iRc^nol^ ^oa.?n Zijt Cambntrge MMt (ox ^t|)Ciols THE EPISTLE TO THE PH I LI PPI AN S aontion: C. J. CLAY and SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE. ffambritigc : DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. ILeipjts: F. A. BROCKHAUS. Cfje Camiritrge Bible for ^c|)noIs General Editor:— J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D. Dean of Peterborough. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY THE REV. H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. PRINCIPAL OF RIDLEY HALL, AND LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. CAMBRIDGE : AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1889 \All Kig/Us reserved. '[ CTambrtligc PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY M.A. AND SONS AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR. The General Editor of The Cambridge Bible for Schools thinks it right to say that he does not hold himself responsible either for the interpretation of particular passages which the Editors of the several Books have adopted, or for any opinion on points of doctrine that they may have expressed. In the New Testament more especially questions arise of the deepest theological import, on which the ablest and most conscientious interpreters have differed and always will differ. His aim has been in all such cases to leave each Contributor to the unfettered exercise of his own judgment, only taking care that mere controversy should as far as possible be avoided. He has contented himself chiefly with a careful revision of the notes, with pointing out omissions, with 6 PREFACE. suggesting occasionally a reconsideration of some question, or a fuller treatment of difficult passages, and the like. Beyond this he has not attempted to interfere, feeling it better that each Commentary should have its own individual character, and being convinced that freshness and variety of treatment are more than a compensation for any lack of uniformity in the Series. Deanery, Peterborough. CONTENTS. PAGES I. Introduction. Chapter I. Philippi : St Paul's connexion with it 9 — 14 Chapter II. Date and occasion of the Epistle 14 — 20 Chapter III. Authenticity of the Epistle 20—22 Chapter IV. Relation of the Epistle to the other Epistles of the first Imprisonment 23 — 24 Chapter V. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Phi- lippians 24 — 28 Chapter VI. Argument of St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians 28—35 II. Text AND Notes 37 III. Appendices 125 IV. Index 135 * » * The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener's Cambridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the ordi- nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his In- troduction to the Paragraph Bible, published by the Cambridge University Press. In thy Orcharde (the wals, buttes and trees, if they could speak, would beare me witnesse) I learned without booke almost all Paules Epistles, yea and I weene all the Canonicall Epistles, saue only the Apocalipse. Of which study, although in time a great part did depart from me, yet the sweete smell thereof I truste I shall cary with me into heauen : for the profite thereof I thinke I haue felte in all my lyfe tyme euer after. Bishop Ridley, to Pembroke Hall, (Pembroke College), Cambridge. From A letter which he wrote as his last farewel to al his true and faythefull /refides in God, October, 1555, a few days before he suffered. Transcribed fiom Coverdale's Letters of Martyrs, ed. 1564. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. Philippi : St Paul's Connexion with it. The site of Philippi is near the head of the Archipelago {Marc ^g(Xtim), eight miles north-westward of the port of Kavala, or Kavalla, probably the ancient Neapolis. Just south of it runs the 41st parallel of north latitude; a little to the west, the 24th parallel of east (Greenwich) longitude. The place is at present a scene of ruins. A village hard by, also in ruins, still bears the name of Philibedjik'^. In the first century the town occupied the southern end of a hill above a fertile plain, and extended down into the plain, so as to comprise a higher and a lower city. These were divided by the great Egnatian Road, which crossed Roman Macedonia from sea to sea. The higher town contained, among other buildings, the citadel, and a temple, built by the Roman colonists, to the Latin god Silvanus. The lower town contained the market-place, and the forum, a smaller square on which opened the courts of justice. Four massive columns are still standing at the foot of the hill, probably marking the four corners of the forum. A little more than a mile to the west of the town the small river Bounarbachi, anciently Gangas, Gangites, or Angites, and still called, at least at one part of its course, Angista, flows southward into a fen which borders the plain of the city, and to the south of which ^ Lcwin, Life and Epistles of St Paul, vol. I. p. 208. lo INTRODUCTION. again rise the heights of Mount Pangaeus, now Pirnd.n, rich of old in veins of gold and silver, and covered in summer with wild roses. The whole region is one of singular beauty and fertility. The geographical position of Philippi was remarkable. It lay on a great thoroughfare from West to East, just where the mountain barrier of the Balkans sinks into a pass, inviting the road builders of Greek, Macedonian, and Roman times. It was this which led Philip of Macedon (B.C. 359—336) to fortify the old Thracian town of Daton^, or Crenides {Fountains). To the place thus strengthened he gave his name, and, by pushing his border eastward into Thrace, converted it from a Thracian into a Macedonian town 2. This position of Philippi accounts for the one great event in its secular history, the double battle in which (B.C. 42) some ninety-five years before St Paul first saw Philippi, the com- bined armies of Brutus and Cassius were defeated by Octavius (afterwards Augustus) and Marcus Antonius. Cassius en- camped on Pangaeus, south of the town, plain, and fen, Brulus on the slopes to the north, near the town ; thus guarding from both sides the pass of the Egnatian road. First Cassius was routed, and two days later Brutus. Each in succession was slain, at his own command, by the hand of a comrade, and with them died the cause of the great republican oligarchy of Rome. Augustus erected Philippi into a colony {colonia, Kokavia, Acts xvi. 12), with the full title Colonia Augusta Julia Victrix Philipportwi, or Philippcnsis. A colony, in the Roman sense, was a miniature Rome, a reproduction and outpost of the city. The colonists were sent out by authority, they marched in military order to their new home, their names were still en- rolled among the Roman tribes, they used the Latin language 1 Lewin, I. 207. 2 To Philip it was important not only for military strength but as a place of mines. He is said to have worked the old and almost abandoned mines so vigorously as to have drawn from them 10,000 talents yearly. Long before the Christian era, apparently, the supply of precious ore was finally exhausted. INTRODUCTION. ii and Latin coinage, their chief magistrates were appointed from Rome, and were independent of the provincial governors^. These magistrates were two in each colony, Dtiumviri, and combined civil and military authority in their persons. At Philippi we find them assuming the grandiose title of com- mandants, praetors, arparrj-yoi (Acts xvi. 20), and giving their constables the title of lictors, palBSovxoi (ver. 35). They posed, in effect, as the more than consuls of their petty Rome. Much of the narrative of Acts xvii. comes out with double vividness when the colonial character of Philippi is remembered. In Acts xvi. 12 we find Philippi called, in the Authorized Version, "the chief city of that part of Macedonia." The better rendering of the best-attested reading is, however, " a city of Macedonia, first of the district." This may mean, grammati- cally, either that Philippi first met the traveller as he entered the region of Macedonia where it lay, or that it was the political capital of that region. Mr Lewin (i. 202, 206) advocates the latter view, and holds that Philippi succeeded Amphipolis as the capital of the " first," or easternmost, of the four Roman " Macedonias." Bp Lightfoot {PJiilippians, p. 50) prefers de- cidedly the former view, maintaining that the fourfold Roman division was, by St Paul's time, long disused. We incline, how- ever, to an explanation nearer to Mr Lewin's view ; that Philippi is marked by St Luke as first, in the sense of most important, of its district ; not officially perhaps, but by prestige. We may remark in passing that the geographical position of Philippi is incidentally illustrated by the presence there of Lydia, the purple-merchant from Asiatic Thyatira, come to this important place of thoroughfare between her continent and Roman Europe. And the colonial, military, character of Philippi explains in a measure the comparative feebleness of its Jewish element, with their humble proseucha, or prayer-house (Acts xvi. 13), outside the walls. On the story of St Paul's work at Philippi there is little need to dwell in detail, so full and vivid is the narrative of Acts xvi., ^ Britain, like other frontier provinces, had its colonia:; e.g. Lindum Colo Ilia, Lin-coln. 12 INTRODUCTION. from the unobtrusive opening of the mission (a.d. 52) by the Apostle, with his coadjutors Silas, Timothy, and probably Luke^ to the moment when Paul and Silas quit the house of Lydia, and, probably leaving Luke behind them, set out westward along the Egnatian road for Amphipolis. It is enough to say here that the whole circumstances there depicted harmonize perfectly with the contents and tone of our Epistle; with its peculiar affectionateness, as written to witnesses and partners of tribulation, with its entreaties to the disciples to hold to- gether in the midst of singularly alien surroundings, and, we may add, with its allusions to the " citizen-life " of the saints whose central civic home is (not Rome but) heaven. Twice after a.d. 52, within the period covered by the Acts, we find St Paul at Philippi. Late in the year 57 he left Ephesus for Macedonia (Acts xx. i ; cp. 2 Cor. ii. 12, 13, vii. 5, 6), and undoubtedly gave to Philippi some of his " much exhortation." In the spring of 58, on his return eastward from Corinth by Macedonia, he spent Passover at Philippi (Acts xx. 6), lingering there, apparently, in the rear of the main company of his fellow- travellers, "that he might keep the paschal feast with his beloved converts "2. Intercourse with Philippi was evidently maintained actively during his absences. Our Epistle (iv. 16) mentions two mes- sages from the converts to St Paul just after his first visit, and the frequent allusions to Macedonia in the Corinthian Epistles indicate that during the time spent at Ephesus (say 55 — 57) Philippi, with the other " churches of Macedonia," must have been continually in his heart and thoughts, and kept in contact with him by messengers. On the question of a visit to Philippi later than the date of this Epistle, see notes on ch. i. 25, 26. Before leaving the topic of St Paul's intercourse with Philippi, we may notice two points in which distinctively ^ The narrative (Acts xvi. i — 17) is in the first person. On the "wtf sections" of the Acts see Sahnon, Introduction to the N. T., pp. 371 &c. We may assume Timothy's presence from Acts xvi. i &c. and xvii. 14' 15.- - Lightfoot, p. 60. INTRODUCTION. 13 Macedonian traits appear in the Christian life of the mission church. The first is the position and infiiie7ice of women. We have women prominent in the narrative of Acts xvi., and in Phil. iv. 2 we find two women who were evidently important and influential persons in the Church. And similar indications appear at Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 4) and Beroea {ib. 12). Bp Lightfoot has collected some interesting evidence to shew that Macedonian women generally held an exceptionally honoured and influential position. Thus it is common, in Macedonian inscriptions, to find the mother's name recorded instead of the father's ; and Macedonian husbands, in epitaphs upon their wives, use terms markedly reverent as well as affectionate. The Gospel doctrine of woman's dignity would find good soil in Macedonia. The other point is the pecuniary liberality of the Philippians, which comes out so conspicuously in ch. iv. This was a characteristic of the Macedonian missions, as 2 Cor. viii., ix., amply and beautifully prove. It is remarkable that the Macedonian converts were, as a class, very poor (2 Cor. viii i); and the parallel facts, their poverty and their open- handed support of the great missionary and his work, are deeply harmonious. At the present day the missionary liber- ality of poor Christians is, in proportion, vastly greater than that of the rich. ^ The post-apostolic history of Philippi is very meagre. We know scarcely anything of it with the one exception that St Ignatius passed it, on his way from Asia to his martyrdom at Rome, about the year no. He was reverently welcomed by the Philippians, and his pathetic visit occasioned communi- cations between them and Ignatius' friend Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who then wrote to the Philippian Christians his one extant Epistle (see below, ch. v.). "Though the see is said to exist even to the present day," writes Bp Lightfoot {Philip- fians, p. 65), "the city itself has long been a wilderness.... Of the church which stood foremost among all the apostolic com- munities in faith and love, it may literally be said that not one stone stands upon another. Its whole career is a signal monu- ment of the inscrutable counsels of God. Born into the world 14 INTRODUCTION. with the brightest promise, the Church of Philippi has lived without a history and perished without a memorial." (See further, Appendix I.) As we leave the ruins of PhiHppi, it is interesting to observe that among them have been found, by a French archeological mission (1864), inscriptions giving the names of the pro- moters of the building of the temple of Silvanus, and of the members of its " sacred college." Among them occur several names familiar to us in the Acts and Epistles ; Crescens, Secun- dus, Trophimus, Urbanus, Aristobulus, Pudens, and Clemens — this last a name found in our Epistle. CHAPTER II. Date and occasion of the Epistle. It may be taken as certain that the Epistle was written from Rome, during the two years' imprisonment recorded by St Luke (Acts xxviii. ^o); that is to say, within the years 61 — 63. It is true that some scholars, notably Meyer^, have made Csesarea Stratonis (Acts xxiv. 23 — 27) the place of writing of the PJiilip- pians, Ephesians, and Colossiafisj and some who hesitate to assign the two latter epistles to the Csesarean captivity assign the Philippians to it (see Lightfoot, p. 30, note). But the reasons on the other side seem to us abundantly decisive. Bp Light- foot gives them somewhat as follows (pp. 30, 31, note), (i) The notice of "Cesar's household" (iv. 22) cannot naturally apply to Casarea. (2) The notice (i. 12 &c.) of the progress of the Gospel loses point if the place of writing is not a place of great importance and a comparatively new field for the Gospel. (3) St Paul looks forward, in this Epistle, to an approaching release, and to a visit to Macedonia. This does not agree with his indicated hopes and plans at Caesarea, where certainly his expectation (Acts xxiii. 11) was to visit Rome, under what- ever circumstances, most probably as a prisoner on appeal. ^ His reasons are fully stated and answered in Alford's Prolegomena to the Ephesians, INTRODUCTION. 15 The chief plea, in the Philippians, for Caesarea is that the wovdi prcetorin?n (i. 13) corresponds to the prcetorlum, or residency, of Herod at Caesarea (Acts xxiii. 35). But here again we may remark that the allusion in the Epistle indicates an area of influence remarkable and extensive, conditions scarcely fulfilled at Caesarea. And Rome affords an obvious and adequate solution of the problem, as we shall see at the proper place in the text. The subordinate question arises, when within the two years of the Roman captivity was our Epistle written ? Was it early or late, before or after the Eplicsians and the Colossians? which are plainly to be grouped together, along with the private letter to the Colossian Philemon. A widely prevalent view is that the PhiUppia7is was written late, not long before St Paul's release on the final hearing of his appeal. The main reasons for this view are (i) the indications in the Epistle that the Gospel had made great progress at Rome ; (2) the absence in the Epistle of the names Luke and Aristarchus, who both sailed from Syria with St Paul (Acts xxvii. 2) and who both appear in the Colossians and Phi- lemon; (3) the lapse of time after St Paul's arrival at Rome de- manded by the details of Epaphroditus' case (Phil., ii. iv.), which seem to indicate that the Philippians had heard of St Paul's arrival; had then despatched their collection (perhaps not without delay, iv. 10) to Rome by Epaphroditus ; had then heard, from Rome, that Epaphroditus had been ill there (ii. 26), and had then somehow let it be known at Rome {ibid.) that the news had reached them; (4) the tone of the Epistle, in its allusions to St Paul's strict imprisonment and to his entire uncertainty, humanly speaking, about the issue of his appeal ; allusions said to be inconsistent with the comparative freedom indicated by the Acts, but con- sistent with a change for the worse in the counsels of Nero, such a change as would have occurred when (a.d. 62) the i6 INTRODUCTION. wicked Tigellinus succeeded the upright Burrus in command of the Guard. Bp Lightfoot on the other hand takes the view that the Philippians was the earliest of the Epistles of the Captivity. And he meets the above arguments somewhat as follows. (i) There is good evidence, both in the Acts and the Epistle, and above all in the Romans, for the belief that "a flourishing though unorganized Church" existed at Rome before St Paul's arrival. Already, three years earlier, he had addressed his greatest Epistle "to all that were in Rome, beloved of God, called saints;" and there is strong reason to think that many of the Christians greeted in that Epistle (ch. xvi.) were identical with "the saints of the Household" of our Epistle (see on Phil, iv. 22), and so that those " saints " were pre-Pauline converts, at least in many instances. And when he lands at Puteoli, in 61, he finds there too Christians ready to greet him. And on the other hand the allusions in our Epistle to the progress of the work at Rome must not be pressed too far, as if the whole population of the City was being stirred. What is meant is that a distinct and vigorous "new departure" was being made by the Roman Christians, as willing evangelists, and that the warders of the Apostle were carrying out the strange and inter- esting news of his doctrine and character among their fellow Praetorians and " people in general " (01 \omo\ TrdvT(s). But all these notes excellently suit a time not long after the Apostle's arrival, when the stimulus of his presence among the Christians would be powerful in its novelty, and when of course already the "soldiers that kept him" would be among his hearers, and not seldom, by the grace of God, his converts. Even the allu- sion (i. 15) to internal opposition suits such a time better than a later, "when. ..antagonism. ..and. ..devotion. ..had settled down into a routine" (Lightfoot, p. 34). (2) As regards the absence from the Philippians of the names Luke and Aristarchus, this is in the first place an argu- ment from silence only, which cannot be conclusive. The two disciples may be included under the "brethren" and "saints" of iv. 21, 22. But further, it is at least doubtful INTRODUCTION. 17 whether Aristarchus, though he sailed from Syria with St Paul, landed in Italy with him. He was a Thessalonian, and the vessel in which St Paul sailed was an Adramyttian, from the /EgjEan, in which Aristarchus may have been on his way not to Rome but to Thessalonica^. From Macedonia he may easily have joined St Paul in Italy later, associating himself so closely there with the imprisoned Apostle as to earn the title of his "fellow-prisoner of war" (Col. iv. 10). As for Luke, it is obvious that at any time he might have left Rome on a temporary errand, to Puteoli perhaps, or some other outlying mission. And of course the same remark may be made of Aristarchus, supposing him to have been after all in Italy. (3) The argument from the case of Epaphroditus is not strong. It is not necessary to suppose that a special message went from Rome to Philippi to announce St Paul's arrival. Very possibly through Aristarchus (see just above), if not by some other means, the Philippians may have heard that he was far on his way, and may have acted on probabilities. Epa- phroditus may even have left Philippi, with the collection, before St Paul reached Italy. And a month, under favourable cir- cumstances, would suffice for a journey from Philippi to Rome, by Brundisium (Brindisi), Dyrrachium (the Illyrian port), and the Egnatian road across Macedonia^. Thus if the Philippians was written only four months after St Paul's arrival the time would amply include all we need infer under this head. (4) The tone of the Epistle, with its suspense, its allusions to rigour of confinement, and on the other hand its expectations of release, is not conclusive for a late date. The imprisonment as depicted in it is after all no less and no more severe than Acts xxviii. 16 implies. And the references to the trial and its uncertain issue would probably be at least as appropriate in the early stages of its progress, or under early experiences of its delays, as lat^r. Doubtless the Epistle depicts trials and ^ Indeed, the first intention of the centurion Julius may have been that his prisoners should be conveyed to Rome by way of the yEgajan, Macedonia, and the Adriatic (Lightfoot, p. 35, note). ^ See Lightfoot's interesting proofs, p. 38, note. PHILIPPIANS 9 i8 INTRODUCTION. sorrows where the Acts speaks only of opportunity and success ; but Bp Lightfoot well remarks that this is perfectly truth- like. The historian reviews the sum total of a very fruitful period of influence; the leiter-writer s'peak?, under the immediate pressure of the day's, or the week's, chequered circumstances. St Paul's expectation of release is discussed in the notes (ii. 24); it certainly affords no decisive note of time. As for the pro- motion of Tigellinus, Lightfoot justly says that such changes in the Imperial court would make little difference, for better or worse, in the case of an obscure provincial prisoner, the mis- sionary of a cidtiis which had not yet come to be thought politically dangerous. If these arguments for a late date for the Epistle maybe fairly answered thus, we have meanwhile positive evidence for an earlier date in the doctrinal affinities of the Philippians. These point towards the great central group of Pauline Epistles {Romans, Corinthians, Galatians), and especially towards the Romans, the latest written of that group. In Phil. iii. we have in prominence the doctrine of Justification, in the precise form of the doctrine of Imputed Righteousness, the believer's refuge and peace in view of the absoluteness of the Divine Law. Now this is the characteristic topic of the Roman and Galatian Epistles, and in a minor degree of the Corinthian (i Cor. i. 30, iv. 4, vi. II ; 2 Cor. iii. 9, v. 19 — 21). But it is absent, as regards just this form of presentation, from the Ephesian and Colossian Epistles, in which St Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to deal more expressly with the closely related, but dif- ferent sides of truth conveyed in such words as Union, Life, Indwelling, Universal Church. This is strong evidence for an approximation of the Philippians to the Romans, &c., in point of time, as near as other considerations allow. Certainly it makes it likely that the Ephcsians and its group were not interposed between the Romans and the Philippia7is. And on closer examination we find many links of thought and expression between the Romans and the Philippians, besides this main Hnk. Bp Lightfoot (pp. 43, 44) collects the following parallelisms of this sort : INTRODUCTION. 19 Compare I HIL i. 3-8 with Rom. i. 8— 11: — — i. 10 — — ii. 18: — -- ii. 2—4 — — xii. 10, 16- -19: — — ii. 8—1 1 — — xiv. 9 — II — — iii. 3 — — ii. 28, i. 9, V. II : — — iii. 4. 5 — — xi. I : — — iii. 10, II, 21 — — vi. 5 : — — iii. 19 — — vi. 21, xvi. 18: — — iv. 18 — — xii. I. And he notes the following words and phrases as occurring in the two Epistles, and not elsewhere : dnoKapaSoKia, (TVfjLfjLop(})os, i^ epideias, axpi tov pvv, irpoa-bexea-dai iv Kvpia. See too our note on i. 26. On the whole, we may date the Epistle, with great pro- bability, late in the year 61 or early in 62. See further T/u- Epistle to the Epliesiaits, in this Series, Inirodiictioii, pp. 19 — 22. Of the occasion of writing, little needs to be said; the Epistle itself speaks clearly on the subject. The arrival of Epaphroditus bringing the Philippian gift, his illness at Rome, and his anxiety to return to Philippi, appear to have given the immediate suggestion and made the opportunity. We gather that besides this Epaphroditus had reported, as the one serious defect- of Christian life at Philippi, a tendency to party-spirit, or at least to personal antagonisms and differences, especially in the case of two well-known female converts. See i. 2, 27, ii. 2, 3, 14, 26, iv. 2, and notes. And meanwhile St Paul takes the occasion to warn his beloved Philippians against errors of doctrine and practice which, if not already rife at Philippi, were sure to find their way there; the errors both of the Pharisaic legalist (iii. 2 — 11), and of the antinomian would-be Paulinist (iii. 13—19)- So, occasioned on the one hand by present circumstances, and on the other guided by the secret working of the Holy Spirit to form a sure oracle of God for the Church for ever, the Letter was dictated, and the greetings of the Writer's visitors were added, and the manuscript was given over to 2 — 2 20 INTRODUCTION. Epaphroditus, to be conveyed across Italy, the Adriatic, and Macedonia, to the plain and hill of Philippic CHAPTER III. Authenticity of the Epistle. No trace of doubt on this subject appears in early Christian literature. Amongst direct testimonies, and taking the later first, we may cite Tertiillian (cent. 2 — 3). He {de Resurrectione Carnis, c. xxiii.) quotes Phil. iii. 11 — 13 2, as "written by Paul to the Philippians." He mentions {de Prcescriptione, c. xxxvi.) Philippi among the Churches which possessed ''authentic apostolic epistles," that is, apparently, letters received at first hand from apostles. In his Reply to Marcion, bk. v., taking up the Pauline Epistles one by one for evidence against the Gnostic theory of Christianity taught by Marcion, he comes (c. XX.) to "the Epistle to the Philippians," and quotes, or refers to, i. 14 — 18, ii. 6 — 8, iii. 5 — 9, 20, 21. It will be observed that this latter evidence is doubly valuable, as it assumes his op- ponent's agreement with him about the authenticity. Irenceus (late cent. 2) quotes {tie Hceresibus, iv., c. xviii. 4) Phil. iv. 18 as the words of " Paul to the Philippians." Clement of Alexandria (late cent. 2) repeatedly quotes the Epistle. He brings {Padogogus, i., c. vi., ed. Migne) Phil, iii. 12 — 14 to refute those who "call themselves 'perfect' and 'gnostic'." In the Stromata, iv., c. iii., he refers to Phil. iii. 20, in the words "having obtained citizenship in heaven;" c. v., he quotes i. 13, 14 as the "words of the Apostle;" c. xiii. he quotes i. 7, 29, 30, ii. i, 2, 17, 20, 21, and refers to the Philippians as addressed by "the Apostle" in these passages. ^ For further particulars of St Paul's life and work at Rome see Appendix A. * With one curious variation of reading: persequor ad palntam incriminationis; as if reading t6 ^pa^eTou rrjs dveyKXrjffeu^, INTRODUCTION. 21 In the contemporary Letter of the Chitrches of Lyons atid Vienne, describing the martyrdoms of A.D. 177', the sufferers are said to have striven to " imitate Christ, vi'ho being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Phil. ii. 6). Polycarp, in his Epistle to the Philippians (very early cent. 2), both refers (c. iii.) to the Epistle which St Paul had addressed to them, and manifestly echoes its phraseology. He speaks indeed of "Epistles." But the plural is often used for the sin- gular of this word ; see Lightfoot in his Edition of Polycarp {Apostolic Fathers, Pt. ii. ; Vol. ii., sect, ii., p. 911). Polycarp's Epistle is given below, nearly in full; Introduction, ch. v. Ignatius, on his way to martyrdom (about A.D. no), wrote a series of Epistles. In that to the Romans, c. ii., he speaks of his desire to be "poured out as a libation to God"; to the Philadelphians he writes (c. viii.), "do nothing in a spirit of faction" (Phil. ii. 3); to the Smyrnasans (c. iv.) "I endure all things, for He, the perfect Man, strengtheneth me"; and (c. xi.), "being perfect, be ye also perfectly minded." These passages, taken together, are good evidence for Ignatius' knowledge of the Epistle. All the ancient Versions, including the oldest Syriac (cent. 2), and all the lists of N. T. books, of cent. 2, contain the Epistle. Such evidence, combined on the one hand with the total absence of ancient negative testimony, and on the other with the perfect naturalness, and intense and tender individuality, of the Epistle itself, is abundantly enough to satisfy all but the ultra-scepticism which, however ingenious, really originates in a priori views. Such surely is the account to be given of the theory of F. C. Baur (1796 — 1860) — that the Epistle is a fabri- cation of the second century, betraying a development of doctrine 2 and Hfe later than the age of St Paul, and aiming at a reconciliation between divergent Church parties (see on iv. 2 below). His objections to the Epistle have, however, 1 Preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl,, V. cc. i. — iv. The quotation is from c. ii. ^ See further, Appendix F. 22 INTRODUCTION. been discarded as futile even by rationalizing critics, such as Hilgenfeld, Pfleiderer, and Renan^. Alford {Greek Test., iii. p. 27) says, " To those who would see an instance of the very insanity of hypercriticism I would recommend the study of these pages of Baur {Paitlus, der Apostel Jesu Christi, pp. 458 — 475]. They are almost as good, by way of burlesque, as the ' Historic Doubts respecting Napoleon Buonaparte' of Abp Whately. According to [Baur] all wjz/a/ expressions prove its spuriousness, as being taken from other Epistles ; all nnusual expressions prove the same, as being from another than St Paul, &c." Lightfoot says {Phil., p. 74), "I cannot think that the mere fact of their having been brought forward by men of ability and learning is sufficient to entitle objections of this stamp to a serious refutation." Salmon says {Introd. to N. T., pp. 465, 6), "Baur has pronounced this Epistle dull, uninteresting, mono- tonous, characterized by poverty of thought, and want of origin- ality. But one only loses respect for the taste and skill of the critic who can pass such a sentence on one of the most touch- ing and interesting of Paul's letters. So far is it from shewing signs of having been manufactured by imitation of the other Epistles that it reveals aspects of Paul's character which the other letters had not presented... Else where we are told how the Apostle laboured with his own hands for his support, and declared that he would rather die than let the disinterestedness of his preaching be suspected; here we find (iv. 10 — 19) that there was no false pride in his independence, and that when there was no likelihood of misrepresentation, he could gracefully accept the ungrudged gifts of affectionate converts. Elsewhere we read only of his reprobation of Christian teachers who corrupted the simplicity of the Gospel; here we are told (i. 18) of his satis- faction that, by the efforts even of those whose motives were not pure, the Gospel of Christ should be more widely published." ^ Wittichen, a decidedly negative recent critic, admits the Philip- pians as genuine. {Lebcn Jesu, p. 14 ; quoted by Edersheim, Prophecy and History, ^c, p. 68, note.) INTRODUCTION. 23 CHAPTER IV. Relation of the Epistle to the other Epistles of THE First Imprisonment. We have pointed out the strong doctrinal link of connexion between the Philippian Epistle and the Romans with its at- tendant Epistles. We find in the Philippians on the other hand indications of similar connexion with the Ephesians and the Colossians, and such indications as to harmonize with the theory advocated above (p. 16) that these Epistles were dated some time later in St Paul's captivity. In two directions chiefly these connexions appear; {a) in the view of the Church as a City or Commonwealth, and (J?) in the view of Christ's personal Glory. Under the first head, cp. Phil. iii. 20, with Eph. ii. 12, 19, remembering that nowhere in the Epistles written before the Roman imprisonment is this view of the Church distinctly presented. Under the second head, cp. Phil. li. 5—11 with Eph. i. 17— 23, ii. 8, &c. ; Col. i. 15—19, &c. And cp. Phil. ii. 10 with Eph. i. 20; Col. i. 20. In the earlier Epistles the Apostle was guided to the fullest statements of the salvation wrought out by Christ, especially in its judicial and propitiatory aspects. But this exposition of the grace and wonder of His personal majesty, personal self-abasement, and personal exaltation after it, is in a great measure a new development in the revelations given through St Paul. Observe in connexion with this the insistence on the blessed- ness of ''knowing Him'' (iii. 10), compared with the glowing language of Eph. iii. 19 ("to know the love of Christ, &c."). Most certainly the idea is present everywhere in the Epistles of St Paul; but it reaches its full prominence in this group of Epistles, as other sides of truth do in the Romans and the Galatians. 24 INTRODUCTION. Among minor notes of kinship in these Epistles observe the view of faith as the '''gift of God'''' (Phil. i. 29; Eph. ii. 8); the mention of the Divine ^^ good pleasure" , or gracious sovereign purpose (Phil. ii. 13; Eph. i. 4) ; the phrase "preach Christ'" (Phil. i. 16, 18; Col. i. 28); the Apostle's '^joy" in his trials (Phil. i. 18; Eph. iii. 13; Col. i. 24); the Divine '■' inworkiiig^' in the saints (Phil. ii. 13; Col. i. 29; cp. Eph. ii. 10); and the following words or phrases peculiar to these among the Pauline Epistles — TaTT€ivo(^pocrvvr} (Phil. ii. 3; Eph. iv. 2; Col. iii. 12), (TTrkayxva olKTipfimv (or nearly so) (Phil. ii. i; Col. iii. 12; cp. Philem. 7, 12, 20); oV/x^ evablas (Phil. iv. 18; Eph. v. 2); eVt- Xoprjyia (Phil. i. 19; Eph. iv. 16; cp. Col. ii. 19). CHAPTER V. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians. This Epistle, the only other extant letter addressed to the Church of Philippi, has been already mentioned (p. 21). For the text, fully edited with notes, see Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers, Part II. vol. ii., sect. 2, pp. 898, &c. We give a trans- lation of the Epistle slightly abridged. It is interesting to observe the wealth of N. T. quotations, and the frequent tacit allusions to the topics of St Paul's Epistle. All clear Scripture quotations are italicized, as well as phrases apparently sug- gested by Scripture. Polycarp and his elders to the Church of God sojourning at Philippi ; grace and peace be multiplied from God Almighty and Jesus Christ our Saviour. i. I rejoiced greatly with you in the Lord, in your joy on welcoming those Copies^ of the True Love, chained with those holy fetters which are the diadems of the elect ; and that your long-renowned faith persists, and bears fruit to Christ, who for ^ Ignatius and his companion Confessors. INTRODUCTION. 25 our sins died and rose, in whom, not having seen Him, yoti rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, a joy into which many long to enter, knowing that by grace ye have been saved, not of works, but by the will of God in Christ. ii. So gird up your loins, forsake the prevalent specious errors, believe on Him who raised our Lord from the dead and gave Him glory, to whotn (Christ) all things in heaven and earth are stibjected, to whom every living thing does service, who comes to judge the quick atid dead, whose blood God will require of the unbelieving. He who raised Him will raise us also, if we walk in His ways, abstaining from all injustice, avarice, and evil-speaking, 7!ot rendering evil for evil or railing for railing; remembering how the Lord said, fudge not, that ye be 7iot judged; blessed are the poor, and the persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. iii. I write thus concerning righteousness, not of my own motion but because you have invited me. Neither I nor any likf me can approach the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who when among you, face to face with the men of that day, taught accurately and with certainty the word concerning the truth, who also when absent wrote to you letters 1, which if you study diligently you shall be able to be built up in the faith given you; which faith is the mother of us all, followed by hope, and by hope's forerunner, love to God, to Christ, and to our neighbour. For if any one is given to these, he hath ful- filled the precept of righteousness. He who hath love is far from all sin. iv. Now the beginning of all evils is the love of money. We brought nothing into the world, and can carry nothing out. Let us put on the armour of righleoicsness and teach one another to walk in the precept. Teach your wives too to walk in the faith, love, and purity given them, faithful to their husbands in all truth, amiable to all around them in true modesty, training their children in the fear of God. Let your widows be sober in ^ See p. 21. 26 INTRODUCTION. the faith, instant in intercession, holding aloof from evil-speak- ing, from avarice, and from all wrong. They are God's altar, and He inspects the victim to see if it has any blemish. V. God is not inockedj let us walk worthy of His precept and glory. Let the deacons {diaconi, ministers) be blameless before Him, as ministers of God and Christ, avoiding likewise evil-speaking, and avarice, and unkindness, before Him who was viinister of all. If we please Him in this world we shall receive the world to come ; if we walk (lit., live as citizens) wortJiy of Him, we shall reign with Him, if we believe. Let the juniors too walk in holy strictness. Every lust warreth against the spirit; fornicators and such like shall not inherit the kingdotn. So let them watch and abstain ; let them submit to the elders and deacons. And let the virgins walk in holiness. vi. The presbyters should be compassionate, watchful over the erring, the weak, the widows, orphans, and poor, providing always for that which is good before God and men, renouncing wrath, partiality, avarice, and rash judgment. If we ask remis- sion, we must remit. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and give accottnt each of himself . Let us do Him bond-service, as He bade us, and His Apostles, and the Pro- phets who shewed before of His co7ning. Be zealous for good; avoid offences, and false brethren, who deceive the careless. vii. For whosoever confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in thefesh is antichrist. Whosoever confesses not the mystery of the Cross is of the devil. Whosoever perverts the Lord's oracles to his lusts, and says that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, is Satan's firstborn. So let us forsake the current vain doctrines, and turn to the once-delivered Gospel, watching unto prayer, persevering in fastings, praying ithe all- seeing God 7iot to lead us into temptation ; as the Lord said, The spirit is willing, btct the flesh is weak. viii. Let us hold fast to our hope and to the earnest of our righteousness, which earnest is Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in His own body to the treej who did no sin, neither was guile INTRODUCTION. found in His viotith; who bore all that we might live in Him. Let us imitate His patience. If we suffer for Him, let us glorify Him. — He left us this example. ix. All of you obey the word of righteousness, and practise true endurance, which you have seen exemplifi'jd before you not only in blessed Ignatius, Zosimus, and Rufus, but in others of your own body, and in Paul himself and the other Apostles. You know that they all did not run in vaiii. They have gone, in the path of faith and righteousness, to their promised (lit., owed) place, beside the Lord with whom they suffered. X. Stand fast then, according to His example, steadfast and unvioveable in the faith, kindly affectio/ied one to another with brotherly lovej sharing together in truth, in the Lord's gentle- ness {tnoderatioji, Phil. iv. 5) prefej'ring one another. When able to do good, defer it not, for almsgiving rescue th from death (Tobit iv. II, xii. 9). All beitig subject to one atiothcr, have your conversation ho?test among the Gentiles, that by your good ■works you may obtain praise, and the Lord be not blasphemed. Teach all men true sobriety. xi. I am exceedingly grieved for Valens, once made an elder among you, that he so ignores the position given him. Do you avoid avarice ; be pure, be true. He who cannot steer himself aright in such duties, how can he preach them? If he avoids avarice he will be defiled by idolatry, and judged as one of the Gentiles. Know we 7iot that the saints shall judge the world? as Paul teaches. I never heard of such sins in you, among whom the blessed Paul toiled, who were his '■'■{living) cpistles^''^ in the first (days of the Gospel). About you he glories in the churches which knew the Lord before we knew Him. I am deeply grieved for Valens, and for his wife ; God grant them repentance. Count them not as enemies, but restore them as diseased and wandering members, that your whole body may be in safety. xii. You know the holy Scriptures perfectly; a knowledge ^ So Lightfoot explains the difficult sentence. 28 INTRODUCTION. not granted to me. Only, (I know that) it is there said, Be angry and sin tiot; let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Now the God and Father of our Lord, and He, the eternal High- Priest, (our) Godi, Jesus Christ, build you up in all hohness, and give you part and lot among His saints, and to us with you, and to all everywhere who shall believe on our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and on His Father who raised Him from the dead. Pray for all the saints, and for kings and rulers, and for them that persecute you, and for the enetnies of the Cross, that your fruit may be tnanifest in all things, that ye may be perfect in Him. xiii. Both you and Ignatius have asked me that, if a mes- senger is leaving us for Syria, he may carry your letter with ours. This I will do, in person or by delegate. The letter of Ignatius to us, and all others in our hands, we have sent you, as you desired, attached to this letter. They will greatly benefit you spiritually. Report to us anything you hear of Ignatius' companions. xiv. My letter-bearer is Crescens, whom again I commend to you, as a blameless Christian. His sister too I commend to you, in prospect. Farewell in the Lord Jesus Christ, in grace, with all who are yours. Amen. CHAPTER VL ARGUMENT OF ST PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. Ch. I. 1 — 2. Paul and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ, greet the Christians of Philippi and their Church-officers, invoking blessing on them from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3—11. Paul assures them that his whole thought of them is full of thanksgiving, his every prayer for them full of joy, in view of their warm, steadfast cooperation from the first in his evangelical labours. ^ So Lightfoot; in preference to the reading, ''the Son of God," which he thinks to be later. INTRODUCTION. 29 He is quite sure [on this bright evidence] that the work of grace in them will reach its consummation in glory. His affectionate regard for them is but just, so fully have they claimed his heart by their identification of themselves with him in the trials of captivity and the toils of Christian witnessing and teaching. God knows with what yearning tenderness, drawn from the heart of Christ, he misses them and longs for them. [And his affection expresses itself above all things in prayer], the prayer that their love [of which he for one has had such proofs] may increasingly be guided and fortified by a quick spiritual perception, sifting truth from error, holiness from sin, and forming a character which at the Great Day should prove pure in principle, and rich in the frait [of the Spirit], fruit generated by communion with Christ, and bringing glory to God. 12 — 20. As regards his own present circumstances, he rejoices to inform them that they are conducing to the advance of the Gospel at Rome. [His imprisonment is in itself a mission]; its connexion [not with political or social offences but] with Christ is now well known throughout the Imperial Guard [which supplied his warders] and among the Romans in general. And the Roman Christians, for the most part, have felt a spiritual impetus [after a time of depression]. His captivity has nerved them to bear a bolder witness among their heathen neighbours. [True, there is a shadow across this light] ; some thus proclaim Christ [with new energy] from motives of opposition to Paul, while others do so in loyal sincerity. On the one side is love, which sees in the imprisoned Apostle a centre of action, set there by Christ, for the propagation of the Gospel ; on the other side is the spirit of the partizan and of self, defiling the motive of the work, actually wishing to make his imprisonment doubly trying [by intercepting enquirers and converts]. Does it matter to him? [No — and] yes. [No, so far as his peace in God is concerned], yes, [happily yes, so far as the spread of the primary Gospel truth is concerned]. For thus in every way Christ is being proclaimed. Here is cause of joy for Paul ; and here shall be cause of joy [even in the eternal future] ; for the situation shall only animate the Philippians to earnest prayer for him, and this shall bring him a new fulness of the Holy Spirit, and so .shall promote his grace and glory. Yes, it shall forward the realization of his longing anticipation, that at this crisis, as at all others, Christ shall be glorified, whether through his body's living energies, or through his submission to his body's death. 30 INTRODUCTION. 21 — 26. For indeed life is for him identified with, summed up in, Christ; and death, [as the introduction to Christ's fuller presence] is gain [even over such a life]. If [it is his Lord's will that] he should live on, [the prolonged life] will mean only larger work with richer fruit. And indeed the case is one of blessed dilemma. Personal preference is for dying, dying into the presence of Christ ; a far, far better state [than the best here] ; while duty, manifested in the needs of his converts, is for living patiently on. And thus he feels sure that he will live on, for the spiritual benefit of his converts, and particularly in order that his restoration to them in bodily presence may give them fresh occasion for triumph in Christ. 27 — 30. Meanwhile, let them live a life of holy practical consistency. Above all, let him see, or let him hear, as the case may be, that they are standing firm, and standing together, cordially at one in Christian witness and work, and calm amidst opposing terrors. Such calmness [under such circumstances] will be an omen of their opponents' ruin and their own coming heaven. God has thus adjusted things, God who has granted them not only faith in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for Him; a conflict one with that which they had seen in Paul's case [at Philippi] and now hear of in his case [at Rome]. Ch. II. 1 — 4. [Yes, let them above all things hold together, watching against a tendency towards internal dissension ; a tendency which he fears has shewn itself, however faintly, amongst them]. By the common blessings of believers, by the pity of their human hearts, he begs them to crown his joy in them with the joy of an assurance that they are living in holy harmony; shunning the spirit of self, taking each the lowest room, entering with unselfish love into each other's needs. 5 — 11. Let them remember, and reflect, the supreme Self-forgetfulness of their Saviour. He, [in His preexistent glory,] being and seeming God, [looked indeed on the things of others]. He dealt with His true and eternally right Equality with His Father [in nature and majesty] not as a thing held, like a prize of strength or guile, anxiously and for Himself, [but as a thing which admitted of an act of most gracious sacrifice for others' good]. In a marvellous "Exinanition" [He laid by the manifested glories of Deity], and willed to be, and to seem, [as Man], the Bondservant [of God], putting on the visible garb of embodied manhood, [while always also more than man]. Aye, and INTRODUCTION. 31 having thus presented himself to men as man, He bowed yet lower, [in His supreme outlook "upon the things of others,"] in His supreme obedience to His God; He extended that obedience to the length of dying, dying on a Cross, [that last degradation in the eyes of Gentile and Jew]. [So He "pleased not Himself," and now, what was the result?] The Father raised Him to the eternal throne [in His now double glory, God and Man], giving to Him [as the once-abased One] the rights of supreme Majesty, that all creation in all spheres should worship Him, and the Father through Him, all beings confessing that Jesus Christ is "I AM," to the Father's glory. 12 — 18. [With such an Example in view] let the beloved Philip- pians, now as always obedient to Paul's appeals, so watch, so live, in tender, solemn earnestness (and more than ever now, in the absence of their Apostle, [whose presenec might have seemed to excuse in them a lack of such care] as to realize and carry out the plan of their salvation. [And to promote at once their solemn care and their restful hope let them remember that] it is God who is personally effecting in them [in the regenerate life] both their holy desires and their just works, in order to accomplish His own blessed purposes. Let them renounce all mutual murmurings and dissensions ; seeking to prove their spiritual sonship by a perfectly consistent walk, in the midst of a rebellious world, in whose darkness they are seen as spiritual stars ; offering the news of Christ to their neighbours' notice. So Paul would rejoice at the Great Day, looking back on his course of toil, that he had not lived in vain. [Aye, and that he had not died in vain] ; for what if he should after all shed his blood as a libation on the altar at which the Phi- lippians offered themselves a living sacrifice? He would rejoice, and would congratulate his converts. Let them rejoice, and congratulate him. 19 — 30. [But to turn to another subject;] he hopes to send Timothy ere long, to report to him (it will be a cheering report) on their state. None of the Christians round him is so entirely in sympathy with him and with Philippi. Others of his friends might otherwise go, but alas their devotedness to the Lord's will proves too partial. As for Timothy, the Philippians know by old experience how he had done bondservice to the Lord, with Paul, [in their very midst,] in a perfectly filial spirit. Immediately on Paul's learning the issue of the trial, Timothy shall thus be sent. And he trusts ere long to follow person- ally to Philippi. Epaphroditus meanwhile, Paul's fellow-labourer, and 2,2 INTRODUCTION the bearer of the Philippians' bounty to him, is to be spared and sent immediately, as a matter of duty. That duty is made plain by Epaphroditus' state of feeling — his yearning to revisit Philippi, his sore trouble at the thought of the grief which must have been caused at Philippi by news there of his serious illness. He has indeed been ill, almost fatally. But God has spared him the grief [of premature removal from his work, and of being the cause of mourning at Philippi], and has spared Paul too the grief of bereavement added to his other trials. So he has taken pains to send him [in charge of the present Epistle], to the joy of the Philippians and the alleviation of Paul's own sadness. Let them give their messenger a glad Christian welcome back again. Let them shew their value for him and such as him. For Christ's work's sake he has all but lost his life; he has run great hazards with it, in order to do for them, in their loving assistance to Paul, what in person they could not do. Ch. III. 1 — 3. Now to draw to a close. Let them rejoice in the Lord [as their all in all, cherishing a joyful insight into His fulness as their Righteousness and Life]. In effect, he has been saying this all along. But to emphasize it again is welcome to him and wholesome for them. Let them beware of the Pharisee-Christian, [cruelly exclusive, while] really excluding himself from the true Israel ; of the advocate of salvation by works, himself a bungling work-man; of the assertors of a circumcision that is only now a physical maltreatment. We Christians are the true circumcised Israel, worshipping by the rites of the Spirit, making Christ Jesus our boast, renouncing all trust in self. 4 — 11. If indeed such self-trust ever has just grounds, /•«?</ claims it. He can surpass the claims of any such theorists [on their own principles,] in point of sacrament, pedigree, education, school of ascetic piety, tremendous earnestness, punctilious observance. These things were once his hoarded gains ; but he has now decisively judged them to be one great loss, in the light of that Christ [to whose glory they blinded him]. Yes, and he holds that judgment now, con- cerning not these things only, but all things whatever [that can obscure his view of] the surpassing bliss of knowing Him as Saviour and as Lord. For Him he has been deprived of his all, and treats it now as refuse, that he may [in exchange] gain Christ for his, and be found [by the Judge] in living union with Him, presenting to the Eternal Holiness not a satisfying claim of his own, based on fulfilment of the INTRODUCTION. 33 Law as covenant of life, but the satisfying claim which consists of Christ for him, appropriated by humble trust; God's way of accept- ance, thus made good for Paul. [And is this to terminate in itself, in acceptance of his guilty person, and no more? No ;] its true, its necessary issue is that he gets to know his Redeemer spiritually [in His personal glory and beauty], and to experience the power of His resurrection [as conveying assurance of peace and hope of glory, and also in the inflow of His blessed Risen Life], and the joy of entrance, [in measure,]' into His experience as the Sufferer, [bearing the cross daily after Him], growing thus into ever truer conformity to His willingness to die. And all this, with the longing to attain [in the path of holiness], at any cost [of self-surrender], to the resurrection of glory [in Him who died to rise again]. 12 — 16. [Meantime— there is reason why he should say it — ] he is not yet at the goal, not yet perfected. He is pressing on, aiming to grasp that crown which Christ who grasped him [in conversion] converted him that he might grasp. [Others may say of themselves and their perfection what they will]; Paul does not think of himself as having grasped that crown. His concentrated purpose is to re- nounce all complacency in attainment, and to seek for ever higher things, and to take for his aim nothing short of that eternal glory which is the Divine Arbiter's award at the close of that life of heavenly conversion which is ours in Christ. Are any of us perfect Christians, then? [Christians mature and ideal?] Let us shew it [among other things] by such humbling views [of our personal imperfection, and of the greatness of our goal]. Should their views in this matter still differ from his own, he leaves them with calmness to the sure processes of God's enlightening grace [in experience]. Only, up to present light and knowledge, let harmony of conviction, and so of behaviour and action, be cherished by Apostle and converts alike. 17 — 21. [Nay, let him solemnly appeal to them to] l^ecome imi- tators, one and all, of his principles and practice, and to take for their visible models those among them who manifestly lived those prin- ciples out. For there were many [so-called Christians abroad whose life was a terrible and ensnaring travesty of the Gospel of free grace, antinomian claimants of a position in Clirist lifted above the holy moral law, men] of whom he often warned them at Philippi, and warns them now, even with tears [over their own ruin and over the deadly mischief they do]. These men are the real enemies of the Cross [which PHILirPIANS 3 34 INTRODUCTION. won our pardon, but only that we miglit be holy]. Their end [in such a path] is eternal perdition. Their God is [not He with whom they claim special intimacy but] their own sensual appetites. They boast [of their insight and experience], but their lofty claims are their deepest disgrace. Their interests and ideas, [pretending to soar above the skies], are really " of the earth, earthy." [Such teachings, and lives, are utterly alien to those of Paul and his true followers]. The seat and centre of their life is in heaven, whose citizens they are [free of its privileges, "obliged by its nobility"]. And from heaven they are looking, [in a life governed by tliat look], for the Lord Jesus Christ, as Saviour [of body as well as of soul]. He shall transfigure the body which now abases and encumbers us into true and eternal likeness to the Body He now wears upon the throne. [Do they ask, how can this be?] It is a possibility measured by His ability to subdue to His will, and to His purposes, nothing less than all things. Ch. IV. 1—7. [With such a present, and such a future], let the dear and sorely missed Philippians [cleanse themselves from all pollution, and to that end] let them keep close to Christ, or rather dwell in Christ. [Let them in particular renounce the spirit of self; and here] he entreats two Christian women, Euodia and Syntyche, to renounce their differ- ences. And let his truehearted yoke-fellow [Epaphroditus?] help these two persons to a loving reconciliation, remembering how they toiled and strove for the cause of Christ, by Paul's side, [in the old days]; and let Clement, and Paul's other fellow-labourers, whose names the Lord has marked for heaven, do the like kind service [for Euodia and Syntyche]. Let all rejoice always in the Lord; yes, let them indeed rejoice in Him ! Let all around them find them self-forgetful, void of self; the Lord's [remembered] presence is the way to this. Let them be anxious in no circumstance ; everything must be taken at once to God in prayer, with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, [the glad tranquillity caused by His presence and rule in the heart], shall ncircle as with walls their inner world and its actings, as they dwell in Christ. 8—9. In conclusion, let their minds, [thus shielded, not lie idle, but] be occupied with all that is true, honourable, right, pure, amiable; with all that man truly calls virtue, all that has the praise of his conscience. And once more, let them practise the principles they have learned of Paul, and seen exemplified in him. So the God of peace, [peace in the soul and in the community], shall be with them. INTRODUCTION. 35 10—20. [He must not close without loving thanks for a gift of money, for himself and his work, received lately from them.] It has given him holy joy to find that their thought about him has burst into life and fruit again after an interval. Not that they had ever forgotten him; but for some time (he knows) no means of communication had been found. Not, again, that he has been feeling any painful deficiency; for himself, he has learned the lesson of independence of circumstances. He understands the art of meeting poverty and plenty [in equal peace]. He has been let into the secret how to live so. [And the secret is — Jesus Christ]. In living union with Him and His spiritual power, Paul can meet every incident of the will of God, [to bear it, or to do it]. Not that he does not warmly feel their loving participation [by this gift] in his trials. But [there was no need of this particular gift to assure him of their affection] : they will remember that when he first evangelized Macedonia, and was now leaving it, they were the only Church which aided him with money, more such gifts than one reached him even when he was no further off than Thessalonica. Do not let them think that he is hunting for their money [by such reminiscences] ; no, [so far as he welcomes their money at all] it is because such gifts are deposits bearing rich interest of blessing for the givers. But he has indeed been supplied, and over-supplied, in this contribution now sent by Epaphroditus' hands; this sweet incense from the altar [of self- sacrificing love to Christ in His servant]. For himself, [he can send back no material present, but] his God shall supply their every need, out of the wealth of eternal love and power, lodged for the saints in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be the glory for ever. Amen. 21 — 23. Let them greet individually from him every Christian of their number. The Christians associated with him greet them. So do all the Roman believers, especially those connected with the Imperial household. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with their inmost being. Amen, 3—2 i If we submit ourselves fairly and honestly to the influence which the Gospel would bring to bear upon us, we may trust it to verify itself by producing inwardly "righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost." There is no manner of question that it was thus with the great Apostle, and if the faith he preached is a living reality, it is not only capable of producing the like results now, but must and will do so, where there is a corresponding hold of it. If in Christ Jesus there is forgiveness of sins, and if by Him "all that believe are justified," then, most assuredly, that which was offered by St Paul... to all, without distinction, is the heritage of Gentile as well as Jew, and may be the priceless possession of Englishmen in the nineteenth century after Christ, no less than of Greeks and Asiatics in the first. There wants but the same tenacious grasp of truth, the same uncompromising zeal, the same unflinching boldness, and the ancient message will awaken the old response. The same flower will bud and open, will form and set, in the mature and golden autumn of Christian experience, into the same rich, fragrant... fruit, which will be "Christ in us, the hope of glory." Stanley Le.-\thes, D.U. ; T/ie Witness of St Paul to Christ, pp. 87—8. I THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE P PHILIPPIANS. AUL and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to 1 all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, Title. The oldest known form is the briefest, To the Philippians, or, exactly, To the Philippesians (see on iv. 15). So in the "Subscrip- tion" to the Epistle, which see. The title as in the Authorized Version agrees with that adopted in the Elzevir editions of 1624, 1633. Ch. I. 1 — 2. Greeting. 1. Paul'] See Acts xiii. 9. The Apostle probably bore, from in- fancy, both the two names, Saul {Haonl, Sauhis) and Paul. See on Eph. i. I, and Romans, p. 8, in this Series. Timotheus] Named 24 times in N. T. See Acts xvi. i for his parentage and early home, and for indications of his character as man and Christian cp. i Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10, ii; i Tim. i. 2 ; 2 Tim. i. 4, 5; and especially below, ii. 19 — 22. His association with St Paul was intimate and endeared, and his connexion with the Philippian Church was close. See Acts xvi., where it is clearly implied that with Silas he accompanied St Paul on his first visit to Philippi (cp. xvii. 14, and below, ii. 22), though for unknown reasons he did not share the maltreatment of his friends. Later, Acts xx. 4, he appears accom- panying St Paul from Macedonia to Asia Minor, and the mention of Philippi, ver. 6, makes it practically certain that by then Philippi had been visited again. With Macedonia generally, including of course Thessalonica, we find his name often connected; see mentions of him in Acts xvii. and xix. 22; 2 Cor. (written in Macedonia) i. i ; i Thess. iii. 1, 6. — His name is associated as here with St Paul's 2 Cor. i. i ; Col. i. I ; I Thess. i. i ; 2 Thess. i. i. — In this Epistle the association 38 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. 2. 2 with the bishops and deacons : grace be unto you, and begins and ends with this verse, and the Apostle writes at once in the singular number. It is otherwise in 1 Cor., Col., and Thess. the servants'] Bondservants, slaves. The word is used by St Paul of himself (with or without his missionary brethren), Rom. i. i; Gal. i. 10; Tit. i. I. Cp. Acts xx. 19, xxvii. 23; Gal. vi. 17. He was a bondservant, in the absolute possession of his redeeming Lord, not only as an apostle but as a Christian ; but he loves to emphasize the fact in connexion with his special mode of service. On the principles and conditions of the believer's sacred and happy bondservice see e.g. Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvii. 7 — 10; Rom. vi. 19, vii. 6; i Cor. vi. 20, vii. 22; Eph. vi. 7; 2 Tim. ii. 24. The word with its imagery conveys the truth that the spiritual bondservant is altogether and always not only the helper, or agent, but the property and implement of his r Master; having no rights whatever as against Him. Only, the Master* I being what He is, this real bondage is transfigured always into the ! "perfect freedom" of the regenerate and loving heart. _ of yesus Christ\ Better, on documentary evidence, of Christ Jesus. This order of our blessed Lord's Name and Title is almost peculiar to St Paul, and is the most frequent of the two orders in his writings. It is calculated that he uses it (assuming the latest researches in the Greek text to shew right results) 87 times, and ''Jesus Christ" 78 (see The Expositor, May, 1888). The slight emphasis on ''Christ" is suggestive of a special reference of thought to the Lord in glory. the saints] Holy ones ; men separated from sin to God. The word takes the man, or the community, on profession ; as being what they ought to be. This is not to lower the native meaning of the word, but to use a well-understood hypothesis in the application of it. A saint is not merely a professing follower of Christ, but a professing fol- lower assumed to be what he professes. He who is not this is in name only and not in deed a saint, faithful, a child of God, and the like. See Appendix B. ift Christ yesus] Holy ones, because united in Life and Covenant, by grace, to the Holy One of God. See further on Eph. i, i, and below, on ver. 8. Philippi] See Introduction, p. 10, &c. with the bishops and deacons] In this address the laity come before the clergy. — " With" because these persons, though merely some of "the saints" as men, were differenced from the others by office. Apart from all questions in detail on the Christian Ministry, observe this primeval testimony to so>ne already established and recognized order and regimen in a young Church; to a special "oversight" and "service" committed to not all but some. — The "bishop" (episcopus) of this passage is identical with the "presbyter" of e.g. Acts xx. 17, called episcopus there, ver. 28. For further remarks on the offices here mentioned, see Appendix C. 2. Grace be unto yoit, &c.] See, on the whole verse, the notes in this Series on Eph. i. 2, where the wording is identical. — " Grace," as a vv. 3, 4-] PHILIPPIANS, I. 39 peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always ^ in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, ^ Scriptural term, demands careful study. In its true idea, kindness is always present, with the special thought of entire atid marked absence of obligatio7i in the exercise of it. It is essentially unmerited and free. See e.g. Rom. xi. 6. In its normal application, the word denotes the action of Divine kindness either in the judicial acceptance of the believer "not according to his works," for Christ's sake (e.g. Rom. iii. 24), or in the gift and continuance of new life and power to the believer (e.g. I Cor. XV. 10). And, as the action is never apart from the Agent, we may say that grace in the first reference is "God for us" (Rom. viii. 31), in the second, "God in us" (below, ii. 13). — In the first reference grace is the antithesis to ?nerit, in the second to nature. our Fathcr\ in the new birth and life, which is coextensive with union with Christ the Son. See below, on ii. 15. 3—11. Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Philippian Saints. 3. I thank'\ So Rom. i. 8; i Cor. i. 4; Eph. i. 16; Col. i. 3; 1 Thess. i. 2, ii. 13; 2 Thess. i. 3, ii. 13; Philem. 4. St Paul's thanks- givings for the two Macedonian Churches, Philippi and Thessalonica, are peculiarly warm and full. See Bp Lightfoot here. Observe the recognition in all these thanksgivings of God as the whole cause of all goodness in the saints. 7ny God] So Rom. i. 8; i Cor. i. 4; 2 Cor. xii. 21; below, iv. 19; Philem. 4. Cp. also Acts xxvii. 23 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; and below, iii. 8. See too Psal. Ixiii. i, and many other O. T. passages. — Profound per- sonal appropriation and realization speaks in the phrase. And we are reminded that the salvation of the Church takes place through the salvation of individuals, and their personal coming to (Joh. vi. 37) and incorporation into Christ. upon every remembrance] Lit. and better, in my whole remem- brance ; as in a habit rather than as in single acts. For such remem- brance, and its expressions, cp. Rom. i. 9; Eph. i. 16; i Thess. i. 2; 2 Tim. i. 3 ; Philem. 4. 4. every prayer] every request. The Greek word is narrower than that, e.g. Eph.i. 16, which includes the whole action oi worship. See below on iv. 6. for you all] See, for the same phrase, or kindred words, vv. 7, 8, 25, ii. 17, 26. We seem to see, in this emphasis on the word "a//," a gentle reference to the danger of partizanship and divisions at Philippi. See Introduction, p. 19. request] Lit. and better, the request just mentioned. with joy] These words strike the key-note of a main strain of the 40 PHILIPPIANS, I. [vv. 5, 6. s for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until 6 now ; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform // until the day of Epistle. — They are here the emphatic words of the sentence. He illustrates the assurance of his thankfulness for them by saying that every request for them is lighted up with happiness. For St Paul's joy over his converts' consistency cp. 2 Cor. ii. 3, vii. 4, 13; below, ii. 2, iv. I ; I Thess. ii. 19, 20, iii. 9; Philem. 7. 5. For your fellowship in the gosper\ Lit. "<?« account of your participation tmto the Gospel"; i.e. because of your efforts, in union with mine, for the furtherance of the Gospel. See R. V.; and cp. 2 Cor. ii. 12, and ii. 22 below. The immediate reference doubtless is to the pecuniary help sent again and again to the Apostle as a mis- sionary. (See iv. 10 — 19.) But the fact and thought would far transcend this speciality. from the first day until now\ See the passage below, just referred to, for comment and explanation. 6. Being confident'] This verse is a parenthesis in the thought, suggested by the continuity '■^ until now" of the Philippians' love and labour. The past of grace leads him to speak of its future. The English word '■'■confident" happily represents the Greek, which like it sometimes denotes 7-eliance, on definite grounds (so Matt, xxvii. 43; Mark x. 24; 2 Cor. i. 9; Ijelow, ii. 24, iii. 3, 4; Heb. ii. 13, &c.), sometimes a more or less arbitrary assurance (so Rom. ii. 19). In every case in the N. T. the word indicates a feeling of personal certainty, for whatever cause. this very thing'\ A favourite phrase with St Paul; Rom. ix. 17 (where he varies the phrase of the LXX.), xiii. 6; 2 Cor. ii. 3, v. 5, vii. 11; Gal. ii. 10; Eph. vi. 18, 22; Col. iv. 8. Elsewhere it occurs only 2 Pet. i. 5, and there the reading is disputed. The words are a characteristic touch of keen and earnest thought. he which hath begu7i\ Lit. lie that began; at the crisis of their evangelization and conversion. "■He" is God the Father (as habitually, where nothing in the context defines Either of the Other Persons), the supreme Author of the work of grace. The Greek verb here occurs also Gal. iii. 3, where the crisis of con- version is viewed from the converfs point of view; "ye began by the Spirit." The reference to the Holy Spirit, however, reminds us there also that a Divine enabling is absolutely needed in order to man's "beginning" the new life. a good work] We may perhaps render the good work. The article is absent in the Greek, but the reference is obviously to the work of works. Cp. below, ii. 13, and note. will perform it] Better, as R.V., will perfect it. Cp. again Gal. iii. 3; "ye bega7t by the Spirit; are ye now being perfected by the flesh?" For the thought of this sentence cp. Ps. cxxxviii. 8; "the LORD will complete (all) for me; O Lord, Thy mercy is for ever; forsake v.;.] PHILIPPIANS, I. 41 Jesus Christ : even as it is meet for me to think this of you 7 all, because I have you in my heart ; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the not the works of Thy hands." There the individual believing soul expresses the confidence of faith which is here expressed with regard to the community ("j'ti«") of such souls. until the day, &ic.\ The glorious goal of the redeeming process, because then, and not before, the whole being of the saint, body (Rom. viii. 23) as well as spirit, shall be actually delivered from all the results of sin. The mention of this Day here is thus equally in point whether or not the Apostle were contemplating a speedy or distant return of the Lord. If He returns before the believer's death, His coming is of course the final crisis; if otherwise, "the redemption of the body," and so far the redemption of the being, is deferred. Cp. Eph. iv. 30; 2 Tim. i. 12. The "Day" of Christ is mentioned below, i. 10, ii. 16; and alto- gether, in St Paul, about twenty times. For the Lord's own use of the word " Day" for the Crisis of His Return as Judge and Redeemer, cp. Matt. vii. 22, x. 15, xi. 22, 24, xii. 36, xxiv. 36; Luke xvii. 24, 26 ("days"), 30, 31, xxi. 34 ; Joh. vi. 39, 40, 44, 54. 7. i?u\'t] Lit., and better, just, right. for me] The pronoun is emphatic in the Greek ; " for nie, whatever may be right for others." to think this] Better, to be of tMs mind, to feel the thankfulness and joy described above (ver. 3, 4). The Greek verb (a favourite with St Paul) almost always denotes not an articulate act of thought but a "state of mind." See, for some passages where this remark is im- portant, Rom. viii. 5, 6, 7, 27 ; xii. 3, 16; below, iii. 15, 19; Col. iii. 2. For another shade of meaning see iv. 10, and note. of yoic] R.V., "o« behalf of you.'" His joyful thanks were given not only " about " them but "on behalf" of them, as being an elemeiit in intercessory worship. But the usage of the Greek preposition allows^ either rendering. because, &c.] Such feelings are s;iecially right for him, because of the intimacy of affectionate intercourse which has brought him into living contact with the glow of their spiritual life. / have you in my heart] The Greek admits the rendering (A.V. and R.V., margins) "you have me in your heart.'^ But the following context favours the text. — For the warm thought, cp. 2 Cor. v. 12, vi. II, vii. 3; I Thess. ii. 17. in my bonds] The first allusion in the Epistle to imprisonment. Here again the grammar leaves two explanations open. Grammati- cally, the Apostle may say either that he has them in his heart both in his bonds and in his advocacy of the Gospel ; or that in both these ex- periences they are partners of his grace. But the latter is the far more probable. There is something artificial in the statement that he carried them in his heart both in his imprisonment a7id in his work ; for to him 42 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. 8. 8 gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of the two experiences would run up into one. But it would be natural for the Philippians (see next note but one) to isolate the two experiences of the Apostle in thought and sympathy. the defence and con/i?-mation\ The two words are linked, in the Greek, into one idea. '■'■Defence" : — Greek, apologia. For the word, see Acts xx. i, xxv. i6; below, i6; and esp. i Pet. iii. 15. Unlike our word "apology," in its every-day use, it means the statement of a good case against an accuser. Acts xxviii. 17 — 23 shews us St Paul "apolo- gizing" in his Roman prison. — The early "Apologies" for Christianity, e.g. by Justin and TertuUian (cent. 1), are apologies in this sense. ye all are partakers of ?>iy grace] This has been explained to mean that they too knew by experience the power of grace under imprison- ment and in evangelistic work. But we have no reason to think that "all" (if indeed any) of the Philippian converts had been imprisoned at this date. The natural meaning is that their sympathy, and active assistance (iv. 10 — 19), had so united them with both the bearing and doing of the Apostle that in this sense they were bound with him, and worked with him, and felt the power of God with him. — The word "grace" here (as in Rom. i. 5; Eph. iii. 2, 8) may refer to ihe gracious gift to him of apostolic work and trial, rather than to the internal Divine power for service. In this case, still more plainly, the Philip- pians were partners in "his grace." — A closer rendering of the Greek is, copartners of my grace as you all are. 8. God is my record] Better, witness; for which word ^'record" is a synonym in older English, e.g. in Chaucer. — For this solemn and tender appeal cp. Rom. i. 9; i Thess. ii. 5, 10; and see 2 Cor. i. 18. long after] The Greek verb is full of a yearning, homesick tenderness. It occurs in similar connexions, Rom. i. 11 ; i Thess. iii. 6; 2 Tim. i. 4; below, ii. 26; and its cognates, Rom. xv. 23; 2 Cor. vii. 7, 11 (?), ix. 14 ; below, iv. i. St Paul employs the verb also, with beautiful significance, to denote the believer's yearning for heavenly rest and glory, 2 Cor. v. 2 ; St James, for the Spirit's yearning jealousy for our spirits' loyalty, Jas. iv. 5 ; St Peter, for the regenerate man's longing for the "milk" of Divine truth, i Pet. ii. 2. in the botvcls of Jesus Christ] MS. evidence favours the order Christ Jesus, see note on ver. i. — "/« the bowels" : — better perhaps in tlie heart. The Greek word in the classics means, strictly, the "nobler vitals," including the heart, as distinguished from the intestines (yEschylus, Agam., 1221). On the other hand the Septuagint in their (rare) use of the word do not observe such a distinction, and render by it the Heb. rachamtm, the bowels, regarded as the seat of tender feeling. But in any case, the question is not of anatomy, but of cur- rent usage and reference; and our word '■'■heart" is thus the best rendering. — The phrase here carries with it no assertion of a physico- spiritual theory ; it only uses, as a modem naturalist might equally weU I VV.9, lo.] PHILIPPIANS, I. 43 Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound 9 yet more and more in knowledge and m all judgment; that 10 do, a physical term as a symbol for non-physical emotion. — R.V. para- phrases ^'■tender mercies.'''' The phraseology ("?« the heart of Christ yesus ") is deeply signifi- cant. The Christian's personality is never lost, but he is so united to his Lord, "one Spirit" (i Cor. vi. 17), that the emotions of the re- generate member are, as it were, in continuity with those of the ever- blessed Head. Tyndale (1534), Cranmer (1539), and Geneva (1557) render "from the very heart root in Jesus Christ." — The ministration of His life to the member is such that there is more than sympathy in the matter; there is communication. 9. / p}-ay^ He takes up the words, ver. 4, " in every request for you all." that] Lit., by classical rules, '■'in order that." But in later Greek the phrase has lost its more precise necessary reference to purpose, and may convey (as here) the idea oi purport, significance. So we say, "a message to this effect," meaning, "in these terms." — In Joh. xvii. 3 (where lit., "/« order to knoiv, &c."), the phrase conveys the kindred idea of equivalence, synonymous description ; " life eternal " is, in effect, "to know God." your love] Perhaps in its largest reference ; Christian love, however directed, whether to God or man, to brethren or aliens. But the pre- vious context surely favours a certain speciality of reference to St I'aul ; as if to say, "your Christian love, of which / have such warm evi- dence." Still, this leaves a larger reference also quite free. abouftd] A favourite word with St Paul. In this Ep. it occurs again, ver. 26, iv. 12, 18. Cp. i Thess. iv. i for a near parallel here. — Nothing short of spiritual growth ever satisfies St Paul. "The fire in the Apostle never says. Enough" (Bengel). in] As a 7uan "abounds in" e.g. "hope" (Rom. xv. 13). He prays that their love may richly possess knowledge and perception as its attendants and aids. knowledge] Greek, epigndsis, more than gnosis. The structure of the word suggests developed, full knowledge; the N.T. usage limits the thought to spiritual knowledge. It is a frequent word with St Paul. all judgment] ''AW': — with reference to the manifold needs and occasions for its exercise ; judgment developed, amplified to the full for full use. — "judgment'": — lit. " sensation, perception.'" The word occurs here only in N.T., and cognates to it only Luke ix. 45 ; Heb. v. 14. — R.V., " discef-nment." But the word "judgment" (in the sense e.g. of criticism of works of art, or of insight into character) is so fair an equivalent to the Greek that the A.V. may well stand. — In application, the "judgment" would often appear as delicate perception, fine tact ; a gift whose highest forms are nowhere so well seen as in some Christians, even poor Christians. 10. That] Better, as better marking a close sequence on the last clause, 80 that. 44 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. lo. ye may approve things that are excellent ; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; approve] Better, in modem English, test. The spiritual "judgment " was to be thus applied. things that arc £xcelleni\ '■'■the things, &c." R.V. An alternative rendering is, that ye may prove (test) the things that differ; so margin R.V. ; "that you may use your spiritual judgment in sepa- rating truth from its counterfeit, or distortion." The two renderings come to much the same; for the "approval of the excellent thing" would be the immediate result of the " detection of its difference." We prefer the margin R. V., however; first, as giving to the verb its rather more natural meaning, and then, as most congruous to the last previous thought, the growth of "judgment." that ye 7nay be\ It is implied that the process of "discernment" would never be merely speculative. It would be always carried into motive and conduct. sincere'] The idea of the Greek word is that of clearness, disengage- ment from complications. One derivation (favoured by Bp Lightfoot here) is military; from the orderly separateness of marshalled ranks. Another and commoner one is solar; from the detection of pollution by sunlight, with the thought of the clearness of what has passed such a test well. — The word "sincere" (from Lat. si?tcerus) has a possible connexion with "jz'w-gle," and so with the idea of separation, disen- gagement, straightness of purpose. In Latin, it is the equivalent to our " unadulterated." without offence] I.e., "without stmnhling-block" (h,2Lt., offendiculum). Our common meaning of "offence," with its special reference to grievances and pique, must be banished from thought in reading the English Bible. There these words are always used to represent original words referring to obstacles, stumbling, and the like. So e.g. i Cor. vi. 3, "giving no offetice^'' means, presenting no obstacle such as to upset the Christian principle or practice of others. — " Without offence" here (one word in the Greek) may mean, grammatically, either ^^ ex- periencing no such obstacle" or ^^ presenting none." The word occurs elsewhere only Acts xxiv. 16; i Cor. x. 32; and the evidence of these passages is exactly divided. On the whole the context here decides for the former alternative. The Apostle is more concerned at present with the inner motives than the outer example of the Philippians : he prays that the simplicity (sincerity) of their spiritual relations with God may be such as never to "upset" the inner workings of will and purpose. — Tyndale and Cranmer render here, "that ye may be pure, and such as (should) hurt no man's conscience;" Geneva, "that ye may be pure, and go forward without any let." So Beza's Latin version. //// the day of Christ] Lit. unto, &c.; "against, in view of, the great crisis of eternal award." So ii. 16, where see note. On the phrase '■'■ the day of Christ" see note on i. 6, above. vv. II, 12. PHILIPPIANS, I. 45 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by 1 1 Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the 12 things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto 11. Being Jilkd] Lit. and better, having been filled. He antici- pates the great Day, and sees the Philippians as then, completed and developed as to the results of grace. His prayetfor them is that they may be then found "filled" with such results; bearers of no scanty or partial "fruit"; trees whose every branch has put forth the produce described Gal. v. 22, 23. fruits'] Rather, on documentary evidence, fruit; as in Gal. v. 11. The results of grace are manifold, and yet a total, a unity; effects and manifestations of one secret, ingredients in one character, which, if it lacks one of them, is not fully "itself." of righteousness'] The phrase ''fruit of righteousness" occurs in the LXX., Prov. xi. 30, xiii. 2 ; Amos vi. 12; and in St James, iii. 18. By analogy with such phrases as e.g. "fruit of the Spirit," it means not "fruit which is righteousness," but "fruit which springs from right- eousness." — "Righteousness" is properly a condition satisfactory to Divine law. Thiis it often means the practical rectitude of the regene- rate will; and so probabjy here. But often in St Paul we can trace an underlying reference to that great truth which he was specially com- missioned to explain, the Divine way of Justification; the acceptance of the guilty, for Christ's sake, as in Him satisfactory to the Law, broken by them, but kept and vindicated by Him. See further below, on iii. 9. Such an inner reference may be present here ; the "fruit" may be the fruit not merely of a rectified will, but of a person accepted in Christ. which are] Read, which is. by Jesus Christ] Through Him, as both the procuring cause, by His merits, of the new life of the saints, and the true basis and secret of it, in their union with His life. Cp. Rom. v. 17. unto the glory and praise of God] The true goal and issue of the whole work of grace, which never terminates in the individual, or in the Church, but in the manifestation of Divine power, love, and holiness in the saving process and its result. "To Him are all things; to whom T)e glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. xi. 36). — "■God" here is distinctively the Eternal Father, glorified in the members of His Son. 12 — 20. Account of St Paul's present Circumstances AND Experience. 12. But] Better, now, as R.V. /would, &c.] More lit. and simply, I wish you to know; I desire to inform you. the things which happened unto me] More lit. and simply, my 46 PHILIPPIANS, I. [vv. 13, 14. 13 the furtherance of the gospel ; so that my bonds in Christ 14 are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and circumstances, with no special reference to the past. Wyclif renders, with the Vulgate Latin, "the thingis that ben aboute me"; so the (Romanist) Rhemish version 1582; "the things about me"; Tyndale, "my business." He means his imprisonment, which had proved and was proving a direct and indirect occasion for Gospel-work. rather] than otherwise, as had seemed so likely h priori. furtherance] Better, as R. V., progress. The Greek gives the idea of an advance made by the Gospel. 13. So that, &c.] Render, So that my bonds are become mani- fest (as being) in Christ. In other words, his imprisonment has come to be seen in its true significance, as no mere political or ecclesiastical matter, but due to his union of life and action with a promised and manifested Messiah. in all the palace] Greek, "in theivhole Prtxtoriian {praitorioti).'''' The word occurs elsewhere in N. T., Matt, xxvii. 27; Mark xv. 16; Joh. xviii. 28, 33, xix. 9; Acts xxiii. 35 ; in the sense of the residence, or a part of it, of an official grandee, regarded as a prcetor, a military commander. (Not that the word, in Latin usage, always keeps a military reference ; it is sometimes the near equivalent of the word villa, the country residence of a Roman gentleman.) The A. V. rendering here is obviously an inference from these cases, and it assumes that St Paul was imprisoned within the precincts of the residence of the supreme Praetor, the Emperor ; within the Palatiu7n, the man- sion of the Cccsars on the Mons Palatinus, the Hill of the goddess Pales. In Nero's time this mansion (whose name is the original of all "palaces") had come to occupy the whole hill, and was called the Golden House. — The rendering of the A. V. is accepted by high authorities, as Dean Merivale {Hist. Rom. VI. ch. liv.), and Mr Lewin {Life and Epistles of St Paul, II. p. 282). On the other hand Bp Liglitfoot (on this verse, Philippians, p. 99) prefers to render "in all the Praetorian Guard," the Roman life-guard of the Cssar; and gives full evidence for this use of the word Prcetorium. And there is no evidence for the application of the word by Romans to the imperial Palace. To this last reason, however, it is fair to reply, with Mr Lewin, that St Paul, as a Provincial, might very possibly apply to the Palace a word meaning a residency in the provinces, especially after his long imprisonment in the royal Prcetorium at Coesarea (Acts xxiii. 35, xxiv. 27). But again it is extremely likely, as Bp Lightfoot remarks, that the word Prcctoriiun, in the sense of the Guard, would be often on the lips of the "soldiers that kept" St Paul (Acts xxviii. 16); and thus this would be now the more familiar reference. On the whole, we incline to the rendering of Lightfoot, (and of the R. V.) throughout the (whole) Praetorian Guard. Warder after warder came on duty to the Apostle's chamber (whose locality, on this theory, is nowhere certainly defined in N. T.), and carried from it, when relieved, information and often, doubtless, V. I4.J PHILIPPIANS, I. 47 many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my deep impressions, which gave his comrades knowledge of the Prisoner's message and of the claims of the Saviour. Other explanations of the word Pratorium are {a) the Barrack within the Palatium where a detachment of Praetorians was stationed, and within which St Paul may have been lodged; {b) the great Camp of the Guard, just outside the eastern walls of Rome. But the barrack was a space too limited to account for the strong phrase, "in all the Prffitorium"; and there is no evidence that the great Camp was ever called Prffitorium. Wyclif renders, curiously, "in eche moot (council) halle"; Tyndale, Cranmer, and Geneva, "throughout all the judgment hall." in all other places] Better, to all other (men) ; to the Roman "public," as distinguished from this special class. The phrase points to a large development of St Paul's personal influence. 14. viany'\ Better, most. It is noticeable that the Apostle should imply that there were exceptions. Possibly, he refers here to what comes out more clearly below, the difference between friendly and unfriendly sections among the Roman Christians. We can scarcely doubt (in view of Rom. xvi. and Acts xxviii.) that the friendly were the majority. If so, St Paul may here practically say that a majority of the brethren were energized into fresh efforts, by his imprisonment, while a minority, also stirred into new activity, were acting on less worthy motives. In view of the context, this seems more likely than that he should merely imply by this phrase that the revival of activity was not universal. > In any case, this verse implies that a spirit of languor and timidity had recently infected the believing community at Rome. the brethren in the Lord] So also R.V. Bps EUicc^t and Lightfoot connect the words here otherwise; "//?<? brethren, having in the Lord confidence, &c." Grammatically, either is possible. But to us the "rhythm of the sentence," a sort of evidence not easy to define and explain, but a real item for decision, seems to plead for the connexion in the text. It is true that the precise phrase "brethren in the Lord" is not found elsewhere. But a near parallel is Rom. xvi. 13, " Rufus, the chosen one in the Lord"; for there too the words "in the Lord" are in a certain sense superfluous. See too Rom. xvi. 8, 10. waxing confident] More strictly and simply (for the Greek participle is practically, though not in form, a pi-esent), being confident, con- fiding. — The idea is that of a sense of rest and reassurance after mis- givings. by my bonds] More closely, perhaps, in my bonds. The "confi- dence" was, in a sense, reposed "in," or on, Paul's chains, his cap- tivity, just so far as that captivity vividly reminded the Roman believers of the sacredness and goodness of the cause, and of the Person, for whose sake the Apostle unflinchingly incurred it and willingly bore it. The heart is the best interpreter of such words. 48 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. 15. bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife ; and For the construction in the Greek, cp. Philem. 21, the only exact N.T. parallel. It is found, but rarely, in the LXX. are much more bold^ Lit., and better, more abundantly venture. They "venture" more often, more habitually, than of late. — On the bearing of such statements on the date of the Epistle see Introduction, p. 16. to speak the word'\ "The word of the cross" (1 Cor. 1. 18); "of truth" (Eph. i. 13); "of life" (below, ii. 16); "of Christ" (Col. iii. 16); "of the Lord" (i Thess. i. 8, iv. 15); &c. It is the revealed and delivered account of what Christ is, has wrought, &c. — It is observable that St Paul regards such "speaking" as the work, not only of the class of ordained Christians, but of Christians in general. See further on ii. 16. 15. Some indeed^ Here he refers to members of that Judaistic party, or school, within the Church, which followed him with persistent opposition, especially since the crisis (Acts xv.) when a decisive victory over their main principle was obtained by St Paul in the Church-council at Jerusalem. Their distinctive idea was that while the Gospel was the goal of the Mosaic institutions, those institutions were to be per- manently, and for each individual convert, the fence or hedge of the Gospel. Only through personal entrance into the covenant of circum- cision could the man attain the blessings of the covenant of baptism. Such a tenet would not necessarily preclude, in its teacher, a true belief in and proclamation of the Person and the central Work of the true Christ, however much it might (as it did, in the course of history) tend to a lowered and distorted view even of His Person (see further. Ap- pendix D.). St Paul was thus able to rejoice in the work of these preachers, so far as it was a true conveyance to Pagan hearers at Pome of the primary Fact of the Gospel — Jesus Christ. The same Apostle who warns the Galatian and Philippian (iii. 1) Christians against the distinctive teaching of this school, as a teaching pregnant with spiritual disaster, can here without inconsistency rejoice in the thought of their undistiuctive teaching among nan- Christians at Rome. For allusions to the same class of opponents see Acts xv. i — 31, xx. 30 (perhaps), xxi. 20 — 25 ; and particularly the Ep. to the Galatians at large. The passages in which St Paul asserts his authority with special emphasis, as against an implied opposition, or again asserts his truthfulness as against implied personal charges, very probably point in the same direction. Not that the Judaizer of the Pharisaic type was his only adversary within the Church. He had also, very probably, to face an opposition of a "libertine" type, a distortion of his own doctrine of free grace (Rom. vi. I, &c., and below, iii. 18, 19); and again an opposition of the mystic, or gnostic, type, in which Jewish elements of observance were blent with an alien theosophy and angelology (see the Ep. to the I vv. i6, 17.J PHILIPPIANS, I. 49 some also of good will : the one preach Christ of contention, 16 not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds : but 17 Colossians). But ch. iii. i — 9 fixes the reference here to Christians of the type of Acts xv. i . even of etivy\ A mournful paradox, but abundantly verifiable. — Render (or paraphrase) here, some actually for envy and strife, while others as truly for goodwill. good will \ The Greek word, eiidokia, in N.T. usually means "good pleasure," in the sense of choice of what is "good" in the chooser's eyes. See Matt. xi. 26; Luke x. 21; Eph. i. 5, 9; below, ii. 13. But in the few remaining passages the idea of benevolence appears; Luke ii. 14; Rom. X. i ; and perhaps 2 Thess. i. 11. Both meanings appear in the use of the word in the LXX, and in Ecclesiasticus. There it often denotes the favour of God ; Heb. ratson. The idea here is strictly cognate ; what in a lord is the goodwill of favour is in a servant the goodwill of loyalty. 16. The one preach Christy &c.] There is good critical evidence for reading vv. 16, 17 in the opposite order to that of the A.V. Render, with R.V., The one do it of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the Gospel ; but the other proclaim Christ of faction, &c. It is possible to render, with Bp Ellicott, " Those who are {men) of lave, do it, &c but those who are (we/i) of faction, &c." But this puts a cer- tain strain on the Greek, and is not rcipiircd by the context. preach^ Better, with R.V., proclaim ; not the same verb as that rendered "preach" just above. It is a word of slightly greater force. contention'] Better, faction, or rather factiousness, partizanship. The Greek word means first, "work for hire"; passes thence by usage into special political references, denoting hired canvassing, or other interested party-work; and lastly emerges into the present meaning. It is used similarly Rom. ii. 8; 2 Cor. xii. 20; Gal. v. 20; below, ii. 3 (where see note); Jas. iii. 14, 16. sincerely] Lit. purely. to add affiiciiott to my bonds] So the Received Text. But a better reading gives to raise up. The R.V. gives a good paraphrase ; thinking to raise up aflliction for me in my bonds. So Alford. — Lightfoot sug- gests the paraphrase, "thinking to make my chains gall me,''' the word rendered "affliction" meaning literally "r/^M/;?^''," or '■''pressure." (The Vulgate here has pressura, a word which easily bears, however, a non-physical meaning.) But the suggestion seems to us not altogether probable. How did the persons in question expect to "raise up trouble" for the imprisoned Apostle? By preventing the access of enquirers or converts to him, unable as he was to go after them. Loyal fellow- workers would have made it a point to bring their hearers under the personal influence of the great Messenger of Christ, and also into a con- nexion of order with him. Every instance in which the opposite was PHILIPPIANS. A 50 PHILIPPIANS, I. [vv. i8, 19. the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of 18 the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein 19 do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall done was fitted to try severely the spirit of St Paul ; to afflict him in and through his position of restraint. 17. / am sei\ Lit., ''Hie:' But the A.V. and R.V. are right. See the same verb clearly in the same sense, Luke ii. 34 ; i Thess. iii. 3. The thought is as of a soldier posted, a line of defence laid down. Still, there may be also an allusion in the word, used in this context, to the fact of his lileraljixhere in one spot. defence] Lit., '■'apology,'^ apologia; vindication. See on ver. 7 above. — Perhaps the point of the word here is that the loyal Chris- tians recognized in their freedom a call to move about as active evangelists ; in St Paul's captivity, a call to him rather to clear up the difficulties and develope the intelligent faith of enquirers brought in by them. The "men of faction" might. affect to see in St Paul's chain a sign of Divine prohibition and displeasure; the "men of love" would recognize in it a sign of designation to a special and noble work. 18. What then?} "What matters it? Qu'iniporte?" The right order of the two previous verses gives full force to such a question. 7totiinthstanding\ Better, only. With beautiful significance he modi- fies the thought that it matters not. There is one respect in which it matters; it promotes the diffusion of the Gospel. R. V. reads, only that; an elliptical phrase, for "only I must confess that," or the like. The documentary evidence for the word ''that" is strong, but not decisive. pretence\ The Judaists would "pretend," perhaps even to them- selves, that their energy came of pure zeal for God. p7-eached'\ Better, proclaimed. See second note on ver. 16. — In modern English the Greek (present) tense is best represented by is being proclaimed. / therein] Better, therein I, &c. There is no emphasis on "/" in the Greek. will rejoice'] Better, perhaps, with Alford, Ellicott, and l^ightfoot (but not so R. v.), shall rejoice; an expectation, rather than a resolve. He is assured that the future will only bring fresh reasons for re- joicing. No long comment is needed on the noble spiritual lesson of this verse. The interests of his Lord are his own, and in that fact, realized by the grace of God, he finds, amidst circumstances extremely vexatious in themselves, more than equanimity — positive happiness. Self has yielded the inner throne to Christ, and the result is a Divine harmony between circumstances and self, as both are seen equally subject to Him and contributing to His ends. 19. For I knocu] A development of the thought implied in "I shall rejoice," just above. Subordinate to the supreme fact that "Christ is being proclaimed," comes in here the delightful certainty V. 20.] PHILIPPIANS, I. 51 turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expecta- 20 that the attendant discipline will further his own spiritual and eternal good, always in connexion with service rendered to his Lord. that this shall turn to my salvation^ Rather more closely, in view of the Greek idiom, that I shall find this thing result in salvation. ^^ Salvation" : — here, probably, final glory. The word sSteria in- cludes, in its widest reference, the whole process of saving mercy, from the gift of the Saviour to the ultimate bliss of the saved. More defi- nitely, in the life of the Christian, it points sometimes to his first know- ledge of and faith in the Saviour (2 Cor. vi. ■2), sometimes to the life- long process of his Divine preservation in Christ (2 Tim. ii. 10; i Pet. i. 9), more frequently to the heavenly issue of the whole in glory (Rom. xiii. 11; I Thess. v. 8; Heb. ix. 28; i Pet. i. 5). The same may be said of the cognate verb, only that it more often than the noun refers to the lifelong process. In a few passages (e.g. Acts xxvii. 34) the noun refers to bodily preservation. But this meaning is precluded here by the reference just below to the "supply of the Spirit." th7-ough yow- prayer\ He is sure of the coming blessing, and equally '.sure of the efficacy of the means to it — intercessory prayer. For St Paul's high estimate of the worth of intercession for himself and his work cp. e.g. Rom. xv. 30; 2 Cor. i. 11 ; Col. iv. 3; 2 Thess. iii. i. the supply] The Greek word slightly indicates a supply which is large and free. — For the thought cp. Joh. x. 10. 0/ the Spirit of Jesus Christ] Here first, what is ^'the Spirit of Jesus Christ"''! Certainly not merely "His principles and temper." So vague a meaning of the word "vSpirit" is foreign to the N. T. The analogy of e.g. Rom. viii. 9; Gal. iv. 6 ; i Pet. i. ir ; taken along with our Lord's own teaching about the personal Paraclete who was to be His Divine Representative and Equivalent in the true Church (Joh. xiv. — xvi.), assures us that this is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity. He is "the Spirit of Jesus Christ" because in the eternal relations within Deity He "proceeds" from the Eternal Son, and is sent by Him (Joh. xv. 26) as well as by the Father (xiv. 16, 26), and is so one with Christ that where the Spirit comes Christ comes (xiv. 18). His whole work for and in the Church and the soul is essentially and entirely connected with the glorified Lord. He regenerates by effecting our vital union with Christ; He sanctifies and strengthens by maintaining and developing it. We possess the Spirit because of Christ ; we possess Christ, in the sense of union, by the Spirit. Secondly, what is "the supply of the Spirit"? Grammatically, the phrase may mean either, "the supply which is the Spirit," or, "the supply which the Spirit gives." Happily the two practically con- verge. But we prefer the former, in view of Gal. iii. 5, where the verb '■^ minister eth" R. V. '■^ supplieth" is cognate to the noun "supply" here. The Apostle thus anticipates, in answer to the Phiiippians' PHILIPPIANS, I. [vv. 21, 22. tion and 7ny hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if / prayers, a new outpouring within him of the power of the blessed Paraclete, developing there the presence of Jesus Christ. Cp. his own prayer for other converts, Eph. iii. 14 — 19. 20. According to\ He describes this "supply of the Spirit" by its longed for and expected results, which would thus prove the test "according to" which it would be known as present. earnest expectatio7i\ Lit., '■^-waiting with outstretched head"; one forcible word in the Greek. It occurs here and Rom. viii. 19. ashamed'] I.e. practically, disappointed; as often in .Scripture lan- guage. See Psal. xxv. 3; Zech. ix. 5; Rom. v. 5, ix. 33; 1 Tim. i. 12. boldness'] More precisely, boldness of speech. See Eph. iii. 12, vi. 19, and notes in this Series. He looks to "the supply of the Spirit" to maintain in him an unwavering testimony to the Lord and His truth. Cp. Joel ii. 28 with Acts ii. 17, 18; i Cor. xii. 3. — Such testimony might or might not be literally verbal; but it would be titter ance, whether in speech or act. in 7ny body'] The body is the spirit's vehicle and implement in action upon others. See Rom. xii. i, and note in this Series; and cp. 2 Cor. iv. 10. The impression made on others, the " magnifi- cation" of Christ in the view of others, " whether by means of life or by means of death," would have to be effected through bodily doing or suffering. by life, or by death] We gather hence, and from ii. 23, that the Epistle was written at a time of special suspense and uncertainty, humanly speaking, regarding the issue of the Apostle's trial. See further just below. 21 — 26. The same subject: the Alternative of Life or Death: Expectation of 'Life. 21. For, &c.] He takes up and expands the thought of the alterna- tive just uttered, and the holy "indifference" with which he was able to meet it. to me] Strongly emphatic in the Greek. It is not self-assertion, however, but assertion of personal experience of the truth and power of God. to live is Christ] Luther renders this clause Christus ist mein Leben ; and so Tyndale, ' ' Christ is to me lyfe " ; so also Cranmer, and the Genevan version. The Vulgate has vivere Christus ; and this, the rendering of A.V. and R.V., is undoubtedly right. For, the Apostle, undoubtedly, Christ was life, in the sense of source and secret; see Gal. ii. 20; Col. iii. 4. But what he is thinking of here is V. 23.] PHILIPPIANS, 1. 53 live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour : yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, 23 not the source of life, but the experiences and interests of living. Living is for him so full of Christ, so preoccupied with Him and for Him, that "Christ" sums it up. Hence the "eager expectation" just expressed; eager, because it has to do with the supreme interest of life. What the Apostle experienced in his own case is intended to be the experience of every believer, as to its essence. See Col. iii. 17; and cp. Eph. iii. 14 — 21. to die is gaiii] This wonderful saying, uttered without an effort, yet a triumph over man's awful and seemingly always triumphant enemy, is explained just below. 22. But if I live in the flesh, &c.] The Greek construction here is difficult by its lirevity and abruptness. R.V. renders "But if to live in this flesh — if this is the frmt of my work, then &c. " ; and, in the margin, "■But if to live in the flesh be my lot, this is the fruit of my ■work; and &c." ; a rendering practically the same as A.V. This latter we much prefer, for grammatical reasons. It requires the mental inser- tion of "■be my lot," or the like; but this is quite easy, in a sentence where the words "to live" are obviously echoed from the words " to live is Christ" just above. As if to say, " But if this 'living' is still to be a ' living in the flesh,'' this is fruit &c." this is the fruit of my labour] Rather better, in view of the Greek idic.m, tMs I shall find fruit of work. This " living in the flesh," as it will be " Christ," so will be " fruit," result, of lifelong work. He means that work for Christ, the being employed by Christ, is for him the pulse of life on earth; is life for him, in a certain sense. And this he ex- presses with additional force by saying not merely "work" but "fruit of work." For the work is of course fruitful: he who abides in Christ "beareth much /)-«/'/■," fruit that shall "remain" (Joh. xv. 5, i6), whether or no he sees it. It is only the "works of darkness " that can be "unfruitful" (Eph. v. 11). yet^ Lit. and better, and. The simple word suits the great rapidity of transition. woti An old English present indicative, of which the infinitive is to wit. It was probably a past tense originally. See Skeat's Etymological Dictionary. — Wyclif has "knowe". — -The Greek here is, precisely, "I recognize not"; " I do not see clearly" (EUicott). 23. Fo)-\ Read But, with conclusive evidence. The word here marks addition rather than distinction. An English writer would have dispensed with a transitional particle, probably. in a strait betwixt two] More precisely, with R.V., the. two; the two alternatives just spoken of, life and death. — -The imagery is of a man hemmed in right and left, so as to be stationary. Quite literally the words are, "I am confined yVow the two (sides)"; the position is one of dilemma, vinved from whichever side. Wonderful is the phenomenon of this dilemma, peculiar to the living Christian as such. " The Apostle asks which is most worth 54 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. 23. having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; 7vhich is his while, to live or to die. The same question is often presented to ourselves, and perhaps our reply has been that of the Apostle. But may we not have made it with a far different purport? Life and death have seemed to us like two evils, and we knew not which was the less. To the Apostle they seem like two immense blessings, and he knows not which is the better." (Ad. Monod, Adiejix, No. ii.) To the question, "Is life worth living?" this is the Christian answer. having a desire] lAt., the desire. That is, the whole element of personal preference lies that way, not merely one desire among many. — We may paraphrase, " /'«j/ lotiging being towards depar- ture &c." to depart] The verb (analuein) occurs only here and Luke xii. 36, where A. V. and R.V. render " when he shall retunt from the wedding," but where we may equally well render, "when he shall depart, set out homewards, from the wedding." The cognate noun a?talusis, whence our word analysis is transliterated, occurs 2 Tim. iv. 6, in a connexion exactly akin to this ; " the time of my departure is at hand." The root meaning of the verb has to do with loosing, undoing ; and by usage it can refer to either {a) the dissolution of a compound (so the Vulgate here, cupio dissoh'i), or {b) the unmooring of a ship, or striking of a tent or camp. It does not occur in the LXX., but is not infrequent in the Apocrypha, and there usually means to go away, or, as another side of the same act, to return (cp. Tobit ii. 8; Judith xiii. i). Such a meaning is doubtless to be traced to the imagery of (b) above, but appears to have dropped all conscious reference to it. This apocryphal usage, and the comments here of the Greek expositors (St Chrysostom paraphrases our text by ''•migration from hence to heaven"), are de- cisively in favour of our Versions as against the Vulgate. St Paul desires to leave for home; to break up his camp, to weigh his anchor, for that better country. See the same thought under other phraseology 2 Cor. V. I — 8; where we see a "tent taken down," and a wanderer "going to be at home with the Lord." Suicer (Thesaurus, under aVa\i5w), says that Melanchthon on his death-bed called the attention of his learned friend Camerarius to this word, dwelling with delight on the passage, correcting the " dissolu- tion" of the Vulgate, and rendering rather, " to prepare for departure," "to migrate," or "to return home." — Luther renders here abzu- scheiden, "to depart." and to be with Christ] The other side of the fact of departure, and that which makes its blessedness. From this passage and 2 Cor. v. quoted above we gather that as it were not a space, but a mathematical line, divides the state of faith this side death from the state of sight that side; see esp. 2 Cor. v. 7, in its immediate context. — "Those who blame as... presumptuous the fervours and speciality of devout affection, such as eminent Christians have expressed in their dying moments, know probably nothing of Christianity beyond the bare story they read vv. 24, 25.] PHILIPPIANS, I. 55 far better : nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more need- si ful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I 25 in the Gospels, and nothing of human nature... as affected by religion, beyond what belongs to the servile sentiments of a Pelagian faith, belter called distrust. ..Christianity meets us where most of all we need its aid, and it meets us with the very aid we need. It does not tell us of the splendours of the invisible world ; but it does far better when, in three words, it informs us that {avoKvaai) to loosen from the shore of mortality is (<xvu XpLar^ ehai) to be with Christ." (Isaac Taylor, Safur- day Evening, ch. xxvi.) It is divinely true that the Christian, here below, is "with Christ," and Christ with him. But such is the developed manifestation of that Presence after death, and such its conditions, that it is there as if it had not. been before.— Cp. Acts vii. 59; words which St Paul had heard. which is far better] Probably read, for it is &c. And the Greek, quite precisely, is "■much rather better'' ; a bold accumulation, to convey intense meaning. R.V., for it is very far toetter. Observe that it is thus "better" in comparison not with the shadows of this life, but with its most happy light. The man who views the prospect thus has just said that to him "to live is Christ." Death is "gain" for him, therefore, not as mere escape or release, but as a glorious augmentation; it is "Christ" still, only very far more of Chiist. 24. to abide in the flesh] Quite lit., as Bp Lightfoot, to abide by the flesh, to hold fast to its conditions of trial, for the sake of the Lord and His flock. more needful] More necessary. Desire, and the sense of better- ness, lie on the side of death ; obligation, in view of the claims of others, lies on the side of life. for you] Lit. and better, on account of you. 25. having this cottfidence] The Greek is the same as in ver. 6 above, where see note. / knozv] An unqualified assertion, made more explicit still by the next verse. We have the strongest ground, from the merely historical point of view, for saying that this expectation was verified by the event; that the Apostle was released, and enabled to revisit his missions. See I Tim, i. 3 for an intimation of a visit to Macedonia, later in date than the writing of this passage. It has been asked how this '■^ I know" is to be reconciled with the "I know that ye all .shall see my face no more,''' of Acts xx. 25. Were both verified by the event? We believe that they were, and that only our necessary ignorance of the history in detail makes the difficulty. We believe that the guidance of the Divine Spirit, however His action worked through a perfect freedom of mental processes in St Paul, secured the veracity of his deliberate forecasts in a way quite super- natural. But apart from this ground of inference, we think that Acts XX. 25 has natural evidences of its fulfilment. The narrative 56 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. 26. shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance 26 and joy of faith ; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. there, vv. 37, 38, calls special and pathetic attention to the prediction; and it seems hardly credible that if it had been contradicted by events within a few years the passage should have remained intact; some sort of intimation that St Paul had after all met them again would have crept in. And we have seen that there is good evidence for the fulfilment of the present anticipation also. It seems reasonable, then, from the merely historical point of view, to assume that events did prevent an after-visit of St Paul's to Ephesus, though he did revisit Miletus (2 Tim. iv. 20) ; or at least that there was no such after-visit as allowed him to meet that body of presbyters again. and continue with you all] Better, with R.V., yea, and abide with you all. The word "abide" is repeated: it will be not only con- tinuance, but continuance luith you. — Quite lit., "abide by you all"; as side by side in Christian life and labour. fiiitherauce'] R.V., progress; more accurately. The A.V. suggests St Paul's helping them on, which is not the pomt of the Greek word here. See above on ver. 12. joy of faith'] Lit., ''joy of the faith." R.V. 'foy in the faith." But Rom. XV. 13 ("joy...j« believing") seems to us to favour the A.V., and Marg. R.V. The definite article quite naturally may mean "■your faith," your act and experience of believing. For the deep connexion between joy and faith see Rom. quoted above; Acts xvi. 34; i Pet. i. 8. — Both ''progress" and "joy" in this verse have relation to the word "faith." 26. rejoicing] Better, with R.V., glorying ; not the same word as that just previous, nor akin to it. The Greek word is a favourite with St Paul, especially in the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians. This fact is an item in the evidence for the time of writing of this Epistle. See Introduction, p. 14. 7?iay be more abundant] On the Greek word thus rendered we may make the same remark precisely as on "glorying"; see last note. in Jestis Christ] Read, with all the evidence, in Christ Jesus ; and see note on ver. 1 above. — Observe here, as so often (see above, on ver. 8), how the whole action of the Christian's life is carried on "in Christ." This glad exultant pleasure, this "glorying," was to be ex- perienced as by men in vital union with their Lord by the Spirit. for me] Lit. and better, in me. — -Here, on the other hand, "/«" bears its frequent meaning of "in the case of" "on occasion of." Cp. e.g. Gal. i. 24 (iiot Gal. i. 16) and 2 Thess. i. 4, a close parallel. This change of interpretation of the same preposition in one passage is not arbitrary. The phrase "in Christ" is, so to speak, stereotyped; not so this latter. — St Paul was to be their occasion for "glorying," as a living example of the Lord's faithfulness and love, restoring him to the needing disciples. V. 27.] PHILIPPIANS, I. 57 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel 27 of Christ : that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one by my coming to yoii] R.V., "through my presence with yor^." Better, perhaps, through my coining to you. The word {paronsia) rendered "coming" is lit. "presence"; but by usage it very frequently means "coming to be present," as especially in the case of the "Parousia" of the Lord at the Great Day. 27—30. Entreaties to cherish Consistency, and especially Unity, more than ever now in the Apostle's absence. 27. 07ily, &c.] The mention of his anticipated coming and its joyful effects leads him to speak by way of caution and entreaty of the unvarying law of Christian duty, the same always whether he visited them or not. We trace in this Epistle, along with the Apostle's desire that they should in a general sense live consistently, a special anxiety that the consistency of holy and unselfish mutual love should be more prevalent among them. let your conversation be &c.) Lit., "live your citizen-life in a way worthy of &c." The verb represented by "live your citizen-life" occurs, in N.T., here and Acts x.xiii. i; where A.V. simply, "I have Itvedy A cognate noun occurs below, iii. 20, an important illustrative passage ; see note there. The verb is used in 2 Maccabees (vi. I, xi. 25) in the same sense of living a life, living according to certain laws or principles, without emphasis on the "citizen" element of the word. K.V., like A.V., here drops that element out of its rendering; let your manner of life be worthy &c. It is interesting to find the same verb in Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, ch. v. (Introduction, p. 2']).— '' Conversation" in A.V. is used in its old and exact sense, still apparent in our word ''conversant." It is the whole active intercourse and business of life, not merely the exchange of wo)-ds. See note in this Series on Eph. ii. 3. The Gospel is meant, by its essential principle, to rule and leaven the whole of human life. or &\%e be absent] Words which are perfectly consistent with the two previous verses. He bids them live the life of holy consistency at once and always, not ivaiting for his presence in order to begin. See further, in the same strain, ii. 12. I may hear} Strictly, of course, this refers only to the alternative of his prolonged absence. If he "came and saw them" hearing would be superseded. But this is obviously implied in the whole sentence. your affairs'] Better, with R.V., your state. The literal rendering is "the things concerning you." The phrase occurs also, in St Paul, Eph. vi. 22, and below ii. 19, 20. standfast] The Greek is one word, a verb not found earlier than the N.T., where it occurs eight times; here, and Mark xi. 25; Rom. xiv. 4; I Cor, xvi. 13; Gal. v. i; below, iv. i; i Thess. iii. 8; 2 Thess. ii. 58 PHILIPPIANS, I. [v. 27. spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the 15. In Mark it appears to mean simply " io siand"; but in all thej other places the idea of good foothold is conspicuous,. in otie spirii\ For the precise phrase see (in the Greek) i Cor. xii. 13; Eph. ii. 18. In both these passages the reference is clearly to the Holy Spirit, "in" whom the saints have been baptized with new life, and "in" whom they approach the Father through the Son. We therefore explain this place also of Him, as the surrounding, pene- trating, Giver of life and power to each saint and to the commu- nity. On the word "Spirit" see notes in this Series on Rom. viii. 4; Eph. i. 17. Manifestly, in the two places quoted above, the point of the word "one" is that the Unity of the Divine Agent must have its holy counter- part in the unity of the saints' action "in Him." zvith one inind\ Lit. and better, with one soul. So Tyndale and Cranmer. Latin Versions, tmanimes. — Cp. in this Epistle the ad- jectives '■'■ one-soided" (ii. 2, where A.V. and R.V. "■ oi one accord''), '^equal-souled" (ii. 20), and notes. The phrase "one soul" occurs also Acts iv. 32 ; a close parallel to this passage, in which as in many others (see e.g. Matt, xii, 18, xxvi. 38; Luke ii. 35; Joh. xii. 27; Acts xiv. 22; Eph. vi. 6; Heb. vi. 19, xii. 3), the word soul (psyche) is associated with ideas of sensibility, as manifested either in suffering or action. It is possible that the word '■^Spirit'''' suggested, humanly speaking, the word ''^souV to the Apostle, by the law of association. See Isai. Ivii. 16; i Thess. v. 23; Heb. iv. 12. If so, it may be further possible that he uses the two words in a significant connexion. "Soul" in Scripture appears often to connote life embodied, organized. Now here in the first place is the Divine Life-giver, the One Spirit ; then we have the result and manifestation of His presence, the organi- zation of it, as it were, in the "one sotd'" of the believing company. striving together^ The same word occurs below, iv. 3, and only there in N.T. By derivation it refers to the athletic, or prize-seeking, contests of the games ; the races, wrestlings, and boxings of the Greeks; favourite similes and metaphors with St Paul. See e.g. i Cor. ix. 24, 27 ; 2 Tim. ii. 5, iv. 7, and cp. Conybeare and Howson, Life &'c. of St Paid, ch. XX. at the beginning. But the reference is quite subordinate to the general one of close and vigorous encounter with complex obstacles. for the faith] It is possible to render "with the faith", and Lightfoot adopts this version. But not only does it involve a personification of "the faith" bolder than any parallel personification in St Paul (Lightfoot adduces for parallels i Cor. xiii. 6 ; 2 Tim. i. 8, itself a doubtful case; 3 Joh. 8), but the whole stress of the passage lies on the cooperation of the Christians not with anything else but ivitk one another. This is lost in the rendering in question. ^^ The faith of tJie Gospel": — i.e. the faith which embraces the Gospel. Cp. "faith of (the) truth," 2 Thess. ii. 13. They were to vv. 28, 29.] PHILIPPIANS, I. 59 gospel ; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries : which 23 is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in 29 strive, side by side, for the object of bringing men to believe the Gospel of their Lord.^ — The objective meaning of the word "faith," the body of truth, the Christian's creed, is a meaning very rare, to say the least, in St Paul (see note on Eph. iv. 5 in this Series); and this other suits both context and construction better. 28. terrified\ More precisely, scared. The verb (found here only in N.T., and nowhere in LXX. and Apocrypha) is used in classical Greek of the starting, or "shying," of frightened animals, and thence of alarm in general. The word would specially suit the experience of the "little flock " in violent Philippi. which is to them &c.] lie means that the whole phenomenon of this union, stedfastness, energy, and calm of the saints in face of seemingly hopeless odds, is in itself an omen of the issue. Of course the statement is made not in the abstract, but in the particular case of the Gospel. Many a false and finally losing cause may conceivably be maintained for a time courageously and calmly. But the Apostle assumes that the Gospel is the eternal truth, sure of ultimate victory, and then says here that the realization of this fact, in the convictions of both its foes and its friends, will be all the more impressive the more the Church acts in the spirit of calm, united, decisive resolution. perdition] in its deepest and most awful sense; the eternal loss and ruin of all persistent opponents of God and His truth. So below, iii. 19 ; and so always in N.T., excepting only Matt. xxvi. 8; Mark xiv. 4; where the word means waste, spoiling, loss of a material thing. salvation] This word also bears its deepest sense here. The faithful believer, witness, and worker, is on the way to eternal glory ; and the prospect brightens in anticipation and realization as the company of such disciples unites around, and in, the cause of Jesus Christ. On the word '^salvation" see note above, on ver. 19. and that] " That" in the Greek, refers not immediately to the word "salvation" but to the whole previous idea, o{ opposition met in aivay to encourage faith. God Himself has ordained the circumstances, and given the union and courage. See next note but one. of God] Lit. ''from God''; so R. V. But the older English of the A.V. (and all previous English versions) is scarcely mistakable. 29. For, &c.] He carries out the statement just made (see last note but one), by saying that not only the grounds of faith in Christ, and the power to believe, but the occasion of suffering for Christ, and the power to meet the suffering, are things of Divine grant and gift. it is given] Lit. ''it was given." But the A.V. is true to English idiom. The verb rendered "give" denotes specially a grant of^free favour or kindness. It is thus often used of free forgiveness, e.g. Luke vii. 42; 2 Cor. ii. 7, 10; Eph. iv. 32 ; sometimes of the work of free grace and salvation, e.g. Rom. viii. 32; i Cor. ii. 12. (In Acts iii. 14, 6o PHILIPFIANS, I. II. [w. 30; i. the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also 30 to suffer for his sake ; having the same conflict which ye 2 saw in me, and now hear to be in me. If there be therefore XXV. II, 16, it is used of an arbitrary, extra-legal, giving up of a prisoner to others, eitlier for liberation or penalty.) Thus the word here, with its associations of sovereignty, favour, boon, forms a noble paradox. on the bthalf of Chrisi\ The structure of the Greek indicates that the Apostle was about to write simply, "zV is granted you to suffer on behalf of Christ", but that he suspended the thought and phrase to insert, '■'■■not only to believe on Him but to suffer on His behalf." Thus "on the behalf of Christ" anticipates here the close of the verse, where it is repeated. to believe on hi»i] Lit., '■'■into HimT a phrase suggesting the direct- ness and holdfast of saving faith. But this speciality of meaning must not be pressed far, for the phrase occurs here and there in connexions not naturally adapted to such thought ; e.g. Joh. ii. 23, xii. 42. — The Greek verb is in the present tense, and points to the continuousness of the action of faith. The Christian, having once believed, lives by still believing. See Rom. xi. 20 ; Gal. ii. 20; Heb. x. 38. — Faith in Christ is here incidentally spoken of as a grant of Divine grace. See further on this, Eph. ii. 8, and note in this Series. for his sake'\ Better with R.V., in His behalf, to mark the con- nexion of thought with the "in the behalf of Christ " just above. 30. Having &c.] The Greek construction, if strictly taken, points back to the first clause of ver. 28, and leaves the intermediate words as a parenthesis. But it is much likelier that the construction here is free, and that this verse accordingly carries out the last words of ver. 29 into detail. conflict'\ Greek agon, a word suggestive of the athletic arena rather than the battle-field. See above on ''striving together" ver. 27. It recurs Col. ii. i (perhaps for the " wrestlings" of prayer) ; i Thess. ii. 2; I Tim. vi. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7; Heb. xii. i. Our blessed Lord's great "Wrestling" in Gethsemane, His sacred "Agony," is called by the kindred word agonia, Luke xxii. 44. ye sawl in the streets and in the court-house at Philippi; Acts xvi. One of the probable recipients of this letter, the Jailer, had not only "seen " but inflicted other sufferings in the dungeon. Ch. IL 1 — 4. The subject continued: appeal for self- forgetful Unity. 1. therefore'] The connexion of thought with the previous sentences is close. He has pressed on them the duty and blessing of concord and cooperation, and now enforces it further, with a special appeal to them to minister happiness to himself, as to a Christian brother, by obedience. V. 2.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 6i any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ; ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, consolation] R.V. comfort, which is better. The Greek word, in its prevailing meaning, denotes rather encouragement, strengthening, than the tenderer "consolation"; and the word "comfort", by its derivation (conforia(io), may fairly represent it. The thought of the mutual love and union of the Philippians would cheer and animate their Apostle and friend. in Christi Getting its motive and virtue from the union in Christ of the Apostle and the Philippians. comfort of love\ Better, consolation, &c. See last note but one. — The word occurs here only in N.T. A closely similar form occurs in a kindred connexion, i Cor. xiv. 3. — '■'■ Of love'": — love's result and expression. fellowship of the Spirit'] Cp. 1 Cor. xiii. 14 "the communion of the Holy Spirit." In the Greek here the word pneutna (spirit) is without the article, and many scholars hold that in all such cases not the Divine Spirit as a Person, but His gift or gifts, is meant ; and that thus here the meaning will be "if there is a participation, on your part and mine alike, in the same spiritual love, joy, peace, &c." But the presence or absence of the article in these cases is a very precarious index of meaning, when the substantive is a great and familiar word. Context and parallels are necessary to the decision in each place. And in this place the parallel (2 Cor.) quoted, seems to us to point clearly to the highest reference — to "the one and the self- same Spirit" (i Cor. xii. 11), the promised Paraclete Himself, Whom all the saints "share" as their common Life-Giver, Strengthener, and Sanctifier. — "Fellowship of^ might grammatically mean "union of heart and interests, prompted by." But usage is decisively for the meaning *^ participation in" boivels and 7tiercies] Better, with R.V., tender mercies and com- passions. No English version before 1582 has the word '■'■bowels." On that word see note above on ver. 8. — He appeals with pathetic directness and simplicity, last of all, to their human emotions as such. 2. Fulfil ye my joy] Lit. "fill" it. He already rejoices in them (i. 4) ; but the manifestation in them of the unity of holy love would complete the reasons and the experience of that joy. — "He felt small anxiety for himself, if but the Church of Christ might prosper " (Calvin). that ye be] The Greek construction (see on i. 9) denotes (in N.T.) sometimes \ht purpose (as in the phrase "we ask, to test your kindness"), sometimes i'^ae purport (as in the phrase "we ask, to be forgiven"). A modification of the latter meaning appears here. In the words " fulfil ye," &c. the Apostle is practically asking thetn to be what he now describes. liheminded] R.V., of the same mind, for the sake of uniformity 62 PHILIPPIANS, II. [vv. 3, 4. 3 being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory ; but in lowliness of mind let 4 each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every with the last clause of this verse. — We have here the weak point of the Philippian Church plainly indicated. the same love'] on both sides ; i.e. practically, general love, holy charity in ail towards all. of one accord} More literally, "one-souled." See on ver. 27 above. of one mind] A similar expression to that just above, "^ the same ttiind", but somewhat stronger. — The word {phronetn) represented by "mind" in these clauses obviously denotes not so much intellectual as moral action and attitude. — See on i. 7. 3. Let nothing be done] The briefer original, in which no verb appears, is very forcible, but would be exaggerated in a literal rendering. — Observe the totality of the prohibition. It is a rule for all Christian lives at all times. through] Lit. '' accordi7tg to,''^ on the principles of strife] The same word as above, i. 16; see note. And see p. 16 for Ignatius' use of the word. — R.V. 'faction." Only, the word may denote not merely the combined self-seeking of partizanship, but also a solitary ambition, working by intrigue. in lowliness of tnind] The Greek (dative) may be more precisely re- presented by in respect of lowliness, &c. Their lowliness was to be embodied in, and proved by, what he now describes. "Lowliness of mind": — essentially a Christian grace. The word itself (one Greek word is represented by the three English words) is not found in Greek before the N.T. And kindred words in the classics are always used in a tone of blame, as of a defect of proper courage and self- assertion. This fact is deeply suggestive. In its essential principles the mighty positive morality of the Gospel is based on the profound negative of the surrender and dethronement of self before a Redeeming Lord who has had compassion on perfectly unworthy objects. The world's "poor spirited," and the Lord's "poor in spirit," are phrases used in very different tones. let each esteem other] Lit., "mutually counting others superior to {your-') selves." — The precept is to be read in the light of the Holy Spirit's illumination of the individual conscience. Even where one Christian might see another to be manifestly less gifted than himself, spiritually or otherwise, yet "if the endowments, and the obligations connected with them, were properly estimated, they would rather conduce to humble than to exalt " (Scott). And in any case, where the man ha- bitually viewed himself in the contrasted light of the Divine holiness, with that insight which belongs to self-knowledge alone, he would respond instinctively to this precept. 4. Look] Better, with documentary evidence, looking. — '^Look... on" becomes in R.V. "look. ..to" a change not greatly needed. — The vv. 5, 6.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 63 man on his own t/ii/igs, but every man also on the t/n/igs of others. Let this mind be in you, which loas also in Christ 5 Jesus : who, being in the form of God, thought it not 6 look is the look of sympathy, kindly interest, self-forgetful coopera- tion. This short verse is a noble and far-reaching lesson in Christian ethics. every t?tafi... every f?iaii\ The Greek here, in the first case probably, in the second certainly, gives "each" in the fhtral ; a phrase which may be paraphrased "each circle,'''' "each set,''' or the like. If cliques or petty factions were the bane of the Philippian Church this language would have a special point. 5 — 11. The appeal enforced by the supreme Example of the Saviour in His Incarnation, Obedience, and Exaltation. 5. Let this mind ie] R.V., Have this mind; adopting a reading different in form but scarcely so in import from that taken for the A.V., which fairly represents either reading. In the great passage which follows we have a suggestive ex- ample of Christian moral teaching. One of the simplest and most primary elements of duty is being enforced, and it is enforced by appealing to the inmost secrets of the truth of the Person and Work of Christ. The spiritual and eternal, in deep continuity, descends into the practical. At the present time a powerful drift of thought goes in the direction of separating Christian theology from practical Chris- tianity; the mysteries of our Lord's Person and Work from the great- ness of His Example. It may at least check hasty speculations in this direction to remember that such a theory rends asunder the teaching of the New Testament as to its most characteristic and vital elements. The anti-doctrinal view of Christianity is a theory of it started strictly and properly a^e novo. See further Appendix E. ■which was] The verb is not in the Greek, but is necessarily implied. Meanwhile the sacred character which came out in the mysterious past {"was") of the Lord's pre-temporal glory, still and for ever is His character, His "mind." in Christ Jesns'X It is observable that he calls the Lord not only "Christ" but "Jesus," though referring to a time before Incarnation. Historically, He had yet to be "anointed" {Christ), and to be marked with His human Name (yesns). But on the one hand the Person who willed to descend and save us is identically the Person who actually did so; and on the other hand what is already decreed in the Eternal Mind is to It already fact. Cp. the language of Rev. xiii. 8. 6. Who] in His pre-existent glory. We have in this passage a N.T. counterpart to the O.T. revelation of Messiah's "coming to do the will of His God" (Psal. xl. 6—8, interpreted Heb. x. 5). being] The Greek word slightly indicates that He not only "ivas,"' 64 PHILIPPIANS, II. [v. 7. 7 robbery to be equal with God : but made himself of no but "-^ already was" in a state antecedent to and independent of the action to be described. R.V. margin has *^Gr. originally being"; but the American Revisers dissent. in the fonn of God^ The word rendered '■^ form " is morphi. This word, unlike our "form" in its popular meaning, connotes reality along with appearance, or in other words denotes an appearance which is manifestation. It thus differs from the word [schema) rendered ^^ fashion" in ver. 8 below; where see note. See notes on Rom. xii. 2 in this Series for further remarks on the difference between the two words ; and cp. for full discussions, Abp Trench's Synonyms, under HopcpTj, and Bp Lightfoot's Fhi/ippians, detached note to ch. ii. Here then our Redeeming Lord is revealed as so subsisting "in the form of God" that He was what He seemed, and seemed what He was — God. (See further, the next note below, and on ver. 7.) "Though [morphe] is not the same as [oiesia, essence], yet the possession of the [fnorpke] involves participation in the [onsia] also, for [morphe] implies not the external accidents [only ?] but the essential attributes" (Lightfoot). thought] The glorious Person is viewed as (speaking in the forms of human conception) engaged in an act of reflection and resolve. rodbery] The Greek word occurs only here in the Greek Scriptures, and only once (in Plutarch, cent. 2) in secular Greek writers. Its form suggests the meaning of a process or act of grasp or seizure. But similar forms in actual usage arc found to take readily the meaning of the result, or material, of an act or process. "An invader's or plunderer's prize'" would thus fairly represent the word here. This interpretation is adopted and justified by Bp Lightfoot here. R.V. reads "a prize," and in the margin "Gr. a thing to be grasped.^' Liddell and Scott render, "a matter of robbery,^'' which is substantially the same; Bp Ellicott, "a thing to be seized on, or grasped at." — The context is the best interpreter of the practical bearing of the word. In that ct)ntext it appears that the Lord's view of His Equality (see below) was not such as to ivithstatid His gracious and mysterious Humiliation for our sakes, while yet the conditions of His Equality were such as to enhance the ivonder and merit of that Humiliation to the utmost. Accordingly the phrase before us, to suit the context, (a) must not imply that He deemed Equality an unlawful possession, a thing which it would be robbery to claim, as some expositors, ancient and modern, have in error explained the words (see Alford's note here, and St Chrysostom on this passage at large) ; (b) must imply that His thought about the Equality was one of supremely exemplary kindness towards us. These conditions are satisfied by the paraphrase — "He dealt with His true and rightful Equality not as a thing held anxiously, and only for Himself, as the gains of force or fraud are held, but as a thing in regard of which a most gracious sacrifice and surrender was possible, for us and our salvation." The A.V., along with many interpreters, appears to understand the V. 7.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 65 reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and Greek word as nearly equal to " usurpalion" ; as if to say, "He knew it was His just and rightful possession to be equal with God, and yet" &c. But the context and the Greek phraseology are unfavourable to this. to be equal with God] R. V., to be on an equality with God, a phrase which perhaps better conveys what the original words suggest, that the reference is to equality of attributes rather than person (Lightfoot). The glorious Personage in view is not another and independent God, of rival power and glory, but the Christ of God, as truly and fully Divine as the Father. Let us remember that these words occur not in a polytheistic reverie, but in the Holy Scriptures, which everywhere are jealous for the prerogative of the Lord GoD, and that they come from the pen of a man whose Pharisaic monotheism sympathized with this jealousy to the utmost. May it not then be asked, how — in any way other than direct assertion, as in Joh. i. i — the true and proper Deity of Christ could be more plainly stated? The word "God" on the other hand is here used manifestly with a certain distinctiveness of the Father. Christian orthodoxy, collecting the whole Scripture evidence, sees in this a testimony not to the view (e.g. of Arius, cent. 4) that the Son is God only in a secondary and inferior sense, but that the Father is the eternal, true, and necessary Fountain of the eternal, true, and necessary Godhead of the Son. — For this use of the word GoD, see e.g. Joh. i. i ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; Heb. i. 9 ; Rev. xx. 6, xxii. i. 7. But made himself of no reputation] '■'■ But^'' here introduces the infinitely gracious action of the Saviour as the contrary to what it would have been had He "thought His Equality with God a prize." We may paraphrase, "That He did not so think of it. He shewed by making Himself," &c. See Bp Ellicotl's careful note here, in which this explanation is advocated against that which would para- phrase, ''Although He thought it no usiirpatiofi to be equal with God, yet He made, &c." ''Himself^ is slightly emphatic by position, laying a stress on the sacred free will of the Lord in His Humiliation. "■Made himself of no reputation'': — lit., as R.V. , emptied Himself. The (Romanist) Rhemish Version, 1582, verbally following the Vulgate (semetipsum exinanivit), has, "'exinanited Himself.'''' From the Greek the word kenosis (K^vwaLs) has passed into theological language, ap- pearing here and there in the Fathers, frequently in modern treatises. Of recent years much has been said upon this great mystery in the direction of proving or suggesting that during "the days of His Flesh" (Heb. V. 7) the Lord {practically) parted with His Deity; becoming the (Incarnate) Son of God only in His glorification after death. Such a view seems to contravene many plain testimonies of the Gospels, and most of all the pervading to>ie of the Gospels, as they present to us in the Lord Jesus on earth a Figure "meek and lowly" indeed, PHILIPPIANS. e 66 PHILIPPIANS, II. [v. 8. 8 was made in the likeness of men : and being found in but always infinitely and mysteriously majestic; significantly depen- dent indeed on the Father, and on the Spirit, but always speaking to man in the manner of One able to deal sovereignly with all man's needs. It is enough for us to know that His Humiliation, or to use the word here, Exinanition, KenSsis, was profoundly real ; that He was pleased, as to His holy Manhood, to live in dependence on the Spirit; while yet we are sure that the inalienable basis of His Personality was always, eternally, presently, Divine. The ultimate and reasoned analysis of the unique Phenomenon, God and Man, One Christ, is, as to its actual consciousfuss, if we may use the word, a matter more for His knowledge than our enquiry. Bp Lightfoot's brief note here says nearly all that can be said with reverent certainty: "'He divested Himself not of His Divine nature, for this was impossible, but of the glories, the preroga- tives, of Deity. This He did by taking upon Him the form of a servant." and took upon him] Lit. and better, with R.V., taking. The thought is that the Exinanition zvas the "taking"; not a process previous to it. In the word ^'taking''' the Lord's free choice and action is again in view. the forni of a servant] Lit. and better, of a bondservant, a slave. The word rendered ''form'" is the same as that in ver. 6, on which see note. Here, as there, the thing implied is not semblance but inani- festation. He became in reality, and in consequent appearance, a bondservant. With what special reference is the word "bondservant" here used? Does it point to His stooping to serve men in great humiliation? Or to His undertaking, in the act of becoming Man, that essential condition of man's true life — bondservice to God? The order of words and thought is in favour of the latter. The Apostle goes on to say, in effect, that His taking the slave's "form" was coincident with His coming "in the likeness of men''^ generally, not of specially humiliated or oppressed men. As Man He was "bondservant." And this points to a bondservice related directly to God, as Lord of man. In this as in other things He was the archetype of all His true followers. True, our blessed Lord made Himself the servant of all, and on one occasion (J oh. xiii.) took literally the place and work of a menial attendant ; a fact to which much allusion is made by St Chrysostom here. But all the while He was far more Lord than servant, certainly than bondservant, in His relations with men, even in His most tender and gracious relations. Literal "slavery" to man He certainly did not enter upon; royally descended as He was, and toiling as a free artificer, and commanding and teaching always with authority. and was made] Lit., coming to toe, becoming. The fact is stated as coincident with the last statement. See previous note. in the likeness of men] A double suggestion lies in the words; [a) that V. 9-J PHILIPPIANS, II. 67 fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God 9 He was really like man, as He truly ivas man; accepting the conditions involved in a truly human exterior, with its liabilities to trial and suffering; and {h) that He was also tnore than man, other than man, without which fact there would be not resemblance but mere identity. Cp. a somewhat similar case, Rom. viii. 3, where lit. "in the likeness of the flesh of sin." " Of men,'' not "0/ man" : — as if to make the statement as concrete as possible. He appeared not in the likeness of some transcendent and glorified Manhood, but like men as they are. 8. fonnd\ as one who presented Himself for inspection and test. See Appendix F. fashio7i\ See third note on ver. 6 above. The Greek word scMma denotes appearance tvith or without underlying reality. It does not negative such reality any more than it asserts it; it emphasizes ap- pearance. In the context, we have the reality of the Lord's Manhood abundantly given ; and in this word accordingly we read, as in the word "likeness" just above, an emphatic statement that {a) He was Man in guise, not in (/zVguise; presenting Himself to all the conditions of concrete life as Man with man; and that (b) all the while the schema had more beneath it than its own corresponding reality : it was the veil of Deity. as a man] Better, perhaps, as man, though R.V. retains "as a man." As the Second Man, our Lord is rather iMan, the Man of men, than a Man, one among men. — Yet the assertion here is rather as to what He was pleased to be in relation to those who "found" Him, came into contact with Him, in His earthly walk; and to such He certainly was "a man." And so, with wonderful condescension. He speaks of Himself as "a man that hath told you the truth" (Joh. viii. 40). Ae humiled himself] in "the acts of condescension and humiliation in that human nature which He emptied Himself to assume" (Ellicott). More particularly the reference is to the specially submissive, bearing, life, under the afflictive will of His Father, which He undertook to lead for our sakes; see the next words. The Greek verb is in the aorist, and s^lms up the holy course of submission either into one idea, or into one initial crisis of will. and became] Lit. and better, becoming; an aorist participle coin- cident in reference with the previous aorist verb. obedient] to the Father's will that He should suffer. The utterance of Gethsemane was but the amazing summary and crown of His whole sacred course as the Man of Sorrows. His "Passion," standing in some vital respects quite alone in His work, was in other respects only the apex of His "Patience." tmto death] R.V. rightly supplies even before these words. "Unto" means (by the Greek) "/^ the length of." He did not "obey" but i "abolish" death (2 Tim. i. 10); He obeyed His Father, "even to the I 68 PHILIPPIANS, II. [v. 9. also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which I extent of" dying, as the sinner's Sacrifice, at the demand of the holy I Law, and "l)y the determinate foreknowledge" (Acts ii. 23) of the Lawgiver. of the cross\ "Far be the very name of a cross not only from the bodies of Roman citizens, but from their imagination, eyes, and ears" (Cicero, p}-o Rabirio, c. 5. Cp. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. XX.). Every thought of pain and shame was in the word, and was realized in the terrific thing. Combining, as we should do in the case of our Redeemer's Crucifixion, the significance to the Jew of any death by suspension, with the significance to the Roman of execution on the cross, we must think of this supreme "obedience" as expressing the holy Sufferer's submission both to "become a curse for us" (Gal. iii. 13, with Deut. xxi. •23) as before God the Lawgiver, and meanwhile to be "despised and rejected oi men" (Isai. liii. 3) in the most extreme degree. On the history of thought and usage in connexion with the Cross, and Crucifixion, see Zockler's Cross of Christ. 9. lVhcrefore'\ From the point of view of this passage, the glorifi- cation of the Crucified Lord was the Father's recognition and reward of His infinitely kind and gracious "looking upon the things of others." The argument is, of course, that similarly the Christian who humbles himself shall be exalted. hath highly exalted^ Better, with R.V., highly exalted; at Resur- rection and Ascension. Cp. Joh. xvii. 4, 5 ; Acts ii. 23, 24, 32, 33, 36, iii. 13, v. 30, 3r; Rom. i. 4; Eph. i. 20 — 22; i Pet. i. 21, &c. "• Highly exalted'": — one compound verb in the Greek. Compounds expressive of greatness or excess are a characteristic of St Paul's style. Of about seventeen of them in the N.T. quite twelve are found in St Paul's writings only, or very rarely elsewhere. given hivi\ Better, as again R.V. (see last note), gave. The verb indicates a gift of love and approval. a ttame'] Lit. and better, the name. What is this Name? Is it the sacred personal Name Jesus? (Alford, Ellicott). Or is it Name in the sense of revealed majesty and glory? (Lightfoot). The difficulty of the former explanation is that Jesus, the human Name of the Lord, was distinctively His before His glorification, so that the "giving" of it on His glorification is a paradox. The reply will be that its elevation for ever into the highest associations, in the love and worship of the saints, was as it were a new giving of it, a giving of it as new. Still the usage is unlikely. And it is to be noticed that in the Epistles and Revelation, compared with the narrative parts of the N.T., the holy Name Jesus is but sparingly used alone. (See, as examples of such use, Rom. x. 9 ; i Cor. xii. 3 ; Heb. ii. 9, iv. 14 ; i John v. 5 ; Rev. xxii. 16, 20; cp. Acts vii. 55, 59, viii. 16.) Very much more frequent is Jesus Christ. And on the other hand there are clear cases for the use of the word "Name" in the N.T. to denote recognized dignity or glory; see especially Eph. i. 21. We believe that V. lo.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 69 is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee w should bow, of thhigs in heaven, and things in earth, and the true explanation lies in this direction. The "Name given" is the supreme Name, The Lord, Jehovah. In other words, the lowly and suffering Jesus is, as the abased and slain One, now to be found and worshipped on the eternal Throne ; recognized there by all creation as He who for man's sake, in preexistent glory and Godhead, willed to be humiliated even to the Cross. — As in the study of the whole mystery of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son, so here, we trace throughout the wonderful progression a perfect Personal Identity, while the unique presence in the Incarnate One of two Natures, with each its will, under one Personality, allows a range of language which speaks of the eternally glorious Son of God as being de novo glorified and exalted after the Humiliation which in His Second Nature He underwent. above every name] Cp. Eph. i. ■zi just referred to. On St Paul's view of the altogether unique exaltation of the Lord, in comparison with every created existence, see Liddon's Bampton Lectures, Lect. v. § IV. 2. 10. at the name of jfesus] Lit., with R.V., in the name of Jesus, or as far as grammatical form goes, "z« the name yestis." "It is not 'the name Jesus' but 'the name of Jesus'" (Lightfoot). This must mean that the context decides it thus ; the grammar is ambiguous. But the previous argument (see last note but one), if valid, is decisive for the rendering of the R.V. "/« the name. ..should bow, &c." Does this mean, "all should wor- ship Him," or "all should worship through Him"} Doubtless the latter is Divine truth. But the context is wholly in favour of an imme- diate reference to His enthronement; and particularly the very next verse speaks distinctly of the recognition of Him as " Lord." So Light- foot; and he gives proofs from the LXX. (e.g. Psal. Ixii. 5 (Heb. Ixiii. 4); I Kings viii. 44) that the phrase " in the name of" may imply, in proper contexts, the adoration of Him who bears the Name. We may thus paraphrase, "that before the revealed Majesty of the glorified Jesus all creation should adore." — The ancient custom of bowing at the mention of the Name Jesus (see Canon xviii. of the Church of England) derives no direct sanction from this passage. every knee should bozv\ An implicit citation of Isai. xlv. 33 ; and as such a powerful testimony to St Paul's view of the proper Deity of Jesus Christ. — The context of the passage in the prophet contains the phrases "a just God and a Saviour" (ver. 21 ; cp. Rom. iii. 26) ; "in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" (ver. 25 ; cp. Rom. viii. 30). May we not suppose that the Apostle of Justi-/ fication was thus specially guided to the passage, and to its inner refer- ence to the Son? — The same passage is directly quoted Rom. xiv. i\ (where in ver. 10 read, ^' of Christ"). \ Xhmgs in heayen... in earth. ..under the earth] Created existence, in its heights and depths. Cp. Rev. v. 13 for close illustration; words' 70 PHILIPPIANS, II. [v. II. II things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. whose whole context is a Divine commentary on this passage. In view of the language there, in a scene where angels have been already men- tioned, it is better not to divide the reference here, e.g. between angels, living men, and buried men (Alford), or angels, men, and lost spirits (Chrysostom). Not only animate and conscious but inanimate existence is in view ; Creation in its total ; the impersonal and unconscious ele- ments being said to "worship," as owning, after their manner, tht Jiat of the exalted Jesus. 11. every tongue should confess] Again an implicit quotation of Isai. xlv. 23. The verb rendered '■^confess," as Lightfoot points out, has in Scrip- tural Greek almost resigned its literal meaning of open avowal, to take that of praise and thanksgiving. Our Lord Himself uses it. Matt. xi. 25; Luke X. 21; ("I thank Thee, O Father, &c.") Every tongue shall "give thanks to Him for His great glory." — It may be asked, how shall this be fulfilled in the case of the lost? We reply, either there is no explicit reference here to any but the subjects of final redemption, as in Eph. i. 10, where see note in this Series ; or the mysterious state of the lost may admit, for all we know, such a re- cognition that even their hopeless woe is the ordinance of "supremest Wisdom and primeval Love^," manifested in Jesus Christ, as shall be tantamount to the adoration indicated here. Jesus Christ is Lord] Cp. i Cor. xii. 3 ; a passage which teaches us that the Lordship in question is such as to be known only by Divine revelation. It is supreme Lordship, a session on the eternal throne. (Cp. Rev. iii. 21, and see xxii. 3.) He "who being in the form of God took the form of a bondservant" of God, and "obeyed even unto the cross," is now owned and adored as "God, whose throne is forever and ever" (Heb. i. 8), and as exercising His dominion as the Son of Man. The Person is eternally the same ; but a new and wonderful condition of His action has come in, the result of His Exinanition and Passion. It is observable that the Valentinian heretics (cent. 2), according to Irena;us (Bk. I. ch. i. § 3) ascribed to Jesus the title Saviour, but refused Him that of Lord. For proof that in apostolic doctrine the supreme Name, Jehovah, was recognized as appropriate to the Person of the Christ, cp. Joh. xii. 4 with Isai. vi. 5. In that passage, as here, we have presented to us the personal identity of the Preexistent and the Humiliated Christ. to the glory of God the Father] the ultimate Object of all adoration, inasmuch as He is the eternal Origin of the eternal Deity of the Son. 1 "Justice the Founder of my fabric moved, To rear me was the task of power divine, Supremest wisdom and primeval love. All hope abandon, ye who enter here." Dante, I>ifer7io, canto iii (Cary). V. 12.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 71 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as " Cp. Joh. V. 23, xiii. 31, 32, xvii. i ; i Pet. i. 21 ; for this profound rela- tion between the glory of the Son and the glory of the Father. But no isolated references can properly represent a subject which is so deeply woven into the texture of the Gospel. In the light of the Scriptural truth of His Nature, a truth sum- marized with luminous fulness in the "Nicene" Creed^, we see the Christ of God as at once properly, divinely, adorable, and the true Medium for our adoration of the Father. St Chrysostom here in a noble passage shews how the attribution of full and eternal Godhead to the Christ enhances, not diminishes, the Father's glory. "A mighty proof it is of the Father's power, and good- ness, and wisdom, that He hath begotten such a Son, a Son nowise inferior in goodness and in wisdom. ..When I say that the Son is not inferior in Essence to the Father, but equal, and of the same Essence, in this also I adore the Lord God, and His power, and goodness, and wisdom, that He has revealed to us Another, begotten of Himself, like to Him in all things. Fatherhood alone excepted" {Ho7n. vii, in Ep. ad Philipp. c. 4). Thus closes a passage in which, in the course of practical exhortation, the cardinal truth of the true Godhead and true Manhood of Christ, and that of His example, are presented all the more forcibly because inci- dentally. The duty of unselfish mutual love and self-sacrifice is enforced by considerations on the condescension of Christ which are quite mean- ingless if He is not preexistent and Divine, and if the reality of His Manhood is not in itself a sublime example of unforced self-abase- ment for the good of others. All merely humanitarian views of His Person and Work, however refined and subtilized, are totally at variance with this apostolic passage, written within fresh living memory of His life and death. 12 — 18. Inferences FROM THE FOREGOING PASSAGES : the Great- ness OF the methods of Salvation : the consequent Call TO A Life reverent, self-forgetful, fruitful, joyful. 12. Wherefore'] The Apostle has now pressed on them the duty and blessing of self-forgetting sympathy and love, above all by this supreme Example. He here returns to the exhortation, in a measure, but now only subordinately ; his mind is chiefly now possessed with the greatness of salvation, and it is through this, as it were, that he views , the duty and joy of Christian humility and harmony. my beloved] So again iv. i. Cp. i Cor. x. 14, xv. 58 ; 2 Cor. vii. i, xii. 19 ; where this tender word similarly introduces earnest practical appeals. See too Heb. vi. 9; Jas. i. 16; i Pet. ii. 11, iv. 12; 2 Pet. iii. I, 8, 14, 17 ; I Joh. iii. 2, 21, iv. i, 7, 11; Jude 3, 17, 20. ' And more elaborately in the '"Definition" of the Council of Chalcedon, a.d. 451. 72 PHILIPPIANS, 11. [v. 13. in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, 13 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For ye have always obeyed] So too R.V. Lit., ye did always obey; the aorist. And so better here. The Apostle views as one past experi- ence his personal intercourse with them of old at Philippi. See the next words, where such a retrospect is impHed. not as in my presence only &c.] The Greek shews that these words are to be joined with what folloxvs ; " work out your own salvation, now in my absence, not only in my presence." '■'■As in my presence'' : — "aj" suggests the thought, or point of view, of the agent ; " influenced by the fact of my presence." work out your oivn salvatiori\ "Your own" is strongly emphatic. The Apostle is in fact bidding them "learn to walk alone," instead of leaning too much on /lis presence and personal influence. "Do not make me your proxy in spiritual duties which must be your own." Hence the " tnuc/i more" of the previous clause ; his absence was to be the occasion for a far fuller realization of their own personal obliga- tions and resources in the spiritual life. "Salvation" : — see above on i. 19. The main reference here is to final glory (see remarks just below). But as life eternal is continuous and one, here and hereafter, a side-reference may well be recognized to present preservation from falling and sinning. " In this way of diligence we receive daily more and more of 'salvation' itself, by liberty from sin, victory over it, peace and communion with God, and the earnests of heavenly felicity" (Scott). " Work out" : — the verb is that used also e.g. Rom. iv. 15 ("the law worketh wrath"); 2 Cor. iv. 17, a close and instructive parallel. As there the saint's "light affliction" "works out for him a weight of glory," so here his watchful, loving, reverent consistency, for his Lord's sake, "works out," issues in the result of, his "salvation." There is not the slightest contradiction here to the profound truth of Justification by Faith only, that is to say, only for the merit's sake of the Redeemer, appropriated by submissive trust; that justification whose sure issue is "glorification" (Rom. viii. 30). It is an instance of independent lines of truth converging on one goal. From one point of view, that of justifying merit, man is glorified because of Christ's work alone, applied to his case through faith alone. From another point, that of qualifying capacity, and of preparation for the Lord's individual welcome (Matt. xxv. ■ai; Rom. ii. 7), man is glorified as the issue of a process of work and training, in which in a true sense he is himself operant, though grace lies below the whole operation. with fear and trembling] not of tormenting misgiving (cp. i Joh. iv. 18), but of profound reverence and wakeful conscience. So i Cor. ii. 3; 1 Cor. vii. 15; Eph. vi. 5. Chrysostom quotes Fsal. ii. 11, "Serve the Lord in fear, and exult unto Him in trembling." — The Douay (Romanist) Bible here has a note: — "This is against the false faith and presumptuous confidence of modern sectaries"; a reference to the V. 13.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 73 it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of doctrine of a personal assurance of present Divine favour and coming glory. But this is both to mistake the meaning of St Paul's phrase "fear and trembling," and to forget such passages as e.g. Rom. v. i, 2, 9, viii. 28 — 39. — It is the formulated tenet of the Church of Rome that "no man can know, with a certainty under which nothing false can lurk, that he has attained the grace of God" {Canones Concil. Trident., Sess. vi. cap. ix.). See further just below. 13. For it is God &c.] Here is the reason for the "fear and trembling." The process of "working out" is one which touches at every point the internal presence of Him before whom "the stars are not pure" (Job XXV. 5). iVIeanwhile the same fact, in its aspect of the presence of His tower, is the deepest reason for strength and hope in the process ; and this thought also, very possibly, is present here. God ivliich -worketh in yoii\ The Immanence, Indwelling, of God in His saints, in deep and sacred speciality and reality, is a main doctrine of the Gospel. The Paraclete is not only " with" but " in" them (Joh. xiv. 17; and see below, on iv. 23). By the Paraclete's work, in giving new birth and new life, "Christ, who is our life" (Col. iii. 3), "is in them" (cp. esp. Rom. viii. 9 — 11, and see 2 Cor. iv. lo, 11, xiii. 5 ; Col. i. 27) ; and "in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead" (Col. ii. 9). See further on this all-important subject Eph. iii. 17. — In the light of a passage like this we arrive at the animating truth that the " grace" which is present in the Christian is not only a power, or influ- ence, emitted as it were from above ; it is the living and eternal God Himself, present and operating at "the first springs of thought and will." ''Worketh'': — the Greek word has a certain intensity about it, "worketh effectually.'''' to will] I.e. His working produces these effects, not merely tends towards them. Effecteth in you your willing would be a fair render- ing. Here, though in passing, one of the deepest mysteries of grace is touched upon. On the one hand is the will of the Christian, real, per- sonal, and in full exercise; appealed to powerfully as such in this very passage. On the other hand, beneath it, as cause beneath result, if the will is to work in God's way, is seen God working, God "effecting." A true theology will recognize with equal reverence and entireness of conviction both these great parallels of truth. It will realize human responsibility with "fear and trembling"; it will adore the depths of grace with deep submission, and attribute every link in the chain of actual salvation to God alone ultimately ^ and to do'] Or, as before, and your doing, or better, your working; the verb is the same as that just above. The "will" is such as to express itself in "effectual work." ' On the philosophy of the subject see some excellent suggestions in M'Cosh's Intuitions of the Mind, Bk. iv. ch. iii. 74 PHILIPPIANS, 11. [vv. 14, 15. 14 his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and 15 disputings : that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and of his good pleasure^ Better, with R.V., for His good pleasure ; for its sake, to carry it out. The saint, new created, enabled by grace to will and do, is all the while the implement of the purposes of God, and used for them. Cp. Eph. ii. 10 for a close and suggestive parallel in respect of this last point. 14. Do &c.] The general principle of holiness of life in the power of the Divine Indweller is now carried into details, with a view to the special temptations and failings of the Philippians. See above, on ii. 1. all things] Observe the characteristic totality of the precept. Cp. Eph. iv. 15, 31 ; and see 2 Cor. ix. 8. without murmurings and disputings] amongst and against one ano- ther. For the word "■ })turmuring" in a similar connexion cp. Acts vi. I ; I Pet. iv. 9; and for '^disputing,'" Jas. ii. 4. This reference suits the context, and the indications of the whole Epistle as to the besetting sins of Pliilippi, better than the reference to murmurs and doubts as toivards God. And such sins against one another would be prevented by nothing so much as by the felt presence of "God working in them." See below, on iv. 5. '■'■ Disputings" :—iox example, about the duties of others and the rights of self. The older Latin versions render detradiones. 15. be\ Better, with the true reading, toecome, prove ; a gentle intimation that a change was needed. blameless] Secure against true charges of inconsistency of temper and conduct. harmless] So too R.V. But this can be only a derived rendering. The literal and ordinary meaning of the Greek is '■'■unmixed, unadul- terated, pure." The character denoted is simple as against double; single-hearted in truth and love. It occurs elsewhere, in N.T. , only Matt. X. 16 ; Rom. xvi. 19 ; but often in secular writers. the sons of God] More exactly, with R.V., children of God. The Greek word rendered "children" points more specially than the other to the nature and character of the family of God ; the {■ixoJAy -likeness. The precise phrase " children of God," occurs elsewhere (in the Greek) Joh. i. 12, xi. 52; Rom. viii. 16, 17, 21, ix.-8; i Joh. iii. i, 2, 10, v. 2. Here the evident meaning is, "that you may prove the fact of your spiritual sonship to God by your spiritual likeness to Him, which is its one true proof." As a rule, Scripture tends to use the words "Father," "son," "child," as between God and man, to indicate not the con- nexion of creation but that of new-creation, as here. 7vithoiit rebuke] One Greek adjective; the same word (in the best attested reading here) as that in Eph. i. 4, v. 27; Col. i. 22 ; passages in this same Roman group of St Paul's Epistles. This word is closely connected with the preceding words; we may paraphrase, "children of God, blameless as such." — There is an im- V. i6.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 75 perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world ; holding forth the word of life ; that I may rejoice '6 in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither plicit reference in the phrase to Deut. xxxii. 5, where the LXX. reads, " 77ie}' sinned; they were not children to Him, but blanieivorthy chil- dren ; a generation crooked oid perverse." The "true Israelites" of Philippi v/ere to be the antithesis of the ancient rebels. in the midst of &c.] A continued allusion to the words (see last note) of Moses; a beautiful inversion of them. "A crooked and dis- torted generation" is still in view, but it is now not the Lord's Israel, but "they which are without" (Col. iv. 5), whose moral contrariety was both to bring out the power and beauty of grace in the saints, and at length to yield to its blessed charm. "In the midst of ' : — not in selfish or timid isolation from the duties and difficulties of life. The Gospel has no real sanction for the monastic idea. Cp. Joh. xvii. 15; and the tenor of the Epistles at large. ye shine'] Better, ye appear, ye are seen (R.V.). The Greek verb is used of the rising and setting of the stars, the '■'■phenomena" of the heavens. Perhaps this is meant to be remembered here. The saints, in the beautiful light of holiness, were to rise star-like upon the dark sky of surrounding sin. See next note. lights'] Better, ligM-bearers, luminaries {luminaria, Latin Ver- sions). The word appears in both secular and Biblical Greek as a designation of the heavenly bodies ; see e.g. Gen. i. 14, 16. It occurs agam, in N.T., only Rev. xxi. 11, apparently in the very rare sense of "radiance." Cp. Isai. Ix. i; Matt. v. 14, 16; Eph. v. 8. 16. Holding forth] as offering it for acceptance; presenting it to the notice, enquiry, and welcome, of others. The metaphor of the luminary is dropped.— It is intimated that the faithful Christian will not be content without making direct efforts, however humble and un- obtrusive, to win attention to the distinctive message of his Lord. the word of life] The Gospel, as the revelation of eternal life in Christ. Cp. Joh. vi. 68; i Joh. i. i (where the reference of the phrase is not to the personal Logos ; see Westcott there) ; and see also, in illustration of the meaning of "word" here, i Joh. v. 11, 12; and above, on i. 14. thai I 7nay rejoice] Lit., '*to (be a) rejoicing for me.'" For the thought, cp. I Thess. ii. 19. He looks forward to a special recogni- tion of his converts at Philippi, at the Lord's Coming, and to a special "joy of harvest" over them. in the day of Christ] Lit., "■unto the day &c."; in view of it, till I am in it. On the "day'''' see note on i. 6. that I have not run] Better, that I did not run. He speaks as if already looking back on life as on one collected past. — " /?ten" : — a favourite metaphor with St Paul, to represent the energy and progress 1^ PHTLIPPIANS, II. [v. 17. 17 laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacri- fice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you of life, moving towards its goal. Cp. Acts xiii. 25, xx. 24 (both Pauline passages) ; i Cor. ix. 24, 26 ; Gal. ii. 2 (a close parallel), v. 7 ; 2 Tim. iv. 7. See also Rom. ix. 16 ; 2 Tliess. iii. i ; Heb. xii. i. laboured] Better, did labour ; see last note. Cp. i Thess. iii. 5 for nearly the same words. in vaifi] Lit., "/<? w/ia^ is empty,'''' in vacuuyn. The phrase is peculiar to St Paul in N.T. 17. Yea, and if hzi\ He takes up the last word, characteristically. " Laboured for you, did I say? Nay, if I have to say also died, poured out my heart's blood, it is only joy to me." be offered upon\ Lit. and better, am being sbed as a libation upon. The imagery is sacrificial. He views the Philippians as an altar-sacri- fice, a burnt-offering, in their character of consecrated believers ; and upon that sacrifice the drink-offering, the libation, the outpoured wine, is Paul's life-blood, Paul as their missionary martyr. On the libations of the Mosaic ritual, cp. Num. xv. 3 — 10, where the drink-offering appears as a conspicuous detail in the rite of the burnt-offering. Bp Lightfoot thinks that a reference to the pagan ritual of libation is more likely, in an Epistle to a Church of Gentile converts. But surely St Paul familiarized all his converts with O.T. symbolism; and his own mind was of course deeply impregnated with it. — The same word, but without any detail of imagery, appears again a Tim. iv. 6, on the then actual eve of St Paul's death by the sword. — "The present ^^.^^^{^ am being shed''\ places the hypothesis vividly before the eyes: but it does not. ..refer to present dangers. ..comp. e.g. Matt. xii. 26" (Lightfoot).— Ignatius {To the Romans, c. 2) speaks of being " libated to God" ; probably an allusion to this phrase. the sacrifice and service of your faith] As we have just explained, their faith in Jesus Christ, resulting in their living self-sacrifice to God (Rom. xii. i), constituted them as it were victims at a spiritual altar, and their lives a sacerdotal ritual or "service." Cp. for an instructive parallel Rom. xv. 16, with note in this Series. — These are the only two passages in his whole writings where the Apostle applies the language of sacerdotalism to the work of the Christian ministry. (See Appendix C.) It is remarkable that in each place the language is obviously that of figure and, so to speak, poetry. ■ In the Ep. to the Romans, "the Gentiles" are "the oblation," and J ■ "the glad-tidings" is the matter on which his "priest-work" is ^ ' exercised. In this passage the Philippians are both " sacrifice " and * "altar-ministers," while Paul is the "libation." / joy, and rejoice ivith you all] Again the warm and significant words, "you all." — His willing death for Christ, viewed as a last contribution to their spiritual good, a last aid in their life of believing self-consecration, would be a personal joy to him, and an occasion of united joy with them or (as Lightfoot explains the phrase here) con- gratulation of them. The Apostle assumes that they would rejoice, vv. 18—21.] PHILIPPIANS, 11. 77 all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with 18 me. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly 19 unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will 20 naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not 21 with the deep joy of men who shared the martyr spirit. Cp. Eph. iii. 13 for a somewhat similar thought. Polycarp's Epistle (see our Introduction, ch v.) almost begins with a phrase which is a reminiscence of this sentence and iv. 10. 18. For the same cause] Better, with R.V., In the same manner. The same phrase occurs Matt, xxvii. 44. do ye joy &c.] A loving imperative. He bids them be glad, and share their joy with him as he with them. It is an emphatic reitera- tion of what he has implied in the words just above, that his death would be their joy, as being, if the Lord so willed, their spiritual blessing. 19 — 30. He proposes soon to send Timotheus : He sends WITHOUT DELAY EpAPHRODITUS. ■ 19. But I trust &Lz:\ Lit., But I hope &c. He refers back to the allusion to his absence from them, ver. 12. That trial, while it brings them its special calls and opportunities, is yet to be relieved. in the Lord Jesus'l See last note on i. 8. Timotheus'] See on i. i. / also] as well as you. He affectionately assumes that they, in accordance with his entreaties above (ver. 12 &c.) will be "strong and of a good courage" in the Lord. He would share this, through the joy of hearing of it. he of good comfort] More lit., ''be of good {hafpy) soul.'''' A single word (verb) in the Greek. 20. For] He gives his reason for sending Timothy. likeminded] Lit., "■ equal-soiihd ;" a slight echo, in form, of the verb just above. Timothy's "soul," his loving and willing self, was "equal," level, to St Paul's, in pure, cordial, interest in the Philip- pians. — The Greek adjective occurs nowhere else in the N.T., and in the LXX. only Psal. liv. 13 (Heb., Iv. 14), for the Hebrew ''after viy scale, or standard'"'': a good parallel. The A.V. margin, "so dear unto me,'''' is certainly mistaken. naturally] R.V. "truly.''' But the A.V. well conveys the meaning. The word is literally, genuinely ; so that heart corresponds to action. care] Better, take careful, anxious thought. The verb {fnerimndn) is traced by recent philologists into connexion with root-words giving the idea of mindfulness, earnestness of thought, not, as according to the once current etymology, divisioti of thought. — It is the same verb as that below, iv. 6, where see note. — The apparent contradiction of the two passages has a beautiful harmony beneath it. Timothy's "anxiety" 78 PHILIPPIANS, II. [vv. 21—23. 22 the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with 23 me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, was in fact painstaking thought for others; the "anxiety" forbidden, iv. 6, is the result of our failure, as each felt burthen comes, to pass it on to the love and care of the Lord. — The verb (or its cognate noun) rendered "rar^" here occurs in the sense it bears here, i Cor. vii. 32, 34, xii. 25 ; 2 Cor. xi. 28. In all other places its reference is to anxiety in an unfavourable sense of the word. 21. all\ The Greek would be more exactly represented by they all, or all of them ; all of a definite group in question. This is a severe censure on the persons really indicated. St Paul must have suffered grave disappointments where he had a special right to expect ready help. Demas (2 Tim. iv. 10) had his precursors ; indeed he may have been included in this censure, for he was at Rome about this time (Col. iv. 14; Philem. 24). But we must not assume that St Paul here (or even 2 Tim. iv. 10) excommunicates, so to speak, those whom he refers to ; the true disciple may have his weak, because faithless and selfish, hour. See Acts xiii. 13, with xv. 38, and contrast 2 Tim. iv. II. And again common sense bids us interpret the " they all" with a reserve. He must mean not "all the Christians around me," but "all the possible Christian messengers around me." "The saints of C.-esar's household" (iv. 22), for example, could not be in question; nor was Epaphroditus (ver. 25, &c.). seek their own] things, literally ; their own ease or safety ; perhaps their own preferences in toil and duty. See i Cor. xiii. 5 for the oppo- site choice as the choice of holy Charity. the things which are Jesus Christ's] The interests of His disciples laid upon them by His Apostle. 22. the proof ^ of hi}7i\ The test Of him ; the practical evidence of what he is. This they "knew," by eyewitness at Philippi. as a son with \}!\& father] Better, as child with father. The Greek word rendered "child" is a tender one. See above on ver. 15. For St Paul's paternal love for Timothy cp. 2 Tim. i. 2, and that whole Epistle. he hath served ivith »ie] More precisely, with me (slightly emphatic, suggesting the speciality of his devotion in Christ to Paul) he did bondservice. The reference is to the labours of Timothy (gathered up by the aorist into one recollection) at Philippi. See above, on i. i, note 2. — Grammatically, we might render, "with me he accepted bond- service'''' ; with a reference to Timothy's first dedication to missionary work under St Paul, Acts xvi. i — 3. But lie evidently refers to their own observation of Timothy and so to a later period. in the gospel] Lit., ''nnto the GospeV ; well paraphrased by R.V., in furtherance of the Gospel. See note on i. 5 above.— For ''the Gospel" in the sense of "the work of the Gospel" cp. below, iv. 3. vv. 24, 25.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 79 so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust 24 in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I ?5 supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my 23. presetifly^ Better, with R.V., forthwitli, promptly, on ascertain- ing the issue of his trial. so soon as I shall see] He is sure, ate fond, of the prospect of conti- nued life (i. 25 and note) ; but tliis leaves him as much as ever obliged to wait the development of the Roman legal process. And it needs no very subtle psychology to see the possibility of the presence, in the same person, of certainties and uncertainties about the same event. — Observe that Divine inspiration is far from conveying universal prescience. Jioiv it will go with me'] A good paraphrase for the lit., '^ the things around me," my circumstances. 24. / trust'] For the Greek and its force see on i. 25, with the reference there to i, 6. in the Lord] See last note on i. 8. shortly] The word is of course elastic ; it may mean a few weeks, or many months, as relations of comparison vary. What he is confi- dent of is that Timothy's arrival would be followed at no great interval by his own. — Bp Lightfoot compares i Cor. iv. 17, 19, for a curiously close parallel to the language of this passage, without any connexion of events. 25. Yet I supposed] Better, But I have counted, or, I count. — " Yet" is too strong a word of contrast or exception. " I have counted" : — the Greek verb is an aorist, but an "epistolary' aorist, in which the writer of a letter puts himself mentally at the time of its reception. And this we often express in English by the perfect or the present. — Epaphroditus was probably the bearer of the Epistle. necessary] as against the less obligatory conditions of Timoth/s intended mission. That concerned St Paul's comfort, this, the Phi- lippians'; and in his view, on Christian principles, the latter was of course more urgent. — For the phrase cp. 2 Cor. ix. 5. Epaphroditus] We know him only from this Epistle, indeed only from this passage, for the mention iv. 18 merely adds the fact that he was the conveyer to St Paul of the Philippians' present. But the few lines now before us are enough to shew us a Christian full of spiritual love and practical devotion to Christ and the flock. — Epa- phroditus has been identified with Epaphras (Col. i. 7, iv. 12; Philem. 23). But this is improbable. The shorter name is indeed only an abbreviation of the longer; but "Epaphras" always denotes the con- vert and missionary of Colossae, "Epaphroditus" the messenger from Philippi, two widely separated mission-stations. And the man in each case appears to be a native of, or resident in, the station. Both names were very common at the time. — It is observable that this Christian's name embodies the name of the goddess Aphrodite. No 8o PHILIPPIANS, II. [v. 26. brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but 26 your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because scruple appears to have been felt among the primitive Christians about the retention of such pre-baptismal names. See note on Rom. xvi. I in this Series. my brother, &c.] The loving commendation is most emphatic. Epaphroditus had evidently at some time toiled and striven "in the Gospel," along with St Paul, in no common way. This may have been in past days at Philippi, or, as Lightfoot suggests, just recently at Rome, since his arrival from Philippi. — '^Fellow-soldier'" : — cp. Philem. 2, and see 2 Cor. x. 3; i Tim. i. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4. The ' Christian "worker" is a '■'soldier^'' as having to deal with "all the | power of the enemy" (Luke x. 19) in his work. your messenger^ In the Greek, "■your apostolos.'" Some have ex- plained this to mean "your chief pastor," in fact "your bishop," leader of the ''episcopV and ''diacoiiV of i. i. But there is no real Scripture parallel for such a meaning; and meanwhile 2 Cor. viii. 23 gives a clear parallel for the meaning ''your delegated messenger (to me)." The Greek wording of the clause fully confirms this; it may be paraphrased, "messenger, and minister of need, sent by you to me." R.V. your messenger and minister to my need. Meanwhile the word apostolos seems to have had from the very first a certain sacredness and speciality about it. Even when not used of the Lord's Apostles, it has borrowed something of greatness from His use of it (Luke vi. 13) for them; it is not 7nerely (as by derivation) "one sent," a messenger; it is a sacred and authoritative messenger. — We may perhaps reverently trace here ' a slight play upon the word, as if the Philippians were the superior party and Paul the inferior. As if he said, "One whom you have sent as your missionary to me." he that ministered to my wants'] Lit. and better (see above) [your] minister of [to] my need. The Greek word is leiiourgos, which again is a word of dignified and often sacred connexion, exactly represented by our "minister." See Rom. xiii. 6 for its use of magistrates; Heb. viii. 2 for its use of priests. We see here again a certain affectionate play upon the word : Epaphroditus bore an ojice and authority given by — the Philippians' love. 26. For] Here lay the "necessity," in St Paul's view, of his friend's return to the Philippians; in Epaphroditus' longing for them, and their love and anxiety in regard of him. he longed] The Greek is full and emphatic, lie was (in a state of) longing, of home-sickness. See note on i. 8. — Doubtless the feeling was a recent if not a present one; and in an English letter we should say accordingly, "he has been in a home-sick condition." after you alt] A reading which has considerable support is "to see you all." The precise phrase thus formed occurs Rom. i. 11; i Thess. iii. 6; 2 Tim. i. 4. Perhaps this is a reason for deciding against it here, as it might be a transcriber's reminiscence. V. 27, 28.] PHILIPPIANS, II. 8i that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he 27 was sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more care- 28 Observe the slill recurring '■^yoic all." Epaphroditus may have been in some vi^ay involved in those differences between sets and circles at Philippi (see above, on i. 27, &c.) which gave St Paul anxiety. So he emphasizes Epaphroditus' impartial affection for them. was fiill of heaviness'] Better, [has been] sore troubled. The word is used of our blessed Lord's "sore trouble" in the Garden, Matt. xxvi. 37; Mar. xiv. 33. By derivation (see Lightfoot here) it probably suggests the restlessness of profound dislike, shrinking from loathed pain or grief. — We see a character of great sensitiveness and ten- derness. ye had heard, &c.] An English letter-writer would more naturally say you have heard that he has been ill. The reference is to com- parative recency, and present results. See Introduction, p. 16. 27. For indeed, &c.] Epaphroditus would have made light of the illness; St Paul assures them that the report was seriously true, and that the illness had a generous origin. he was] He has been. God had mercy on hini] Though for him also "to die" would have been "gain" (i. 21), yet death in itself is a dark passage, even to the Christian (see Joh. xxi. 18; and 2 Cor. v. 4). And meanwhile great are the joys of service on the pilgrimage, and deep their con- nexion with the coming joys of the heavenly country. "Those who are departed this life," says St Chrysostom here, "can no longer win sotiUy But perhaps the immediate thought is simply that death would have bereavetl the Philippians of their friend, to whose loving heart it was thus "a mercy," for their sakes, to recover. on me also] Here, as so often in St Paul, a heart glowing with holy and generous affection expresses itself in a recognition of the im- portance of his friends to him. See e.g. Rom. xvi. 4. sorrozv upon sorrow] A sore bereavement would have been added to the grief caused him by the "brethren" of i. 15, 16, and to the pervading grief of his separation by imprisonment from so many beloved friends. — Observe the perfect naturalness of his language. He abides in "the peace of God"; he "has strength for all things" (iv. 7, 13). But that peace is no frost, or torpor, of the heart ; that strength is not hardness. He is released from embitterment and from murmurs, but every sensibility is refined by that very fact. It was so with his Lord before him ; Joh. xi. 33, 35, 38. This passage among others (e.g. 2 Tim. iv. 20) shews that the mysterious "gift of healing," used by St Paul at Melita (Acts xxviii. 8), was not at the absolute disposal of even the faith of its recipient. PTIILIPPTANS. 6 82 PHILIPPIANS, II. [vv. 29, 30. fully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that 29 I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the 30 Lord with all gladness ; and hold such in reputation : be- cause for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not 28. I scnt\ In an English letter it would run, I have sent, or I am sending. carefully] Better, with R.V. diligently; taking pains to arrange. less sorrowful] A beautiful touch of character. Among his sorrows, he intimates, was his being the unwilling cause of separating Epaphro- ditus from the Philippians, and bringing him into risks at Rome. To think of him as safely returned to Philippi would be a solace, though it would be a new separation for himself. — Under the shadow of that last thought, perhaps, he says not '"'happier'' but '■'less sorrowful." 29. Receive him therefore] " Therefore" : — as the consequence of my sending him. The whole verse supports the suggestion that the internal friction among the Philippians had somehow made Epaphro- ditus unacceptable to some. See above on ver. 26. in the Lord] See above on i. 8. xvith all gladness] The cloud in his own sky interferes not in the least with this holy soul's interest in the joy of others. in reputation] R.V., in honour. The word occurs Luke vii. 2, of the centurion's ''highly-valued slave"; and i Pet. ii. 4, 6, of the "pre- cious stone." — There was a slight risk, we gather here (and see iii. 17, and note), lest such unobtrusive and devoted holders of, and workers for, the Gospel should fall out of favour at Philippi. Cp. i Thess. V. 11, 13. 30. the work of Christ] One most ancient MS. (C) omits "of Christ''; and some other evidence is for " of the Lord" instead. R.V. retains the reading of A.V., mentioning in the margin the reading "of the Lord." Alford and Lightfoot advocate the omission. — For the phrase " the work " used without further definition, cp. Acts xv. 38. he was nigh unto death] Lit., "he drew near, up to death" a pecu- liar but unmistakable expression. not regarding his life] R. V. , hazarding his life. The two renderings represent each a different reading, the ditl'erence lying in the presence or absence of a single letter in the Greek {parabo{u)leusanunos). On the whole that represented by R.V. has the better support. In the more ancient Latin Version this Greek word is almost transliterated: — paraholatus de anirnd sud; words which might almost be rendered, "having played the desperado with his life. " The verb (found here only) is formed on a common Greek verb of which one meaning is "to wager in a game of chance," and so to run a risk. Bp Light- foot renders here, " having gambled 'with his life." — From the same root comes the ecclesiastical word (Greek and Latin) parabolaniis, a member of a "minor order" devoted to nursing the infected, and similar hazardous duties. The order originated in Constantine's time. v.^o] PHILIPPIANS, II. 83 regarding /lis life, to supply your lack of service toward me. Unhappily it soon degenerated into a notoriously turbulent sort of club. ^'//is /i/e": — lit., ^'/lis sou/." For the very frequent use of the Greek word J>s}'cM in the sense of bodily life cp. e.g. Matt. ii. 20. to supply your lack &c.] More lit., " that he 7night fill up your defi- ciency in the ministration designed for fite." " Your" is slightly em- phatic. Obviously, the Apostle means no reproof to the Philippians, whose "ministration" of supplies he so warmly appreciates below (iv. 10 — 19). He means that they, as a community, were of course unable to aid him by a personal visit, without which however their " minis- tration" would have "lacked" a necessary condition of success. That condition Epaphroditus had supplied; he had undertaken the journey, and doubtless had thrown himself at Rome into the Apostle's interests and efforts. And somehow, whether by accidents on the journey, or by risks run at Rome, or by both, he had incurred dangerous illness. — See for a close parallel to the language liere i Cor. xvi. 17; and cp. the important phraseology of Col. i. 24, and notes there. Ch. III. 1 — 3. Let them cultivate Joy in the Lord, as the true preservative from the dangers of judaistic Teaching. 1. Finally'] Lit., '^ For the rest" ; ^^ For what rem.ains^'' See Eph. vi. 10, and note in this .Series. In 2 Cor. xiii. i; i Thess. iv. i; 1 Thess. iii. i; below iv. 8; and (in a slightly different form) Gal. vi. 17; the phrase appears to mean " ?'« conclusion." But it is plainly elastic, and in i Thess. we have an example, as here, of its use (and of course of its retention by the writer on review of his writing) some time before the actual farewell. As a fact the Apostle is just about to open the last large topic of his letter, the topic of the dif- ference between a true and a false Gospel; all else in the remaining paragraphs is only accessory. Hitherto he has been dealing, in effect, with the duty and blessedness of unity, secured by humility and watch- fulness ; bringing in some all-important doctrinal statements, but only by the way. He will now close with a definite and solemn message of spiritual truth, in a matter of present urgency. The connexion of this passage has been much debated, and particu- larly the bearing of the phrase "to write the same things unto you." What does he refer to ? To a previous Epistle ? To a previous similar statement in this Epistle ? But there is -no other hint whatever of a previous letter; and in this present letter there is no previous injunc- tion to rejoice. The solution offered by Bp Lightfoot is as follows : — " The same things " are the exhortations to unity so often made already, and which the Apostle ^vas about to reinforce. But he was 6—2 84 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. i. 3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for interrupted in his work, and not till after an interval of days, perhaps, did he resume it. He then dropped the intended appeal, and turned instead to the yet more serious subject of doctrinal error. This ingenious suggestion offers, however, a serious difficulty, by assuming that St Paul, with his scribe beside him, would have sent out an Epistle in a state so disjointed, simply for lack of revision. No view of Divine inspiration demands it; and certainly all considerations of thoughtful authorship are against it. We offer the following theory : — The Apostle sees before him, as he thinks of Philippi, the danger of doctrinal error ; error which in one way or another undervalues Christ and Him crucified. The true antidote to such error is a developed and rejoicing intuition into Christ and His work, such as had been granted to himself. This he will now make his theme. But he has, in a sense, done so already, by the oft-repeated allusions to the Lord's sovereign and vital con- nexion with His people ("m the Lord,'" "■ iji the heart of Christ,'' &c.), and above all by the opening passages of ch. ii. So he is " writing the same things" when he writes now "finally" about "rejoicing in the Lord'" as their righteousness, life, glory, strength, and peace. All " other Gospels" were obscurations of that great joy. Thus the special injunction to '■'' rejoice'" has regard to the past and coming context at once. In particular, it anticipates ver. 3 below, {^^ glory in Christ j^esus"). A suffrage in one of the Litanies of the venerable Church of the Unitas Fratriim ("the Moravians") is in point here: — ''* From the loss of our glory in Thee, preserve and keep us, gracious Lord and God." rejoice^ R.V. margin, '■^ ox, farewell.''' But the evidence of iv. 4, which plainly takes this phrase up, and adds the word "always,'''' is altogether for the text R.V., and A.V. "Farewell ahvays" is an im- possible formula of conclusion ; we are constrained to render " ^e glad always" there. And already ii. 18 he has used the same Greek word in that sense beyond doubt. See the last note. in the Lord'\ See last note but one, and that on i. 8. To write the same things] See last note but two, for a reference of this to "the things" already written in this Epistle about the glery and fulness of Christ. to me indeed... safe\ The Greek words form an Iambic trimeter, a verse corresponding in the Greek drama to our blank heroic, and may thus be a quotation by the way^. In i Cor. xv. 33 we almost certainly have such a quotation from a Greek dramatist, Menander or perhaps Euripides; " III converse withers fair morality ." We may render here, with a view to the rhythm, To me not irksome, it is safe for you. — ^ I owe this remark to a friend. A vv. 2, 3.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 85 you // ts safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, 2 beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, 3 St James (i. 17) appears similarly to adopt a Greek hexameter; ^^ Every giving of good a>id every boon of perfection." 2. Beware of\ Lit., "'see.'" For this use of the verb, cp. Col. iv. 17; 2 John 8. dogs\ Lit. and better, the dogs. He refers to a known and defined class ; and these evidently were those Judaistic teachers within tlie pale of the Church to whom he has referred already (i. 15) in another connexion and in a different tone. These Pharisee-Christians very probably called the uncircumcised, and (from their point of view) non- conforming, converts, "dogs," as the Pharisees-proper called all Gentiles; cp. Matt. xv. 26, 27, for words alluding to this use of the term. The habits and instincts of the dog suggest ideas of unclean- ness and wantonness ; and its half-wild condition in Eastern towns adds the idea of a thing outcast. Thus everywhere in Scripture the word "dog" is used in connexions of contempt, reproach or dread: see e.g. i Sam. xxiv. 14; 2 Sam. xvi. 9; 2 Kings viii. 13; Psal. xxii. 16, 20, lix. 6; Eccl. ix. 4; Matt. vii. 6; Rev. xxii. 15. — The Apostle "here turns the tables" on the Judaist, and pronounces /nV« to be the real defiled outcast from Messiah's covenant, rather than the simple believer, who comes to Messiah not by way of Judaism, but direct. The same view is expressed more fully Gal. v. 2 — 4. — It is just possible that the word "dog" refers also to positive immorality underlying, in many cases, a rigid ceremonialism. But this is at most secondary here. See below vv. 18, 19, and notes, for another "school" more open to such charges. evil workers'] Better, the bad work-men. lie refers to the same faction under another aspect. Very proljably, by a play on the word " worker," he censures them as teaching a salvation by "works," not by faith. (See e.g. Rom. iii. 27, iv. 2, 6, xi. 6 ; Gal. ii. 16, iii. 2 ; Eph. ii. 9 ; 2 Tim. i. 9 ; Tit. iii. 5.) As if to say, "They are all for working, with a view to merit; but they are bungling work- men all the while, adjusting wrongly the fabric of the Gospel, and working not rightly even what in itself is right." Cp. 2 Cor. xi. 13 for a passage where the same double meaning seems to attach to this word. — For the other side of the truth of "working" see ii. 12, and notes. the concision'] " The gashing, the }?iutilation." By this harsh kindred(i word he satirizes, as it were, the rigid zeal of the Judaist for bodily circzitncision. In the light of the Gospel, the demand for the con- tinuance of circumcision in the Church, as a saving ordinance, was in fact a demand for a maltreatment of the body, akin only to heathen practices ; cp. e.g. i Kings xviii. 28. Cp. Gal. V. 12, with Lightfoot's notes, for a somewhat similar use of words in a kindred connexion. Lightfoot here remarks on the frequent occurrence in the N.T. of verbal play. See e.g. the Greek of Acts viii. 30; Rom. xii. 3 ; 2 Thess. iii. ir. 86 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 4. which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, 4 and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also Wyclif curiously, and without any support in the Latin, renders this clause, " se ye dyuysioun"; Tyndale and Cranmer, "Beware of dis- sencion (dissensyon)." 3. we are the circiitncision\ See the previous note. For the thought, cp. especially Gal. iii. 7, 29, vi. 16; Eph. ii. 19; Col. ii. 11. which worship God in the spirit] R.V. , who worship by the Spirit of God. This is based on the better-supported reading of the Greek, and should be adopted. The word "worship" is thus used without an expressed object, as Luke ii. 37; Acts xxvi. 7; (in both which places, in A. v., the word "God" is in italics). The verb here {latreuein) ori- ginally imports any sort of service, domestic or otherwise ; but usage gives it in the N.T. a fixed connexion with the service of worship, and occasionally (Heb. viii. 5, ix. 9, x. 2, xiii. loj a special reference to the worship of priestly ritual. Very probably this last usage is in view here. The Judaist claimed to be the champion of the true ritual of worship, as well as of the true initiation into covenant. The Apostle replies that the spiritual Christian is as such the ideal worshipper, the priest of the true rite. ^' By the Spirit of God^\ — cp. for the phrase in St Paul, Rom. viii. 9, 14; I Cor. ii. 10, II, 12, 14, iii. 16, vi. 11, vii. 40, xii. 3; 2 Cor. iii. 3. The effect of the whole work of the Blessed Spirit in the regenerate Christian was to bring him into right relations of worship with God who "is Spirit" (Joh. iv. 24); to make him a "worshipper in (the) Spirit and in truth." and rejoice in Christ ycstts] R. V., and glory &c. Better so, for the Greek is not identical with that in i. 18, ii. 17, 18, 28, iii. i,iv. 4, 10. It means a joy emphatically triumphant ; such as would find its parody in a proud and eager boastfulness (as e.g. I\.om. ii. 23, iii. 27 ; i Cor. iv. 7 ; 2 Cor. v. 12 &c. ; Gal. vi. 13 ; Jas iv. 16). What national and ritual privilege was, in his own distorted estimate, to the Judaist, that the true Messiah, the Incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus, was to the spiritual Christian— at once pedestal and crown, righteousness and life and glory. For the thought cp. Rom. v. 11 ; i Cor. i. 31 (observe previous con- text); Gal. vi. 14. have no confidence in the flesh] Quite lit., ^^ not in the flesh are confi- dent"; with the implication that we are confident, on another and a truer ground. " 7 he flesh" :— a. most important word in the distinctive teaching of St Paul. A fair popular equivalent for it would be "self," as far as that word expresses that attitude or condition of our moral being which is not subject to God's law or reliant on His grace. The "flesh" is sometimes that state, or element, of man in which sin predominates ; whatever in man is not ruled and possessed by the Holy Spirit ; the unsanctified intellect, the unsanctified affections. The "flesh" is some- 5.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 87 have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the s times, again, as here, anything other than God taken by man as his trust and strength, e.g. reHgious observances regarded as occasion for self-confidence. In this latter case the word "flesh" is, as here, shifted, so to speak, by a natural transition of language, from the chooser to the thing chosen. See further on this word Rom. viii. 4 ; Eph. ii. 3 ; and notes in this Series. See also Dickson, On St Paul's Use of the Terms Flesh and Spirit (the Bain Lecture, 1883). This short verse gives us one of the deepest and most inclusive descriptions of the true Christian to be found in Scripture. 4 — 11. His own experience as a converted Pharisee: Jus- tification BY Faith: its spiritual and eternal issues. 4. Though I might also &c.] The Greek seems to assert that he not only might have, but has, such confidence. But the whole context, and St Paul's whole presentation of the Gospel, alike assure us that this is but a "'way of speaking." What he means is to assert, in the most concrete form, his claim, if any one could have such a claim, to rely on privilege and observance for his acceptance. Render accordingly with R.V., Tliougli I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. So the Latin versions ; Quanquani ego habeam ice. thinketh\ R.V. margin, '' seemeih." But A.V., and text R.V., are certainly right. The "seeming" or "appearing" is to the man's self; he thinks it to be so. Cp. for this (frequent) use of the Greek verb (dokein) e.g. Luke xxiv. 37 ; Acts xii. 9. And see esp. Matt. iii. 9, ''Do not think (seem) to say in yourselves &c."; where common sense gives, the paraphrase, "Z'tJ ftot think that you may say." So here, "thinketh that he may have confidence &c. " / more] " \,frotn his point of view, think that I may have it more." Cp. 2 Cor. xi. 21, 22, a passage closely akin to this. 5. Circumcised ^Q..\ Quite lit., "aj to circumcision, eight days oldP See Gen. xvii. 12; Luke ii. 21. He was neither a proselyte, circum- cised as an adult, nor an Ishmaelite, circumcised (as Josephus tells us, Antiquities, XII. i. § 2 ; see Gen. xvii. 25) at thirteen, but a member of the covenant from infancy. Tsrael] The name may refer here either to the original and indivi- dual Israel, Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 28 &c.), or to the collective Israel, the chosen nation. The former is more likely, in view of the next clause, and would besides be the more vivid and emphatic reference ; " one of the race descended from God's Prince." The words Israel, Israelite, indicate specially the sacred privileges and dignity of the Covenant People as such; see Trench, N.T. Syno- nyms, § xxxix., and Lightfoot, on Gal. vi. 16. Cp. Rom. ix. 4, xi. i; 7, Cor. xi. 22; Eph. ii. 12; and see Job. i. 47, 49. 88 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 6. tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touch- 6 ing the law, a Pharisee ; concerning zeal, persecuting the Benjamin'] So he had previously said, Rom. xi. i. See Acts xiii. 21 for another mention by St Paul of his tribe, though in another con- nexion. He names his tribe, not only to emphasize his nationality, but no doubt because the Benjamites, descendants of the last and much loved son of Jacob, had given the nation its first lawful king (whose name the Apostle bore), and had with Judah remained "faithful among the faithless" at the great Disruption (i Kings xii. 21). Ehud early in O.T. history (Judges iii.), and Mordecai late (Esther ii. 5), were Benjamites. It is interesting to trace in St Paul's character some of the characteristics of this small but remarkable tribe ; stern courage and persistent fidelity. But certainly it was something better than Benjamite "obstinacy and persistency" (Smith's Bible Diet., s.v. Ben- jamin) which made him resist the entreaties of the disciples and avow himself ready to die for the Lord (Acts xxi. 12, 13).— See further, Conybeare and Howson, Life b'c. of St Paul, ch. ii. a Hebreiv of the Hebre%vs\ With R. V., omit '■'t/ie." Cp. again 1 Cor. xi. 22. The words mean that he was a Hebrew and of Hebrew lineage. — What is a "Hebrew" in N.T. phraseology? In O.T. the word is the distinctive national term, as against other national terms, as Egyptian, Philistine &c. ; and is thus the term by which a heathen would designate an Israelite. By the N.T. era its bearing had changed, and in the N.T. (not in later Christian writers, or in Jewish and pagan writers,) it designates the Jew who retained, more or less fully, his national language and manners, as against the "Hellenist" who habi- tually spoke Greek and largely conformed to Gentile customs. See Acts vi. I. The "Hebrew" would thus naturally regard himself as one of the elite of his race, from the historical and traditional point of view. See further. Trench, as quoted just above on ^^ Israel," and Conybeare and Howson, ch. ii. the la-w] Lit., ^^laiv"; but here, as often, the article is omitted because not needed before a word defined by use or context. Obviously the Mosaic ordinances are mainly intended. a Pharisee] So he declares himself Acts xxiii. 6, xxvi. 5. And see Acts xxii. 3; Gal. i. 14. " The Pharisees... were the enthusiasts of the later Judaism" (Conybeare and Howson, as above) ; the zealous and rigid votaries of religious legal precision, elaborate devotion, vigorous proselytism, and exclusive privilege. St Paul was " the son of Phari- sees" (Acts xxiii. 6; though Lightfoot suggests that this means "dis- ciple of Pharisees"; improbably, as it seems to us), and the student- follower of the Pharisee (Acts v. 34) Gamaliel, probably "Rabban" Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel. Cp. Acts xxii. 3. 6. zeal] "of God, but not according to true spiritual knowledge {epigndsis)," Rom. x. 2. Cp. Acts xxvi. 9 — 11. He implies here that this "zeal" was perfectly sincere, though sinfully conditioned by a moral blindness. See in this connexion Acts xxiii. i ; 2 Tim. i. 3. vv. 7, 8.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 89 church ; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I 7 counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all 8 persecuting the church^ Cp. i Cor. xv. 9; Gal. i. i.',, 23; i Tim. '• 13- the righteousness which is tn the /aw] Lit., again, " z« /aw"; see fifth note on ver. 5. The reference is to completeness of observance and privilege, from the point of view of the Pharisaic legalist. The most rigid inquisitor in this direction could not have found fault with Paul's title. See further on ver. 3. — " /n (the) /a7u'\ — included within its terms. htame/ess'\ Better, with R.V., found blameless, a good paraphrase of the Greek, which is literally, "having become b/at?ie/ess." His title, or temptation, to "confidence in the flesh" was thus com- pounded of a natal right to the seal of the covenant ; hereditary and educated loyalty to the purest Jewish life and practice ; personal devo- tion to the strictest Jewish religionism ; the utmost practical energy in its defence; the most minute attention to its rules. Of its kind, the position was perfect. 7. what things] The Greek might almost be paraphrased, "the kind or c/ass of things which"; including anything and everything, as ground of reliance, other than Christ. So more fully, ver. 8. gain] Lit. and better, gains. The plural suggests the proud and jealous care with wliich the religionist would count over the items of his merit and hope. One by one he had found them, or had won them; each with its separate value in the eyes of the old self. those] There is emphasis and deliberation in the pronoun. / counted] Lit. and better, I have counted. The perfect tense indicates not only the decisive conviction, but its lifelong permanence. /oss] A singular noun. The separate and carefully counted gains are heaped now into one ruthless estimate of loss. From the new point of view, they a/i sink together. He does not mean that he discovered his circumcision, ancestry, energy, diligence, exactness, to be in thonseives evil things. But he found them evil in respect of his having used them to shut out the true Messiah from his obedience, faith, and love. As substitutes for Him they were not only worthless, but positive /oss. Every day of reiiance on them had been a day of delay and deprivation in regard of the supreme blessing. Wyclif's word here is "apeiryngis," and just below "peirement"; i.e. impairings, losses. for Christ] Lit. and better, on account of the Christ; because of the discovery of Jesus as the true Messiah, and of the true Messiah as no mere supreme supernatural Jewish Deliverer, but as Son of God, Lamb of God, Lord of Life. He cast away entirely all the old reli- ance, but, observe, for something infinitely more than equivalent. 8. Yea doubt/ess, and Sec] Better, perhaps. Yea rather I even &c. 90 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 8. things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of all He adds a twofold new weight to the assertion ; "/ count'''' (not only "■ I have counted"), emphasizing the presentness of the estimate; and " all things" not only specified grounds of rehance. Whatever, from any point of view, could seem to compete with Christ as his peace and life, he renounces as such ; be it doings, sufferings, virtues, inspira- tion, revelations. for\ Better, again, on account of. the excellency'] More lit., the surpasslngness. For St Paul's love of superlative words see on ii. 9 above. the knozvledge &c.] He found, in the light of grace, that "this is life eternal, to hiow the only true God, and Jesus Christ" (Joh. xvii. 3). On the conditions and blessedness of such "knowledge" cp. e.g. Matt. xi. 27 (where the word is kindred though not identical); Joh. i. 10—12; X. 14, xiv. 7, xvii. 25; 2 Cor. v. 16, x. 5; Gal. iv. 9; Eph. iii. 19; 2 Pet. iii. 18; I Joh. ii. 3 — 5, iii. 6, iv. 7, 8. The Apostle sometimes speaks with a certain depreciation of "knowledge" (e.g. i Cor. viii. i, xiii. 2, 8). But he means there plainly a knowledge which is con- cerned not with Christ and God, but with spiritual curiosities, which may be known, or at least sought, without Divine life and love. The knowledge here in view is the recognition, from the first insight eter- nally onward, of the "knowledge-surpassing" (Eph. iii. 19) reality and glory of the Person and Work of the Son of the Father, as Saviour, Lord, and Life ; a knowledge inseparable from love. See further on ver. 10. Observe the implicit witness of such language as that before us to the Godhead of Christ. Cp. Eph. iii. 19, and notes in this Series. of Christ Jesus jny Lord] Note the solemnity and fulness of the designation. The glorious Object shines anew before him as he thinks out the words. Observe too the characteristic "my Lord" (see note on i. 3 above). There is a Divine individuaiisfn in the Gospel, in deep harmony with its truths of community and communion, but not to be merged in them. "One by one" is the law of the great ingathering and incorporation (Joh. vi. 35, 37, 40, 44, 47, 51 &c.) ; the believing individual, as well as the believing Church, has Christ for "Head" (i Cor. xi. 3), and lives by faith in Him who has loved the individual and given Himself for him (Gal. ii. 20; cp. Eph. v. 25). for whom] Lit. and better, on account of whom; in view of the discovery of whom. / have suffered &c.] Better, I suffered &c. ; a reference to the crisis of his renunciation of the old reliance, and also of the stern rejection with which the Synagogue would treat him as a renegade. This one passing allusion to the tremendous cost at which he became a Christian is, by its very passingness, deeply impressive and pathetic ; and it has of course a powerful bearing on the nature and solidity of the reasons for his change, and so on the evidences of the Faith. See on this last V. 8.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 91 things, and do count them bid dung, that I may win Christ, subject, Observafions on the Character &fc. of St Paid, by George, first Lord Lyttelton {1747). The verb rendered '■'■ T suffered loss" "I v/cis Ji/ied, mulcted" is akin to the noun "■loss" used just above, and takes it up. There is a certain verbal "play" in this; he reckoned his old privileges and position loss, from a spiritual point of view, and he was made by others to feel the loss of them, in a temporal respect. «// things] The Gr. suggests the paraphrase, my all. dun^l Better, refuse, as R.V. margin. The Greek word is used in secular writers in both senses. Its j^robably true derivation favours the former, but the derivation popularly accepted by the Greeks ("a thing cast to the dogs") the latter. And this fact leans to the inference that in common parlance it meant the leavings of a meal, or the like. See Lightfoot here. that I may tvtn] Better, with R.V., that I may gain; the verb echoes the noun of ver. 7. There was no t/ier/t in his coming to a true conviction about "confidence in the flesh"; but that conviction was so vital an antecedent to his possession and fruition of Christ that it was as it were the price paid in order to " gain" Ilim. Cp. the imagery of Rev. iii. 17, 18. "That I may": — practically, we may paraphrase, "that I might"; with a reference to \\\& past. The main bearing of the passage is obvi- ously on the crisis of his conversion ; on what he then lost and then gained, but he speaks as if he were in the crisis now. Not unfrequently in N.T. Greek the past is thus projected into the present and future, where certainly in English we should say ''might" not "may." Cp. e.g. (in the Greek) Matt. xix. 13; Acts v. 26; i Tim. i. 16; i John iii. 5. It is true that the Apostle here uses the present, not the past, in the adjoining main verb ("/ count"). But this may well be an exceptional case of projection of the whole statement about the past, instead of part of it, into the present. — Or may not the words '' aiui do coimt them refuse" be parenthetic? In that case he would in effect say, what would be a most vivid antithesis, "I suffered the loss of my all, (and a worthless 'all' I noxv see it to be,) that I might jtz/w Christ." He thus "gained" nothing less than Christ; not merely subsidiary and derived benefits, but the Source and Secret of all benefits. The glorious Person, "who is made unto us of God wisdom, even righteous- ness, and sanctification, and redemption" (i Cor. i. 30), was now his own, in a mysterious but real possession. 9. be found in hini'\ at any moment of scrutiny or test; alike in life, in death, and before the judgment-seat. The truth of the believer's deep incorporation in his Lord and Head, and identification with Him for acceptance and life, is here full in view. In the surrender of faith (Eph. ii. 8 — 10; cp. John iii. 36) he becomes, in the deep laws of spi- ritual life, a true "limb" of the sacred Head; interested in His merits, penetrated with His exalted Life. In the Epistles to ColosscC and 92 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 9. 9 and be found in him, not having mine, own righteousness, Ephesus, written from the same chamber as this, we have the large development of this truth ; and cp. John xv. i — 8 ; i Cor. xii. 12. Lightfoot remarks (on Gal. ii. 17, and here) that the verb "■ to Jiud" is very frequent in Aramaized Greek, and has somewhat lost its dis- tinctive meaning. Still, it is seldom if ever used in the N.T. where that meaning has not some place. mine own righfeonsness'l Rather more precisely, with R.V. , a right- eousness of mine own. The word ^'■7-igkieoiisness" is highly charac- teristic, and of special meaning, in St Paul. In very numerous pas- sages (examine Rom. iii. 5 — 26, iv. 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, vi. 16, x. 3; I Cor. i. 30 ; 2 Cor. iii. 9 ; and cp. Tit. iii. 5) its leading idea evi- dently is that of acceptance, satisfactoriness, however secured, to law ; whether to special or to general law as the case may be. (See Grimm's Greek-Eng. Lexicon of the N.T., Thayer's edition, on t'ne word St/cai- offvvTj, for a good statement of the matter from the purely critical point of view.) "A righteousness of mine own" is thus a title to accept- ance, a claim on Divine justice, due to my own doings and merits, sup- posed to satisfy a legal standard. ■which is of the /aw] Literally, again " 0/ law." But R.V. retains the definite article, as practically right in translation, as it was in ver. 6. — How shall we define the word "Zrtw" here? Is it the Mosaic law from the Pharisee's point of view, as in ver. 6? Or is it the far larger fact of the Divine preceptive moral code, taken as a covenant of life, in which the terms are, " Do this, truly and perfectly, and live; do this, and claim acceptance as of right"? We take the answer to be that it means here this latter as an exten- sion of the former ; that the thought rises, or developes itself, in this passage, from the idea of special ordinance to the idea of universal covenanting precept. And our reasons lie, partly in this context, partly in the great parallel passages in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians. In the present context the ideas immediately contrasted or opposed to that of "the law" are ideas not of "work," in any meaning of that word, but of "faith." And for ex- position of this we turn to the argument of Rom. i. — v., and of Galatians ii. iii., and of Eph. ii. i — 10, and (a passage closely parallel to this; see notes in this Series) 13 — 17; and of Col. ii. 8 — 14. In this whole range of teaching it is apparent that the idea of Law, as a whole, cannot possibly be satisfied by explaining it to mean merely a Divine code of observances, though that is one of its lower and subsidiary meanings. It means the whole system of Divine precept, moral as well as ceremonial, eternal as well as temporal, ta^en as a covenant to be fulfilled ifi order to acceptance of the person before God. The im- plicit or explicit contrary is that such acceptance is procured for us by the merits of the Redeeming Lord, appropriated to the sinner by the single profound means of faith, that is to say, acceptance of Him as Sacrifice, Saviour, Lord, on the warrant of God's word. Such faith, in the spiritual order of things, unites to Christ, and in that union the V. 9j PHILIPPIANS, III. 93 which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of "member" receives the merit of the "Head" for his acceptance, and the life and power of the Head for obedience. That obedience (see esp. Eph. ii. 8 — lo) is now rendered not in fulfilment of a covenant for acceptance, but in tlie life, and for the love, given to the believer vmder the covenant in which he is accepted, from first to last, for the sake of his meritorious Lord and Head. Cp. further, Heb. x., esp. 15 — 18; with Jerem. xxxi. 33, 34. Such is the general Pauline doctrine of acceptance, a doctrine such as to give its opponents or perverters, from the very first, a superficial excuse to make it out to be antinomian (Rom. iii. 8, vi. i); a fact of the utmost weight in the estimate of its true bearing. Such a general doctrine assists us in interpreting this great incidental passage. And we infer here accordingly that the primary idea is that of acceptance for Christ's sake, as against acceptance on the score of any sort of personal merit. The spiritual development of the regene- rate being comes in nobly here, as in the other and larger passages referred to ; but it comes in upon the basis, and as the sequel, of a gratuitous acceptance for Christ's sake alone. See notes on ver. 10. that which is through the faith of Christ^ So lit., but better, in regard of English idiom, that which is through faith in Christ. For the Greek construction (''faith of" meaning ''faith in") cp. e.g. Mark xi. 22; Acts iii. 16; Gal. ii. 16, 20; Eph. iii. 12; 2 Thess. ii. 13. Here again, as with the words "law" and "righteousness," St Paul's writings are a full commentary. See especially Rom. iii. 22 — 28, a passage most important as a parallel here. It brings out the fact that " faith," in the case in question, has special regard to Christ as the shedder of His sacred blood in propitiation, and that the blessing immediately received by faith thus acting is the acceptance, the jus- tification, of the sinner before the holy Lawgiver and Judge, solely for the Propitiator's sake. See further Rom. iv., v., viii. 33, 34, ix. 33, X. 4, 9, 10; Gal. ii. 16, iii. i — 14, 21 — 24; Eph. ii. 8, 9. Much discussion has been raised over the true meaning of "faith" in Scripture doctrine. It may suffice to point out that at least the leading and characteristic idea of the word is personal trtist, not of course without grounds, but on grounds other than "sight." It is cer- tainly not mere assent to testimony, a mental act perfectly separable from the act of personal reliance. Setting aside Jas. ii. 14 — 26, where the argument takes up and uses designedly an inadequate idea of faith (see Commentary on the Romans in this Series, p. 261), the word "faith" consistently conveys in Scripture the thought of per- sonal reliance, trustful acceptance of Divine truth, of Divine work, of the Divine Worker and Lord^. And if we venture to ask why such reliance takes this unique place in the process of salvation, we may reply with reverence that, so far as we can see into the mysterious fact, it is because the essence of such reliance is a going 1 Fides est fidncia (Luther). See this admirably developed and illustrated by J. C. Hare, Victory oj Faitli, pp. 15 — 22 (ed. 1847). 94 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. lo. lo Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith : that / forth from self to God, a bringing of nothing in order to receive every- thing. There is thus a moral fitness in faith to be the saving contact and recipient, while yet all ideas of moral ivorthiness and deserv- ingness are decisively banished from it. It is fit to receive the Divine gift, just as a hand, not clean perhaps but empty, is fit to receive a mate- rial gift. Certainly in the reasonings of St Paul every effort is made to bring out the thought that salvation by faith means in effect salva- tion by Christ only and wholly, received by sinful man, as sinful man, simply and directly in and by personal reliance on God's word. The sinner is led off, in a happy oblivion of himself, to simple and entire rest in his Saviour. the righteousness -which is of God'\ On the word "righteousness" see above, note 2 on this verse. Here, practically, it means acceptance, welcome, as a child and saint, in Christ and for Christ's sake. " Of God": — lit., '■'■out of God," originating wholly in Him, uncaused by anything in man. Its origin is the Father's love, its reason and security, the Son's merits, its conveyance, the Holy Spirit uniting the sinner in faith to the Son. For some good remarks, of caution as well as assertion, on justifying righteousness, see G. S. Faber's Primitive Doctrine of 'Justification, ch. i., pp. 25 — 32, with footnotes (ed. 1839). by faith'] Lit., upon faith ; in view of, under circumstances of, faith. We may render, "on condition of faith." But faith, in the Pauline view, is not a mere condition ; it is the recipient act and state. It is a condition, not as paying for a meal is a condition to getting good from it, but as eating it is a condition. On the doctrine of this verse cp. the Sermon of Salvation (being the third in the First Book of Homilies), referred to in Art. xi. as "the Homily of Justification"; and the short treatise of Bp Hopkins, of Londonderry (cent. 17), The Doctrine of the Two Covenants. See further Appendix F; and cp. at large O'Brien, Nature and Effects of Faith, and Hooker's Discourse of Justification, esp. §§ 3 — 6, 31 — 34. 10. That I 7nay kmnv him] In order to know Him. For the con- struction, cp. e.g. I Cor. X. 13. — Observe the sequence of thought. He embraces "the righteousness which is of God on terms of faith," and renounces " a righteousness of his own" as a means to the end here stated — the spiritual knowledge of Christ and of His power to sanc- tify and glorify by assimilation to Himself. In order to that end, he thankfully "submits Himself to the righteousness of God" (Rom. x. 3; cp. 1 Pet. i. 2) ; accepts the Divine justification for the merit's sake of Jesus Christ alone; knowing, with the intuition of a soul enlightened by grace, that in such submission lies the secret of such assimilation. Welcoming Christ as his one ground of peace with God, he not only enters at the same time on spiritual contact with Christ as Life from God, but also gets such a view of himself and his Redeemer as to affect profoundly his whole intercourse with Christ, and the eftects of that intercourse on his being. V. lo.l PHILIFPIANS, III. 95 may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the Ver. lo is thus by no means a restatement of ver. 9. It gives an- other range of thought and truth, in deep and strong connexion. To use a convenient classification, ver. 9 deals with Justification, ver. 10 with Sanctification in relation to it. " That I 7uay know Him ": — the Greek seems to imply a decisive act of knowledge rather than a process. A lifelong process is sure to result from the act; for the Object of the act " passeth knowledge" (Eph. iii. 19). But the act, the decisive getting acquaifited with what Christ is, is in immediate view. A far-reaching insight into flim in His glory of grace has a natural connexion with the spiritual act of sub- missive faith in Him as our Sacrifice and Righteousness. Cp. Joh. vi. 56. On this "knowledge" of recognition and intuition, cp. ver. 8, and notes. the power of his resurrection'] A phrase difficult to exhaust in expo- sition. The Lord's Resurrection is spiritually powerful as {a) eviden- cing the justification of believers (Rom. iv. 24, 25, and by all means cp. I Cor. XV. 14, 17, 18); as {b) assuring them of their own bodily resur- rection (i Cor. XV. 20, &c. ; i Thess. iv. 14); and yet more as {c) lieing that which constituted Him actually the life-giving Second Adam, the Giver of the Spirit who unites the members to Him the Vital Head (Joh. vii. 39, XX. 22; Acts ii. 33; cp. Eph. iv. 4 — 16). This latter aspect of truth is prominent in the Epistles to Ephesus and Colossce, written at nearly the same period of St Paul's apostolic work ; and we have here, very probably, a passing hint of what is unfolded there. The thought of the Lord's Resurrection is suggested here to his mind by the thought, not expressed but implied in the previous context, of the Atoning Death on which it followed as the Divine result. This passage indicates the great truth that while our acceptance in Christ is always based upon His propitiatory work for us, our power for service and endurance in His name is vitally connected with His life as the Risen One, made ours by the Holy Spirit. Cp. further Rom. v. 10, vi. 4 — 11, vii. 4, viii. 11; 2 Cor. iv. 10; Eph. ii. 6; Col. iii. i — 4; Heb. xiii. 20, 21. the fellowship of his sufferings] Entrance, in measure, into His experience as the Sufferer. The thought recurs to the Cross, but in connexion now with Example, not with Atonement. St Paul deals with the fact that the Lord who has redeemed him has done it at the severest cost of pain ; and that a moral and spiritual necessity calls His redeemed ones, who are united vitally to Him, to "carry the cross," in their measure, for His sake, in His track, and by His Spirit's power. And he implies that this cross- bearing, whatever is its special form, this acceptance of affiiction of any sort as for and from Him, is a deep secret of entrance into spiritual intimacy with Christ ; into "knowledge of Him." Cp. further Rom. viii. 17, 37; 2 Cor. i. 5, iv. 11, xii. 9, to; Col. i. 24; 2 Tim. ii. 12; i Pet. iv. 13; Rev. iii. 10. 96 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. lo. fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto beitig made conformable'] Better, with R.V., becoming conformed. Tlie Greek construction is free, but clear. — The Lord's Death as the supreme expression of His love and of His holiness, and the supreme act of His surrender to the Father's will, draws the soul of the Apostle with spiritual magnetic force to desire, and to experience, assimilation of character to Him who endured it. The holy Atonement wrought by it is not here in direct view ; he is full of the thought of the revela- tion of the Saviour through His Passion, and of the bliss of harmony in will with Him so revealed. No doubt the Atonement is not for- gotten ; for the inner glory of the Lord's Death as Example is never fully seen apart from a sight of its propitiatory purpose. But the im- mediate thought is that of spiritual harmony with the dying Lord's state of will. Cp. 2 Cor. iv. 10. 11. if by any means] For the strong language of contingency here cp. i Cor. ix. 27. Taken along with such expressions of exulting assurance as Rom. viii. 31 — 39; 2 Tim. i. 12; and indeed with the whole tone of "joy and peace in believing" (Rom. xv. 13) which pervades the Scriptures, we may fairly say that it does not imply the uncertainty of the final glory of the true saint. It is language which views vividly, in isolation, one aspect of the "Pilgrim's Progress " towards heaven ; the aspect of our need of continual watching, self-surrender, and prayer, in order to the development of that likeness without which heaven would not be heaven. The other side of the matter is the efficacy and perseverance of the grace which comes out in our watching ; without which we should not watch; which "predestinates" us "to be conformed to the image of the Son of God" (Rom. viii. 29). The mystery lies, as it were, between two apparently parallel lines ; the reality of an omnipotent grace, and the reality of the believer's duty. As this line or that is regarded, in its entire reality, the language of assurance or of contin- gency is appropriate. But the parallel lines, as they seem now, prove at last to converge in glory (Joh. vi. 39, 40, 44, 54, x. 27 — 29 ; Rom. viii. 30; I Thess. v. 23, 24). See Hooker's Sermon Of the Certainty and Perpetuity of Faith in the Elect, especially the closing paragraphs. I might] Lit., and here better, with R.V., I may. the resurrection of the dead] The better supported reading gives, as R.V., tbe resurrection from the dead. The phrase implies a certain leaving behind of "the dead"; and this is further emphasized in the Greek, where the noun rendered "resurrection" is the rare word exan- astasis, i.e. the common word [anastdsis] for resurrection, strengthened by the preposition meaning "from." This must not, however, be pressed far; later Greek has a tendency towards compounding words without necessarily strengthening the meaning. It is the setting of the word here which makes an emphasis in it likely. — It has been inferred that St Paul here refers to a special and select resurrection, so to speak, and that this is "the first resurrection" of Rev. xx. 5, 6, interpreted as a vv. II, 12.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 97 his death ; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrec- n tion of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, 12 literal resurrection of either all saints or specially privileged saints, be- fore that of the mass of mankind. (Such an interpretation of Rev. xx. appears as early as Tertullian, cent. 2, de MotiogayniA, c. x.). But against this explanation here lies the fact that St Paul nowhere else makes any itnmistakable reference to such a prospect (i Cor. xv. 23, 24 is not decisive, and certainly not i Thess. iv. 16); and that this makes it unlikely that he should refer to it here, where he manifestly is dealing with a grand and ruling article of his hope. We explain it accordingly of the glorious prospect of the Resurrection of the saints in general. And we account for the special phrase by taking him to be tilled with the thought of the Lord's I-lesurrection as the pledge and, so to speak, tlie summary of that of His people ; and His Resurrection was emphatically "from the dead."— Or it may be that we have here to explain '"the dead" as a term of abstract reference, meaning prac- tically "the state of the dead," the world of death. — In any case, the phrase refers to "the resurrection of life" (Dan. xii. 2; Joh. v. 29); "the resurrection of the just" (Luke xiv. 14) ; differenced from that of "the unjust" (Acts xxiv. 15), whether or no in time, certainly in an awful distinction of conditions and results. The blessed resurrection is here called '■^ the resurrection" as the l^le.ssed life is called "///c life" (e.g. I John v. 12). The antithesis is not non-resurrection, and non-exist- ence, but such resurrection, and such existence, as are ruin and woe. — It is observable that the Apostle here implies his expectation of death, to be followed by resurrection ; not of survival till the Lord's Return. Cp. 2 Cor. iv. 1 4. 12 — 16. On the other hand, his spiritual condition is one of progress, not perfection. 12. Not as though &c.] This reserve, so emphatic and solemn, appears to be suggested by the fact, brouglit out more fully below (vv. 18, 19), of the presence of a false teaching which represented the Christian as already in such a sense arrived at his goal as to be lifted beyond responsibility, duty, and progress. No, says St Paul ; he has in- deed "gained Christ," and is "found in Him, having the righteousness of God"; he "knows" his Lord, and His power ; but none the less he is still called to humble himself, to recollect that the process of grace is never complete below, and that from otie point of view its coming com- pletion is always linked with the saint's faithful watching and prayer, the keeping open of the "eyes ever toward the Lord" (Psal. xxv. 15). attained'\ Better, received, or, with R.V., obtained; for the verb is not the same as that in ver. 11. (It is the same as that in Rev. iii. ii.) The thought of "///f croivn" is probably to be supplied. See below, on ver. 14. — R.V. renders, rather more lit., " Not that I have already attained.'''' But the construction of A.V. well represents the Greek. — Some documents here add "or have been already justified'" ; but the evidence is decisive against this insertion. PHILIPPIANS. 7 98 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 13. either were already perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of 13 Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have ap- were already perfect] Better, have toeen already perfected. The process was incomplete which was to develope his being for tlie life of glory, in which "we shall be like Him" (i Joh, iii. 3; cp. Rom. viii. 29); a promise implying that we are never so here, completely. Cp. the Greek of Rom. xii. 2; 2 Cor. iii. 18; in which the holy "transfor- mation" is presented as a process, advancing to its ideal, not yet arrived there. And see further below, on ver. 15. The Greek verb, and its kindred noun, were used technically in later ecclesiastical Greek of the death of martyrs (and of monks, in a remark- able passage of Chrysostom, Horn. xiv. on i Tim.), viewed as spe- cially glorious and glorified saints. But no such limitation appears in Scripture. In Heb. xii. 23 the reference plainly is to the whole com- pany of the holy departed : who have entered, as they left the body, on the heavenly rest, the eternal close of the state of discipline. Cp. Wisdom iv. 13; "he [the just man], in short {st3S,on) perfected, fulfilled long times." I follow after] R. V., I press on. The thought of the race, with its goal and crown, is before him. Cp. i Cor. ix. 24 — 27; Gal. ii. 2, v. 7; 2 Tim. ii. 5, iv. 7; Heb. xii. i. if that I may] Better, if indeed I may. On this language of con- tingency, see note above on ver. 11. apprehend] i.e., grasp. Cp. i Cor. ix. 24. All the English ver- sions before 161 1 have ^''comprehend'''' here. Both verbs now bear meanings which tend to mislead the reader here. The Greek verb is that rendered '■^receive" or '■'■obtain," just above, only in a stronger (compound) form. He thinks of the promised crown, till in thought he not merely "receives" but "grasps" it, with astonished joy. that for zvhich also &c.] The Greek may be rendered grammatically either (a) thus, or {b) ^'inasmuch as I tvas even &c." Usage in St Paul (Rom. V. 12; 2 Cor. v. 4) is in favour of (1^); context is rather for (a), which is adopted by Ellicott, and Alford, and in R.V. (text ; margin gives {b)). Lightfoot does not speak decidedly. We recommend {a) for reasons difficult to explain without fuller discussion of the Greek than can be offered here. — The meaning will thus be that he presses on to grasp the crown, with the animating thought that Christ, in the hour of conversion, grasped him with the express purpose in view that he, through the path of faith and obedience, might be glorified at last. Cp. Rom. viii. 30; where we see the "call" as the sure antecedent not to justification only but to glory ; but antecedent in such a way as powerfully to cheer and strengthen the suffering saint in the path of the cross, not to leave him for a moment to fatalistic inaction. The rendering (b) gives a meaning not far distant from this, though less distinctly. Christ yes!ts] Read, with the documentary evidence, Christ. vv. 14, 15.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 99 prehended : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward tlie mark for the prize of 14 the high caUing of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, is 13. Brethren] A direct loving appeal, to restate and enforce wliat he has just said. / count not myself] "I" and "myself" are both emphatic in the Greek. Whatever others may think of themselves, this is his deliberate estimate of himself. He has in view the false teachers more clearly indicated below, vv. 18, 19. but this one thing I do] " One thing" is perhaps in antithesis to the implied opposite idea of the '■'■ mmiy things," of experience or attain- ment, contemplated by the teacher of antinomian perfection. forgetting] Avoiding all complacent, as against grateful, reflection. behind] He does not say "around" or "present." The unwearied runner is already beyond any given point just reached. reachittg forth] The Greek (one compound verb) gives the double thought of the runner stretching out his head and body towards his goal. Lightfoot remarks that the imagery might apply to the racing charioteer, bending, lash in hand, over his horses (Virgil, Georg. in. 106) ; but that the charioteer, unlike the runner, would need often to look back, and that this, with the habitual use by St Paul of the simile of the foot-race, assures us that the runner is meant here. those... before] "more and more, unto the perfect day" (Prov. iv. 18). Each new occasion, small or great, for duty or suffering, would be a new "lap" (to translate technically St Chrysostom's word here) of the course; would give opportunity for "growth in the grace and know- ledge of the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. iii. 18). "To increase more and more" (i Thess. iv. 10) was his idea of the life of grace for others; but above all, for himself. 14. the mark] R.V., ''the goal:' But the Greek word is, like "mark," a general rather than a special one, and used in the classics rather of archery than of racing. The verse might be roughly but closely rendered, "mark-wards I haste, towards the prize &c."; I run with a definite aim, and that aim is to win the prize. Cp. i Cor. ix. 26 ; "I so run, not as uncertaitily." the prize] The same word occurs i Cor. ix. 24, and not elsewhere in N.T. It is very rare in secular Greek, but is connected with the common word for the arbiter or umpire who awarded the athletic prize. In Christian Latin (e.g. in the Latin versions here) it appears trans- literated, as bravium (or brabiwti). The "prize" is "the crown," glory everlasting as the blessed result and triumph of the work of grace, of the life of faith. Cp. Rev. ii. 10; and esp. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. the high calling] Lit., "■ the 2ipivard, or tipper calling:'' The Latin versions have superior vocatio, superna vocatio. The word rendered "■high" is the same as that rendered Gal. iv. 26 as "Jerusalem which is above": and cp. Joh. viii. 23, "I am from {the things') ohoz'c:' — The 7—2 loo PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. IS. as many as he perfect, be thus minded : and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto "calling" in St Paul's case was doubtless to be an Apostle (Alford), but it was first and most to be a Christian, and the whole tone of this great passage is in favour of this latter thought. He is dealing with his own spiritual experience as a general model. — This "calling" is "celestial," at once in origin, operation, and final issue. Cp. Col. iii. I, 2; 2 Thess. ii. 14. In the Epistles the words "call," "calling," denote not merel)' the external invitation but the internal and effectual drawing of the soul by grace. See in illustration i Cor. i. 23, 24. It corresponds nearly to the common use of the word "conversion." — Contrast the use of "call" in the Gospels; Matt. xx. 16, xxii. 14. of God in Christ Jesus'\ The Father is the Caller (as Rom. viii. 29, 30; Gal. i. 15 ; 2 Tim. i. 9; i Pet. v. 10 &c.), and the call is "in" the Son ; it is conveyed through the Son, and takes effect in union with Him, in embodiment in Him. For the pregnant construction cp. I Cor. vii. 22. 15. perfect^ An adjective^ not a perfect participle, as was the kin- dred word ("perfected'') in ver. 12. — Is there a contradiction between this place and that? On the surface, but not really. The Apostle appears to be taking up the favourite word of teachers who upheld some phase of "perfectionism," and using it, with loving irony, on the side of truth; as if to say, "Are you, are we, ideal Chx'\si\a.ns, perfect Christians, all that Christians should be? Then among the things that should be in our character is a holy discontent with, and criticism of, our own present attainment. The man in this sense 'perfect^ will be sure to think himself not perfected." — And it is important to remember that the Greek word rendered "perfect" is an elastic word. It may mean "adult," "mature," as against infantine; cp. Heb. v. 13, 14. A "perfect" Christian in this respect may have spiritual y(?«^//jj/ well developed, and yet be very far from "perfected" in spiritual character. — Such considerations, in the light of this whole passage, will do any- thing for such a Christian rather than teach him to tolerate sin in himself; they will at once keep him humble and contrite, and animate him to ever fresh developments in and by Christ. be...7ninded\ The same word as that in i. 7, ii. 2, 5, where see notes. God shall reveaf] by the action of His Holy Spirit on heart, mind, and will, amidst the discipline of life. There need not be any new verbal revelation, but there would be a new inward revelation of the correspondence of the inspired Word with the facts of the soul, and so a fresh light on those facts.— Such language implies the Apostle's certainty of his commission as the inspired messenger of Christ; it would otherwise be the language of undue assumption. Cp. Gal. i. 6 — 12. 16. Nevertheless] Better, with R.V., only; a word, like the Greek, of less contrast and easier transition. attained] Not the same Greek verb as that in ver. 12, though R.V. (with A.V.) gives the same English. The verb here is properly used, vv. i6, 17.] PHILIPPIANS, III. loi you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let 16 us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same tiling. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them 17 in classical Greek, of anticipation (so i Thess. iv. 15), arrival before- hand, rapid arrival. Later, and so ordinarily in N.T., it loses much at least of this speciality, and means little besides "to reach," "to arrive." Still, a shadow of the first meaning may be traced in most places; a suggestion of an arrival which is either sudden, or achieved in spite of obstacles. The latter idea would be in place here, where the metaphor of the race with its difficulties is still present; as if to say, " whereunto we have succecdt'd in arriving." — The verb is in the aorist, but the English perfect is obviously right. let us -walk by the same &c.] The Greek verb is in the infinitive, "to walk"; a frequent idiomatic substitute for the mood of command or appeal. Apparently this construction is always used in address to others (see Alford here), and thus we should render ''walk ye &c. " — The verb here rendered "walk" means not only movement on the feet in general, but orderly and guided walking, stepping along a line. The appeal is to take care of Christian consistency in detail, up to the full present light, on the unchanging principles of the Gospel, which are essentially "the same" for all. And there is a reference, doubtless, in the words "the same," to the Philippians' tendency to differences of opinion and feeling. The words after ''by the same^'' are an excellent explanation, but not part of the text. Read, in tlie same [path or principle]. 17--21. Application of the thought of progress: warning AGAINST ANTINOMIAN DISTORTION OF THE TRUTH OF GRACE : THE COMING GLORY OF THE BODY, A MOTIVE TO HOLY PURITY. 17. Brethreit] A renewed earnest address, introducing a special message. See above, ver. 13. be followers together of me'\ More lit., become my united imitators. For his appeals to his disciples to copy his example, see iv. 9 ; r Cor. iv. 16 (a passage closely kindred in reference to this), x. 33 — xi. i ; and cp. I Thess. ii. 7, 9; 2 Thess. iii. 7 — 9 ; and Acts xx. 18 — 21, 30 — 35. Such appeals imply not egotism or self confidence, but absolute confi- dence in his message and its principles, and the consciousness that his life, by the grace of God, was moulded on those principles. In the present case, he begs them to "join in imitating" him, in his renun- ciation of self-confidence and spiritual pride, with their terrible risks. mark'] Watch, for imitation. The verb usually means the watching of caution and avoidance (Rom. xvi. 17), but context here decides the other way. The Philippians knew Paul's principles, but to see them they must look at the faithful disciples of the Pauline Gospel among themselves; such as Epaphroditus, on his return, the "true yokefellow" (iv. 3), Clement, and others. I02 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. i8. 18 which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you walk] The common verb, not that noticed just above. It is a very favourite word with St Paul for life in its action and intercourse. See e.g. Rom. xiii. 13, xiv. 15 ; 2 Cor. iv. 2 ; Eph. ii. 10, iv. i; Col. i. 10, iv. S; I Thess. iv. i, 12; 2 Thess. iii. 6. Cp. i Joh. i. 7, ii. 6; 2 Joh. 4; Rev. xxi. 24. " IValk so as &c.": — more lit., with R.V., so walk even as &c. US'] "Shrinking from the egotism of dwelling on his own personal experience, St Paul passes at once from the singular to the plural" (Lightfoot). Timothy and his other best known fellow-workers, Silas certainly (Acts xvi.), if still alive, would be included. ensample] An "Old French" and "Middle English" derivative of the Latin exeniplum (Skeat, Etyni. Did.). The word occurs in A.V. elsewhere, i Cor. x. 11 ; i Thess. i. 7 ; 2 Thess. iii. 9 ; i Pet. v. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 6 ; and in the Prayer Book (Collect for 2nd Sunday after Easter). 18. tnany] Evidently holders of an antinomian parody of the Gospel of grace; see on ver. 12. That there were such in the primeval Church appears also from Rom. xvi. 17 — 18 (a warning to Rome, as \\{\% from Rome); i Cor. v., vi. To them Rom. iii. 31, vi. i, refer, and Eph. v. 6. There may have been varieties under a common moral likeness ; some perhaps taking the view afterwards prominent in -Gnosticism — that matter is essentially evil, and that the body therefore is no better for moral control ; some (and in the Roman Epistle these surely are in view), pushing the truth of Justification into an isolation which per- verted it into deadly error, and teaching that the believer is so accepted in Christ that his personal actions are indifferent in the sight of God. Such growths of error, at once subtle and outrageous, appear to cha- racterize, as by a mysterious law, every great period of spiritual advance and illumination. Compare the phenomena (cent. 16) of the Libertines at Geneva and the Prophets of Zwickau in Germany. Indeed few periods of Christian history have escaped such trials. The false teachers in view here were no doubt broadly divided from the Judaists, and in most cases honestly and keenly opposed to them. But it is quite possible that in some cases the "the extremes met" in such a way as to account for the mention here of both in one context, in this chapter. The sternest formal legalism has a fatal tendency to slight "the weightier matters of the law," and heart-purity among them ; and history has shewn cases in which it has tolerated a social libertinism of the worst kind, irrevocably condemned by the true Gospel of free grace. Still, the persons referred to in this section were those who positively "■gloried in their shame"; and this points to an avowed and dogmatic antinomianism. The "■many'" of this verse is an instructive reminder of the formid- able internal difficulties of the apostolic Church. / have told you] Lit. and better, I used to tell you, in the old days of personal intercourse. This makes it the more likely that the V. 19.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 103 even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ : whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, 19 and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. ) antinomians were not of the gnostic type of the later Epistles, but of that of the Ep. to the Romans, perverters of the doctrine of free grace. weeping\ Yeai-s had only given him new and bitter experience of the deadly results.— For St Paul's tears, cp. Acts xx. 19, 31; 2 Cor. ii. 4. We are reminded of the tears of his Lord, Luke xix. 41 ; tears which like these indicate at once the tenderness of the mourner and the awfulness and certainty of the coming ruin. See a noble sermon by A. Monod (in his series on St Paul), Son Christianisme, ou ses Larmes. An extract is given. Appendix G. the enemies of the cross'X As deluding their followers and themselves into the horrible belief that its purpose was to give the reins to sin, and as thus disgracing it in the eyes of unbelieving observers. " The cross" here, undoubtedly, means the holy propitiation of the Lord's Death. For the Divine connexion of it as such with holiness of heart and life see the argument of Rom. iii. — vi. ; Gal. v. 19. end'\ A word of awful and hopeless import. Cp. Rom. vi. 21; 1 Cor. xi. 15; Heb. vi. 8; 1 Pet. iv. 17. destruction^ R.V., perdition. See on i. 28. their belly\ Lit. and better, the belly. Cp. Rom. xvi. i8 for the same word in the same connexion. See too i Cor. vi. 13. The word obviously indicates here the sensual appetites generally, not only glut- tony in food. Venter in Latin has the same reference. See Lightfoot. The Antinomian boasted, very possibly, of an exalted spiritual liberty and special intimacy with God. whose glory is in their shamed It is implied that they claimed a "glory"; probably in such " liberty" as we have just indicated. They set up for the true Christian philosophers, and advanced dogmatists. (Cp. Rom. xvi. quoted above.) But in fact their vaunted system was exactly their deepest disgrace. who mind earthly things)] For a closely kindred phrase, in the nega- tive, see Col. iii. 2 ; and observe the context, ver. 5 &c. And for the meaning of "mind" here see notes on i. 7, ii. 2, above. The Antinomian claimed to live in an upper region, to be so conver- sant with celestial principles as to be rid of terrestrial restraints of letter, and precept, and custom. As a fact, his fine-spun theory was a transparent robe over the corporeal lusts which were his real interests. The Greek construction of this clause is abrupt, but clear. 20. For'\ The A.V., by marking vv. 18, 19 as a parenthesis, con- nects this " for" with ver. 17. But there is no need for this. A sup- pressed link of thought is easily seen and expressed between vv. 19, 20; somewhat thus: "such principles and practices are wholly alien to ours; for &c. " In a grave oral address or dialogue such links have I04 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 20. For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we often to be supplied, and the Apostle's written style is a very near approach to the oral. A reading "■ But,'^ or "iVow," has much support in early quota- tions, but none in MSS. See Lightfoot here. om-\ He refers to the "ensamples" mentioned ver. 17, as distin- guished from their opponents. Or perhaps we should say, from their false friends. For very possibly these antinomians claimed to be the true disciples of Pauline truth, the true exponents of free grace as against legalism. conversation'] R.V. '■'■citizenship'''; margin, '•commonwealth." The A.V. is the rendering also of all our older versions, except Wyclif's, which has "lyuyng." It represents the conversatio of the Latin ver- sions, a word which means not "mutual speech" but "the intercourse of life" (see on i. 27); and the meaning is thus, in effect, that "w^ live on earth as those whose home is in heaven" — The same English is found (in A.V.) Psalm 1. 23 ; 2 Cor. i. 12 ; Gal. i. 13 ; Eph. ii. 3, iv. 22 ; above i. 27 (where see note); &c. But the Greek in all these places is quite different from the Greek here, where the word is politeuma (connected with polls, city, polites, citizen), a word which occurs no- where else in N.T., nor in LXX., nor in the Apocrypha. In classical Greek it denotes (a) a "■measure," or '^policy," of state; {b) the governing body of a state, its "government" ; [c) the constitution of a state, including the rights of its citizens. On the whole, this last meaning best suits the present context, or at least approaches it most nearly. What the Apostle means is that Christians are citizens of the heavenly City, enrolled on its register, free of its privileges, and, on the other hand, "obliged by the nobility" of such a position to live, whether in the City or not as yet, as those who belong to it and repre- sent it. "Our citizenship, our civic status, is in heaven," fairly gives this thought. In the anonymous Epistle to Diognetus, a Christian writing of cent. 2 (printed with the works of St Justin), a sentence occurs (c. 5) which well illustrates this passage, and perhaps refers to it, and is in itself nobly true: "Christians, as dwellers, are on earth, as citizens, in heaven." — The verb cognate to the noun here is used there; see, on the verb, note on i. 27 above. w] More strictly and fully, subsists. See second note on ii. 6 above', where the same word occurs. The thought is that the " citizen- shii>" is at any moment an antecedent and abiding fact, on which the citizen may fall back. in heaven'] Lit., in (the) heavens; as often in N.T. On this plural see note on Eph. ii. 10, in this Series. — Cp. Gal. iv. 26; Heb. xii. 22; Rev. iii. 12 (where see Abp Trench's full note, Epistles to the Seven Churches, pp. 183 — 187), xxi., xxii., for the revealed conception of the heavenly City, the Ourdnopolis, as it is finely called by St Clement of Alexandria (cent. 2), and Eusebius of Cassarea (cent. 4); and other Greek Fathers use the word oiiranopolites of the Christian. — The great treatise of St Augustine (cent. 4 — 5), On the City {Civitas) t> V. 21.] PHILIPPIANS, 111. 105 look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : who shall 21 of God, contains a wealth of illustration of the idea of this verse. To Augustine, writing amidst the wreck of Old Rome (about A.D. 420), the Christian appears as citizen of a State which is the antithesis not of human order, which is of God, and which is promoted by the true citizens of heaven, but of "the world," which is at enmity with Him. This State, or City, is now existing and operating, through its members, but not to be consummated and fully revealed till the eternity of glory shall come in (see Smith's Diet, of Chrislian Biography, I., p. 221). The thought of the Holy City was dear to St Augustine. The noble medieval lines. Me receptet Syon ilia, Urbs bcata, urhs tranquil/a, (quoted at the close of Longfellow's Golden Legend), are taken almost verbally from Augustine, de Spiritu et Anima, c. Ix. See Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, p. 332 (and cp. pp. 312 — 320). from whence'] Lit., ''out of which (place).'''' The pronoun is singu- lar, and so cannot refer directly to the plural noun, ''the heavens." The construction must be either [a) a merely adverbial one, an equiva- lent for the adverb "whence''^; or (b) the pronoun must refer back to the noun politcuma (on which see above). In the latter case, we must suppose that the idea of citizenship suggests, and passes into, that of city, the local home of the citizens, and the word denoting citizenship is treated as if it denoted city^. The solution (a) is no doubt simpler, but clear evidence for the usage (where ideas oi place are in view), is not apparent, though the fact is asserted (e.g. by Winer, Grammar of N. T. Greek, Moulton's Ed., p. 177). Happily the grammatical pro- blem leaves the essential meaning of the clause quite clear. 7ve look for] Better, with R.V., we wait for. Tlie form of the verb implies a waiting full of attention, perseverance, and desire. The verb occurs elsewhere, Rom. viii. 19, 23, 25; i Cor. i. 7; Gal. v. 5; Heb. ix. 28; I Pet. iii. 20. Of these passages all but Gal. (?) and i Pet. refer to the longed for Return of the Lord, the blessed goal of the believer's hope. Cp. Luke xii. 35 — 38; Acts i. 11, iii. 20, 21; Rom. viii. [8, 23 — 25, xiii. II, 12 ; I Cor. xi. 26, xv. 23, &c.; Col. iii. 4; i Thess. i. 10, ii. 19, iii. 13, iv. 14 — v. 10, 23; 2 Thess. i. 7 — 10; i Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tiro., ii. II, 12, iv. 8 ; Tit. ii. 13; Heb. x. 25, 37; Jas. v. 7, 8; i Pet. i_. 7, 13, iv. 13, V. 4 ; 2 Pet. iii. 4, 9, 13 ; r John ii. 28, iii. 2, 3 ; Rev. ii. 25, xxii. 20. the Saviour &c.] There is no article in the Greek ; and therefore render, perhaps, as our Saviour, the Lord &c. The A.V. is by no means untenable grammatically, but the word "Saviour" is so placed as to suggest not only emphasis but predicative force. And the deep connexion in the N.T. between the Lord's Return and the full and final "salvation" of the believer's being (cp. esp. Rom. xiii. n) gives a natural fitness to this use of the holy Title here. I We might thus perhaps render, or explain, politciona by " seat of citizenship." io6 PHILIPPIANS, III. [v. 21. change our vile body, that it may be fashioned Uke unto "7%^ Lo7-d Jesus Christ'": — this full designation of the Blessed Person suits the tone of solemn hope and joy in the passage. 21. chattge] The Greek verb is cognate to the word schema, on which see second note on ii. 8. It occurs also i Cor. xi. 13, 14, 15, and, with a different reference of thought, 1 Cor. iv. 6. Its use here implies that, in a sense, the change would be superficial. Already, in the "new creation" (2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. vi. 15) of the saint the essen- tials of the glorified being are present. Even for the body the pledge and reason of its glory is present where the Holy indwelling Spirit is, (Rom. viii. 11). And thus the final transfiguration will be, so to speak, a change of "accidents," not of "essence." "Now are we the sons of God ; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be" (i John iii. 2). our vile body'] Lit., and far better, tLe l)Ody of oxir humiliation. Wyclif has " whiche schal refourme the bodi of oure mekenesse"; the Rhemish version, "the body of our humilitie"; Beza's Latin version, corpus nostrum humile ; Luther, tinserti nichtigen Leib. All paraphrases here involve loss or mistake. The body transfigured by the returning Lord is the body "of our humiliation" as being, in its present conditions, inseparably connected with the burthens and limitations of earth; demanding, for its sustenance and comfort, a large share of the energies of the spirit, and otherwise hindering the spirit's action in many directions. Not because it is material, for the glorified body, tliough "spiritual" (i Cor. xv. 44), will not be spirit ; but because of the mysterious effect of man's having fallen as an em- bodied spirit. The body is thus seen here, in its present condition, to be rather the "humbling" body than "vile" (Lat., vilis, '■'cheap''''), "humble." Observe meanwhile that peculiar mystery and glory of the Gospel, a promise of eternal being and blessedness for the body of the saint. To the ancient philosopher, the body was merely the prison of the spirit; to the Apostle, it is its counterpart, destined to share with it, in profound harmony, the coming heaven. Not its essential nature, but its distorted condition in the Fall, makes it now the clog of the renewed spirit; it shall hereafter be its wings. This is to take place, as the N.T. consistently reveals, not at death, but at the Return of Christ. The bearing of this passage on the error of the libertine, who "sinned against his own body" (i Cor. vi. 18), is manifest. that it may be fashioned like] One word, an adjective, in the Greek ; we may render, nearly with R.V., (to be) conformed. The word is akin to morphS, ii. 6, where see note. It is implied that the coming conformity to our Blessed Lord's Body shall be in appearance because in reality ; not a mere superficial reflection, but a likeness of consti- tution, of nature. unto his glorious body] Lit. and better, the body of His glory; His sacred human body, as He resumed it in Resurrection, and carried V. 21.] PHILIPPIANS, III. 107 his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue, all things unto himself. # it up in Ascension^ and is manifested in it to the Blessed. — "Of His glory"" ; because perfectly answering in its conditions to His personal Exaltation, and, so far as He pleases, the vehicle of its display. A foresight of what it now is was given at the Transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 2, and parallels); and St Paul had had a moment's glimpse of it as it is, at his Conversion (Acts ix. 3, 17, xxii. 14; i Cor. ix. i, xv. 8). Our future likeness in body to His body is alone foretold here, without allusion to its basis in the spiritual union and resemblance, wrought in us now by the Holy Spirit (e.g. 2 Cor. iii. 18), and to be consummated then (i John iii. 2). But this latter is of course deeply implied here. The sensual heresies which the Apostle is dealing with lead him to this exclusive view of the glorious future of the saint's body. It is plain from this passage, as from others (see esp. i Cor. xv. 42 — 44, 53), that the saint's body of glory is continuous with that of his humilia- tion; not altogether a "new departure" in subsistence. But when we have said this, our certainties in the question cease, lost in the mysterious problems of the nature of matter. The Blessed will be "the same," body as well as spirit; truly continuous, in their whole being, in full identity, with the pilgrims of time. But no one can say that to this identity will be necessary the presence in the glorified body of any given particle, or particles, of the body of humiliation, any more than in the mortal body it is necessary to its identity (as far as we know) that any particle, or particles, present in youth should be also present in old age. However, in the light of the next words this question may be left in peace. Be the process and conditions what they may, in God's will, somehow " Before the judgment seat, Though changed and glorified each face. Not unremembered [we shall] meet, For endless ages to embrace." {Christian Year, St Andrew's Day.) accordim^ to the ivorking whereby &c.] More lit., according to the working of His being able. The word ''mighty'' in the A.V. (not given in the other English versions) is intended to represent the special force of the Greek word energeia (see note on the kindred verb, ii. 12); but it is too strong. '■'Active,''' or even "actual," would be more exact; but these are not really needed. The "working" is the positive putting forth of the always present '■'ability." even to subdue all things unto himself\ '■'Even" precedes and in- tensifies the whole following thought. Elsewhere the Father appears as "subduing all enemies," "all '. '^'^^. Ascension may well have been, as many theologians have held, a further glorification, the crown of mysterious processes carried on through the Forty Days. We see hints of the present majesty of the Lord's celestial Body in the mystical language of Rev. i. 14 — 16. io8 PHILIPPIANS, IV. Iv. u 4 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly things," to the Son. Cp. i Cor. xv. 25 (and Ps. ex. 1), 27 (and Ps. viii. 6). But the Father "hath given to the Son to have life in Himself" (John v. 26—29), ^'^'^ therefore power. The will of the Father takes effect through the will of the Son, One -with Him. ^'' All things'" : — and therefore all conditions or obstacles, impersonal or personal, that oppose the prospect of the glorification of His saints. Cp. Rom. viii. 38, 39; i Cor. iii. 21 — 23. " Unto Himself" : — so that they shall not only not obstruct His action, but subserve it. His very enemies shall be — " His footstool, ^^ and He shall "be glorified in His saints" (2 Thess. i. 10). And through this great victory of the Son, the Father will be supremely glorified. See i Cor. xv. 28 ; a prediction beyond our full understand- ing, but which on the one hand does not mean that in the eternal Future the Throne will cease to be "the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. xxii. i, 3), and on the other points to an infinitely developed manifestation in eternity of the glory of the Father in the Son. Mean- while, the immediate thought of this passage is the almightiness, the coming triumph, and the present manhood, of the Christian's Saviour. Ch. IV. 1 — 7. With such a rRosPECX, and such a Saviour, LET THEM BE STEADFAST, UNITED, JOYFUL, SELF-FORGETFUL, RESTFUL, PRAYERFUL, AND THE PEACE OF GOD SHALL BE THEIRS. 1. Thereforel In view of such a hope, and such a Lord, dearly beloved] Omit ^^ dearly f which is not in the Greek; though assuredly in the tone of the passage. The word "beloved " is a favourite with all the apostolic writers ; a characteristic word of the Gospel of holy love. St Paul uses it 27 times of his converts and friends. longed for\ The word occurs here only in N.T., but the cognate verb occurs i. 6, ii. 26, and cognate nouns Rom. xv. 23; 2 Cor. vii. 7, II. The address here is full of deep personal tenderness, and of longing desire to revisit Philippi. my joy and crown] Cp. the like words to the sister Church in Macedonia, i Thess. ii. 19, 20, iii. 9; and see 2 Cor. i. 14. The thought of the Day of glory brings up the thought of his recognition of his converts then, and rejoicing over them before the Lord. Mani- festly he expects to know the Philippians, to remember Philippi. so] In such faith, and with such practice, as I have now again enjoined on you. stand fast] The same verb as that i. 27, where see note. And here cp. especially i Cor. xvi. 13; Gal. v. i ; i Thess. iii. 8 (a close parallel, in both word and tone). The Christian is never to stand still, as to growth and service; ever to stand fast, as to faith, hope, and love. in the Lord] In recollection and realization of your vital union vidth vv. 2, 3-] PHILIPPIANS, IV. 109 beloved. I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that 2 they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee 3 also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured Him who is your peace, life, hope, and King. Cp. Eph. vi. 10, and note in this Series. my dearly beloved^ Lit., simply, beloved. His heart overflows, as he turns from the sad view of sin and misbelief to these faithful and loving followers of the holy truth. He can hardly say the last word of love. 2. I beseecli] R.V., I exhort. But the tenderer English word well represents the general tone here, and the Greek fully admits it as a rendering. See e.g. 2 Cor. xii. 8. Observe the repetition of the word. Euodias .. .Syniyche\ Read certainly Euddia, a feminine name. In the versions of Tyndale and Cranmer the second name appears as " SinticAes," intended (like Euodias) to be a masculine name. But such a name is nowhere found in Greek inscriptions, nor is Euodias, though this might be contracted from the known name Euodianus. Both Euodia and Syntyche are 'known feminine names, and the persons here are evidently referred to as women, ver. 3. — Of these two Christians we know nothing but from this mention. They may have been "deaconesses," like Pha_'be (Rom. xvi. i); they were certainly (see ver. 3) active helpers of the Missionary in his days of labour at Philippi. Perhaps their activity, and the reputation it won, had occasioned a temptation to self-esteem and mutual jealousy ; a phenomenon unhappily not rare in the modern Church. — Bp Lightfoot (on this verse, and p. 55 of his edition) remarks on the prominence of women in the narrative of the evangelisation of Macedonia; Acts xvi. 13 — 15, 40, xvii. 4, 12. He gives proof that the social position and influence of Macedonian women was higher than in most ancient communities. See above, Introduction, p. 13. The mention here of two women as import- ant persons in the Philippian Church is certainly an interesting coinci- dence with the Acts. — As a curiosity of interpretation, Ellicott (see also Lightfoot, p. 170) mentions the conjecture of Schwegler that Euodia and Syntyche are really designations of Church-parties, the names being devised and significant. This theory, of course, regards our Epistle as a fabrication of a later generation, intended as an eirenicon. " What will not men affirm?" of the same mind in the Lord'\ They must lay aside pique and prejudice, in the power and peace of their common union with Christ. 3. And I entreat^ Better, Yea, I request, or beg (as in our polite use of that word). also\ Paul was doing what he could to "help" his two converts; his friend at Philippi must "help" too. true yokefelloi.v\ This person can only be conjecturally identified. He may have been a leading episcopus (i. i) at Philippi. He may have been Epaphroditus, as Bp Lightfoot well suggests; charged with this commission by St Paul not only orally, but thus in writing, as a no PHILIPPIANS, IV. [v. 3. with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other sort of credential. One curious conjecture, as old as St Clement of Alexandria (cent. 2) is that it was St Paul's wife^; and it is curious that the older Latin version has diledissime conjux, '■'■ dearest pa7-*-ner." But the word conjux, like "partner," is elastic and ambiguous, and the adjective is masculine. Both the form of the Greek adjective here, and the plain statement in i Cor. vii. of St Paul's celibacy a few years before, not to speak of the unlikelihood, had he been married, of his wife's residence at Philippi, are fatal to this explanation. Another guess is that the word rendered "yokefellow," syzygus, or synzygus is a proper name, and that we should render '■'Syzygus, truly so called." But this, though possible, is unlikely; no such name is found in inscriptions or elsewhere. Wyclif's rendering, "the german felowe," looks strange to modem eyes; it means "thee, germane (genuine) comrade." help those women] Lit., help them (feminine). '■'■Them" means Euodia and Syntyche. The help would come in the way of personal conference and exhortation, with prayer. which'] The Greek is well represented in R.V., for they. laboured with me] Lit., "'strove along zvith 7ne." The verb is the same as that i. 27, where see note. Euodia and Syntyche had aided devotedly in the missionaiy work in their town, perhaps as sharers of special "gifts" (see Acts xxi. 9), or simply as exhorters and instructors of their female neighbours, probably also in loving labours of mercy for the temporal needs of poor converts. Like Phoebe of Cenchreae (Rom. xvi. i) they were perhaps deaconesses. See Appendix C. in the gospel] Cp. i. 5, ii. 22; and below, on ver. 15. with Clement] Does this mean, "Help them, and let Clement and others help also," or, "They strove along with me in the gospel, and Clement and others strove also"? The grammar is neutral in the ques- tion. On the whole, the first explanation seems best to suit the context, for it keeps the subject of the difference between Euodia and Syntyche still in view, which the second explanation scarcely does; and that difference was evidently an important and anxious fact, not to be lightly dismissed. '■^Cletnent" Greek, Clemes: — we have no certain knowledge of his identity. The name was common. It is asserted by Origen (cent. 3) that he is the Clement who was at a later time bishop of Rome, and author of an Epistle to the Corinthians, probably the earliest of extant patristic writings. Eusebius (cent. 4) implies the same belief. There is nothing impossible in this, for a Philippian Christian, migrating to the all-receiving Capital, might very possibly become Chief Pastor there in course of time. But the chronology of the life and work of Clement of Rome is obscure in detail, and some evidence makes him survive till quite A. D. 120, more than half a century later than this: a length of labour likely to be noticed by church historians, if it were the fact. In ' Renan translates the words here (Saint Paul, p. 14S), ma chetc r/>ouse. See Salmon, Introduction to N. T., p. 465, note. vv. 4, 5-] PHILIPPIANS, IV. in my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say, Rejoice. 4 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord s his Epistle (c. xlvii.) he makes special and reverent mention of St Paul; and this is perhaps the strongest point in favour of the identity ; but certainly not decisive. See Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 168. the book of life] Cp. Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xvii. 8, xx, 12, 15, xxi. 27; and Luke X. 10. And see Exod. xxxii. 32, 33; Ps. Ixix. 28, Ixxxvii. 6 ; Isai. iv. 3; Ezek. xiii. 9; Dan. xii. i. The result of comparison of these passages with this seems to be that St Paul here refers to the Lord's "knovkfledge of them that are His" (2 Tim. ii. 19; cp. Joh. x. 27, 28), for time and eternity. All the passages in the Revelation, save iii. 5, are clearly in favour of a reference of the phrase to the certainty of the ultimate salvation of true saints ; particularly xiii. 8, xvii. 8 ; and so too Dan. xii. i, and Luke x. 20. Rev. iii. 5 appears to point in another direction (see Trench on that passage). But in view of the other mentions of the "Book" in the Revelation, the language of iii. 5 may well be only a vivid assertion that the name in question shall be found in an indelible register. Exod. xxxii. and Ps. Ixix. are of course definite witnesses for a possible blotting out from "a book written" by God. But it is at least uncertain whether the book there in view is not the register of life temporal, not eternal. — Practically, the Apostle here speaks of Clement and the rest as having given illustrious proof of their part and lot in that "life eternal" which is "to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent" (Joh. xvii. 3).— The word ''names" powerfully suggests the individuality and speciality of Divine love. 4. Rejoice in the Lord] Cp. iii. i, and note. alway] This word is a strong argument against the rendering "Fare- well" instead of ''Rejoice" "Always" would read strange and un- natural in such a connexion. And cp. i Thess. v. 16. He leads them here above all uncertain and fluctuating reasons for joy, to Him Who is the supreme and unalterable gladness of the be- lieving soul, beneath and above all changes of circumstances and sen- sation. 5. tnoderation] 'R.Y.," forbearance"; mdiXgm," gentleness" -yWycMl, "patience"; Tyndale and Cranmer, "softenes"; Geneva, "patient mynde"; Rheims, "fnodestie"; Lat. versions, modestia; Beza, irquitas; Luther, Lindigkeit. The word is full of interest and significance, and is very difficult of translation. Perhaps forbearance, though inadequate, is a fair rendering. It means in effect considerateness, the attitude of thought and will which in remembrance of others forgets self, and wil- lingly yields up the purely personal claims of self. The "self -less" man is the "moderate" man of this passage; the man who is yielding as air in respect of personal feeling or interest, though firm as a rock in respect of moral principle. See an excellent discussion. Trench, 112 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [v. 6. 6 is at hand. Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and suppUcation with thanksgiving let your requests Sytionyms, § xliii. — The editor may be allowed to refer to a small book of his own in further illustration, Thoughts on the Spiritual Life, ch. iii.f"'^''<T be known, &c.] Trench (quoted above) shews that the quality here commended is essentially, by usage as well as etymology, a thing having to do with life, action, intercourse. For its existence, so to speak, society is necessary. ''Men" must be met and dealt with, and so must "know" it by its practical fruits. ^^ The Lord is at hand": — in the sense oi presence, not o{ coining. Cp. Psal. cxix. (LXX. cxviii.) 151, ''Thou art near, O Lord"; where the Greek is the same. And for the spiritual principle, see Psal. xxxi. 19, 20, cxxi. 5. Not that the deeply calming expectation of the Lord's approaching Return is excluded from thought here ; but Psal. cxix. decides for the other as the leading truth. 6. Be careful for 7iothing\ Better, in modem English, In nothing be anxious (R.V.). Wyclif, "be ye no thing bisie"; all the other older English versions are substantially as A.V.; Luther, Sorget nichts; Latin versions. Nihil solliciti sitis [fueritis). On the etymology of the Greek verb, and on the thought here, see note above, ii. 20. There the mental action here blamed is commended ; a discrepancy fully harmonized by a view of different conditions. Here, the saints are enjoined to deal with every trying circumstance of life as those who know, and act upon, the fact that "the Lord thinketh on me" (Psal. xl. 17). Cp. Mark iv. 19; Luke viii. 14, x. 41, xxi. 34; i Cor. vii. 32; i Pet. v. 7. The English word "care" is akin to older Teutonic words meaning lamentation, murmur, sorrow, and is not connected with the Lat. cnra (Skeat, Etym. Diet.). English literature, from "Piers Plowman" (cent. 14) to Shakspeare and the A.V., abounds in illustrations of the meaning of the word here. E.g., Vision of Piers Ploiuman, V. 76 : "carefullich niea culpa he comsed to shewe"; i.e. "he anxiously com- menced to unfold " his sins in the confessional. So, in the same writer, a mournful song is "a careful noX^." in every thing] An all-inclusive positive, to justify the all-inclusive negative just before. — Observe here, as so often, the tendency of Chris- tian precepts to a holy universality of scope. Cp. Eph. iv. 29, 31, v. 3, and notes in this Series. by prayer and supplication'] We might almost paraphrase the Greek, where each noun has an article, "by your prayer &c."; by the prayer which of course you offer. "Prayer" is the larger word, often including all kinds and parts of "worship"; "supplication" is the more definite. Cp. Eph. vi. 18, and note in this Series. The two words thus linked together are meant, how- ever, less to be distinguished than to mclude and enforce the fullest and freest "speaking unto the Lord." with thanksgiving] " The temper of the Christian should always be one of thanksgiving. Nearly every Psalm, however deep the sorrow and contrition, escapes into the happy atmosphere of praise and grati- V. 7-] PHILIPPIANS, IV. ir be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which 7 passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds tude. The Psalms, in Hebrew, are the Praises. All prayer ought to include the element of thanksgiving, for mercies temporal and spiritual" : (Note by the Dean of Peterborough).— 77;;^ /^/w/^f^ of prayer is in ■ itself an abiding theme for grateful praise. be made knoivn\ Exactly as if He needed information. True faith will accept and act upon such a precept with very little questioning or discussion of its rationale. Scripture is full of illustrations of it in prac- tice, from the prayers of Abraham (Gen. xv., xvii., xviii.) and of Abra- ham's servant (Gen. xxiv.) onward. It is for the Eternal, not for us, to reconcile such humble but most real statements and requests on our part with His infinity. This verse is a caution against the view of prayer taken by some Mystic Christian thinkers, in which all articulate petition is merged in the soul's perpetual "-Thy zvill be done.''' See Mme. Guyon, May en Court de faire Oraisott, ch. xvii. Such a doctrine has in it a sacred element of truth, but as a whole it is out of harmony with the divinely balanced precepts of Scripture. 7. And'\ An important link. The coming promise of the Peace of God is not isolated, but in deep connexion. the peace of God] The chastened but glad tranquillity, caused^ by knowledge of the God of peace, and given by His Spirit to our spirit. Cp. Col. iii. 15 (where read, "the peace of Christ"); Joh. xiv. 27. The long and full previous context all leads up to this; the view of our ac- ceptance in and for Christ alone (iii. 3—9) ; the deepening knowledge of the living Lord and His power (10); the expectation, in the path of spiritual obedience, of a blessed future (11 — 21); watchful care over communion with Christ, and over a temper befitting the Gospel, and over the practice of prayer (iv. i — 6). Here is the true "Quietism" of the Scriptures. all understanding] ''AW ffiind," "all thin hing pozaei'.'" Our truest reason recognizes that this peace exists, because God exists ; our articu- late reasoning cannot overtake its experiences ; they are always above, below, beyond. Cp. Eph. iii. 19. shall keep] Observe the definite promise ; not merely an aspiration, or even an invocation. Cp. Isai. xxvi. 3. The Latin versions, mis- takenly, read custodiat. R.V., shall guard. This is better, except as it breaks in on the im- memorial music of the Benediction. All the older English versions have "■keep,'' except the Genevan, which has "defind." "Guard" (or "defend") represents correctly the Greek verb, which is connected with nouns meaning "garrison," "fort," and the like, and also prevents the mistake of explaining the sentence — " shzW keep you in Christ, prevent you from going out of Christ." What it means is that, "m Christ Jesus," who is the one true spiritual Region of blessing, the peace of God shall protect the soul against its foes. PHILIPPIANS. 8 114 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [v.S. 8 through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever tJwigs are lionest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever thirigs are of good report ; if there be any hearts] The word in Scripture includes the whole "inner man"; understanding, affections, will. 7nitids\ Lit. and better, thoughts, acts of mind. The holy serenity of the believer's spirit, in Christ Jesus, shall be the immediate means of shielding even the details of mental action from the tempter's power. Cp. Eph. vi. i6, where the "faith" which accepts and embraces the promise occupies nearly the place given here to the peace which is the substance of the promise. through Christ Jesus'] Lit. and better, in. — See last note but two. 8 — 9. As A LAST SPIRITUAL ENTREATY, LET THEIR REGENERATE MINDS BE TRUE-THOUGHTFUL: LET THEM REMEMBER PaUL'S WORD AND PRACTICE. 8. Finally'] A phrase introducing a precept, or precepts, more or less based on what has gone before. See above, on iii. i. He begs them to give to their minds, thus "safeguarded" by the peace of God, all possible pure and healthful material to work upon, of course with a view to practice. Let them reflect on, take account of, estimate aright, (see note below on '■'■think on these things''), all that was true and good ; perhaps specially in contrast to the subtle perver- sions of moral principle favoured by the persons described above (iii. 1 8, 19), who dreamed of making an impossible divorce between the spiritual and the moral. true] Both in the sense of ixMth-speaking and truth-/'^/«^. Truthful- ness of vi'ord, and sincerity of character, are absolutely indispensable to holiness. Nothing is more unsanctilied than a double meaning, or a double purpose, however "pious" the " fraud." honest] Margin, ^'venerable"; R.V., honourable. The adjective is rendered '"'■grave,'" i Tim. iii. 8, 11; Titus ii. 2. It points to serious purposes, and to self-respect ; no small matter in Christianity. In older English '■''honest'" bore this meaning more than at present. just] Right, as between man and man; scrupulous attention to all relative duties. pure] Perhaps in the special respect of holy chastity of thought and act as regards the body. There may be more in the word : see 2 Cor. vii. 1 1 ; and cp. i Joh. iii. 3. But most surely this is in it. See Trench, Synonyms, ii. § xxxviii. lovely] Pleasing, amiable. Cp. for the English in this meaning, 2 Sam. i. 23. It is a meaning rare now, if not obsolete, but it was still common a century ago. — The Christian is here reminded that his Master would have him attend to manner as well as matter in his life. Grace should V. 9] PHILIPPIANS, IV. 115 virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these thitigs. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, 9 and heard, and seen in me, do : and the God of peace shall be with you. make gracious. Cp. i Pel. iii. 8. — The Rhemish version has "amiable'" here. of good report\ Better, probably, sweet-spoken; "loveliness" in the special respect of kindly and winning speecli. So Lightfoot. Ellicott explains the word, however, in a different direction ; " fair sounding," "high-toned"; with a special reference to elevated \.x\x\.\\% and principles. R.V. retains the rendering of A.V., with margin '■'■gracioits." jy there he atty vii-ttte'] " Whatever virtue there is." To complete his meaning, he bids them exercise thought on whatever is rightly called "virtue," even if not expressly described in the previous words. The word rendered "virtue" (are/e) occurs here only in St Paul, and elsewhere in N.T. only i Pet. ii. 9 (of God, and in the sense of "praise," as always in LXX.) ; 2 Pet. i. 3 (of God, as rightly read), and 5 (twice), of an element in Christian character. It is remarkable that a favourite word of Greek ethics should be thus avoided ; but the reason is not far to seek. By derivation and in usage it is connected with ideas of manhood, courage, and so self-reliance. The basis of good- ness in the Gospel is self-renunciation, in order to the reception of GRACE, the undeserved gift of God. Here however the Apostle concedes a place to the word, so to speak, as if to extend in every direction the view of what is right in action. In 2 Pet. i. 5 it is used with the quite special meaning of vigour in the life of grace. any praise\ "Whatever praise there is," justly given by the general human conscience. Here again he is, as it were, conceding a place to an idea not quite of the highest, yet not at discord with the high- est. It is not good to do right for the sake of the selfish pleasure of praise; but it is right to praise what is rightly done, and such praise has a moral beauty, and may give to its recipient a moral pleasure not spoiled by selfishness. St Paul appeals to the existence of such a desert of praise, to illustrate again what he means when he seeks to attract their thoughts towards things recognized as good, "There is such a thing as right praise ; make it an index of the things on which you should think." tkink 07i\ Literally, ''^reckon, calculate'''' ; see above, first note on this verse. 9. Those things &c.] On the apparent egotism of this appeal, see on iii. 17. R.V. renders, somewhat better. The things &c. have both learned &c.] Better, both learned &c. The verbs are aorists, and the reference is to his long-past residence at Philippi. received'^ Cp. i Cor. xi. 23, xv. i, 3; Gal. i. 9; Col. ii. 6; i Thess. ii. 13, iv. I. In all these cases the verb is used of learning a truth passed on by another. seen] Saw. See note i on this verse. 8—2 Ii6 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [v. lo. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were in me\ As specimen and model. See note on i. ■26. Strictly speaking, the '■'■in me" refers only to the " sazv." do] Practise, as a holy habit. and] See first note on ver. 7. i/ie God of peace] Author and giver of the peace of God. Cp. for the phrase Rom. xv. 33, xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; i Thess. v. 23; Heb. xiii. 20. And see 2 Thess. iii. 16. In i Cor. xiv. 33 we have, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace"; and there the "peace" is evidently Christian social peace, rather than that which resides in the spirit of the saint, or has to do with his personal relations with God (and cp. 2 Cor. xiii. 11). But the two are closely connected; the Divine peace in the individual tends always, in its right development and action, to the peace of the community, for it means the dethrone- ment of the spirit of self. St Paul may thus have had in view here the need of more harmony among the Philippians, and of a nobler moral and spiritual tone (ver. 8) as an aid towards it. But the whole context is so full of the highest aspects of Christian experience that we take the present phrase to refer primarily, at least, to God as at peace with His people, and making peace within their hearts; the "Lord of the sabbath" of the soul. 10—20. He renders loving thanks for their Alms, BROUGHT HIM BY EPAPHRODITUS. 10. But] The directly didactic message of the Epistle is now over, and he turns to the personal topic of the alms, for himself and his work, received through Epaphroditus from Philippi. I rejoiced] R.V., I rejoice; taking the Greek aorist as "epistolary." See on ii. 25. The aorist may refer, however, to the joy felt when the gift arrived, the first thankful surprise; and if so, A.V. represents it rightly. in the Lord] See last note on i. 8. — The whole circumstance, as well as the persons, was in deep connexion with Him. at the last] Better, with R.V., at length; a phrase of milder emphasis. — "■ At the last" (cp. Gen. xHx. 19) is "■at last" in an older form. The Philippians had sent St Paul a subsidy, or subsidies, before ; but for reasons beyond their control there had been a rather long interval before this last. your care of me hath flourished] Better, you have shot forth thought (as a branch or bud) for me; or, less lit., you have burgeoned into thought for me. — The verb, only intransitive in the classics, is also transitive in LXX. (see Ezek. xvii. 24) and Apocrypha (see Ecclus. 1. 14). The poetic boldness of the phrase is noticeable; our second alternative translation fairly represents it. Perhaps the courteous kind- liness of the Apostle's thought comes out in it ; an almost pleasantry of expression. wherein] Or, "whereon; "with a view to which" ; i. e., as the pre- vious words imply, with a view to an effort to aid him. vv. II, 12.] PHILIPPIANS, IV. 117 also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want : for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, ye were carcful'\ Ye took thought. The verb {phronetn) is quite different from that in ver. 6. It bears here (and just above, where its infinitive is represented by the English noun ''thought") the unusual meaning of definite thinking, not, as usual, that of being in a vicntal state. See on i. 7. The gracious, sympathetic recognition of good intentions is indeed Christian. lacked opportunity\ Particularly, a suitable bearer had not been forthcoming. 11. wantX Better, perhaps, need, as less extreme in meaning. The Greek vi^ord occurs elsewhere only Mark xii. 44 ; of the great poverty of the Widow. /] Slightly emphatic. He implies an appeal to them to learn his secret for themselves. have learnedl Lit., "<//(/ learn"; but probably the A.V. (and R.V.) rightly represent the Greek. It is possible, however, that he refers to the time of waiting for their aid as his learning time; "I learned, in that interval, a lesson of content." He implies in any case that the pause in their assistance had been a time of some privation, though not from the higher point of view. contetif\ Lit., '■^self-sufficient" \ in the sense oi omnia mca mecuin porto. He did not depend upon circumstances for satisfaction. Such "sufficiency," but on very different principles, was a favourite Stoic virtue. 12. to be abased'\ "To be low," in resources and comforts. The word is used in classical Greek of a river running low. to abound'\ as now, in the plenty the Philippians had provided. This experience, as well as the opposite, called for the skill of grace. every where and in all things] Lit., in everything and in all things ; in the details and total of experience. / am instructed^ I have heen initiated ; " / have learned the secret " (R.V.). The Greek verb is akin to the words, mystes, mystenon, and means to initiate a candidate into the hidden tenets and worship of the " Mysteries " ; systems of religion in the Hellenic world derived perhaps from prehistoric times, and jealously guarded by their votaries. Admission to their arcana, as into Freemasonry now, was sought even by the most cultured ; with the special hope, apparently, of a peculiar immunity from evil in this life and the next. See Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities. It is evident that St Paul's adoption of such a word for the discovery of the "open secrets" of the Gospel is beautifully suggestive. Lightfoot remarks that we have the same sort of adoption in his frequent use (and our Lord's, Matt xiii. 1 1 ; ii8 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [vv. 13, 14. 13 both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things 14 through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my afflic- Mark iv. 11 ; Luke viii. 10 ; and see Rev. i. 10, x. 7, xvii. 5, 7) of the word '■^ iitysfery" for a revealed secret of doctrine or prophecy. to be fillip R.V., to be filled. The Greek verb is the same as e.g. Matt. V. 6, xiv. 20. St Paul uses it only here. Its first meaning was "to give fodder to cattle," but it lost this lower reference in later Greek (Lightfoot). hungry\ No doubt often in stern reality. Cp. i Cor. iv. 11. 13. / can do all things] More exactly, I have strength for all things; whether to do or to bear. The Latin versions, beautifully, render, omnia possum. The "all things" are, of course, not all things absolutely; he is not the Omnipotent. They are "all things" with which he has to do, as the will of God brings them to him ; not the boundless field of possibilities, but a straight line across it, the actual path of duty and suffering, chosen not by himself but by his Lord and Master. The reference is thus limited and practical ; but ivithin that reference it is, observe, not ''^some" but ^^ all" things that he can meet in peace and strength. Cp. i Cor. x. 13; Eph. ii. 12. through Christ which strengtheneth me'\ With the best attested reading, and more exactly, in Him who enableth me. The verb occurs elsewhere in the active, i Tim. i. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 17. It occurs in the middle or passive, Acts ix. 22; Rom. iv. 20; Eph. vi. 10; 2 Tim. ii. i ; Heb. xi. 34. It imports the supply on the one hand and reception and realization on the other of a supernatural ability {dynamis), coming out in action. Observe the phrase, " /« Him." It is in vital union with his Head that the "member" is thus able for "all things," and in no other way (cp. Joh. XV. 4, 5; 2 Cor. ix. 8, xii. 9, 10). But this way is open to the submissive faith of every true Christian, not of Apostles and Martyrs only. The word "-Christ" is not in the true text, but is manifestly a true "gloss." 14. Notwithstanding^ "Again the Apostle's nervous anxiety to clear himself interposes" (Lightfoot). We would rather call it loving care than nervous anxiety. He is tender over their feelings, as he thinks how "their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their liberality" (2 Cor. viii. i, 2), in love to him and to the Lord; and not even his testimony to the power of Christ shall make him seem to slight their collection. ye have well done} Better, perhaps, ye did well ; when you gave and sent your alms. communicate 7vith] Better, as more intelligible to modern readers, take a share in. For the thought, cp. on i. 7. Their sympathy, coming out in self-denial, dlent their experience with that of the imprisoned and impoverished Apostle. vv. 15—17.] FHILIPPIANS, IV. 119 tion. Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning 15 of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and 16 again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift : but 17 15. Noiv\ Better, But. He suggests, with the same delicacy of love, that their previous gifts would have sufficed, without tliis gift, to witness and seal their hearts' cooperation with him. "You have done well in such participation; btit indeed you had assured its existence before." ye Philippians knoxv also] Better, ye yourselves too know, Philip- pians; ye, as well as I. — ^'' Philippians'' : — the form used by St Paul is ^^ Philippesians'\ one of several forms of the civic adjective. The same appears in the ancient "Title" (see above) and in the "Subscription" below. See Lightfoot here. the gospel} I.e. his evangelization (of their region). For this mean- ing of "the Gospel" cp. 2 Cor. x. 14 (and perhaps viii. 18); Gal. ii. 7; I Thess. iii. 2; and above, i. 5, 7, 12, iv. 3. wheti I departed from Macedonia'] He refers to about the time of his advance into "Achaia," Roman Southern Greece; just before and just after he actually crossed the border. For the narrative, cp. Acts xvii. I — 15. This is a reminiscence after an interval of about ten years. communicated with me] Better, took its share with me. See last note on ver. 14. as concerning] Better, with R.V., in the matter of. giving and receiving] I.e., their giving a subsidy to him, and his re- ceiving it from them. The Greek phrase is a recognized formula, like our "credit and debit." See Lightfoot here. To bring in the thought of their "giving temporal things" and "receiving spiritual things" (i Cor. ix. 11) is to complicate and confuse the passage. ye only] No blame of other Churches is necessarily implied. The thought is occupied with the fact of a sure and early proof of Philippian sympathy. 16. even in Thessahmica] "Even r£'//«^ /wai- there." — Thessalonica was just 100 Roman miles (about 92 English) from Philippi, on the Via Egnatia. Amphipolis and Apollonia were the two intermediate road-stations, about 30 miles from each other, and apparently Paul and Silas passed only a night at each, hastening to Thessalonica, where probably they spent some weeks, or even months (Acts xvii. i — 9; and cp. Conybeareand Howson, Life atid Epistles &.(!., ch. ix.; Lewin, L.and E. &c., vol. I. chap. xi.). Thus Thessalonica was practically the Apostle's first pause after leaving Philippi ; and it was in Macedonia. once and again] Within a short stay at the longest. In Acts xvii. only "three sabbaths" are mentioned; but the Epistles to Thessalonica seem to imply that he stayed somewliat longer", by their allusions to the impression made at Thessalonica by his and his companions' life and example. See i Thess. ii. \ — 12; 2 Thess. iii. 7, 8. I20 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [v. i8. 1 8 I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound : I am full, having received of Epa- phroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. my necessity\ The profits of his hard manual labour at Thessalonica (see I and 2 Thess. just quoted) evidently left him still very poor. He wrould take nothing of the Thessalonians, while still actually introdncmg the Gospel to them. 17. Not &c.] Here again see the sensitive delicacy of love. This allusion to the cherished past, begun with the wish to shew that he needed no present proof of sympathy, might after all be taken to be "thanks for future" liberality. It shall not be so. desire\ Better, with R.V., seek. The verb occurs e.g. Matt. xii. 39; Rom. xi. 7. Both its form and usage suggest here the appropriate meaning of an active, restless search; a "hunting for" the object. a gift] Lit. and much better, the gift ; the ??iere money of the col- lection. dcsire\ Again, seek : the same idea, with a beautiful change of refer- ence, fruit that may abound] Lit. and better, tlie fruit &c. — St Chrysos- tom's comment here, in which he uses the Greek verb akin to the noun (tokos) meaning interest on money, seems to imply that he, a Greek, un- derstood the phrase to be borrowed from the money-market. If so, we may translate, the interest that is accruing to your credit. The imagery, by its very paradox, would be appropriate in this passage of ingenious kindness. The only objection to the rendering is that the precise Greek words are not actually found in special pecuniary con- nexions, though they would easily fit into them. " That may''' : — that does is certainly right, and in point. He regards it as as a present certainty that "God is well pleased" (Heb. xiii. 16) with their gift of love, and that the blessed "profit" of His "well done, good and faithful" (Matt. xxv. ai) is secure for them. 18. Buf] He carries on the correction, begun in ver. 17, of a pos- sible misunderstanding of his warm words. He must not be thought to "spell" for future gifts, least of all now, so amply supplied as he is. / have all] The Greek verb is one used in connexions of payment, to express a full receipt. We might almost paraphrase, "you have paid me i7ifull in all respects." and abotmd] It is enough, and more than enough; I "run over" with your bounty. See ver. 12, above. Epaphroditus] See on ii. 25, 30. We leam definitely here that he was the bringer of the collection. the things] He seems to avoid the word ^^money." It was more than money ; the coin was the symbol of priceless love. an odour of a sweet smell] See Eph. v. 2, for the same Greek phrase. It is common in LXX. as the translation of the Heb. riach nichoach, a savour of rest; the fume of the altar, smelt by the Deity, vv. 19, 20.] PHILIPPIANS, IV. 121 But my God shall supply all your need according to his 19 riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our 20 Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (in the picture language of typical sacrifices), and recognized as a token of welcome allegiance or propitiation. See note in this Series on Eph. V. 2.— Here the fragrance is that of either the "burnt-offering" of self- dedication (see Lev. i. 9), or the "meal offering," or "peace offering," of thanksgiving (see Lev. ii. 2, iii. 5), or of both combmed, as they are combined in our Liturgy of the Holy Communion. a sacrifice acceptable &c.] Cp. last note, and Heb. xiii. 16. See also Eph. vi. 8, and note in this Series. 19. But\ R.V., ''And." But surely there is a slight contrast meant, to an implied v/ish that he could send back some material requital of his own to alleviate their "deep poverty" (2 Cor. viii. 2). my God] Words deeply characteristic of St Paul. See on i. 3 above. Bp Lightfoot well remarks that the phrase is specially in point here ; the Apostle is thinking of what God on his behalf zhall do for others. shall supply] Promise, not only aspiration. He is sure of His faith- fuhiess.— "6'«///y".-— lit., "///," pouring His bounty into the void of the "need." all your need] R.V., somewhat better, every need of yours. See again, 2 Cor. viii. 2, where the exceptional poverty of the converts of Northern Greece is referred to. The prominent thought here is, surely, that of temporal poverty. Cp. particularly 2 Cor. ix. 8, where the first reference seems to be to God's ability to supply to His self- denying servants always more from which they may still spare and give. But neither here nor in 2 Cor. are we for a moment to shut out the widest and deepest applications of the truth stated. his riches in glory] His resources, consisting in, and so lodged in, His own "glory" of Divine power and love. Cp. Rom. vi. 4, and note in this Series, for a similar use of the word "glory."— Bp Lightfoot prefers to connect '■'■shall supply, in glory, your need, according to His riches," and he explains the thought to be, "shall supply your need by placing yoti in glory.'" But we venture to think this construction needlessly difficult. —Anything in which God is "glorified" (see e. g. Gal. i. 24) is, as it were, a reflection of His holy glory, and a result of it. Tender providential goodness to the poor Philippians would be such a result. On St Paul's love of the word "riches" in Divine connexions, cp. Eph. i. 7, and note in this Series. in Christ Jesus] "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God- head," "in whom" the saints are "filled," as regards all their needs (Col. ii. 9, 10). The "glory" of both grace and providence is lodged, for His people, in Him. 20. Godandotir Father] Better, our God and Father; the ultimate Source of all faith, love, and hope in the brethren and members of His Son.— "0«r".— "It is iro longer ['my'], for the reference is now 122 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [VV. 21, 22. 21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which 22 are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly not to himself as distinguished from the Philippians, but as united to them" (Lightfoot). g/ory] Lit. and better, the glory; the adoring praise due in view of this their act of love, and of the certainty of a full supply of all their need. /or ever and eve?-] Lit., "/£> t/ie ages of the agesy The A.V. (and R.V.) are a true paraphrase. On the word aion (age) see notes in this Series, on Rom. xvi. 25; Eph. i. 21. The idea conveyed by the phrase here is of circles of duration consisting of, embracing, other circles ad infinitum. Amen] Probably, but not quite certainly, to be retained in the text. The word is properly a Hebrew adverb {'^sitreij"), repeatedly used as here in O. T. See e.g. Deut. xxvii. 15; Psal. Ixxii. 19; Jer. xi. 5 (marg. A. V.). 21—23. Salutations and Farewell. 21. Saiute] Cp. Rom. xvi. 3 — 16. saint] See on i. i. ift Christ Jesus] See on i. i. — The words may grammatically be connected with either "■salute" to which Lightfoot inclines, or "■saint.''' In view of i. i , we recommend the latter. See on the other side (with Lightfoot) Rom. xvi. 22; i Cor. xvi. 19. the brethren which are with fne] " Apparently the Apostle's personal companions... as distinguished from the Christians resident in Rome, who are described in the following verse" (Lightfoot). ^reet] Better, wiih R.V., salute. The verb is the same as that just above. 22. chiefyi] More exactly, but chiefly. There was something marked and emphatic about this message. they of Cesar s household] "Probably slaves and freedmen attached to the palace" (Lightfoot). It has been sometimes assumed that these persons, on the other hand, were members of the imperial family, and this has been used either to prove the remarkable advance of the Gospel in the highest Roman society during St Paul's first captivity, and incidentally to evidence a late date in that captivity for the Epistle, or to support a theory of the spuriousness of the Epistle. Bp Lightfoot, in an "additional note," or rather essay {Philippians, pp. 171 — 178), has shewn with great fulness of proof that the "household of Cesar" was a term embracing a vast number of persons, not only in Rome but in the provinces, all of whom were either actual or former slaves of the Emperor, filling every possible description of office more or less domestic. The Bishop illustrates his statements from the very numerous burial inscriptions of members of the " Household " found within the last 1 70 years near Rome, most of them of the period of the Julian and Claudian Emperors. And the names of persons in these inscriptions afford a V. 23.] PHILIPPIANS, IV. 123 they that are of Cesar's household. The grace of our Lord aj Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. It was written to the Philippians from Rome by Epaphroditus. curiously large number of coincidences with the list in Rom. xvi. ; among them being Amplias, Urbanus, Apelles, Tryphaena, Tiyphosa, Patrobas, Philologus. And it appears by the way to be very probable that both Aristobulus' and Narcissus' "households" (Rom. xvi. 10, 11) were in fact the slave-establishments of the son of Herod the Great, and of the favourite of Claudius, respectively, transferred to the possession of the Emperor. Bp Lightfoot infers from this whole evidence the great probability that the "saints" greeted in Rom. xvi. were, on the whole, the same "saints" who send greeting here from Rome. Various as no doubt were their occupations, and their native lands, the members of the Household of Cesar as such must have had an esprit de corps, and, for their rank in society, a prestige, which made it humanly speaking likely that a powerful influence, like that of the Gospel, if felt among them at all, would be felt widely, and that they would be in the way to make a distinctive expression of their faith and love, when occasion offered. The view thus given of the saints here mentioned, their associations and functions, not only in the age of Nero but in the precincts of his court, and probably for many of them within the chambers of his palace, gives a noble view in passing of the power of grace to triumph over circumstances, and to transfigure life where it seems most impos- sible. A certain parallel to the Household of Cesar appears in the vast Maison du Koy of the later French monarchy. But the Alaison was for the noblesse alone. 23. The grace'X So every Epistle of St Paul's closes, or almost closes. In the Ep. to the Romans this benediction occurs twice ; xvi. 20, 24. The exact form found here occurs also Gal. vi. iS; Philem. 25. — Observe the deeply implied testimony to the Divine glory of the Saviour, who is mentioned here alone, and in conclusion, as the Fountain of grace. zvith your spirit] The inmost basis of the life and will of man, and here of regenerate man. That "spirit" is not annulled, or absorbed, by the Divine power; the "grace" is to be "-with" it (cp. i Cor. xv. 10). But it is also to be "z«" it (see ii. \i above), possessing, assimilating, transforming, into the likeness of Him whose presence and power is grace. Avien\ The word is probably to be omitted from the text. But though the Apostle did not write it, the reader can supply it as his own response. The Subscription. It was written .. .by Epaphroditus\ ''^Written by'''' is, of course, '■'■sent by means of, by the hand ofy — The words obviously give' the facts of the case correctly. It is equally obvious that they were not in 124 PHILIPPIANS, IV. [v. 23. the original copies. Of the many varying "Subscriptions" in extant MSS., the shortest appears to be the oldest; To the Philippians (Philippesians; see on iv. 15 above). Others are, It was written FROM Rome; It was written &c. by Epaphroditus, or, in one case, by Epaphroditus and Timotheus. In one MS. appears [The Epistle] to the Philippians is fulfilled, in another, is finished. On the Subscriptions to St Paul's Epistles, see Scrivener's Introduc- tion to the Criticism of the N. T. (Ed. 1883, p. 62). They are ascribed (in their longer form) to Euthalius, a bishop of the fifth century. See further, note in this Series on the Subscription to the Epistle to the Ephesians. APPENDICES. PAGE PAGE A. St Paul's Residence at Rome F. Robert Hall on Phil. ii. 5—8. (Introd. p. 20) 125 —Baur's theory (Ch. ii. 6) ... 132 B. " Saints and faithful brethren " G. Ad. Monod on St Paul's Tears (Ch. i. i) 128 (Ch. iii. 18) 133 C. Bishops and Deacons (Ch. i. i) 128 H. Family Affection of Christi- D. EbioniteChristology(Ch. i. 15) 131 anity (Ch. iv. i) 134 E. Christology and Christianity I. Philippi and the Epistle (Ch. iv. (Ch. ii. 5) 132 18) 134 A. ST PAUL'S RESIDENCE AT ROME. (Introduction, p. 20.) "St Paul arrived in Rome, from Melita, in the spring of a.d. 61, probably early in March. There he spent 'two full years' (Acts xxviii. 30), at the close of which, as we have good reason to believe, he was released. "In the long delay before his triaP he was of course in custody; but this was comparatively lenient. He occupied lodgings of his own (Acts xxviii. 16, 23, 30), probably a storey or flat in one of the lofty houses common in Rome. It is impossible to determine for certain where in the City this lodging was, lout it is likely that it was either in or near the great Camp of the Praetorians, or Imperial Guard, out- side the Colline Gate, just N.E. of the city^. In this abode the Apostle was attached day and night by a light coupling-chain to a Prjetorian sentinel, but was as free, apparently, to invite and maintain general intercourse as if he had been merely confined by illness. "The company actually found in his rooms at different times was very various. His first visitors (indeed they must have been the providers of his lodging) would be the Roman Christians, including 1 Due probably to procrastination in the prosecution and to the caprice of the Emperor. See Lewin, vol. 11. p. 236, for a parallel case. 2 See Bp Lightfoot, Philippians, pp. 9 &c., 99 &c. ; [and our note on Phil. i. 13]. 126 APPENDICES. all, or many, of the saints named in a passage (Rom. xvi.) written only a very few years before. Then came the representatives of the Jewish community (Acts xxviii. 17, 23), but apparently never to return, as such, after the long day of discussion to which they were tirst invited. Then from time to time would come Christian brethren, envoys from distant Churches, or personal friends ; Epaphroditus from Philippi, Aristarchus from Thessalonica, Tychicus from Ephesus, Epaphras from Colossse, John Mark, Demas, Jesus Justus. Luke, the beloved physician, was present perhaps always, and Timotheus, the Apostle's spiritual son, very frequently. One other memorable name occurs, Onesimus, the fugitive Colossian slave, whose story, indicated in the Epistle to Philemon, is at once a striking evidence of the perfect liberty of access to the prisoner granted to anyone and everyone, and a beautiful illustration both of the character of St Paul and the transfiguring power and righteous principles of the Gospel. "No doubt the visitors to this obscure but holy lodging were far more miscellaneous than even this list suggests. Through the successive Praetorian sentinels some knowledge of the character and message of the prisoner would be always passing out. The right interpretation of Phil. i. 13^ is, beyond reasonable doubt, that the true account of Paul's imprisonment came to be ' known in the Praetorian regiments, and generally among people around ' ; and Phil. iv. 11 indicates that a body of earnest and affectionate converts had arisen among the population of slaves and freedmen attached to the Palace of Nero. And the wording of that passage suggests that such Christians found a welcome meeting place in the rooms of the Apostle ; doubtless for frequent worship, doubtless also for direct instruction, and for the blessed enjoyments of the family affection of the Gospel. Meanwhile (Phil. i. 15, 16) there was a section of the Roman Christian community, probably the disciples infected with the prejudices of the Pharisaic party (see Acts xv., &c.), who, with very few exceptions (see Col. iv. 1 1 and notes), took sooner or later a position of trying antagonism to St Paul ; a trial over which he triumphed in the deep peace of Christ. "It is an interesting possibility, not to say probability, that from time to time the lodging was visited by inquirers of intellectual fame or distinguished rank. Ancient Christian tradition^ actually makes the renowned Stoic writer, L. Annceus Seneca, tutor and counsellor of Nero, a convert of St Paul's ; and one phase of the legend was the fabrication, within the first four centuries, of a correspondence between the two. It is quite certain that Seneca was never a Christian, though his language is full of startling superficial parallels to that of the N.T., and most full in his latest writings. But it is at least very likely that he heard, through his many channels of information, of St Paul's existence and presence, and that he was intellectually interested in his teaching ; and it is quite possible that he cared to visit him. It ' See Bp Lightfoot, Philippia7is, pp. 99 &c., [and our notes on Phil. i. 13]. ' The first hint appears in Tertullian, cent. 2 — 3. APPENDICES. 127 is not improbable, surely, that Seneca's brother Gallic (Acts xviii. 12) may have described St Paul, however passingly, in a letter ; for Gallio's religious indifference may quite well have consisted with a strong personal impression made on him by St Paul's bearing. Feslus himself was little interested in the Gospel, or at least took care to seem so, and yet was deeply impressed by the personnel of the Apostle. And, again, the Prefect of the Imperial Guard, A.D. 61, was Afranius Burras, Seneca's intimate colleague as counsellor to Nero, and it is at least possible that he had received from Festus a moi^e than commonplace description of the prisoner consigned to him^. "Bp Lightfoot, in his Essay, 'St Paul and Seneca' {PhilippiaJis, pp. 270, &c.), thinks it possible to trace in some of the Epistles of the Captivity a Christian adaptation of Stoic ideas. The Stoic, for example, made much of the individual's membership in the great Body of the Universe, and citizenship in its great City. The connexion suggested is interesting, and it falls quite within the methods of Divine inspiration that materials of Scripture imagery should be collected from a secular region. But the language of St Paul about the Mystical Body, in the Ephesian Epistle particularly, reads far more like a direct revelation than like an adaptation; and it evidently deals with a truth which is already, in its substance, perfectly familiar to the readers*. "Other conspicuous personages of Roman society at the time have been reckoned by tradition among the chamber-converts of St Paul, among them the poet Lucan and the Stoic philosopher Epictetus^. But there is absolutely no evidence for these assertions. It is in- teresting and suggestive, on the other hand, to recall one almost certain case of conversion about this time within the highest Roman aristo- cracy. Pomponia Graecina, wife of Plautius the conqueror of Britain, was accused (A.D. 57, probably), of 'foreign superstition,' and tried by her husband as domestic judge. He acquitted her. But the deep and solemn seclusion of her life (a seclusion begun A.D. 44, when her friend the princess Julia was put to death, and continued unbroken till her own death, about A.D. 84), taken in connexion with the charge, as in all likelihood it was, of Christianity, 'suggests that, shunning society, she sought consolation in the duties and hopes of the Gospel''*, leaving for ever the splendour and temptations of the world of Rome. She was not a convert, obviously, of St Paul's; but her case suggests the possibility of other similar cases." Commentary on the Epistle to Ephesians (in this Series), Intro- duction, pp. 16 — 19. ' We cannot but think that Bp Lightfoot {_Phil{ppianSy p. 301) somewhat under- rates the probability that Galho and Burrus should have given Seneca an interest in St Paul. ^ It appears in the First Ep. to the Corinthians, written a few years before the Ep. to the Ephesians. See i Cor. xii. '^ For the curiously Christian tone of Epictetus' writings here and there, see Bp Lightfoot, Pkiiififiians, pp. 313 &c. The Manual of Epictetus is a book of gold in its own way, but still that way is not Christian. ■• Bp Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 21. 128 APPENDICES. B. "SAINTS AND FAITHFUL BRETHREN." (Ch. I. i.) "It is universally admitted. ..that Scripture makes use of presump- tive or hypothetical language.... It is generally allowed that M'hen all Christians are addressed in the New Testament as 'saints,' 'dead to sin,' 'alive unto God,' 'risen with Christ,' 'having their conversation in heaven,' and in other like modes, they are addressed so hypotheti- cally, and not to express the literal fact that all the individuals so addressed were of this character; which would not have been true.... Some divines have indeed preferred as a theological arrangement a secondary sense of [such terms] to the hypothetical application of it in its true sense. But what is this secondary sense when we examine it? It is itself no more than the true sense hypothetically applied.... Divines have... maintained a Scriptural secondary sense of the term '■saint,' as 'saint by outward vocation and charitable presumption' (Pearson on the Creed, Art. ix.) ; but this is in very terms only the real sense of the term applied hypothetically." J. B. MozLEY : Review of Baptismal Controversy, p. 74 (ed. 1862). C. BISHOPS AND DEACONS. (Ch. I. i.) These words have suggested to Bp Lightfoot an Essay on the rise, development, and character, of the Christian Ministry, appended to his Commentary on the Epistle (pp. 189—269). The Essay is in fact a treatise, of the greatest value, calling for the careful and repeated study of every reader to whom it is accessible. Along with it may be use- fully studied a paper on the Christian Ministry in The Expositor for July, 1887, by the Rev, G. Salmon, D.D., now Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. All we do here is to discuss briefly the two official titles of the Philippian ministry, and to add a few words on the Christian Ministry in general. Bishops, Episcopi, i.e. Overseers. The word occvrs here, and Acts XX. 28; I Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 7; besides i Pet. ii. 25, where it is used of our Lord. The cognate noun, episcope, occurs Acts i. 20 (in a quotation from the O.T.); i Tim. iii. i ; and in three other placesnot in point. The cognate verb, episcopein, occurs Heb. xii. 15 (in a connexion not in point); i Pet. v. 2. On examination of these passages it appears that within the lifetime of SS. Peter and Paul there existed, at least very widely, a normal order of Church-officers called Episcopi, Superintendents. They were charged no doubt with many varied duties, some probably semi-secular. But above all they had spiritual oversight of the flock. They were appointed not by mere popular vote, certainly not by self-designation. APPENDICES. 129 but in some special sense "by the Holy Ghost" (Acts xx. 28). This phrase may perhaps be illustrated by the mode of appointment of the first "deacons" (Acts vi. 3), who were presented by the Church to the Apostles, for confirmatory ordination, as men already (among other marks of fitness) "full of the Holy Ghost." The episcopus was evidently not an official comparatively rare; there were more episcopi than one in the not very large community of Philippi. Meanwhile we find another designation of Church-officers who are evidently in the same way shepherds and leaders of the flock; Prcshyta-i, Elders. They are mentioned first, without comment, at the time of the martyrdom of James the Great. See Acts xi. 30, xiv. 23, xv. 2, 4, 6, 22, 23, xvi. 4, XX. 17, xxi. 18; I Tim. v. i, 17, 19; Tit. i. 5; Jas. V. 14; I Pet. V. I (and perhaps 5). See also 2 John i; 3 John r. These elders appear Acts xiv. 23; Tit. i. 5; as "constituted" in local congregations by an Apostle, or by his immediate delegate. It is clear that the N.T. episcopus and preshy terns are in fact the same official under differing designations ; episcopus, a term borrowed mainly from the Gentiles, with whom it signified a super- intending commissioner; preshyterus, from the "Eldership" of the Jews. This appears from Acts xx. 17, 28, where St Paul, addressing the Ephesian "elders," says that they have been appointed "bishops" of the flock. In the Pastoral Epistles it is similarly plain that the titles coincide. See also i Pet. v. i, 2, in the Greek. Whether both titles were from the first in use everywhere we cannot be sure. But it is not improbable. In the very earliest post-apostolic writings we find "presbyters" at Corinth {Clem. Rom. to the Corinth- ians, i. cc. 42, 44), and "bishops" {xuith '^deacons," as in Phil. i. i) in the further East [Teaching of the Tivelve Apostles, c. 15). We trace the same spiritual officials under more general desig- nations, I Thess. V. 12, 13; Heb. xiii. 17; and perhaps i Cor. xii. 28 {^'governments"), and Eph. iv. 11 {'^pastors and teachers'"). Deacons, Diaconi, i.e.. Workers. The title does not occur in the Acts, nor anywhere earlier than this Epistle, except Rom. xvi. i, where Plmhe is called a diaconiis of the church at Cenchreas^. Here only and in i Tim. iii. 8, 12, is the word plainly used of a whole ministerial order. But in Acts vi. we find described the institution of an office which in all likelihood was the dia- conate. The functions of the Seven are just those which have been ever since in history, even till now, assigned to deacons. And tradition, from cent. 2 onwards, is quite unanimous in calling the Seven by that title. Deacons are very possibly indicated by the word '' helps'''' in i Cor. xii. 28. The deacon thus appears to have been primarily the officer ordained * There is evidence of the existence in apostolic times of an organized class of female helpers in sacred work (see i Tim. v. 3 — 16). A little later the famous letter of Pliny to Trajan shews that such helpers (>itt'Hisim)v/eTe known in the Churches of Asia Minor. The order was abolished before cent. 12. PHILIPPIANS. 9 n,o APPENDICES. to deal with the temporal needs of the congregation. But he was assumed to be a "spiritual man," and he was capable of direct com- missioned spiritual work. It thus appears then that during the lifetime of SS. Peter and Paul the word episcopus did not yet desigiiate a minister presiding over and ruling other ministers; a "bishop" in the later and present sense. The episcopjts was an "overseer" of not the shepherds but simply the flock, and might be (as at Philippi) one of several such in the same place. This fact, however, leaves quite open the question whether such _a presiding ministry, however designated at first, did exist in apostolic times and under apostolic sanction. That it did so may be inferred from the following evidence, very briefly stated. It is certain that by the close of cent. 2 a definite presidential "episcopacy" (to which the word episcopus was then already appro- priated, seemingly without the knowledge that it had once been other- wise) appears everywhere in the Church. As early probably as A.D. no we find it, in the Epistles of St Ignatius, a prominent and im- portant fact of Church life, at least in the large circle of Churches with which Ignatius corresponded ^ Later Church history presents us with the same constitution, though occasionally details of system vary-, and the conceptions of function and power were highly developed, not always legitimately. Now between Ignatius and St John, and even St Paul, the interval is not great; 30 or 50 years at the most. It seems, to say the least, unlikely that so large a Church institution, over whose 7'ise we have no clear trace of coiilroversy or opposition, should have arisen quite out of connexion with apostolic precedent. Such precedent we find in the N.T., (a) in the presidency of Apostles during their lifetime, though strictly speaking their unique office had no "successors"; {b) in the presidency of their immediate delegates or commissioners (perhaps appointed only p7-o tempore), as Timothy and Titus; (c) in the presidency of St James the Less in the mother-church of Christendom ; a presidency more akin to later episcopacy than any- thing else in the N.T. We find further that all early history points to Asia Minor as the scene of the fullest development of primitive episcopacy, and it con- sistently indicates St John, at Ephesus, as in a sense its fountain-head. It is at least possible that St John, when he finally took up his abode in Asia, originated or developed there the regime he had known so well at Jerusalem. Meanwhile there is every reason to think that the episcopate, in this latter sense, rather grew out of the presbyterate than otherwise. The primeval bishop was primus inter pares. He was not so much one of another order as the first of his order, for special purposes of 1 He does not mention the bishop in writing to the Roman Church. But there is other good evidence for the then presence of a bishop at Rome. - At Alexandria, till at least A D. 260, the bishop was chosen and ordained by the presbyters. In the Church of Patrick (cent. 5) in Ireland and Columba (cent. 6) in Scotland, the bishop was an ordainer, but not a diocesan ruler. See Boultbee, Hist. 0/ the Church o/Ejigland, p. 25. APPENDICES. 131 government and ministration. Such, even cent. 5, is St Jerome's statement of the theory. And St Jerome regards the bishop as being v^fhat he is not by direct Divine institution, but by custom of the Church. Not till late cent. 2 do we find the sacerdotal^ idea familiarly attached to the Christian ministry, and not till cent. 3, the age of Cyprian, do we find the formidable theory developed that the bishop is the channel of grace to the lower clergy and to the people. On the whole, the indications of the N. T. and of the next earliest records confirm the statement of the Preface to the English Ordinal that "from the Apostles' time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." On the other hand, having regard to the essentially and sublimely spiritual character of the Church in its true idea, and to the revealed immediate union of each member with the Head, by faith, we are not authorized to regard even apostolic organization as a matter of the first order in such a sense as that we should look on a duly ordained ministry as the indispensable channel of grace, or should venture to unchurch Christian communities, holding the apostolic faith concerning God in Christ, but differently organized from what we believe to be on the whole the apostolic modeP. On the other liand, no thoughtful Christian will wish to forget the sacred obligations and benefits of external harmony and unity of organization, things meant to yield only to the yet greater claims of the highest spiri- tual truth. D. EBIONITE CHRISTOLOGY. (Ch. I. 15.) The allusion in our note to "lowered and distorted views" of the Person of our Lord on the part of later Judaizers more or less Christian, has regard mainly to Ebionis/n, a heresy first named by Irena^us (cent. 2) but which seems to have been the direct descendant of the school which specially opposed St Paul. It lingered on till cent. 5. It appears to have had two phases; the Pharisaic and the Essene. As regards the doctrine of Christ's Person, the Pharisaic Ebionites held that Jesus was born in the ordinary course of nature, but that at His Baptism He was "anointed by election, and became Christ" (Justin Martyr, Dial., c. xlix.); receiving power to fulfil His mission as Messiah, but still remaining man. He had neither pre-existence nor Divinity. The Essene Ebionites, who were in fact Gnostics, held (at least in many instances) that Christ was a super-angelic created Spirit, incarnate at many successive periods in various men (for instance, in Adam), and finally in Jesus. At what point in the existence of Jesus the Christ entered into union with Him was not defined. See Smith's Diet, of Christian Biography, dr., art. Ehionisni. i_It will be remembeted that the word tep«ir?, sacerdos, is never in N.T. a designation of the Christian minister. - This was fully owned by the great Anglican writers of cent. 17. See Bp Andrewes writing to Du Moulin; Bp Cosin to Basire; and Bp Hall's Peace Maimer, J 6. Cp. J. J. S. Perowne, D.D , C/uirck, Ministry, and Sacraments, pp. 6, 7. APPENDICES. E. CHRISTOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY. (Ch. II. 5.) "A Christianity without Christ is no Christianity; and a Christ not Divine is one other than the Christ on whom the souls of Christians have habitually fed. What virtue, what piety, have existed outside of Christianity, is a question totally distinct. But to hold that, since the great controversy of the early time was wound up at Chalcedon, the question of our Lord's Divinity has generated all the storms of the Christian atmosphere, would be simply an historical untruth. "Christianity. ..produced a type of character wholly new to the Roman world, and it fundamentally altered the laws and institutions, the tone, temper and tradition of that world. For example, it changed profoundly the relation of the poor to the rich.. It abolished slavery, and a multitude of other horrors. It restored the position of woman in society. It made peace, instead of war, the normal and presumed relation between human societies. It exhibited life as a discipline... in all its parts, and changed essentially the place and function of suffering in human experience... All this has been done not by eclectic and arbitrary fancies, but by the creed of the Homoousion, in which the philosophy of modern times sometimes appears to find a favourite theme of ridicule. The whole fabric, social as well as personal, rests on the new type of character which the Gospel brought into life and action." W. E. Gladstone {"■ Nineteeitth C^nhay,' May 1888; pp. 780—784). F. ROBERT HALL ON PHIL. IT. 5-S. EAUR'S THEORY. The Rev. Robert Hall (1764 — 1831), one of the greatest of Christian preachers, was in early life much influenced by the Socinian theology. His later testimony to a true Christology is the more remarkable. The following extract is from a sermon "preached at the (Baptist) Chapel in Dean Street, Southwark, June 27, 1813" {Works, ed. 1833; vol. vi., p. 112): "He was found in fashion as a man : it was a wonderful discovery, an astonishing spectacle in the view of angels, that He who was in the form of God, and adored from eternity, should be made in fashion as a man. But w^iy is it not said that He was a man? For the same reason that the Apostle wishes to dwell upon the appearance of our Saviour, not as excluding the reality, but as exemplifying His con- descension. His being in the form of God did not prove that He was not God, but rather that He was God, and entitled to supreme honour. So, His assuming the form of a servant and being in the likeness of man, dees not prove that He was not man, but, on the APPENDICES. 13j contrary, includes it; at the same time including a manifestation of Himself, agreeably to His design of purchasing the salvation of His people, and dying for the sins of the world, by sacrificing Himself upon the Cross." Baur {Patilits, pp. 458 — 464) goes at length into the Christological passage, and actually contends for the view that it is written by one who had before him the developed Gnosticism of cent, i, and was not uninfluenced by it. In the words of ver. 6, a consciousness of the Gnostic teaching about the /Eon Sophia^ striving for an absolute union with the absolute being of the Unknowable Supreme ; and again about the ^ons in general, striving similarly to "grasp" the pleroiiia of Absolute Being and discovering only the more deeply in their effort this kmoma of their own relativity and dependence. The best refutation of such expositions is the repeated perusal of the Epistle itself, with its noon-day practicality of precept and purity of affections, and not least its high language (ch. iii.) about the sanctity of the body — an idea wholly foreign to the Gnostic sphere of thought. It is true that Schrader, a critic earlier than Baur (see Alford, N.T. III. p. 27), supposed the passage iii. i — iv. 9 to be an interpolation. But, not to speak of the total absence of any historical or docu- mentary support for such a theory, the careful reader will find in that section just those minute touches of harmony with the rest of the Epistle, e.g. in the indicated need of internal union at Philippi, which are the surest signs of homogeneity. G. AD. MONOD ON ST PAUL'S TEARS. (Cn. III. 18.) "What is the Gospel of St Paul? Is it but a refined deism, an- nouncing as its whole doctrine the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, as its whole revelation the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, as its only mediator Jesus Christ living as prophet and dying as martyr? Or is this Gospel a religion unlike all others (uiie religion tout a /</;-/). ..proclaiming a God unknown, promising an indescribable deliverance, demanding a radical change, compassion- ate and terrible at once, ...high as heaven, deep as hell? You need not, for your answer, consult the writings of the Apostle; you have but to see him weeping at your feet." Saint Paul, Cinq Discours (ed. 1859), p. 62. 134 APPENDICES. H. FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. (Ch. IV. i.) "While the great motives of the Gospel reduce the muhipHcity and confusion of the passions by their commanding force, they do, by the very same energy, expand all sensibilities ; or, if we might so speak, send the pulse of life with vigour through the finer vessels of the moral system : there is far less apathy, and a far more equable consciousness in the mind, after it has admitted Christianity, than before ; and, by necessary consequence, there is more individuality, because more life. Christians, therefore, while they understand each other better than other men do, possess a greater stock of sentiment to make the subject of converse, than others. The comparison of heart to heart knits heart to heart, and communicates to friendship very much that is sweet and intense.... " So far as Christians truly exhibit the characteristics of their Lord, in spirit and conduct, a vivid emotion is enkindled in other Christian bosoms, as if the bright Original of all perfection stood dimly revealed. ...The conclusion comes upon the mind... that this family resem- blance... springs from a common centre, and that there exists, as its archetype, an invisible Personage, of whose glory all are, in a measure, partaking." Isaac Taylor, of Ongar; Saturday Evening, ch. xix. I. PHILIPPI AND THE EPISTLE. (Ch. IV. i8.) From an essay by Prof. J. Agar Beet, in The Expositor (January, 1889), I extract the closing sentences : — "With this reply [the Epistle], a gift infinitely more precious than that he brought from Philippi, Epaphroditus starts on his homeward journey. The joy caused by his return, and the effect of this wonderful letter when first read in the Church at Philippi, are hidden from us. And we may almost say that with this letter the Church itself passes from our view. To-day, in silent meadows quiet cattle browse among the ruins which mark the site of what was once the flourishing Roman colony of Philippi, the home of the most attractive Church of the apostolic age. But the name and fame and spiritual influence of that Church will never pass. To myriads of men and women in every age and nation, the letter written in a dungeon at Rome and carried along the Egnatian Way by an obscure Christian messenger, has been a light Divine, and a cheerful guide along the most rugged paths in life. As I watch, and myself rejoice in, the brightness of that far- shining light, and glance at those silent ruins, I see fulfilled an ancient prophecy : The grass ivithereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of our Cod shall stand for ez'tr, " INDEX TO INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND APPENDICES. *t* From this Index (to subject-matter, and to names of Authors) are omitted for the most part such references as are obviously indicated by chapter and verse of the Text. yEschylus, 42 affection, Christian, 134 Alford, Dean, 14, 22, 49, 50, 64, 68, 70, 82, 98, 100, loi, 103, 133 Andrewes, Bp, 131 antinomianisni, 48, 102 Arius, 65 assurance, 72, 73 Augustine, St, 104, 105 Baur, 21, 22, 133 Beet, Professor, 134 Bengel, 43 bishops, 38, 80, 12S — 131 body, destiny of the, ico bondservice. Christian, 38 Boultbee, Dr, 130 bravimit, 99 Burrus, 16, 127 Camerarius, 54 Chalcedon, "Definition" of, 71 Christ, eternal reign of, loS Godhead of, 65, 70, 71, 90, 123 Christ ycsiis, 38 Christiati Year, 107 Chrysostom, St, 54, 64, 71, 72, 81,98, 99, I20 Cicero, 68 Clement, St, of Alexandria, 20, 104, no Rome, no, 129 colonies, Roman, 10 Columba, St, 130 commerce, metaphors from, 120 Conybeare and Howson, 58, 88, 119 Cosin, Bp, 131 Cyprian, St, 131 Dante, 70 Day of Christ, 41 deacons, 38, 129 deaconesses, no, 129 Dickson, 87 Diciiona>y of the Bible, 88 — Christia}iBiography,\o^, — Classical Antiqitittcs, 117 Diognetus, Epistle to, 104 doctrine and practice, 63, 71, 132 Ebionism, 131 Edersheim, 22 EUicott, Bp, 47, 49, 50, 53, 65, 67, 68, 98, 109, 115 Elzevir, 37 Epictetus, 127 episcopacy, 130, 131 Euripides, 84 Eusebius, 21, 104 Euthalius, 124 Expositor, The, 38, 128, 134 Faber, G. S., 94 Fatherhood, Divine, 74 faith, nature of, 93 Festus, 127 flesh, 87 Gallio, 127 Gibbon, 68 Gladstone, W. E., 132 gnosticism. 133 God the Father, 123 grace, 39, 73 — and will, 73 Grimm's Lexicon 0/ N. T., 92 Guyon, Mme, 113 Hall, Bp, 131 — Robert, 132 136 INDEX. Hare, J. C, 93 Hilgenfeld, 22 Homilies, 94 Hooker, 94, 96 Hopkins, Bp, 94 Ignatius, St, 13, 21, 27, 28, 62, 76, 130 indwelling, 73 Irenseus, St, 20, 70 individualism of the Gospel, 90 joy, spiritual, 50 Josephus, 87 Judaists, 48, 85, 126 justification, 18, 45, 69, 72, 92 — 94, 102 Justin, St, 42, 131 kenosis, 65, 66 knowledge, 90 Leathes, Dr, 36 Lewin, 10, 11, 46, 119 Liddon, Dr, 69 Lightfoot, Bp, II, 14, 16 — 18, 21, 22, 24, 27. 28. 39> 44. 46, 47. 49. 5°. 64—66, 68, 69, 76, 79, 80, 82, 83, 85, 87, 91, 99, 103, 109, III, 115, 117 — 119, 121, 122, 125 — 128 Longfellow, 105 lost, state of the, 70 Lucan, 121 Luther, 93 Lydia, 11 Lyons and Vienne, Epistles from, zi Lyttelton, Lord, 91 Macedonia, 11 Macedonian characteristics, 13 M'Cosh, 73 Maison dn Roy, 123 Melanchthon, 54 Menander, 84 Merivale, Dean, 46 metrical N.T. quotations, 84 Monod, Adolphe, 54, 103, 133 Mozley, J. B , 128 Nineteejith Century, The, 132 O'Brien, Bp, 94 Parabolani, 82 Patrick, St, 130 Paul, St, at Rome, 125—127 Pembroke Hall, 135 perfectionism, 100 Perowne, Dean (of Peterborough), 113, 131 perseverance of the saints, 96, 97, m Pfieiderer, 22 Philip of Macedon, 11 Philippi, 9—14, 134 battle of, 10 party spirit in Church of, ig, 39, 92, 63, 74, Si, 82, loi Philippians, Epistle to the, its date, 14 — occasion, ig — authenticity, 20 - — doctrinal affinities, 18, 19, 23, 24 — -^ — argument, 28 — 35 — spiritual power, 134 Philippians, Epistle of Pulycarp to, 13, 21, 24—28, 57, 76 Phoebe, 129 Piers Ptoivman, \\2 play, verbal, 85 Plutarch, 64 Pomponia Graecina, 127 Praetorian camp, 46 — 7, 125 Polycarp, St, 13, 21, 24 — 28, 57, 76 Renan, 22, no Ridley, Bp, 135 righteousness, 92 sacerdotal language, 76 sacerdotalism, 131 Salmon, Dr, 12, 22, no, 128 Schrader, 133 Schwegler, log Scott, I'homas, 62, 72 Scrivener, Dr, 124 self-abnegation, 62, 115 Seneca, 126 Skeat, Professor, 53, 102, n2 sonship, spiritual, 74 soul and spirit, 58 "Spirit," "the Spirit," 61 Stoicism, 127 Suicer, 54 Taylor, Isaac, 54, 134 Teaching 0/ tlie Twelve Apostles, 129 Tertullian, 20, 42, 97 Tigellinus, 16, 18 Trench, Abp, 64, 87, 105, io5, 112, 114 Trent, Council of, 73 union with Christ, 42, 91, 118 Unitas Fratrum, Church of the, 84 Valentinians, 70 Virgil, 99 Westcott, Professor, 75 Winer, 105 Wittichen, 22 woman, at Philippi, 16, 109 Cambridge: printed bv c. j. clay, m.a. and sons, at the university press. THE CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. General Editor, The Very Rev. J. J. S. Perowne, Dean of Peterborough. <iPpim'on£f of t\)t yifsisf* "// is diffiadtto coDimendtoo highly this excellent series." — Guardian. ^'■The modesty of the general title of this series has, we believe, led many to misunderstand i/s character and underrate its value. The books a7-e well suited for study in the upper forms of our best schools, but not the less are they adapted to the wants of all Bible students who are not specialists. He doubt, indeed, whether any of the numerous popular C07nmeniari£s recently issued in this coitntry will be found more service- able for general use. " — Acade m y. " One of the most popular and iiseful literary enterprises of the nineteenth century.'^ — Baptist Magazine. " Of great value. The whole series of comments for schools is highly estee?ned by students capable of forming a judg??ient. The books" are scholarly without being pretentious : and information is so given as to be easily understood.''^ — Sword and Trowel. " The vcdue of the work as an aid to Biblical study, not merely in schools but among people of all classes tuho are desirous to have i?itellixeiit knowledge of the Scriptures, cannot easily be over-estimated," — ^^The Scotsman. The Book of Judges. J. J. Lias, M.A. " Ilis introduction is clear and concise, full of the information which young students require, and indicating the lines on which the various problems suggested by the Book of J udges may be solved." — Baptist Magazine. 1 Samuel, by A. F. Kirkpatrick. "Remembering the interest with which we read i\\t Books of the Ivingdoni when they were appointed as a subject for school work in our boyhood, we have looked with some eagerness into Mr Kirkpatrick's volume, which contains the first instal- ment of them. We are struck with the great improvement in character, and variety in the materials, with which schools are now supplied. A clear map inserted in each volume, notes suiting the convenience of the scholar and the difficulty of the passage, and not merely dictated by the fancy of the commentator, were luxuries which a quarter of a century ago the Biblical student could not buy." — Church Quarterly Review. "To the valuable series of Scriptural expositions and elementary commentaries which is being issued at the Cambridge University Press, under the title 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools,' has been added The First Book of Samuel by the Rev. A. F. Kirkpatrick. Like other volumes of the series, it contains a carefully written historical and critical introduction, while the text is profusely illustrated and explained by notes." — I'he Scotsman. 10,000 5/10/83 1 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES. 11. Samuel. A. F. Kirkpatrick, M.A. "Small as this work is in mere dimensions, it is every way the best on its subject and for its purpose that we know of. The opening sections at once prove the thorough competence of the writer for dealing with questions of criti- cism in an earnest, faithful and devout spirit ; and the appendices discuss a few special difficulties with a full knowledge of the data, and a judicial reserve, which contrast most favourably with the superficial dogmatism which has too often made the exegesis of the Old Testament a field for the play of unlimited paradox and the ostentation of personal infalli- bility. The notes are always clear and suggestive; never trifling or irrelevant ; and they everywhere demonstrate the great difference in value between the work of a commentator who is also a Hebraist, and that of one who has to depend for his Hebrew upon secondhand sources." — Academy. "The Rev. A. F. Kirkpatrick has now completed his commentary on the two books of Samuel. This second volume, like the first, is furnished with a scholarly and carefully prepared critical and historical introduction, and the notes supply everything necessary to enable the merely English scholar — so far as is possible for one ignorant of the original language — to gather up the precise meaning of the text. Even Hebrew scholars may consult this small volume with profit." — Scolst/ian, I. Kings and Ephesians. " With great heartiness we commend these most valuable little commentaries. We had rather purchase these than nine out of ten of the big blown up expositions. Quality is far better than quantity, and we have it here." — S'word a7id Trowel. I. Kings. " This is really adjnirably well done, and from first to last there is nothing but commendation to give to such honest work." — Bookseller. II. Kings. "The Introduction is scholarly and wholly admirable, while the notes must be of incalculable value to students." — Glasgow Herald. "It is equipped with a valuable introduction and commentary, and makes an admirable text book for Bible-classes." — Scotsman. "It would be dilhcult to find a conmientary better suited for general use. " — Academy. The Book of Job. "Able and scholarly as the Introduction is, it is far surpassed by the detailed exegesis of the book. In this Dr Davidson's strength is at its greatest. His linguistic knowledge, his artistic habit, his scientific insight, and his literaiy power have full scope when he comes to exegesis Thebookis worthy of the reputation of Dr Davidson; it represents the results of many years of labour, and it will greatly help to the right understanding of one of the greatest works in the literature of the world." — The Spectator. " In the course of a long introduction, Dr Davidson has presented us with a very able and very interesting criticism of this wonderful book. Its contents, the nature of its composition, its idea and purpose, its integrity, and its age are all exhaustively treated of.... We have not space to examine fully the text and notes before us, but we can, and do heartily, recommend the book, not only for the upper forms in schools, but to Bible students and teachers generally. As we wrote of a previous volume in the same series, this one leaves nothing to be desired. The OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. notes are full and suggestive, without being too long, and, in itself, the introduction forms a valuable addition to modern Bible literature." — The Educational Times. "Already we have frequently called attention to this exceedingly valuable work as its volumes have successively appeared. But we have never done so with greater pleasure, very seldom with so great pleasure, as we now refer to the last published volume, that on the Book of Job, by Dr Davidson, of Edinburgh.... We cordially commend the volume to all our readers. The least instructed will understand and enjoy it ; and mature scholars will learn from it." — Aletliodist Recorder. Job — Hosea. " It is difficult to commend too highly this excellent series, the volumes of which are now becoming numerous. The two books before us, small as they are in size, comprise almost everything that the young student can reasonably expect to find in the way of helps towards such general knowledge of their 'Subjects as may be gained without an attempt to grapple with the Hebrew ; and even the learned scholar can hardly read without interest and benefit the very able intro- ductory matter which both these ccmmentators have prefixed to their volumes. It is not too much to say that these works have brought within the reach of the ordinary reader resources which were until lately quite unknown for understanding some of the most difficult and obscure portions of Old Testament literature." — Guardian. Ecclesiastes ; or, the Preaclier. — "Of the Notes, it is sufficient to say that they are in every respect worthy of Dr Plumptre's high repu- tation as a scholar and a critic, being at once learned, sensible, and practical. . . . An appendix, in which it is clearly proved that the author of Ecclesiastes anticipated Shakspeare and Tennyson in some of their finest thoughts and reflections, will be read with interest by students both of Hebrew and of English literature. Commentaries are seldom attractive reading. This little volume is a notable exception." — The Scotsman. "In short, this little book is of far greater value than most of the larger and more elaborate commentaries on this Scripture. Indispens- able to the scholar, it will render real and laige help to all who have to expound the dramatic utterances of The Preacher whether in the Church or in the School." — The Expositor. "The ^ ideal biography' of the author is one of the most exquisite and fascinating pieces of writing we have met with, and, granting its starting-point, throws wonderful light on many problems connected with the book. The notes illustrating the text are full of delicate criticism, fine glowing insight, and apt historical allusion. An abler volume than Professor Plumptre's we could not desire." — Baptist Magazine. Jeremiah, by A. W. Streane. "The arrangement of the book is well treated on pp. xxx., 396, and the question of Baruch's relations with its composition on pp. xxvii., xxxiv., 317. The illustrations from English literature, history, monuments, works on botany, topography, etc., are good and plentiful, as indeed they are in other volumes of this series." — Church Quarterly Review, April, 1881. " Mr Streane's Jeremiah consists of a series of admirable and well- nigh exhaustive notes on the text, with introduction and ap])endices, drawing the life, times, and character of the prophet, the style, contents, 4 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES. and arrangement of his prophecies, the traditions relating to Jeremiah, meant as a type of Christ (a most remarkable chapter), and other j-.rophecies relating to Jeremiah." — The English Churchman and Clerical yournal. Obadiah and Jonah. " This number of the admirable series of Scriptural expositions issued by the Syndics of the Cambridge Uni- versity Press is well up to the mark. The numerous notes are excellent. No difficulty is shirked, and much light is thrown on the contents both of Obadiah and Jonah. Scholars and students of to-day are to be congratulated on having so large an amount of information on Biblical subjects, so clearly and ably put together, placed within their reach in such small bulk. To all Biblical students the series will be acceptable, and for the use of Sabbath-school teachers will prove invaluable." — North British Daily Mail. " It is a very useful and sensible exposition of these two Minor Prophets, and deals very tlioroughly and honestly with the immense difficulties of the later-named of the two, from the orthodox point of view.' ' — Expositor. " Haggai and Zechaiiali. This interesting little volume is of great value. It is one of the best books in that well-known series of scholarly and popular commentaries, 'the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges' of which Dean Perowne is the General Editor. In the expositions of Archdeacon Perowne we are always sure to notice learning, ability, judgment and reverence .... The notes are terse and pointed, but fidl and reliable." — Churchman. " Tne Gospel according to St Mattliew, by the Rev. A. Carr. The introduction is able, scholarly, and eminently practical, as it bears on the authorship and contents of the Gospel, and the original form in which it is supposed to have been written. It is well illustrated by two excellent maps of the Holy Land and of the Sea of Galilee." — English Churchman. "St Mattliew, edited by A. Carr, M.A. The Book of Joshua, edited by G. F. Maclear, D.D. The General Epistle of St James, edited by E. H. Plumi'TRE, D.D. The introductions and notes are scholarly, and generally such as young readers need and can appre- ciate. The maps in both Joshua and Matthew are very good, and all matters of editing are faultless. Professor Plumptre's notes on 'The Epistle of St James' are models of terse, exact, and elegant renderings of the original, which is too often obscured in the authorised version." — Nonconformist. "St Mark, with Notes by the Rev. G. F. Maclear, D.D. Into this small volume Dr ALiclear, besides a clear and able Introduc- tion to the Gospel, and the text of St Mark, has compressed many hundreds of valuable and helpful notes. In short, he has given us a capital manual of the kind required — containing all that is needed to illustrate the text, i. e. all that can be drawn from the history, geography, customs, and manners of the time. But as a handbook, giving in a clear and succinct form the information which a lad requires in order to stand an examination in the Gospel, it is admirable I can very heartily commend it, not only to the senior boys and girls in our High Schools, but also to Sunday-school teachers, who may get from it the very kind of knowledge they often find it hardest to get. " — Expositor. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "With the help of a book like this, an intelligent teacher may make 'Divinity' as interesting a lesson as any in the school course. The notes are of a kind that will be, for the most part, intelligible to boys of the lower forms of our public schools ; but they may be read with greater profit by the fifth and sixth, in conjunction with the original text." — The Academy. "St Luke. Canon Farrar has supplied students of the Gospel with an admiral>le manual in this volume. It has all that copious variety of illustration, ingenuity of suggestion, and general soundness ot interpretation which readers are accustomed to expect from the learned and eloquent editor. Any one who has been accustomed to associate tlie idea of 'dryness' with a commentary, should go to Canon Farrar's St Luke for a more correct impression. He will find that a commen- tary may be made interesting in the highest degree, and that without losing anything of its solid value, . . . But, so to speak, it is too good for some of the readers for whom it is intended." — The Spectator. "Canon Farrar's contribution to The Cambridge School Bible is one of the most valuable yet made. His annotations on Tlie Gospel according to St Luke, while they display a scholarship at least as sound, and an erudition at least as wide and varied as those of the editors ot St Matthew and St Mark, are rendered telling and attractive by a more lively imagination, a keener intellectual and spiritual insight, a more incisive and picturesque style. His St Luke is worthy to be ranked with Professor Plumptre's St James, than which no higher commend- ation can well be given." — The Expositor. "St Luke. Edited by Canon Farrar, D.D. We have received with pleasure this edition of the Gospel by St Luke, by Canon Farrar. It is another instalment of the best school commentary of the Bible we pos- sess. Of the expository part of the work we cannot speak too highly. It is admirable in every way, and contains just the sort of informa- tion needed for Students of the English text unable to make use of the original Greek for themselves." — Tlie N'onconformist and Jndependetit. "As a handbook to the third gospel, this small work is invaluable. The author has compressed into little space a vast mass of scholarly in- formation. . • The notes are pithy, vigorous, and suggestive, abounding in pertinent illustrations from general literature, and aiding the youngest reader to an intelligent appreciation of the text. A finer contribution to 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools' has not yet been made." — Baptist magazine. "We were quite prepared to find in Canon Farrar's St Luke a masterpiece of Biblical criticism and comment, and we are not dis- appointed by our examination of the volume before us. It reflects very faithfully the learning and critical insight of the Canon's greatest works, his 'Life of Christ' and his 'Life of St Paul', but differs widely from both in the terseness and condensation of its style. What Canon Farrar has evidently aimed at is to place before students as much information as possible within the limits of the smallest possible space, and in this airn he has hit the mark to perfection." — The Examiner. 6 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES. The Gospel according to St John. " Of the notes we can say with confidence that they are useful, necessary, learned, and brief. To Divinity students, to teachers, and for private use, this compact Commentary will be found a valuable aid to the better understanding of the Sacred Text. " — School Guardiaii. "The new volume of the 'Cambridge Bible for Schools' — the Gospel according to St John, by the Rev. A. Plummer— shows as careful and thorough work as either of its predecessors. The intro- duction concisely yet fully describes the life of St John, the authenticity of the Gospel, its characteristics, its relation to the Synoptic Gospels, and to the Apostle's First Epistle, and the usual subjects referred to in an 'introduction'." — The Christian Church. "The notes are extremely scholarly and valuable, and in most cases exhaustive, bringing to the elucidation of the text all that is best in commentaries, ancient and modern." — The English Churchman and Clerical Journal. "(i) The Acts of the Apostles. By J. Rawson Lumby, D.D, (-2) The Second Epistle of the Corinthians, edited by Professor Lias. The introduction is pithy, and contains a mass of carefully-selected information on the authorship of the Acts, its designs, and its sources. The Second Epistle of the Corinthians is a manual beyond all praise, for the excellence of its pithy and pointed annotations, its analysis of the contents, and the fulness and value of its introduction." — Exa7niner. "The concluding portion of the Acts of the Apostles, under the very competent editorship of Dr Lumby, is a valuable addition to our school-books on that subject. Detailed criticism is impossible within the space at our command, but we may say that the ample notes touch with much exactness the very points on which most readers of the text desire information. Due reference is made, where necessary, to the Revised Version; the maps are excellent; and we do not know of any other volume where so much help is given to the complete understand- ing of one of the most important and, in many respects, difficult books of the New Testament." — School GuardioM. "The Rev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A., has made a valuable addition to The Cambridge Bible for Schools in his brief commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. The "Notes" are very good, and lean, as the notes of a School Bible should, to the most commonly ac- cepted and orthodox view of the inspired author's meaning; while the Introduction, and especially the Sketch of the Life of St Paul, is a model of condensation. It is as lively and pleasant to read as if two or three facts had not been crowded into well-nigh every sentence." — Expositor. "The Epistle to the Romans. It is seldom we have met with a work so remarkable for the compression and condensation of all that is valuable in the smallest possible space as in the volume before us. Within its limited pages we have 'a sketch of the Life of St Paul,' we have further a critical account of the date of the Epistle to the Romans, of its language, and of its genuineness. The notes are numerous, full of matter, to the point, and leave no real difficulty or obscurity unexplained." — The Exami7ier. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "The First Epistle to the Corinthians. Edited by Professor Lias. Every fresh instalment of this annotated edition of the Bible for Schools confirms the favourable opinion we formed of its value from the exami- nation of its first number. The origin and plan of the Epistle are discussed with its character and gtx\\xmQn(t%s."—The Nonconfor?Hist. "The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. By Professor Lias. The General Epistles of St Peter and St Jude. By E. II. Plumptre, D. D. We welcome these additions to the valuable series of the Cambridge Bible. We have nothing to add to the commendation which we have from the first publication given to this edition of the Bible. It is enough to say that Professor Lias has completed his work on the two Epistles to the Corinthians in the same admirable manner as at first. Dr Plumptre has also completed the Catholic 'E.^is.ilits."— Nonconformist. The Epistle to the Ephesians. By Rev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A. " It seems to us the model of a School and College Commentary- comprehensive, but not cumbersome; scholarly, but not pedantic." — Baptist Magazine. Hebrews. " Like his (Canon Farrar's) commentary on Luke it possesses all the best characteristics of his writing. It is a work not only of an accomplished scholar, but of a skilled teacher." — Baptist Alagaziue. •'We heartily commend this volume of this excellent work." — Sunday School Chronicle. "The General Epistle of St James, by Professor Plumptre, D.D. Nevertheless it is, so far as I know, by far the best exposition of the Epistle of St James in the English language. Not Schoolboys or Students going in for an examination alone, but Ministers and Preachers of the Word, may get more real help from it than from the most costly and elaborate commentaries." — Expositor. The Epistles of St John. By the Rev. A. Plummer, M.A., D.D. "This forms an admirable companion to the 'Commentary on the Gospel according to St John,' which was reviewed in The Churchman as soon as it appeared. Dr Plummer has some of the highest qualifica- tions for such a task ; and these two volumes, their size being considered, will bear comparison with the best Commentaries of the time." — The Churchmaji. " His small volume is, for all practical purposes, complete, both in the Introduction and Notes. He is an accomplished scholar, a keen dialectician, a sound critic, and a judicious expositor, in full sympathy, also, with the utterances of the great Apostle of Love. Our space does not admit us to enter into details, but the estimate we have expressed is the result of a full and minute acquaintance with this delightful little book." — The Baptist Magazine. " Dr Plummer's edition of the Epistles of St John is worthy of its companions in the 'Cambridge Bible for Schools' Series. The subject, though not apparently extensive, is really one not easy to treat, and requiring to be treated at length, owing to the constant reference to obscure heresies in the Johannine writings. Dr Plummer has done his exegetical task well." — The Saturday Rcvic'v. GREEK TESTAMENT. THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK TESTAMENT FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES with a Revised Text, based on the most recent critical authorities, and English Notes, prepared under the direction of the General Editor, The Very Reverend J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D. St Matthew. " Copious illustrations, gathered from a great variety of sources, make his notes a very valuable aid to the student. They are indeed remarkably interesting, while all explanations on meanings, applications, and the like are distinguished by their lucidity and good sense."— /'a// Mall Gazette. St Mark. "The Cambridge Greek Testament of which Dr Maclear's edition of the Gospel according to St Mark is a volume, certainly supplies a want. Without pretending to compete with the leading commentaries, or to embody very much original research, it forms a most satisfactory introduction to the study of the New Testament in the original. ...Dr Maclear's introduction contains all that is known of St Mark's life; an account of the circumstances in which the Gospel was composed, with an estimate of the influence of St Peter's teaching upon St Mark ; an excellent sketch of the special characteristics of this Gospel ; an analysis, and a chapter on the text of the New Testament generally. " — Haturday /Kevinv. St Luke. "Of this second series we have a new volume by Archdeacon Farrar on St Luke, completing the four Gospels.... It gives us in clear and beautiful language the best results of modern scholarship. We have a most attractive Introduction. Then follows a sort of composite Greek text, representing fairly and in very beautiful type the consensus of modem textual critics. At the beginning of the exposition of each chapter of the Gospel are a (evr short critical notes giving the manuscript evidence for such various readings as seem to deserve mention. The expository notes are short, but clear and helpful. For young students and those who are not disposed to buy or to study the much more cosily work of Godet, this seems to us to be the best book on the Greek Text of the Third Gos^tl."— Methodist Recorder. St John. " We take this opportunity of recommending to ministers on probation, the very excellent volume of the same series on this part of the New Testament. We hope that most or all of our young ministers will prefer to study the volume in the Cambridge Greek Testament fv> Schools. " — Methodist Recorder. The Acts of the Apostles. "Professor Lumby has performed his laborious task well, and supplied us with a commentary the fulness and freshness of which Bible students will not be slow to appreciate. 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