Philippians 1:6

αὐτὸ τοῦτο. Accus. of the “inner object,” where the neuter pronoun takes the place of a cognate substantive; cf. 2 Corinthians 13:1, τρίτον τοῦτο ἔρχομαι (see Blass, Gram., p. 89). αὐτὸ τοῦτο is characteristic of Paul, “the firm touch of an intent mind” (Moule, CT [46] ad loc.). “Having this firm persuasion.” Curiously enough, the same confident assurance, although based on very different grounds, is characteristic also of the later Jewish theology, e.g., Apocal. of Baruch (ed. Charles), xiii., 3. “Thou shalt be assuredly preserved to the consummation of the times.” Also xxv., 1; lxxvi., 2. “Christianity, by its completely rounded view of the world, guarantees to believers that they shall be preserved unto eternal life in the kingdom of God, which is God's revealed end in the world” (Ritschl, Justification, E. Tr., p. 200). ἐναρξάμενος. This verb, although a word of ritual in classical Greek, is found in LXX (Pentat.) apparently in the simple sense “begin”. In its only other occurrence in N.T., Galatians 3:3, it is combined with ἐπιτελέω as here. ἔργον ἀγαθόν. De W., Lft [47] and others refer this to κοινωνία of Philippians 1:5. Is it not far more natural to regard it as “the work of God” par excellence, the production of spiritual life, the imparting of the χάρις of Philippians 1:7 ? Cf. chap. Philippians 2:13 and esp [48] Romans 14:20, μὴ ἕνεκεν βρώματος κατάλυε τὸ ἔργον τοῦ Θεοῦ. ἡμέρας Ἰ. Χ. On the order Ἰ. Χ., see Philippians 1:1 supr. ἡμ. lacks the article on the analogy of ἡμέρα Κυρίου (LXX). This favourite conception of O.T. prophecy refers to “the time when the Lord reveals Himself in His fulness to the world, when He judges evil and fulfils His great purposes of redemption among men.… But the judgment has not its end in itself, it is but the means of making Jehovah known to the world, and this knowledge of Him is salvation” (Davidson, Nahum, etc., p. 105). It is easy to see how the N.T. idea grows out of this. Paul probably assumes that the day is not far off, but indulges in no dogmatising. This name is given to the day because Christ as Κύριος is to be judge. Belief in the Parousia of Christ has a most prominent place in Paul's religious thought. He never attempts to specify the time. But it cheers him, esp [49] in crises of his history (as in this Epistle), to believe that the Lord is near. (See Teichmann, Die paulin. Vorstellungen von Auferstehung und Gericht, p. 11 ff.). There is perhaps no part of Paul's thought in which it is so difficult to trace a fixed outline of ideas as the eschatological. And yet there is no part more regulative for him than this.

[46] Cambridge Greek Testament.

[47] Lightfoot.

[48] especially.

[49] especially.