Philippians 2:1

εἴ τις κ. τ. λ. “If exhortation in Christ, if the appeal of love, if fellowship in the spirit, if compassion and pity have any effect.” οὖν probably refers back to Philippians 1:27. παράκλησις has the two senses of “exhortation” and “consolation”. But the whole context, supported by such passages as Ephesians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 1:10, is in favour of the former. No doubt the idea of encouragement and stimulus is implied. This is an exhortation in Christ. That itself must gain for it a favourable reception. παραμ. Only here in N.T. Once in LXX, Wis 3:18. Almost equiv. to παρκλ., but having a suggestion of tenderness involved. It springs from his love towards them. κοιν. πνεύματος. The community of believers is the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the unifying Principle of life. cf. 2 Corinthians 13:13, ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. As Gunkel well observes (Wirkungen d. heil. Geistes bei Paulas 2, p. 69 ff.), Paul rendered an unspeakable service to the Church by emphasising this conception. By so doing he saved the exuberant spiritual gifts of the Apostolic Age from degenerating into mere unnatural excitement. All these came to be estimated according to their value for the community of believers as a whole. τινα σπλάγχνα. There can be no doubt that an overwhelming weight of authority lies on the side of the reading τις. τινα is simply an emendation. How can τις be accounted for? We had hit upon the conjecture that originally τι may have stood in all the clauses. (So Euth. reads before παράκλησις.) It would be quite natural that from a slight misunderstanding of its meaning it should be changed into τις before παράκλ. and κοινωνία. The τι before σπλάγχνα (found in several minn., including 37) might easily assimilate the following σ. At this stage the type of text found in the leading uncials happened to arise. And so the error was stereotyped, although corrected later by Greek Fathers. Curiously enough this same conjecture has been made by Hpt [84] We do not overlook the difficulties involved, but allow it to stand for want of anything better. σπλάγχνα. See on Philippians 1:8. He appeals to their pity.

[84] Haupt.