The scene shifts here from the athletic stadium to the altar and sacrificial rites.
The verse begins with a series of particles, literally, “but if also.” “But” functions here as an introductory particle, not as an adversative. “If also” is not an improbable supposition as the rendering “even if” (Revised Standard Version) appears to suggest; the possibility of martyrdom is apparently in Paul’s mind (cf. 2 Tim 4.6). Good News Translation expresses this possibility by perhaps … if that is so. In some languages perhaps may be expressed as “it is possible that” or “it may happen that.”
My life’s blood is to be poured out like an offering translates a single Greek verb, which means literally “I am poured out” (that is, as a libation or drink offering). The drink offering was usually a cup of wine poured out on the ground to honor a deity. When used of a person, the verb denotes a violent or bloody death. This kind of offering was common in both pagan and Jewish worship (cf. Num 15.3-10). In talking about the possibility of his martyrdom, Paul likens his life’s blood to a drink offering poured out to honor God (cf. Rom 15.16; 2 Tim 4.6).
My life’s blood is in some languages equivalent to “the blood which causes me to live,” but my life’s blood is to be poured out may not indicate in some languages the meaning of “death.” It may be necessary to change the idiom or to employ a nonidiomatic expression, for example, “it is possible that I will be killed like a sacrifice,” “perhaps I will be sacrificed,” or “… caused to die, as it were, like a sacrifice.” The difficulty with this type of expression, however, is that Paul’s death would be regarded as a kind of sacrifice, but the faith of the Philippians is itself regarded as a sacrifice offered to God. It may, therefore, be preferable to translate the beginning of verse 17 as “Perhaps I will be killed and in this way be like an offering of blood which is poured out on the sacrifice that your own faith offers to God.”
Literally, the offering is poured out “upon the sacrifice and service of your faith” (King James Version). The exact meaning of this phrase is much debated. The difficulty involves first the precise meaning of the preposition “upon” (epi); secondly, the relation of the coordinate construction “sacrifice and service”; and, thirdly, the sense of the genitive construction “service of your faith.”
The meaning of the preposition “upon” is conditioned by Paul’s allusion to the sacrificial system. If the allusion is to Jewish usage, the meaning is “in addition to,” since the Jews poured the drink offering, not over the sacrifice, but beside or around the altar. New English Bible favors this view by rendering “to crown that sacrifice.” On the other hand, if the allusion is to pagan ritual, the meaning is “upon” or “on,” since the pagans poured the drink offering on the sacrifice that was on the altar. This interpretation is adopted by the majority of translations, including Good News Translation, on the sacrifice. In view of the fact that most of the Philippian Christians were converts from paganism, it is more likely that Paul would draw his illustration from the pagan sacrificial system (cf. 2 Cor 2.14 ff).
The noun rendered “service” in King James Version is the Greek word from which the English word “liturgy” is derived. In secular usage, it meant a service to the public or the state. In both the Septuagint and the New Testament, it is sometimes used in the general sense of service to men, but more frequently in reference to priestly functions. Here the noun is used metaphorically in the latter sense, denoting the offering up of the sacrifice. “Service” in this context is thus best understood in the sense of “offering.” Since in Greek two nouns often share one article, this coordinate construction is probably to be taken, not as referring to two things, but as forming one event. The “sacrifice” is the semantic goal of the “offering,” and God is the implied recipient of the “sacrifice.” Now, by making this information explicit and restructuring the construction into a verbal phrase, we have the Good News Translation rendering the sacrifice that … offers to God.
The identification of the subject of the offering depends on the analysis of the genitive construction “offering of your faith.” The ambiguity of this construction is reflected in the various translations. It is interpreted by some as “the offering is your faith”; thus Jerusalem Bible has “offering—which is your faith” (cf. New English Bible “that sacrifice which is the offering up of your faith”). Moffatt provides a variation of this interpretation by identifying the agent as “you,” thus “the sacred sacrifice of faith you are offering to God.” These renderings regard “faith” as the thing offered. Another possibility, adopted by Good News Translation, is to take the construction in the sense of “your faith offers something (sacrifice).” The context makes it clear that it is not Paul who is offering the sacrifice, but the Philippians. Furthermore, what the Philippians offer is not their faith; rather their new-found faith is the source or the impulse for that offering. The sacrifice which their faith offers is probably their gifts to Paul, for these constitute a sacrifice on their part (cf. 2.30 and especially 4.18).
It may be difficult to speak of the sacrifice that your faith offers to God, since in many languages the event implied in faith cannot be regarded as an agent which would offer a sacrifice. It is much simpler to speak of “your faith” as being a “sacrifice” or “an offering.” But even this interpretation may be difficult to express in a receptor language in which faith must be regarded as a verb, not as a noun. If one assumes the interpretation that “the offering is your faith,” it may be possible to say “that which you offer to God is the fact that you trust him,” or “… is your trusting him.” On the other hand, if one understands faith as being the motivation or impulse for an offering to God, one may speak of “the sacrifice that you offer to God as the result of your trusting him,” or “… which your trusting him causes you to offer.”
The possibility of death is for Paul not a cause for grief, but of joy. This joy is based on the confidence that death will be a gain, because by it Christ will be glorified and the gospel proclaimed. Here again we have the characteristic refrain of this letter, “joy” and “you all.” In this verse and the following, Paul employs the verb “to rejoice” twice, and also its compound “to rejoice with” twice. Here he says I am glad and share my joy with you all.
If that is so refers, not to the sacrifice that your faith offers to God, but to the possibility of Paul’s death. Therefore if that is so may by rendered as “if that turns out to be the case,” or “if I die.”
Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .