Philippians 1:12

Textus Receptus:
γινωσκειν δε υμας βουλομαι αδελφοι οτι τα κατ εμε μαλλον εις προκοπην του ευαγγελιου εληλυθεν

King James:
But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;

Comments:
But I would: Paul uses the word "boulomai" to express his own will here. But his will is explicitly spent on the kingdom, evident in the contrast between what he is expected to want (freedom from his incarceration) and what he actually wants, the progress of the gospel. Early in the book, Paul is making the point of chapter 4:11.

the things which have happened unto me: Paul's confidence is not that "by and by" he will understand why he is in prison. He understands that whatever has already happened to him is to God's advantage in the progress of the gospel. He just wants the Philippians to understand the same thing.

Paraphrase:
With all of my optimism about you, I also want you, my brothers in Christ, to know something about me. You know the circumstances that have stood against me. I want you to realize that those things have already come out to be a part of what God does to promote His good news in the world.

Philippians 1:11

Textus Receptus:
πεπληρωμενοι καρπων δικαιοσυνης των δια ιησου χριστου εις δοξαν και επαινον θεου

King James:
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Comments:
Being filled: While the tense implies something already completed with ongoing results, the context from the previous verse leads to the conclusion that this fulness is something that will have been realized when Christ has returned and kept them pure and blameless.

fruits of righteousness: The syntax (genitive) of the phrase "of righteousness" would either simply name the "fruits" or identify the source of the "fruits". Here, based on the testimony he gives in the following verses, it seems apparent that he is giving the source of the fruits. He uses "fruit" in exactly the same way in verse 22 of the same chapter. In other words, Paul says the Philippians will have the kinds of things (behaviors and attitudes, for instance) which righteousness (which could be a reference either to justification, or to obedient living within it, or both--the word is used twice in chapter 3:9) produces.

glory and praise: If there is any significance to the pairing of these words beyond emphasis by apposition it is that glory (doxa) is generally more rooted in and directed at its object while praise (epainon) is more often focused in the observer and directed outward. In other words, the glory of God, inevitable because of its source in Him, is offered to Him while the praise of God is what any observant person pronounces about God, often to others. In fact Paul mentions the "praise" of "glory" three times in Ephesians 1:6, 12, and 14 in a manner compatible with this emphasis. As believers mature in Christ, they become more aware of the intrinsic and revealed truth about God and respond more appropriately to it, both toward Him and abroad.

Paraphrase:
When Christ does finish His work in you, you will be completely full of the products that flow out of justification--the things God does when He saves you and when your life is conformed to that salvation. And those things will lead both to your personal recognition and verbal expression of God's awe-inspiring nature.

Philippians 1:10

Textus Receptus:
εις το δοκιμαζειν υμας τα διαφεροντα ινα ητε ειλικρινεις και απροσκοποι εις ημεραν χριστου

King James:
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

Comments:
approve: Paul here uses a form of the same word that Peter uses for the "trial" of the believers' faith in 1 Peter 1:7. His prayer for them to have their lives mixed with excellence is in no way a prayer for them to have a life of ease. This fact of the Christian life is scattered throughout the book, as in chapter 2:5-8.

excellent: Literally, the word means something like "carried through." The things Paul wants to be in the Philippians' lives are things that surpass much of what is in the world, and things that can only come as a result of the their faithful patience and even endurance. James 1:3 also makes this point, and also uses the word for "approve" in this verse.

sincere and without offense: "Sincere" comes from words meaning "judged in the light of the sun." Being without offense as a Christian implies neither obsequiousness nor pandering, but instead living transparently with integrity.

till the day of Christ: Everything a believer does is in the context of his confident expectation and anticipation of Christ's return. It is no surprise that Paul gives his clearest explanation of the content of the gospel in a chapter whose point is made by the relationship between the resurrection and the return of Christ (1 Corinthians 15).

Paraphrase:
My prayer then is also toward your experience of the things that surpass what is in this world and what most people experience, with the result that you will be free from the hindrances which cause so many others to stumble--not just in appearance, but even when you are examined in the clear light of day--right up until the day when that light really does shine on you, the day Christ returns for you.

Philippians 1:9

Textus Receptus:
και τουτο προσευχομαι ινα η αγαπη υμων ετι μαλλον και μαλλον περισσευη εν επιγνωσει και παση αισθησει

King James:
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

Comments:
this I pray, that: Paul's prayer is grateful and meditative, indicated by the attitude of verses 3-7. But it is also specific and purposive, indicated by the clause which expresses not the content, but the purpose of his prayer. He does not just say the words, "may their love increase." Rather, his prayers, which are probably as specific as the content of this epistle, have the purpose of increasing their love in knowledge and discernment.

love may abound yet more and more: Despite the extremely positive description Paul gives the Philippian church, he knows there is room for improvement and growth, as there always is with believers. There is never room for complacency among Christians. Whether the object is described in terms of holiness (as in 2 Corinthians 7:1) or Christlikeness (as in 1 John 3:2-3) there is no point in this life when that object is fully realized, so no point in this life when believers may appropriately cease hungering and thirsting for more (as in Matthew 5:6).

love may abound...in knowledge and in all judgment: Real love needs truth, consistent with passages like 2 John 1-4. So growing love matures both in awareness of that truth and in the ability to discern between truth and error, as this passage implies.

Paraphrase:
Also, I pray for a particular purpose--that your sacrificial love grow increasingly, even overflow, as you gain knowledge and the skill to discern truth and righteousness from error and sin.

Philippians 1:7

Textus Receptus:
καθως εστιν δικαιον εμοι τουτο φρονειν υπερ παντων υμων δια το εχειν με εν τη καρδια υμας εν τε τοις δεσμοις μου και τη απολογια και βεβαιωσει του ευαγγελιου συγκοινωνους μου της χαριτος παντας υμας οντας

King James:
Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

Comments:
it is meet for me to think this of you all: The word for "meet" (meaning "appropriate" in English) in Greek is dikaiou, which means "just" or "righteous." Paul does not manufacture positive thoughts about the Philippians. His encouragement regarding them is a legitimate reflection of their faithfulness, not the wishful thinking of a doting but blind parent and observer. The use of this word is also important because it implies that the Philippians are being true to who they really are. In other words, Paul is able to express gratitude for the Philippians because he knows God will finish what He began in their salvation, and their faithfulness is consistent with that expectation and therefore also an appropriate additional cause of Paul's gratitude. A Christian who tolerates sin in his life is not righteous--not simply because he is doing things that are unrighteous, but because He is not living up to who he really is in Christ. A lost person's sin is just sin. A Christian's sin is hypocrisy.

to mind...to have in heart: One of Paul's points in this verse is that it is right for Paul to think of the Philippians as he does because he has them in his heart the way he does. In other words, his genuine compassion and care for them motivates his mentality toward them. Christian relationships are about heart and head. Even their relationship with God has both attributes, as Matthew 22:37 makes clear.

in my bonds...in the defense and confirmation of the gospel...partakers: In verse 5, Paul used the un-prefixed form of this Greek word (koinonia) to describe their ongoing participation in the Gospel from the day they were saved until "now." In this verse, what he means by "now" becomes clear. While they are "together-participants" (synkoinonia) because they minister to Paul's needs (as chapter 4:10) while he is evangelizing in prison, it is just as likely that his wording here means that he used the testimony of the Philippians' faithfulness as one of his weapons in sharing the gospel with the lost.

Paraphrase:
Not only is God's faithfulness on your behalf, evidenced by your own faithfulness, just cause for me to be grateful, but it is right for me to hold you in my mind with gratitude since I have you in my heart, and because you have been joined with me in God's grace in and through my life. Not only have you ministered to me while I have been imprisoned, but also I have defended the gospel to others through your testimony.

Predestination, Security, and Romans 8:29, from a person who believes in libertarian free will

There are a few key passages which are disappointingly abused in defense of determinism in its varying forms and implications. Here is one of them.
Romans 8:29-30 is usually taken as an unbroken chain of activities directed at the elect--meaning: God glorifies every person He justifies, justifies every person He calls, calls every person He predestines to be like Christ, and predestines every person He foreknows. Of course, such a reading is not as self-evident as its proponents would like to make out. In fact such a reading controverts, or at least eisegetically obscures, the contextual meaning of the passage. The problematic nature of that reading begins to be evident when the first word in the chain, "foreknow" has to be reinvented in a way to allow God only to hold foreknowledge of those He glorifies. While it is now common practice to strain the meaning of foreknowledge down to nothing more than "intimate, relational knowledge," as in Adam "knowing" Eve, such a reduction of meaning is an inexcusable abuse of language. That the Old Testament euphemizes sexuality with knowledge in no way changes the meaning of the verb "to know." Claiming that προεγνω inherently implies prior "intimate, personal" knowledge in Romans 8:29 rather than simply prior knowledge requires claiming that the recipients of Peter's second epistle (in 2 Peter 3:17) have prior "intimate, personal" knowledge of the cataclysm to accompany Christ's return--something of which they can only by definition have knowledge by description, not by acquaintance (to use Bertrand Russell's terms). The only other choice is to admit that the eisegeter has here (back in Romans) interpreted the passage to mean that there is an unbroken chain, then strained and limited the first term in the chain to avoid what would otherwise follow from his reading, universalism. It is right that the scriptures do not teach universalism, that all men are ultimately glorified (using the wording of the passage.) And it is right that if there is an unbroken chain in this passage, and God's foreknowledge is taken as what it is, complete, then universalism is implied. What is wrong is assuming that this passage implies an unbroken chain.
Reading the passage as an unbroken chain puts the focus of the text on exactly the wrong object. ους προεγνω και προωρισεν is typical of the rest of the phrases. "Whom he foreknew also he foreordained." The object (the accusative relative pronoun, "whom") is given once at the beginning of each similar phrase, but not repeated within each phrase. The strength of the rhetoric is to create a perfect parallel of activity on God's part within each phrase by creating syntactically parallel verb forms (all third person singular aorist active indicatives which as pairs share each accusative relative pronoun) and from one phrase to the next by repeating the last verb of the previous phrase. In other words, the focus of the rhetoric here is not on "whom" but on what God has done. It is an important, but not conclusive, nuance. Further, the only emphasis that can be placed on the objects (the "whom") of each act is within each pair, not from pair to pair. Saying "God foreordains those He foreknows," then saying "God calls those He foreordains" is different from saying "God calls those He foreknows." To be clearer: the syllogism read into the passage by those advocating a broken chain says that foreknowledge implies foreordination, that foreordination implies calling, and that therefore foreknowledge implies calling. Obviously, the implications of the syllogism are carried forward to glorification so that finally, foreknowledge implies glorification, leading to the previously defined problem that either God's foreknowledge must be limited or redefined, or that all men end up glorified, neither of which readings is either acceptable or necessary. The above reduction to logical propositions (implications) simply misses the point of the passage--misses the point of both the wording and context. Here, what is significant is that it misses the fact that Paul's focus is not on the objects of God's activity, but on God's activity. In other words, this casual paraphrase is wrongheaded: "Every person God foreknows is a person He foreordains, and is therefore a person He calls, and is therefore a person He justifies, and is therefore a person He glorifies."
A better paraphrase follows both from the wording and from the context. The context, as plain as a simple reading of verses 1 through 11 (Christian recipients) and 28 through 39 (security of the believer), is establishing that those in Christ are secure and should have confidence in their Savior and their salvation. So, of course, every person who is the recipient of this letter is foreknown, foreordained, called, and justified--they are all saved. It is Paul's point that their glorification, the completion of their salvation, is as certainly accomplished (just as "aorist active indicative") as the elements of their salvation already secured temporally. Simply put, the relative pronoun of Romans 8:29-30 is limited to the saved not because the meaning of foreknowledge is limited but because the context of the letter (especially this portion) is limited.
So here is the point. While it is possible to read the passage as paraphrased above, it is far more accurate to paraphrase (in a thoroughly expanded form) the passage something like this: "It was God who knew you before you were, and predetermined that you should be like Christ. It was God who predetermined that you should be like Christ, and called you to that purpose. It was God who called you when you were not seeking Him, and who made you righteous. And it was God who made you righteous, and who perfected your salvation." The rhetorical impact of that last statement is this: "The same God who already justified you (and did all those things that led up to your justification) will just as certainly perfect your salvation, making you just like what He wanted you to be like, Christ." Or it could be worded like this: "If God did all of that to get you to this point (justification), do you not think He will finish (glorification) what He started?" Clearly, in context, the point is that the Romans should have as much confidence in their yet future glorification as they have in their already accomplished justification. To use the passage to establish some logically necessary progression of God's edicts and activities is to misuse a passage which simply and powerfully reminds Christians that if God loved them enough to save them when they were His enemies, then He certainly loves them enough to preserve them when they are His children!

Philippians 1:6

Textus Receptus:
πεποιθως αυτο τουτο οτι ο εναρξαμενος εν υμιν εργον αγαθον επιτελεσει αχρις ημερας ιησου χριστου

King James:
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Comments:
Being confident: The meaning of the word used here (not the syntax) implies that Paul has been persuaded to a point of confidence and trust. In other words, his statement to the Philippians is not simply a personal opinion, not even a strong one, but a state of belief to which he has been brought by God. That state of mind is defined by the second participle qualifying the thanks he gives in verse 3. In this case the point is that one of the things that explains Paul's thankfulness to God is his knowledge that God will finish the work he began in the Philippians. Believers ought to be grateful that their salvation is not in their own hands, but in God's. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

he which hath begun a good work in you: Of course God's work of salvation begins long before the specific object of salvation even exists, as Romans 8:29-30 makes clear. But since this work is begun "in you" he is either speaking of the beginning of their experience of faith (the day of their conversion) or of the beginning of the work God did to bring them to a point of faith (their calling to salvation through general then specific grace). Either way, the point which can be securely derived from this verse is that now that they are in the faith it is unfathomable that God would not finish what He started.

will perform it: This verb is the same one Jesus uses when He cries out "it is finished" from the cross in John 19:30. He will accomplish the purpose for which he began to do this good work in the Philippians. The wording here is at least reminiscent of God's promise to Israel in Jeremiah 29:10-11.

until the day of Jesus Christ: The phrases "until now" in verse 5 and "until the day of Jesus Christ" are parallel. Just as Paul gives thanks because the Philippians have been faithful in the gospel from the day they were saved until now (in verse 5), so he also gives thanks because God will be faithful to finish the gospel in the Philippians from the beginning of their salvation until the very end--that is, until Christ Himself returns. Eternal security is in no way dependent on the faithfulness of the Philippians. Quite to the contrary in this passage, Paul makes it clear that while the Philippians have been faithful, and he is grateful for their faithfulness, it is God's faithfulness that will finish the work, hence the same confidence toward a carnal and conflicted church in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9.

will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: These two phrases together comprise the assurance that the security of the believer is both teleological (emphasizing the purpose of God) and eschatological (emphasizing the temporal accomplishment of that purpose).

Paraphrase:
I am grateful because of the persuasion that now holds me, a confidence that the One who began to work deliverance in you before you knew what He was doing will finish what He started and accomplish the purpose for which He began it, right up until the day Christ returns.

Philippians 1:5

Textus Receptus:
επι τη κοινωνια υμων εις το ευαγγελιον απο πρωτης ημερας αχρι του νυν

King James:
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now

Comments:
for your fellowship in the gospel: Literally, "upon" their fellowship. While he is able to give thanks through Christ for groups whose behavior does not merit it, Paul has an additional cause for thanks with the Philippians which is specific to them. Their "common" (the root from which "fellowship" is derived) holding with Paul in the gospel gives him a reason to be thankful to God.

from the first day: One of the things that may motivate Paul's thanksgiving for the Philippians is that he was there from the first day of their participation in the gospel. Acts 16:12-40.

until now: Their faithfulness in that fellowship also elicits thanks from Paul. That Christ is Lord merits thanks from any believer. But the faithfulness of God's people can also bring glory to God, in the form of thanks in this case, in other ways as in 1 Peter 2:12. This phrase also creates a parallel with "until the day of Jesus Christ" in verse 6.

Paraphrase:
I give thanks on the commonality we have in the good news of Christ from the moment you heard it until this very day.

Philippians 1:4

Textus Receptus:
παντοτε εν παση δεησει μου υπερ παντων υμων μετα χαρας την δεησιν ποιουμενος

King James:
Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

Comments:
Always...every...all: Inclusion is unmistakable in this verse. In fact, when this verse is taken with the one above it, some form of "every" or "all" is used four times. Christian behavior is constant and consistent--in other words, faithful. Prayer is ubiquitous, intercession constant, and the Christian objects of concern and compassion universal.

prayer...request: Both of these words are from the same greek word. He is describing what he is doing when he gives thanks (from verse 3). One of the ways he expresses gratitude to God when he thinks of the Philippians is by entreating God on their behalf. Prayer on behalf of others flows from a grateful Christian.

you all...with joy: Since Christian joy is not rooted in circumstance, it would be hypocritical to have joy in some believers but not others. Not every reason for joy will be coincident with every believer, but the fact that every need can be taken to God is a reason for joy when every single believer comes to mind. In other words, when there is nothing else for which to give thanks about a needy believer's life, a praying Christian can bring that person's needs to God--something for which to be thankful and in which to have joy. Chapter 4:2,4,6-7.

Paraphrase:
I think of you constantly. I entreat God for you, every one of you, constantly. And when I make those requests for you, I have peace and confidence, real joy.

Philippians 1:3

Textus Receptus:
ευχαριστω τω θεω μου επι παση τη μνεια υμων

King James:
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you

Comments:
Although the Philippians' reputation may merit Paul's grateful attitude, it is not why he is grateful. As he will make clear to the Philippians throughout chapter 4 (for example, in chapter 4:11), a Christian's attitude (even about others) is not determined by circumstance. As an example, Paul expresses the same kind of gratitude in 1 Corinthians 1:4 for a church that is anything but meritorious.

Paraphrase:
Every time you come up--every time I think of you--I am grateful to God.

Philippians 1:2

Textus Receptus:
χαρις υμιν και ειρηνη απο θεου πατρος ημων και κυριου ιησου χριστου

King James:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Comments:
Grace to you and peace: Paul and Timothy's expressed desire for the Philippians to have grace and peace is both objectively absolute and culturally significant. The desire's objective content relates the need for all of God's goodness which is entirely undeserved (grace) and the result of reconciliation with God (peace). The cultural significance is that Christians likely greeted each other with the word "grace" commonly while Jews likely greeted each other with "peace." Of course, Paul and Timothy reflect in their persons the fact that in Christ the only significance to being Jewish or Gentile is knowing Christ.

from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ: There are a couple of emphases in the way these words are arranged. One puts God and Lord parallel, then clarifies that God is our Father and that the Lord is Jesus Christ. The other emphasis is on the way the five words are presented--literally, of God of Father and of Lord of Jesus of Christ. The second point is not a deductive argument for, for instance, the deity of Christ, but it is not a bad inductive one.

Paraphrase:
We desire for you to have the gift of God's goodness none of us deserve. We want you to be right with God and have the joy and confidence that go with that reconciliation. It is your Father and ours, God Himself, your Lord and ours, Jesus Christ, who can make it so.

Philippians 1:1

I'm starting through Philippians in my devotions. Here's my interaction with the first verse of this book on the train today--the Greek text, the King James, my comments, and my paraphrase.

Textus Receptus:
παυλος και τιμοθεος δουλοι ιησου χριστου πασιν τοις αγιοις εν χριστω ιησου τοις ουσιν εν φιλιπποις συν επισκοποις και διακονοις
Paulos kai timotheous douloi iesou cristou pasin tois agiois en cristo iesou tois ousin en filippois sun episkopois kai diakonois

King James:
Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons

Comments:
Paul and Timothy: Paul does not serve alone. As Galatians 6:2-5 makes clear, even though every man must bear his own burden (and Paul certainly proves faithful in just such a manner by withstanding Peter, for instance, in Galatians 2:11-14) it is also true that God provides Christians support in the form of other Christians and that every believer needs the undergirding and strengthening of other believers.

servants: Both Paul's equality with Timothy in this verse and their identification as servants of Christ point to humility. The same word for servant is used about Christ in chapter 2:7. A disciple's life is used up in the service of Christ and others. No life could be more wasted than one spent on self.

to all the saints: Paul, the great evangelist of the Areopagus, is writing to Christians at Philippi while he is being faithful under duress in Rome. Neither calling, gifting, nor circumstance limits the Christian's responsibility. That Paul is called to the Gentiles in no way limits his responsibility to the Jews. Romans 9:1-4. That he is an evangelist in no way diminishes his responsibility to disciple the saved. That he is in Rome does not erase his responsibility to pray and care for the believers he knows in Philippi.

of Jesus Christ...in Christ Jesus: Twice in the first dozen words of this book Paul has made profoundly clear the focus of his life and ministry. It is not religion. It is not career. It is a named and knowable person, Jesus Christ. It is not just the memory of a man, either. It is a real man who walked the earth but also filled and fills the office of the Annointed One.

together with the overseers and servants: Just as Paul first identifies himself as a servant then writes with authority, so he addresses all the disciples of Christ, then reminds the leaders among them of their unique responsibility. The episkopois and diakonois are believers first, but bear a specific responsibility as leaders in the congregation through their servanthood. Mark uses this word (diakonos) for servant in Mark 9:35, and the earlier word (doulos) in Mark 10:44. If it is true that diakonos implies a little more dignity in the role of selflessness than doulos, then it is all the more notable that Paul uses the harshest word about himself and Timothy, humbling himself even before these servants of the Philippians church (or churches).

Paraphrase:
Timothy and I both have been enslaved to the annointed man, Jesus Christ. We write this letter to all of those who have been set apart for and by God, in this case being in Philippi. Those who oversee the congregation, and those who lead, serving it, should pay particular attention to what this epistle says.