sides of the dilemma. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the dilemma of choosing between going on to ultra-super-grace or going to heaven. He has already indicated his own preference. As far as he is concerned going to heaven is much more important than even going to ultra-super-grace, though ultra-super-grace is the ideal situation in life. Life isn’t so important to Paul, the relationship with the Lord is so great, his occupation with Christ is so important, his love is so important. This is love of a member of the Godhead who is invisible to him; he sees Him who is invisible, and he loves the Lord Jesus Christ much more than he loves life.
“having a desire” – thn e)piqumian e)xwn. This includes the present active participle of e)xw. The reason we start with this is because of the type of participle we have. This is a causal participle and it is translated “because I have.” The retroactive progressive present denotes what was begun in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice: Paul is producing the action in the thinking with regard to his dilemma. Then the accusative of the definite article thn plus e)piqumian, also in the accusative, and they are the objects of the participle. It should be translated then, “In fact, I am hard pressed to choose between the two alternatives because I have the desire.” The word e)piqumia means desire.
“to depart” – this is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of the definite article plus the articular infinitive. The infinitive is the aorist active infinitive of a)naluw. This is a reference to dying. The meaning of the verb a)naluw is very important, it means to weigh anchor, to unloose threads, to strike a tent, to break camp. All of these meanings apply to physical death; all of them apply, in this case, to Paul. He wants to depart from this life. The meanings apply in this way: Paul says, I am ready for the thread to be snapped.” The snapping of the thread is death. Even though this is an aorist active infinitive, neither the aorist nor the active voice have any meaning as far as the verb is concerned because this is, again, the articular infinitive.
To review the concept, in its earliest appearance in the Sanskrit the infinitive had a noun origin. It was not a verb at all. The infinitive is a relic of a declension rather than a conjugation. It represent two primitive noun inflections, the dative and the locative. The voice and tense of the infinitive is not found until as early as Homer. Therefore it is concluded that it originated somewhere along the line in prehistoric Greek. As a noun the infinitive has case relationship and is accompanied by the preposition and the definite article. As a verb it is often without the definite article, and occasionally in the Koine of the New Testament the articular infinitive will have a verbal connotation. The articular infinitive is an Attic idiom, it is Classical Greek and it is, once more, a demonstration of objectivity. Every use of the Attic or Classical Greek in Philippians is a demonstration of objectivity. Paul is very relaxed about this, he is very objective, he has no hang-ups in life, and therefore when he says that he prefers to weigh anchor or strike his tent it isn’t because of some adverse incident or circumstance of life. It has nothing to do with subjectivity, he has no hang-ups of the soul.
“and” is a resultant use of kai, correctly translated “and so.”
“to be” – present active infinitive of e)imi, the verb to be. The present tense is a futuristic present for an event which has not yet occurred (his death) but is regarded as so certain in Paul’s thought that he takes it for granted. He thought that he was going to die after the elapse of time in this first Roman imprisonment. It can also be regarded as a static present for a situation taken for granted as a fact. The active voice: Paul produces the action of being with Christ after death. The infinitive is for conceived result which is assumed as a consequence of dying, and is translated literally, “to keep on being.”
“with Christ” – sun plus the instrumental of Xristoj is translated “together with Christ.” This is anartharous, i.e. there is no definite article. The absence of the definite article calls attention to the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and specifically with the Attic Greek phrase, the articular infinitive, it emphasises the uniqueness of Christ in the thinking of Paul. While Christ is unique He is not unique in the thinking of many believers. In order for the uniqueness of Christ to be a reality you have to know certain doctrines, they have to be resident in your soul. You have to understand doctrine and then the uniqueness of Christ emerges as a beautiful thing in your soul and as a part of category #1 love. Not all believers understand nor appreciate nor admire the uniqueness of Christ. The absence of the definite article here simply follows the fact that his maximum category #1 love makes him appreciate. To him Christ is unique; it is real, much more real than anything in life. So this is translated: “and so to keep on being together with Christ.”
“which is far better” – this is really not what he says. There is no verb here, it is a triple comparative and this is extremely emphatic—pollw gar mallon kreisson. He considers at this point that dying grace, absent from the body and face to face with the Lord, to be infinitely better than remaining behind for his triumph in life. For the Lord is about to vindicate Paul’s ministry as never before. He is truly in love with the Lord as very few people would be. The word gar is translated “for.” Pollw is “by means of.” Mallon is “much.” Kreisson is “to a greater degree”—”for by means of much to a greater degree better.” It is the idiom which gives the meaning here. This is a perfect illustration of a literal translation of an idiom. It doesn’t mean anything to us in English, we have to know what the idiom is.
Breaking this down: gar is the explanatory use of the enclitic conjunction—”for,” with the implication that he is referring to the alternative of dying; “for this alternative.” Then the instrumental of measure from polluj, used to express degree of difference: “by much.” The adverb mallon is a comparative meaning “to a greater degree.” Kreisson is a comparative from a)gaqoj, meaning “better.” This is an idiom meaning, “for it is better by far.”
Translation: “In fact, I am hard pressed to choose between the two alternatives [of life and death], because I have a desire to weigh anchor, and so to keep on being together with Christ; for this alternative is better by far.”
Verse 24 – “Nevertheless” is the postpositive conjunctive particle de [which has a number of translations and uses], used to state the second alternative which is God’s plan and provision for Paul, as well as the means by which the Philippians are going to go as a congregation all the way to ultra-super-grace. Corrected translation: “Yet on the other hand.”
“to abide” – the articular present active infinitive of e)pimenw which means to remain. The present tense is retroactive progressive present, denoting what has happened in the past and continues into the present time: Paul’s continuation in phase two. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb, continuing in time as a part of God’s will and God’s plan for his life. The infinitive denotes God’s purpose, God’s will. It is verbal in its use to denote purpose whereas the previous articular infinitive was substantive in its use to denote the preference of Paul.
“in the flesh” – sarc means flesh all right; it also means body. But it also means “in person”—e)n plus the locative of sarc.
“more needful” – the comparative predicate nominative singular from a)nagkaioj, which means “more necessary”; “for you” – dia plus the accusative of the personal pronoun su, which means “because of you all.” Paul must remain alive lead them to ultra-super-grace. His focus has to do with the original recipients of this epistle, the Philippians. It is necessary for Paul’s ministry to reach a triumphal climax, a procession through the ancient world where the setting aside of all of his enemies, the total neutralisation of all of those who have tried to destroy his ministry, can occur.
Translation: “Yet on the other hand to remain in my body [in person] is more necessary for your sake.”
Verse 25 – Paul is the logistical provision for the attainment of ultra-super-grace. It is Paul who leads the way. There has to be a leader at a crisis period in history, and this one leader has now emerged.
“And having this confidence” includes the conjunction kai which introduces a result which comes from what precedes. Under this use we translated the conjunction “And so”; plus the accusative neuter singular direct object from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. This is the immediate demonstrative used to designate a thought relatively near in actuality. With it is the perfect active participle of peiqw, an important verb because it means to obey in the present tense, and in the aorist tense; and obedience in certain areas of the spiritual realm finally comes to mean strong faith. In the perfect tense it means to have what very few people in life really have, and that is total and complete confidence on a day by day and moment by moment basis. This word here means to have confidence. We have a causal participle, and so we translate it “since having confidence.” We have a consummative perfect tense. The perfect is the concept of a completed action and this use does not have the emphasis on existing results so much as a process which has occurred and is now being consummated. It is a reference to the fact that a process has occurred with Paul: he has GAPed it, he has recovered from his Jerusalem reversionism, he has cracked the maturity barrier. Therefore the consummative perfect is not merely the process but a consummative process of glorifying Jesus Christ to the maximum. God is now preparing Paul for departing from Rome and having a five-year plus triumphal procession through the ancient world, strengthening churches, leading congregations to ultra-super-grace and evangelising Spain. Then active voice: Paul, after the process of doctrinal application, has produced the action of completing a process of thought resulting in his present confidence. “And so having this confidence [in this principle of doctrine].”
“I know” – the perfect of o)ida used as a present tense for the frame of reference of the right lobe. This is the perfective present denoting the continuation of existing results. Paul is producing the action. The indicative mood is historical reality as well as the main verb related to the participle. Paul has confidence; he has knowledge. When you have confidence through entering this stage of maturity you also have knowledge of doctrine, and your knowledge is used to correctly interpret contemporary history. He is on the right side of history, he thoroughly understands the issue, and he now completely understands why he must remain alive even though he chooses to depart from this world.
“that” is the conjunction o(ti used after verbs of perception to indicate the content of Paul’s conclusion; “I shall remain” – future active indicative from the verb menw, which means to remain or abide, to stay, to continue. This is a predictive future. Paul realises that he is going to stay alive and therefore he is, in effect, saying so. The active voice: Paul produces the action by remaining in phase two to complete his mission, his triumphal procession as an ultra-super-grace believer and to lead others into the same status. The indicative mood is declarative for relating his life to history in a very dogmatic way of confidence.
“and continue” – the future active indicative of paramenw. This is very strong, menw followed by a compound of menw, paramenw [para = beside; menw = to continue]. It simply means here to continue beside life rather than going to be with the Lord. This is a progressive future, however, and enotes the idea of progress in future time. The active voice: Paul produces the action. The indicative mood: he has correctly interpreted history, he has correctly evaluated contemporary events, he has his finger on the pulse of history, and he realises his own relationship to it as he now moves into the ultra-super-grace status.
“with you all” – the instrumental plural of association from the adjective paj, and with it the pronoun su, “with all of you.” Specifically the Philippian church is going to be the key, it is made up of super-grace believers. Because the Philippians and others need to advance to ultra-super-grace Paul must continue in phase two. Therefore it will be almost six years before he sees the Lord face to face through physical death. This association means that Paul is personally going to come back to Philippi and teach them so that they will go into ultra-super-grace.
“for the furtherance” – a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative from prokoph. This does not really mean furtherance, it means progress.
“and the joy of faith” – the connective kai, the accusative singular direct object of the preposition xara [e)ij plus xara] which is +H. This is one of the category #2 blessings of paragraph SG2—”and your inner happiness.” Then an ablative singular of source from pistij. Pistij does mean faith but that is one of three different meanings. It means what is believed or doctrine, and that is the meaning here—”from the source of doctrine.” Remember that all happiness in life for the believer, since the day he was born again, must be associated with doctrine. As doctrine is associated with your soul you relate yourself to life and have great capacity for life and blessing.
Translation: “And so since having confidence [in this principle of doctrine], I know that I shall remain [in phase two] and be continuing in association with all of you [Philippians] for the purpose of your advance and inner happiness from doctrine.”
That is only the first half of the sentence which he continues in verse 26.
Verse 26 – “That” is the conjunction i(na which introduces a final clause. A final clause means purpose, goal, objective, and it is a reminder to each one of us that as long as we live on this earth God has a purpose for our lives.
“your rejoicing” – this is not the word rejoicing at all, this is the Greek word kauxhma and it means “boasting.” It also has another meaning. In addition to what is said in boasting it means the object of boasting, it means glorying, but here it does mean boasting, boasting without pride. So kauxhma has to connotations: boasting plus pride and minus pride. Here it means boasting in the sense of stating a confidence in a time of uncertainty. But historical uncertainties do not change the confidence of any believer in super-grace/maturity. So boasting here refers to confidence and it does not refer to the sinful type boasting which is a manifestation of pride. With this is the possessive genitive plural from the pronoun su. This is the boasting of the mature believers at Philippi. They are right behind the apostle Paul, therefore they have a confidence which comes from doctrine in their souls as Paul has confidence from doctrine in his soul.
“may be more abundant” – present active subjunctive from the verb perisseuw which means to abound or to overflow. This is a retroactive progressive present denoting what was begun in the past and continues into the present time. The confidence or boasting has abounded in the past and continues to abound as the Philippians look to Paul to lead them to the final objective. The active voice: the Philippian confidence in Paul as a communicator of doctrine produces the action of the verb. No one ever advances spiritually apart from his own right communicator. The present tense is retroactive progressive present denoting what was begun in the past and continues into the present time. The confidence or boasting has abounded in the past and it must continue. The active voice: Philippian confidence in Paul as a communicator of doctrine produces the action. The subjunctive mood with i(na denotes purpose, objective and goal. It is God’s purpose that Paul remains for five plus years.
“in Christ Jesus” – this denotes the sphere of confidence. You first discover that confidence is a part of the Christian way of life when you discover, after salvation, that you have received 36 things at salvation, one of which is being entered into union with Christ. This is the beginning of understanding your confidence—positional sanctification.
Note that the subjunctive mood not only denotes a purpose but is a potential subjunctive indicating the fact that this is only true for those who follow their right pastor day by day in the function of GAP, until the objective is achieved.
“for me” is incorrect, it is e)n plus the instrumental singular from the personal pronoun e)gw and it should be translated “by means of me.” Here is Paul recognising the purpose for remaining alive. They can’t make it without Paul’s teaching. Paul in his doctrinal teaching is not only the means of taking the Philippians to maturity but it is the means of countless generations of believers going through the same procedure toward the objective.
“by my coming to you again” – dia plus the genitive of the definite article, plus the possessive genitive of an adjective e)moj, and also by the genitive object of dia which is parousia, the word for coming or being present—”through my return to you again.” There is a second prepositional phrase, proj plus the accusative plural of su. The word “again” is the adverb palin, used to denote the return to a previous activity.
Translation: “That your confident glorying in Christ Jesus may abound by means of me through my return once more, face to face with you.”
1. Paul anticipates a personal return to Philippi and having the privilege of leading many of them to ultra-super-grace.
2. It is concluded, therefore, that both Paul and the pastor, Epaphroditus, will be involved in the final countdown of getting the Philippians to the objective.
3. Obviously Paul must remain in phase two to attain ultra-super-grace himself and to lead others in the same direction.
4. No greater responsibility has ever been entrusted to a member of the royal family of God than the communication of Bible doctrine, so that believers can grow in grace.
5. No greater honour can be conferred on a male believer than to possess the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher to which God has chosen to provide for the spiritual advance of every believer.
6. There is no spiritual progress from doctrine apart from its communication by a right pastor.
7. The spiritual gift carries the greatest responsibility in both preparation and execution.
8. Execution carries the greatest responsibility of faithfulness to God in the function of studying and communicating. Therefore Paul begins to see a pattern in why he must remain. This responsibility requires the most in self-discipline, dedication, understanding the job profile of the pastor-teacher as located in the Word of God.
Verse 27 – “Only” is a neuter adjective monon from monoj. It is used as an adverb limiting the action of the one designated by the verb. So it is translated
“Only.”
“let your conversation” – the present middle imperative from the verb politeuomai which means to have one’s citizenship or to have one’s home in a specific
area. It means also to rule or to govern a state, to live or conduct one’s life in a certain manner, to lead one’s life. To discharge one’s obligations as citizens. Neither here nor in Acts 21 does the word contain any reference, however, to life in society as such. There are no political implications of the word in either place, it simply involves the New Testament usage of the verb which means to lead one’s life or to discharge personal responsibility in life. “Only lead your life” is a better translation. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what habitually occurs or may reasonably be expected to occur among those who are advancing to maturity. The middle voice is the indirect middle stressing the agent as producing the action rather than participating in the results of the action. This is a command—imperative mood. The degree of authority invoked in the command and the degree of probability that the recipient will respond or obey is incidental to this mood. Degrees of probability are found in the indicative and subjunctive moods. The original authority was the apostle Paul as the human writer in giving this command. However, the apostleship gives Paul the authority and the power to transmit for a permanent record, a command not only to the Philippians but to us today. “Only conduct your life as royal family of God” is the command here.
“as it becometh” is the adverb a)ciwj meaning “worthy of”—”in a manner worthy of.”
“the gospel of Christ” – e)uaggelion, descriptive genitive which means good news—”the good news doctrines of the Christ.” This does not refer to the gospel of salvation only but is much more extensive. Here it refers to any portions of the Word of God dealing with the royal family and advance to maturity, spiritual growth.
14. It is good news that doctrine resident in the soul carries the believer to the objective of maturity.
15. It is good news that reaching maturity is the manner worthy of such doctrine.
16. It is good news that Christ is glorified in time by the attainment of spiritual maturity.
17. It is good news that such glorification of Christ is accompanied by fantastic blessing.
18. There is only one way to go in the Christian life and that is forward.
19. All believers should be offensively minded. Hence, in effect, what we have here is the command to attack, and that means thrust forward, advance.
20. This is accomplished in only one way—the daily function of GAP, the daily intake of spiritual food. The believer must take the high ground of spiritual maturity.
“that” is the conjunction i(na which introduces a final clause. A final clause denotes a purpose, an objective, a goal, an aim in life. It is translated here, “in order
that.”
Then we have Classical Greek again, the repetition of e)ite, e)ite, “whether, or.” They state the two alternatives of Paul’s ministry to the Philippians. With this is the aorist active participle from e)rxomai which means to come or to go. Here it means to come. This is a constative aorist which indicates Paul’s personal presence in Philippi to teach Bible doctrine. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb in face to face teaching. The participle is circumstantial.
“and see you” – another aorist active participle, this time from the verb o(raw. O(raw connotes a panoramic view and is consistent with Paul teaching the Philippians over a period of time. Again, we have a constative aorist tense which gathers into one entirety Paul’s face to face teaching with the Philippians. The active voice: Paul produces the action by personally visiting them. Again, the participle is circumstantial. Plus the accusative plural from the personal pronoun su, referring to a very special congregation. This is translated, “whether I come and see you.”
The second alternative is for Paul to be absent. Again there is e)ite introducing the alternative. This time we have the present active participle from a)peimi which means to remain absent, not to be absent. This is a perfective present tense, it denotes a continuation of existing results, i.e. Paul’s continued absence from a face to face situation. Active voice: Paul produces the action. And again, it is a circumstantial participle. It is translated, “or remain absent.”
Now having presented the alternatives, both of which have existed with the Philippians congregation, he now amplifies that regardless of whether he is absent or present there should be no retrograde movement of any kind. There should be no retreat under any circumstances. They should have enough stability so that they can stand fast or advance, but definitely not retreat. No withdrawing action is enjoined.
“I may hear” – present active subjunctive from the verb a)kouw. This verb in the present tense is futuristic. The futuristic present is one in which the action of hearing hasn’t occurred yet but is regarded as so certain as to be coming to pass. Paul will receive a report. In effect, that is what this verb deals with: he will receive information regarding them. Active voice: Paul produces the action of receiving reports. The subjunctive mood is potential, it implies a future reference, it is qualified by the element of contingency.
“of your affairs” – a Classical Greek idiom, ta peri u(mwn plus the genitive plural of the personal pronoun su. It is literally, ta = the things; peri = concerning; u(mwn = you. This is an idiom for status quo—”that I may hear about your status quo.”
“that ye stand fast” – the conjunction o(ti after verbs of hearing to denote the content, or what is heard regarding the status quo, and the present active indicative of the verb sthkw, a verb formed on a verb. It is formed from the perfect tense of the verb i(sthmi, which means to stand (among other meanings). It is found only in the New Testament and it is a late Koine word. It means to stand fast, to be stabilised. This is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes what has happened in the past and continues into the present time—present tense of duration. There is no excuse for withdrawal or any retrograde movement. The active voice: the Philippians in maturity produce the action. The verb implies reaching super-grace status and remaining there. The indicative mood is declarative for verbal action from the viewpoint of historical reality, i.e. the Philippians are going to reach ultra-super-grace and they are going to stand fast.
“in one spirit” – when you are under heavy fire there are certain procedures that should characterise a veteran organization like the Philippians congregation. We have the preposition e)n plus the instrumental from the numeral e(ij, and with it the instrumental of pneuma—”by means of one and the same Spirit.” E(ij is an emphatic numeral meaning “one and the same.” This is a reference to God the Holy Spirit whose ministry continues and intensifies in the mature believer. This is the balance of residency: the filling of the Holy Spirit plus maximum doctrine resident in the soul equals experiential sanctification.
“with one mind” – the locative of sphere from the numeral e(ij plus yuxh, generally translated soul but sometimes means life—”in one and the same soul.” The locative of sphere is in a metaphorical use of the locative case. The limits suggested here are logical rather than special or temporal. The locative case has special and temporal limitations. Here they are logical limitations, therefore one idea is confined within the bounds of another idea by this particular use of the locative. It indicates the sphere into which the former idea is applied. The ministry of the Holy Spirit to the ultra-super-grace believer is applied to the sphere of the soul. You grow up in the soul, the key to your life is the soul, everything in life that is important is the soul. The soul contains your scale of values, your priorities are there. God the Holy Spirit, when He controls your life, fills the soul. All of there things, therefore, must pertain to the soul.
“striving together” – bad translation. This is the present active participle from the compound verb sunaqlew [sun = together with; a)qlew = to engage in competition or conflict]. It means to play as a member of a team in athletics but it also means to fight as a member of a highly-skilled and professional organization and to do your job in such an excellent professional manner, along with everyone else, that the team operates together. This is a causal participle. A causal participle denotes what is the ground of the action of the main verb. It is translated, “since you have joined in the conflict.” The present tense is a historical present, it views the past event with the vividness of a present occurrence. Active voice: the mature Philippians congregation are producing the action of the verb. They have entered into the conflict.
“for the faith” – instrumental of means from both the definite article and the noun pistij, and pistij here refers to faith rather than the usual meaning which is doctrine—”by means of the faith.”
“of the gospel” – the objective genitive singular from the noun e)uaggelion and it refers here to the gospel—”in the gospel.” It indicates the means by which Paul and the Philippians entered the angelic conflict.
Translation: “Only conduct your life as royal family of God in a manner worthy of the good news doctrines of the Christ: in order that whether I come and see you, or remain absent, I may hear about your status quo, that you are standing fast by means of one and the same Spirit [the Holy Spirit indwelling and filling], in the sphere of one and the same soul since you have joined in the conflict by means of faith in the gospel.”
Now it is time to discover who are your enemies. This is what happens when you get into super-grace. You have the discernment to know who are your enemies and who are not your enemies. For all of those around you who are friendly are not always your friends. Friendliness and friendship are two entirely different entities. But there is one thing of which you must be very wary: while you will be ambushed in super-grace on numerous occasions you are never to be bitter or hateful, or even to hate your enemies.
Verse 28 - “And in nothing be terrified.” The first word is the conjunction kai, used as an adverb and should be translated “Likewise.” Then a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative neuter adjective mhdeij-literally, “in the sphere of not one thing,” or to reduce it to good English, “in no way.” There is a negative mh here plus the present passive participle from pturw. It is used for a frightened horse running away. It comes to mean to be intimidated. Panic is stupidity and lack of thought, action without thinking and without application of doctrine. The present tense is an iterative present describing what occurs at certain intervals. It is known as the present of repeated action. This is talking about the believer in super-grace where ambushes occur and where distraction from doctrine is challenged to the utmost. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb-panic or intimidation from ignorance of reversionism-and with the negative mh it is a command not to be intimidated, for this is the participial use of the imperative and it should be translated, “Likewise in no way be intimidated.”
“by your adversaries” - u(po plus the ablative of agency of the definite article, and the ablative of agency or means of implicating a present active participle; in other words, an articular participle. It is the definite article in the ablative of means that gives us the meaning of u(po. When the ablative of means is used it indicates the origin or source of means, which is a present active participle a)ntikeimai. It means to be opposed, to be in opposition to, to be an enemy of. But with the articular use of the participle here we have a noun and it is correctly translated “by your enemies.”
The question arises: who are your enemies? First of all, Satan is your enemy. As the ruler of this world he is your very definite enemy because you have now arrived at super-grace. Satan commands a great host of demons. These are all angels, super creatures as compared to us, and this is our invisible enemy—Hebrews 10:13. Unbelievers also are our enemies, they are under the influence of evil which is the Satanic policy and produces evil deeds. But the worst enemy and the most obvious visible enemy is the born again believer in a state of reversionism. He is described as King Saul in 1 Samuel 28:16, indicating that Saul was the enemy of God. The reversionistic believer is always the enemy of God—James 4:4. Believers by their own volition appoint themselves the enemy of God. To be a lover of the world is nothing more or less second or any other place below #1 to Bible doctrine. So this passage is really warning about the least obvious to us but the most obvious from the standpoint of God Himself—the reversionistic believer. These are the ones who are the greatest and most subtle enemies, the ones who are constantly ambushing you in super-grace.
“which is” the nominative feminine singular from the qualitative relative pronoun w(stij, indicating persons belonging to a certain category or a certain class. It emphasises a certain quality they have which is reversionism under the influence of evil. The verb to be here is the present active indicative of e)imi. The present tense is pictorial, it presents to the mind a picture of events in the process of occurrence. The active voice: intimidation or panic produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is potential, expressing the fact that this only occurs to those who are qualified to have such enemies, those who have cracked the maturity barrier.
“to them” – dative plural indirect object from the intensive pronoun a)utoj, which emphasises the identity of those reversionistic believers who are antagonistic toward those believers in super-grace.
“an evident token” – the is a predicate nominative and we have again Attic or Classical Greek. The noun is e)udeicij which means an omen or a proof. Here it means proof.
“of perdition” – not exactly. Perdition here means a successful ambush. This is a descriptive genitive singular from a)poleia and while it does mean destruction in the analogy the words with which it is used means a successful ambush—“which is a proof of their success in the ambush.”
“but to you” – the adversative use of the enclitic particle de plus the adverbial genitive of reference from the personal pronoun su—“but with reference to you.”
“of salvation” – descriptive genitive from swthria, meaning deliverance.
“Which [panic] is to them [the reversionistic believer ambushing you] a proof of a successful ambush, but with reference to you deliverance.”
So if you panic they assume they have won; if you don’t you are obviously going to be delivered.
“and that” is the emphatic use of the conjunctive particle kai, plus the nominative neuter singular from the immediate demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, meaning “in fact this [deliverance].”
Then comes an implied present active indicative of e)imi—“is,” and a)po plus the ablative of source from qeoj—“from the source of God.”
Translation: “Likewise in no way be intimidated [or, panic] by your enemies: which [panic] is to them a proof of your destruction [successful ambush], but with reference to you deliverance; in fact this deliverance is from the source of God.”
That is the warning that there are enemies. The final phrases deal with the battlefield itself—verses 29 & 30.
Verse 29 – the first word o(ti cannot be translated “For.” It is a causal use of the conjunction and should be translated “Because.” Because you are in super-grace.
“to you” – dative plural indirect object from the personal pronoun su, referring to the Philippians who are in super-grace.
“it is given” – aorist passive indicative from xarizomai, as strong a word as we have for giving, it means to give on a grace basis, to give graciously, to give without strings, to give freely as a favour from God. The constative aorist tense here gathers into one entirety the action of the verb. Passive voice: the believers receive the action. The indicative mood is declarative for an absolute fact that these people are in super-grace and therefore under these conditions.
“in the behalf of Christ” – the accusative neuter singular of the definite article to. This is the generic use of the definite article with the prepositional phrase to distinguish the super-grace believer from other members of the royal family of God, and therefore it isn’t translated. It is simply a distinguishing particle which shows these people are unique. People who are in this battlefield and in this type of situation are coming very close to the final objective of ultra-super-grace. Therefore a definite article is thrown in to distinguish them simply from other believers. Then, u(per plus the ablative of Xristoj—“in behalf of Christ.” The definite article is not translatable in this case.
“not only to believe in him” – the negative o)uk plus the adverb monon, the neuter of monoj, an adjective made into an adverb—“not only.” Next is the repetition of the accusative neuter singular definite article as a device employed for emphasis in which the article functions with more than ordinary force. It is translated, “it is not necessary.” Then e)ij plus the accusative of a)utoj, meaning a very strong principle that salvation comes only by faith in Christ, and the present active infinitive of pisteuw, which is the way of salvation. This is a historical present, is views the past event when you believed in Christ, faith in Christ, with the vividness of a present occurrence. This is the infinitive of actual result.
“but also” – a)lla kai; a)lla is the strong adversative conjunction setting up a contrast between being saved and going all the way to super-grace. Kai is the adjunctive use, “also.” Then we have a repetition of the definite article used for emphasis again, but not translated, plus u(per plus the ablative of a)utoj, the intensive pronoun which always emphasises something very important; here it emphasises Christ as indicated in the present active infinitive of pasxw, which refers to suffering. It is intensified suffering but it is suffering with blessing in super-grace. This is a static present, it assumes a consequence of reaching super-grace. The infinitive is a conceived result assumed as a consequence of reaching super-grace.
Translation: “Because it has been given to you in behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer in behalf of him.”
Verse 30 – “Having” is a present active participle from e)xw which means to have or to hold, or both. This is a present tense of duration, it denotes what has begun in the past and continues right into the present time. It continues into the present time with these people who are just about to go into ultra-super-grace. The active voice: the believer in super-grace produces the action of the verb. The participle is a causal participle, translated “Since you have.”
“the same conflict” – accusative singular direct object from the definite article, the accusative singular direct object from the intensive pronoun a)utoj. This is the attributive use of the intensive pronoun and it is translated “the same.” The intensive pronoun emphasises the identity of the point of the conflict—“Since you have that same conflict.” There are others out on that same battlefield.
“which ye saw” – Paul has already advanced over that same ground. We have the accusative singular from the relative pronoun o(ioj—“such as,” a correlative use of the relative pronoun. Plus the aorist active indicative of o(raw—“you have seen.” The only way they could see this was to be right behind Paul in his advance. The constative aorist contemplates the action of super-grace pressure in its entirety. The active voice: the Philippians are in super-grace, right behind Paul, and are therefore experiencing the same conflict that he is. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality of tactical pressure from Satanic forces of evil at this stage of advance.
“in me” – e)n plus the locative of e)gw. Since they are following him they see it and experience it at the same time.
“and now” – the connective kai plus the adverb nun referring to the moment of the writing of Philippians; “hear” – present active indicative of the verb a)kouw. They will hear this when they get the epistle, which will be taught by Epaphroditus. The present tense is an aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The active voice: the Philippians will produce the action by functioning under the principle of GAP with regard to this epistle. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality.
“in me” is e)n plus the instrumental of the personal pronoun e)gw—“through me.”
Translation: “Since you have the same conflict such as you have seen in me, and now hear through me.”
[1] See the Doctrine of Sanctification.
[2] See the Doctrine of Memory
[3] See the Doctrine of prayer
[4] See the Doctrine of Human Good
[5] See the Doctrine of Positional Truth
[6] See the Doctrine of Witnessing
[7] See the Doctrine of Jealousy
[8] See the Doctrine of Motivation
[9] See the Doctrine of Pride