Philippians 2:1

Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility

2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, ¹  any affection or mercy, ² 

Isaiah 16:11

16:11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, ³ 

my inner being sighs ⁴  for Kir Hareseth. ⁵ 

Isaiah 63:15

63:15 Look down from heaven and take notice,

from your holy, majestic palace!

Where are your zeal ⁶  and power?

Do not hold back your tender compassion! ⁷ 

Jeremiah 31:20

31:20 Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children.

They are the children I take delight in. ⁸ 

For even though I must often rebuke them,

I still remember them with fondness.

So I am deeply moved with pity for them ⁹ 

and will surely have compassion on them.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁰ 

Luke 1:78

1:78 Because of ¹¹  our God’s tender mercy ¹² 

the dawn ¹³  will break ¹⁴  upon us from on high

Luke 1:2

1:2 like the accounts ¹⁵  passed on ¹⁶  to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word ¹⁷  from the beginning. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹⁹  in the saints’ ²⁰  inheritance in the light.

Colossians 1:15

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ²¹ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ²²  over all creation, ²³ 

Colossians 3:12

Exhortation to Unity and Love

3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, ²⁴  kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

Philemon 1:12

1:12 I have sent ²⁵  him (who is my very heart) ²⁶  back to you.

Philemon 1:20

1:20 Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. ²⁷ 

Philemon 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁸  a prisoner of Christ Jesus, ²⁹  and Timothy our ³⁰  brother, to Philemon, our dear friend ³¹  and colaborer,

Philemon 1:17

1:17 Therefore if you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.

[2:1]  ¹ tn Or “spiritual fellowship” if πνεύματος (pneumato") is an attributive genitive; or “fellowship brought about by the Spirit” if πνεύματος is a genitive of source or production.

[2:1]  ² tn Grk “and any affection and mercy.” The Greek idea, however, is best expressed by “or” in English.

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (me’ay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.

[16:11]  ⁴ tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.

[16:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).

[63:15]  ⁶ tn This probably refers to his zeal for his people, which motivates him to angrily strike out against their enemies.

[63:15]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “the agitation of your intestines and your compassion to me they are held back.” The phrase “agitation of your intestines” is metonymic, referring to the way in which one’s nervous system reacts when one feels pity and compassion toward another. אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) is awkward in this context, where the speaker represents the nation and, following the introduction (see v. 7), utilizes first person plural forms. The translation assumes an emendation to the negative particle אַל (’al). This also necessitates emending the following verb form (which is a plural perfect) to a singular jussive (תִתְאַפָּק, tit’appaq). The Hitpael of אָפַק (’afaq) also occurs in 42:14.

[31:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “Is Ephraim a dear son to me or a child of delight?” For the substitution of Israel for Ephraim and the plural pronouns for the singular see the note on v. 18. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.c the question is rhetorical having the force of an impassioned affirmation. See 1 Sam 2:27; Job 41:9 (41:1 HT) for parallel usage.

[31:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “my stomach churns for him.” The parallelism shows that this refers to pity or compassion.

[31:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[1:78]  ¹¹ tn For reasons of style, a new sentence has been started in the translation at this point. God’s mercy is ultimately seen in the deliverance John points to, so v. 78a is placed with the reference to Jesus as the light of dawning day.

[1:78]  ¹² sn God’s loyal love (steadfast love) is again the topic, reflected in the phrase tender mercy; see Luke 1:72.

[1:78]  ¹³ sn The Greek term translated dawn (ἀνατολή, anatolh) can be a reference to the morning star or to the sun. The Messiah is pictured as a saving light that shows the way. The Greek term was also used to translate the Hebrew word for “branch” or “sprout,” so some see a double entendre here with messianic overtones (see Isa 11:1-10; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12).

[1:78]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “shall visit us.”

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “delivered.”

[1:2]  ¹⁷ sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.

[1:12]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:15]  ²¹ 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.

[1:15]  ²² tn The Greek term πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos) could refer either to first in order of time, such as a first born child, or it could refer to one who is preeminent in rank. M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 43, expresses the meaning of the word well: “The ‘firstborn’ was either the eldest child in a family or a person of preeminent rank. The use of this term to describe the Davidic king in Ps 88:28 LXX (=Ps 89:27 EVV), ‘I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,’ indicates that it can denote supremacy in rank as well as priority in time. But whether the πρωτό- element in the word denotes time, rank, or both, the significance of the -τοκος element as indicating birth or origin (from τίκτω, give birth to) has been virtually lost except in ref. to lit. birth.” In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).

[1:15]  ²³ tn The genitive construction πάσης κτίσεως (pash" ktisew") is a genitive of subordination and is therefore translated as “over all creation.” See ExSyn 103-4.

[3:12]  ²⁴ tn If the genitive construct σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ (splancna oiktirmou) is a hendiadys then it would be “compassion” or “tenderheartedness.” See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 161.

[1:12]  ²⁵ tc There are several variants at this point in the text, most of them involving the addition of προσλαβοῦ (proslabou, “receive, accept”) at various locations in the verse. But all such variants seem to be motivated by the harsh syntax of the verse without this verb. Without the verb, the meaning is that Onesimus is Paul’s “very heart,” though this is an awkward expression especially because of τουτ᾿ ἔστιν (tout’ estin, “this is, who is”) in the middle cluttering the construction. Nowhere else in the NT is σπλάγχνα (splancna, here translated “heart”) used in apposition to people. It is thus natural that scribes would want to fill out the text here, and they did so apparently with a verb that was ready at hand (borrowed from v. 17). With the verb the sentence is converted into an object-complement construction: “I have sent him back to you; accept him, that is, as my very heart.” But both the fact that some important witnesses (א* A F G 33 pc) lack the verb, and that its location floats in the various constructions that have it, suggest that the original text did not have προσλαβοῦ.

[1:12]  ²⁶ tn That is, “who means a great deal to me”; Grk “whom I have sent to you, him, this one is my heart.”

[1:20]  ²⁷ sn Refresh my heart in Christ. Paul desired that Philemon refresh his heart in the same way that he [Philemon] had refreshed the hearts of other believers (cf. Phlm 7), that is, by forgiving and accepting Onesimus. In this way the presence and character of Jesus Christ would be vividly seen in Philemon’s attitude toward his runaway slave.

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁹ sn The phrase a prisoner of Christ Jesus implies that Paul was being held prisoner because of his testimony for Christ Jesus. Paul’s imprisonment was due to his service to Christ, in the same manner as John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos because of his testimony (Rev 1:9).

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn “our” is not present in the Greek text, but was supplied to bring out the sense in English.

[1:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “dear.” The adjective is functioning as a substantive; i.e., “dear one” or “dear friend.”