Philippians 1:27

Μόνον. “Only”; a word of corrective caution, as if to say, “Whether I come to you or not, remember the call to a holy and united life; let not that vary for you with my nearness or distance.” Μόνον is similarly used Galatians 5:13, ἐπʼ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε … μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς�: and see 2 Thessalonians 2:7.

πολιτεύεσθε. Properly, “live your citizen-life.” By usage the verb sometimes means little more than ἀναστρέφεσθαι, with no articulate reference to πόλις: e.g. in the “long recension” (dated by Lightfoot cent. iv.) of the Ignatian Epistles, ad Trall. IX., we have the words ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐπολιτεύσατο ἄνευ ἁμαρτίας. (And see other instances in Suicer.) But in the only two places where it occurs in Biblical Greek before N. T. (2Ma 6:1; 2Ma 11:25) it seems to carry the notion of a common or corporate course of life; and so perhaps Acts 23:1, the only other N. T. instance of its use: St Paul there is speaking, probably, of his “life” not from the individual point only but as a member of the Church of Israel. Lightfoot here says, “though πολιτεύεσθαι is used very loosely at a later date, at this time it seems always to refer to public duties devolving on a man as a member of a body.” Here such a reference is entirely in point; he is about to speak emphatically of the duty of common principles and action at Philippi. See below the kindred noun πολίτευμα, Philippians 3:20, and note. The verb occurs in Polycarp’s Ep. to the Philippians, ch. v., ἐὰν πολιτευσώμεθα� [τοῦ κυρίου].

The “conversation” of the A.V. here represents the Vulg. conversamini, and means not mutual speech only, but the whole course and intercourse of life; a meaning surviving still in “conversant.”

ἵνα εἴτε ἐλθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν ὑμᾶς εἴτε�. More regularly he might have written ἵνα εἴτε ἐλθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν ὑμᾶς, εἴτε�, γνῶ ὅτι κτλ. The irregularity of compression still leaves the thought perfectly clear.—Here, as below (Philippians 2:12) he is anxious to disengage them from an undue dependence on his personal and present influence; the last thing he wishes is to be necessary to them, as only Jesus Christ should and could be.

στήκετε. Στήκω is “a late present, formed from ἕστηκα, perf. of ἵστημι” (Lidd. and Scott, s.v.). It does not appear before N. T., and Suicer gives no patristic example. It is used by the Byzantine writers. In N. T. it occurs eight times; here, and Philippians 4:1 below; Mark 11:25; Romans 14:4; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Galatians 5:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:15. In Mar. (ὅταν στήκητε προσευχόμενοι) it means “to stand” simply; in all the other cases the meaning “to stand fast” is in point.

ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι. For the precise phrase see 1 Corinthians 12:13, ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι … ἐβαπτίσθημεν: Ephesians 2:18, ἔχομεν τὴν προσαγωγὴν οἱ�. In both these places the reference appears to be to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, “in” whom the saints have been imbued with new life, “in” whom they approach the Father, as living members of the Son. We may therefore explain this place also of Him, as the Divine atmosphere, as it were, of life and power. In all three places manifestly the point of ἑνὶ is that the One Agent must have His counterpart in the oneness of those who are filled with Him.

μιᾷ ψυχῇ. “With one soul”; so Tindale and ‘Cranmer’; Vulg. unanimes. With the expression cp. Philippians 2:2, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἒν φρονοῦντες, and Philippians 2:20, ἰσόψυχον. Cp. Acts 4:32, τοῦ πλήθους … ἦν … ἡ ψυχὴ μία. It is possible that the word πνεῦμα here suggested the word ψυχή to the Apostle, by the law of association (see Isaiah 57:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). And if so he probably used the two words in a significant connexion. Ψυχή in Scripture appears often to indicate life embodied. We have then here first the Life-Giver, the One Πνεῦμα, and then the result and manifestation of His living presence, the organization and embodiment of it, as it were, in the one ψυχή of the believing company.

συναθλοῦντες. So below, Philippians 4:3, and nowhere else in N. T. Ἆθλος (contracted from the Epic ἄεθλος) is a contest, in sport or battle, and ἆθλον (ἄεθλον) the victor’s prize. The Greek “athletic” games suggested many metaphors to St Paul; e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:24; 1 Corinthians 9:27; 2 Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:7. See Appendix L. And cp. Conybeare and Howson, Life &c. of St Paul, ch. xx., at the beginning. But here this reference, if present at all, is quite subordinate to the general one of a close wrestling with complex obstacles.

τῇ πίστει. Lightfoot renders “in concert with the faith,” and compares συγχαίρει τῇ� (1 Corinthians 13:6); συγκακοπάθησον τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ (2 Timothy 1:8). But such a personification of “the faith” is so bold as to demand special support from the context. And here the whole emphasis lies on the Christians’ co-operation with one another.

τῇ πίστει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. “For the faith in the Gospel”; the faith which embraces it. (Cp. πίστις�, 2 Thessalonians 2:13.) They were to “strive together” to promote belief in the message of their Lord. Τῇ πίστει may otherwise be taken as the instrumental dative; “with the faith,” as your weapon with which to confront the foe; cp. 1 Peter 5:9, ᾧ�. For the reasons against explaining τῇ πίστει of the Christian’s creed, see above on Philippians 1:25.