Philippians 1:2-5

1:2 Grace and peace to you ¹  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Prayer for the Church

1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you. ²  1:4 I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you 1:5 because of your participation ³  in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁴ 

Philippians 1:8

1:8 For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:21

1:21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

Philippians 2:8

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:20

2:20 For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you. ⁵ 

Philippians 2:23-24

2:23 So I hope to send him as soon as I know more about my situation, 2:24 though I am confident in the Lord that I too will be coming to see you ⁶  soon.

Philippians 3:6

3:6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

Philippians 4:5

4:5 Let everyone see your gentleness. ⁷  The Lord is near!

Philippians 4:16

4:16 For even in Thessalonica ⁸  on more than one occasion ⁹  you sent something for my need.

Philippians 4:22-23

4:22 All the saints greet you, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 4:23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

² tn This could also be translated “for your every remembrance of me.” See discussion below.

³ sn Your participation (Grk “fellowship”) could refer to Paul rejoicing because of the Philippian converts’ “fellowship” in the gospel along with him, but it is more likely that this refers to their active “participation” with him in the gospel by means of the financial support they sent to Paul on more than one occasion, discussed later in this letter (4:10-19, esp. 4:15-16).

⁴ tn Several alternatives for translating vv. 3-5 are possible: (1) “I thank my God every time I remember you, yes, always in my every prayer for all of you. I pray with joy because of your participation…” (see NAB; also M. Silva, Philippians [BECNT], 43-44; G. D. Fee, Philippians [NICNT], 76-80); (2) “I thank my God because of your every remembrance of me. Always in my every prayer for all of you I pray with joy. [I am grateful] for your participation…” (see Moffatt; also P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 58-61). Option (1) is quite similar to the translation above, but sees v. 4a as more or less parenthetical. Option (2) is significantly different in that Paul thanks God because the Philippians remember him rather than when he remembers them.

⁴ tn Grk “For I have no one who is like-minded who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.”

⁵ tn The words “to see you” are not in the Greek text, but are implied, and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Grk “let your gentleness be seen by all.” The passive voice construction has been converted to active voice in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷ map For location see JP1-C1; JP2-C1; JP3-C1; JP4-C1.

⁸ tn Or “several times”; Grk, “both once and twice.” The literal expression “once and twice” is frequently used as a Greek idiom referring to an indefinite low number, but more than once (“several times”); see L&N 60.70.

⁸ tc Most witnesses, including several important ones (Ì⁴⁶ א A D Ψ 33 Ï lat sy bo), have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of this letter, while an impressive combination of Alexandrian and Western mss (B F G 075 6 1739* 1881 sa) lack the valedictory particle. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Thus, on internal grounds, with sufficient support from external evidence, the preferred reading is the omission of ἀμήν.