3:14 For this reason 1 I kneel 2 before the Father, 3
6:21 Tychicus, my 15 dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you, so that you too may know about my circumstances, 16 how I am doing.
6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power.
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus 17 for the sake of you Gentiles –
4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, 19 urge you to live 20 worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 21
1 sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.
2 tn Grk “I bend my knees.”
3 tc Most Western and Byzantine witnesses, along with a few others (א2 D F G Ψ 0278 1881 Ï lat sy), have “of our Lord Jesus Christ” after “Father,” but such an edifying phrase cannot explain the rise of the reading that lacks it, especially when the shorter reading is attested by early and important witnesses such as Ì46 א* A B C P 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 co Or Hier.
4 tn Grk “making mention [of you].”
7 tn Grk “which, when reading.”
8 tn Grk “you are able to.”
9 tn Or “mystery.”
10 tn Grk “I ask.” No direct object is given in Greek, leaving room for the possibility that either “God” (since the verb is often associated with prayer) or “you” is in view.
11 tn Grk “my trials on your behalf.”
12 sn Which. The antecedent (i.e., the word or concept to which this clause refers back) may be either “what I am suffering for you” or the larger concept of the recipients not losing heart over Paul’s suffering for them. The relative pronoun “which” is attracted to the predicate nominative “glory” in its gender and number (feminine singular), making the antecedent ambiguous. Paul’s suffering for them could be viewed as their glory (cf. Col 1:24 for a parallel) in that his suffering has brought about their salvation, but if so his suffering must be viewed as more than his present imprisonment in Rome; it would be a general description of his ministry overall (cf. 2 Cor 11:23-27). The other option is that the author is implicitly arguing that the believers have continued to have courage in the midst of his trials (as not to lose heart suggests) and that this is their glory. Philippians 1:27-28 offers an interesting parallel: The believers’ courage in the face of adversity is a sign of their salvation.
13 tn Or “Or who is your glory?” The relative pronoun ἥτις (Jhti"), if divided differently, would become ἤ τίς (h ti"). Since there were no word breaks in the original
13 tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.
14 tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”
15 tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”
16 tn Grk “the.” The Greek article ὁ (Jo) was translated with the possessive pronoun, “my.” See ExSyn 215.
17 tn Grk “the things according to me.”
19 tc Several early and important witnesses, chiefly of the Western text (א* D* F G [365]), lack ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) here, while most Alexandrian and Byzantine
22 tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.
25 tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”
26 tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.
27 sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.