2:15a

so that: The Philippians should not complain and argue. This was in order that they could become blameless. 2:15 gives the purpose for 2:14.

blameless: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as blameless means to behave in such a way that a person cannot be criticized for doing wrong. Paul said that the Philippians should behave in such a way that people could not call them evildoers. A common English expression for blameless is “no one can find fault with you.” Some people might still try to say the Philippian believers had done wrong, but if the believers were blameless, no one could criticize them honestly or justly.

pure: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pure means “sincere, upright.” It means that a person does not intend to do evil.

General Comment on 2:15a

The words “blameless” and “pure” mean almost the same thing and are intended to strengthen each other. If you do not have two words similar in meaning in your language, then use one word or phrase and add extra emphasis. For example:

truly righteous

2:15b

without fault: The Greek literally means “without blemish.” This term was used to describe the sort of animals the priests were commanded to offer as sacrifices to God in the temple in Jerusalem. These animals could not have anything wrong with them or any ugly marks on them. Here the term is used figuratively and means for a person to have nothing morally wrong with him.

The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as without fault here and “blameless” in 2:15a are different, but they have almost exactly the same meaning. Some translators have omitted the phrase without fault because it is awkward to repeat the same idea. But it is better to try to show Paul’s emphasis on the fact that God’s children should be morally upright. One way to do this is to translate the phrase “children of God without fault” using a word such as “perfect”:

God’s perfect children (Good News Translation)
-or-
perfect children of God (Jerusalem Bible)

crooked and perverse generation: This refers to people who did evil continually. The two words crooked and perverse mean basically the same thing. Together they can mean “very evil.” Paul may have quoted this whole phrase from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32:5). Here he used it to refer to the non-Christians around the Philippian believers.

crooked: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as crooked literally means “twisted, bent.” Here it is used figuratively to refer to people who are crooked, unjust, or dishonest in their behavior.

perverse: This is very similar in meaning to “crooked.” The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as perverse literally means “distorted.” It is used figuratively to mean “perverted, corrupt.” Here it refers to people who are evil, those who are morally corrupt.

generation: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as generation normally refers to people who are alive at the same time. It can also refer to a group of people who all have the same character. In 2:15b generation refers particularly to those who did not believe or obey the good news.

2:15c

in which you shine as lights in the world: This simile compares Christian believers to stars shining in the dark sky at night. They should be good people living for God in a world of evil people. This is a figure of speech comparing good behavior to light and evil to darkness. Jesus also used this comparison (Matthew 5:14–16).

If this is not a common way of speaking in your language, then you may need to make the points of comparison clear. Or you may need to avoid the metaphor altogether. For example:

The way you act should be very different from the way evil people act.

shine: The word shine means “give light.” This is a metaphor for Christians displaying God’s truth and goodness by the way they behave. The form of the verb here can be understood in two ways:

(1) It is a command. Paul was telling the Philippian believers how they were to behave, that is, they were to “shine like stars”. (Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version)

(2) It is a statement. It refers to what the Philippians were already doing. For example:

You shine among them like stars (Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Century Version)

The context, especially 2:16b, seems to imply a command rather than simply a statement. However, if you wish to follow interpretation (2), you could translate it as:

You give/shed light among them like stars give light in the sky.

lights: The Greek word can refer to

(1) “heavenly lights, bodies, stars”; (New International Version, Good News Translation, New Century Version, God’s Word, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible)

(2) “lights” in general or “objects that shine.” This could include lamps and beacons as well as the sun and the moon and the stars. (Berean Standard Bible, NET Bible, Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New American Standard Bible)

It is recommended that you follow the majority of translations and commentaries and translate this as “stars.”

world: The Greek word kosmos means “the physical universe” or “the world [of people].” If you follow interpretation (1) above and use “stars” rather than “lights,” you should translate this as referring to the physical universe.

© 2002 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

3:5a

In 3:5–6 Paul listed the reasons why he could have trusted in human tradition and his own efforts, if such a thing had been important. His comments fit into two groups. First he listed four things that showed that he was a true Jew (3:5a–c), things that were true about him from the time he was born, not relating to anything he did. Then he listed three things that were the result of what he himself did (3:5d–3:6b). These seven things could have given him reason to be proud of what he was as a Jew. But he chose not to depend on these things.

In your translation you might put a comment at the beginning of 3:5 to show that Paul was giving a list in 3:5–6 of the reasons why he could trust in earthly things. See the second Meaning Line in the Display for 3:5a.

circumcised on the eighth day: One reason Paul could claim to be a true Jew was that he had been circumcised. God’s law, given through Moses, required this of all Jewish males; it said that they were to be circumcised on the eighth day. This was a sign that they were born as members of God’s chosen people. So Paul was saying that he had been circumcised, just as the law commanded.

circumcised: See notes on 3:3a for the meaning of circumcised. If your language does not use passive verbs, you will need to say who circumcised Paul. Normally it was Jewish religious leaders who performed this ceremony.

on the eighth day: By the Jewish method of counting, the day a baby was born was his first day. So on the eighth day means when he was seven days or one week old. Make sure you use the method of counting used by your culture.

Notice that the first meaning line in the Display says “just as God commanded our (excl.) ancestors.” The exclusive form of “our” here means that since the Philippians were Gentiles, they did not have the same ancestors as the Jews. See also the meaning lines for 3:5d, 3:6a and 3:6b.

3:5b

of the people of Israel: Paul was a descendant of Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and his descendants were known as the people of Israel. So Paul could say he was related to all the Israelites.

of the tribe of Benjamin: Only a few Jews were able to list the names of their ancestors going back to the beginning of one of the tribes of Israel. But Paul knew that he was a descendant of Benjamin. This means that he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, who was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. Two ideas for translation are:

I belong to the tribe of Benjamin.
-or-
I ⌊even⌋ come from the family of Benjamin.

tribe: The sons of Jacob were the leaders of their own families, which in time became clans because each son had many descendants. They also called each clan a tribe, even though all the clans or tribes spoke the same language, Hebrew.

3:5c

a Hebrew of Hebrews: Paul was saying that he was a true Jew and so were his parents. You could restate this as:

I am a true Hebrew, born of true Hebrews.

Hebrew: Some commentators say that the word Hebrew refers to those who were racially pure as Jews, with no Gentile blood in them. Others say it refers to Jews who followed the traditional customs, who still spoke the Hebrew language, and who considered themselves to be religious Jews. Still others say the word Hebrew has both of the above meanings. Paul was born outside Palestine, in Tarsus, but he insisted that he was a true Hebrew.

3:5d

After listing the things that were true of him since he was born, Paul here listed the three things he had done of which he could have been proud.

as to the law, a Pharisee: If anyone questioned whether Paul followed the Jewish laws, his answer was that he was (or had been) a Pharisee. In some languages it will be necessary to use the verb “to be” here. If so, it is necessary to decide which tense to use. Most likely Paul was thinking, as with 3:6a–b, of what he had been, before he became a Christian and so it is better to use a past tense: “in regard to the law I was a Pharisee.” Most English versions which supply a verb here follow this (Good News Translation, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, New Jerusalem Bible) and it also has good commentary support.

as to: This phrase in 3:5d and the next two phrases in 3:6 start with the same word in Greek: kata. This preposition can be translated in several ways, including, as in the New International Version, in regard to. In some languages it is possible to translate it the same way each time, but in other languages it may be necessary to vary the expression.

the law: This refers to the Jewish religious laws in general and to the laws of Moses in particular, on which the religious laws were based.

Pharisee: The Pharisees were a group within Judaism who were particularly strict about obeying the Jewish laws. They were very concerned about each point in the law. Before he became a Christian, Paul had faithfully followed the teachings and practices of this group.

You could translate the word Pharisee as “the Pharisee group.” This is an important word that should be in your glossary if you have one. See “Pharisee” in Key Biblical Terms. Many readers know the name Pharisee because they have read the gospels. In some languages it may be necessary to explain in this context who the Pharisees were. If this is so in your language, you could use a footnote, or include some implicit information in your translation. For example:

I was a Pharisee, ⌊which meant that I carefully obeyed the law.⌋
-or-
I was a member of the Pharisee group, ⌊who thoroughly follow the law.⌋

© 2002 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Section 1:3–11

Paul thanked God for the Philippians and prayed for them

In 1:3–11 Paul thanked God for the Philippian believers. He told them that he prayed for them and loved them very much.

Paragraph 1:3–8

Paul told the Philippians that he often thanked God for them and prayed for them. They were a great help to him in preaching the gospel, and Paul loved them deeply.

1:3

I thank my God: In some languages it is not possible to say “I thank God.” What a person says to God must be in direct speech. For example:

I say ‘thank you’ to God.

I: If you used “we” as the subject of any verbs in 1:1 and 1:2, make sure that it is clear that the subject of this verse is Paul alone.

my God: This refers to the God Paul worshiped, the God to whom he belonged. In many languages it is not possible to say my God, as if a person could own God. Possible ways of translating this are “the God I worship” and “God, my Lord.”

every time I remember you: The word remember here does not mean for someone to remember someone he had forgotten. It means to think about someone again.

© 2002 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

3:16

Nevertheless: The word Nevertheless implies that Paul was emphasizing an important point. In English it could be expressed as “In any case…” or “However…” or “The important thing is…”

we must live up to what we have already attained: Paul was saying, “Let each of us act consistently with the level we have reached as Christians.” This means that believers should obey what they already know God wants them to do and to be. One way to translate this would be to follow the SSA:

we(incl.) must act/live according to what God has already revealed to us(incl.) (SSA)

Another possibility is:

let us(incl.) obey what we(incl.) know ⌊God has already revealed to us (incl.)