Ver. 26. “In order that your ground of glorying may increase in Christ Jesus through me, by reason of my,” etc. Their καύχημα is their knowledge and possession of the Gospel. Christ Jesus is the sphere in which this blessing is enjoyed. Cf. Sirach ix. 16, ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου ἔστω τὸ καύχημά σου.---ἐν ἐμοί is defined by the following clause. Paul looks on his presence with them as an occasion of advance in their Christian
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τ Usually in τῆς ἐμῆς "παρουσίας πάλιν πρὸς ὑμᾶς. 27. Μόνον ἀξίως τοῦ εὐαγ-
Second Advent.
5 here. s Acts xxiii. 1; 2 Macc. vi. 1.
1 So Alf., Myr. (Lft. mg.) with $aACDcEFGKL, Chr., Euth.cod., Thdrt.
γελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ * πολιτεύεσθε, ἵνα εἴτε ἐλθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν ὑμᾶς, εἴτε eldomas ἀπών, ἀκούσω] τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν, ὅτι "στήκετε ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι, μιᾷ ψυχῇ
t Chiefly in P., ¢.g., 1 Cor. xvi. 13; 1 Thess. iii. 8
Lach.,
Ti., W.H., Ws. axove with *BD*P 47, 57.
calling. év, which here denotes strictly the basis, may be translated “through”. This passage bears out the favourable turn which Paul's affairs have taken, He looks forward to rejoining them.
Vv. 27-30. ENTREATY TO LIVE wWoR- THILY OF THE GOSPEL IN THE FACE OF CONFLICTS.—Ver. 27. νον “gives the aim for which he wishes to remain alive’ (Hfm.).—aflws . . . πολιτ. For the whole phrase cf. Inscrr. of Per- gamon (after 133 B.C.), Bd. ii., 4965, [ἀ ναστρεφομένην καλῶς καὶ εὐσεβῶς καὶ ἀξίως τῆς πόλεως (Dsm., NBS., p. 22). For ἀξίως τ. εὐαγγ. cf. Inserr. Perg., 521, of a priestess, ἱερασαμένην ἀξίως τῆς Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος (of. cit., p. 75).-πολιτεύεσθε. In addition toreff. in marg., cf. Joseph., Vét., 2; Paris Papyr., 63, coll. 8, 9 (164 B.c.), in which a letter-writer claims for himself that he has ὁσίως καὶ .. . δικαίως [πολι τενσάμενος before the gods (Dsm., BS., p. 211); 1 Clem. ad Cor., vi., 1. The word seems gradually to have lost its original sense of life in a community, and came to mean simply “live” or “behave’’. But probably a shade of its original significance often survives as here, to live as directed by certain regu- lations, certain laws. (Hort, Christian Eccl., p. 137, would retain the strict sense, “live a community-life . one directed not by submission to statutes but by the inward power of the Spirit of fellowship ”'.]---ἀκούσω. We should, of course, expect ἀπὼν καὶ ἀκούσας with some finite verb of knowing, but the Apostle, as so frequently, changes the expression of his thought in the process of its formation.—oryx. ἐν ἑ. wy. Curi- ously enough, the second reference to citizenship (iii. 20) is followed by the same two verbs στήκειν and συναθλεῖν (soGw.). This is the first direct exhorta- tion to unity in the Epistle. Apparently there was a danger of friction. e have no reason to suppose that there had been serious divisions in the Philippian Church, but the case of Euodia and Syntyche (iv. 2) discloses perilous ten-
dencies, This was not unnatural, for “the very energy of the Christian faith tended to produce energetic personali- ties’ (Rainy, Exp. B., p. 82). And so, apart from doctrinal differences alto- gether, divergences might arise on ques- tions of method, organisation, etc., with serious consequences. The following words, ἑνὶ πνεύματι, viewed in the light of 1 Cor. xii. 9, 11, 13, suggest that the differences may have been due to a supposed superiority in spiritual endow- ments.—é. πνεύμ. It is difficult to de- fine precisely the Pauline idea of πνεῦ
At times (e.g., Rom. viii. 16) Paul speaks as if the Divine wv. and the human were two forces existing side by side, the Divine working upon the human. At others, the wv. in man seems to refer to the direct indwelling of the Spirit of God as the principle of new life imparted to man, ¢.g., Rom. viii. το, On the whole, we believe it is true to affirm that wv. in Paul is not a psychological but a religious term (so also Hpt. ΚΙ. holds that Paul recognised a distinct mv. τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Hitzm. would identify this with the νοῦς. Cf. Cone., Paul, ΡΡ. 326.327). Here we are safe in hold- ing that ἑνὶ πν. refers to the common, spiritual life implanted in them by the direct working of the Holy Spirit. Cer- tainly this is its most usual significance in Paul. See an instructive discussion in Holsten, Paulin. Theol., p. 11, who shows that when Paul uses trv. to denote the Auman spirit, apart from Divine work- ing, it is when he is obliged to emphasise it as the inner power which moves in the hidden life, or when he draws a sharp contrast between the inner and outer side of human nature, laying stress upon the former as the essential, in opposition to the senses which cannot truly know. --μιᾷ ψνχῃ. Apparently Chr. and ΤΗ, Mps., with the best ancient versions, join p. ψ. with στήκ. The words denote the common feeling, the agreement of heart and mind which was the result of possession of the same Spirit. Cf. Acts iv. 32. ΚΙ. well compares the sense