Philippians 2 is the second chapter of the

Epistle to the Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christian chu ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It is authored by

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

about mid-50s to early 60s AD and addressed to the Christians in

Philippi Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colon ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

theologian Robert Murray notes that a narrative in verses 5-11 about Christ, "who humbled himself, by becoming obedient to death" is central to this chapter. German protestant theologian

Ernst Lohmeyer Ernst Lohmeyer (8 July 1890 – 19 September 1946) was a German scholar of the New Testament, Protestant theologian and Bible professor, executed by Soviet Union, Soviet authorities occupying the former East Germany. Life Ernst Lohmeyer was b ...

argued in 1928 that were an existing hymn about Christ which Paul quotes in his letter, a theory which "has come to dominate both

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (logic), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern usage, ...

of Philippians and study of early

Christology In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...

and credal formulas".

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 30 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(AD 325-350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...

(330-360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400-440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(~450; complete) *

Codex Freerianus Codex Freerianus, designated by I or 016 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1041 ( von Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles'', is a 5th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum in Greek. It is named afte ...

(~450; extant verses 1-3, 12-14, 25-27) *

Codex Claromontanus Codex Claromontanus, symbolized by Dp, D2 or 06 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1026 ( von Soden), is a Greek-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament, written in an uncial hand on vellum. The Greek and Latin texts are on facing p ...

(~550)

Unity of Minds and Hearts (2:1–4)

This section centers on Paul's appeal for unity of minds and hearts among the people, which can be expressed by four phrases: two using the keyword ''phronein'' ("of the same mind" or "of one mind"), then ''agape'' ("love") and ''sumpsuchoi'' ("united in soul" or "being in full accord"). Maintaining his reference to the joy which Paul already feels in respect to the Philippians ( and ), he speaks of this joy being "made full, like a measure".

Christ as the Focus and Model for Discipleship (2:5–11)

Following the exhortation in the earlier section, Christ is pointed as the model for discipleship, with a poetic narrative "beyond Paul's usual vocabulary", but not necessarily beyond his capacity.

Verse 5

:''Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

,'' This verse uses the same word ''phronein'' ("mind") which Paul used at the start of this chapter.

Verse 6

: ''who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,''

Verse 7

: ''but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. '' *"Made Himself of no reputation": or "nevertheless emptied himself"; he lost nothing of what he had, but the glory of his divine nature was covered and hid from the people so they reputed him as a mere man. * "Taking the form of a bondservant" (KJV: "took upon him"): voluntarily, was not obliged, or forced to be in the form of a servant, as was often prophesied in Isaiah 42:1; , Zechariah 3:8, also called in the

Targum A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...

, "my servant the Messiah". * "Likeness": from grc, ὁμοίωμα '' homoiōma''; "in the likeness of men", not the likeness of the first

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

, but of "sinful flesh", and was treated as a "sinner", although he was "equal to God".''John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible'', - Philippians 2:7
/ref>

Verse 8

: ''And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.'' NKJV

The Desired Response (2:12–18)

Based on Christ's example, Paul exhorts the people to "work out your own salvation... for it is God who is at work".

Timothy and Epaphroditus, Paul's Go-Betweens (2:19–30)

Two of Paul's helpers, Timothy and

Epaphroditus Epaphroditus ( el, Ἐπαφρόδιτος) is a New Testament figure appearing as an envoy of the Philippian church to assist the Apostle Paul (Philippians 2:25-30). He is regarded as a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Churc ...

, are introduced and the reasons for their journey are explained in this part, mainly to show Paul's affection to the people of Philippi.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Epistle to the Philippians 02