1:17a
The former, however: This refers back to the group of people Paul was talking about in 1:15a, that is, those who preached about Christ because they envied him and were his rivals. See comments on chiasmus at the beginning of this paragraph.
out of: This is the same Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translated as “in” in 1:16 and indicates the cause of these people’s preaching.
selfish ambition: The Greek word translated by the Berean Standard Bible as selfish ambition is also found in Romans 2:8; Galatians 5:20 and 2 Corinthians 12:20. Here Paul meant that these people wanted to be important. They wanted people to respect them and obey them rather than Paul, so they tried to get more people to follow them than Paul had.
not sincerely: These people preached for the wrong reason, selfishly, for their own advancement rather than for the good of others and the glory of God.
It some languages it may be clearer to reverse the ideas of not sincerely and “selfish ambition.” For example:
They do not proclaim the message about Christ sincerely, but they preach about him with selfish ambition.
1:17b
supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains: The Greek literally says “thinking to raise up affliction.” This means that these jealous believers intended to cause trouble for Paul. However, it is implied that what they thought was wrong. Paul continued to rejoice because the gospel was preached.
they can add to the distress of my chains: This refers not to physical suffering but to inward suffering. These rival preachers probably thought that their success would make Paul jealous of them.
of my chains: As in 1:7, this means “in prison.”
General Comment on 1:15–17
These verses form a chiasmus, as explained in the introductory note to this paragraph. If your language does not naturally use chiasmus, you should use what is a natural order in you language. For example:
15a Some preach about Christ out of envy. 17a They do so because they have selfish ambition…. 15b Others ⌊preach about Christ⌋ out of goodwill. 16 They preach because they love me….
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