Philippians 1:4

1:4 I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you

Philippians 1:8

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

Philippians 1:11

1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:15

1:15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

Philippians 2:3

2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ¹  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

Philippians 2:6

2:6 ² who though he existed in the form of God ³ 

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

Philippians 2:10

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

Philippians 2:18

2:18 And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.

Philippians 2:20

2:20 For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you. ⁴ 

Philippians 2:23

2:23 So I hope to send him as soon as I know more about my situation,

Philippians 2:29

2:29 So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,

Philippians 3:7

3:7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.

Philippians 4:2

4:2 I appeal to Euodia and to Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Philippians 4:16

4:16 For even in Thessalonica ⁵  on more than one occasion ⁶  you sent something for my need.

Philippians 4:21

Final Greetings

4:21 Give greetings to all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers ⁷  with me here send greetings.

[2:3]  ¹ tn Grk “not according to selfish ambition.” There is no main verb in this verse; the subjunctive φρονῆτε (fronhte, “be of the same mind”) is implied here as well. Thus, although most translations supply the verb “do” at the beginning of v. 3 (e.g., “do nothing from selfish ambition”), the idea is even stronger than that: “Don’t even think any thoughts motivated by selfish ambition.”

[2:6]  ¹ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[2:6]  ² sn The Greek term translated form indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God.

[2:20]  ¹ tn Grk “For I have no one who is like-minded who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.”

[4:16]  ¹ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[4:16]  ² 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.

[4:21]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “The brothers and sisters” (so TEV, TNIV; cf. NRSV “The friends”; CEV “The Lord’s followers”) If “brothers” refers to Paul’s traveling companions, it is probably that only men are in view (cf. NAB, NLT). Since v. 22 mentions “all the saints,” which presumably includes everyone, it is more probable here that only Paul’s traveling companions are in view.