Tuesday, November 30, 2004

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.

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