15You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.
In choosing a word for the Greek that is typically translated as “gospel” in English, a number of languages construct a phrase meaning “good news,” “joyful report” or “happiness-bringing words.” In some instances such a phrase may be slightly expanded in order to convey the proper meaning, e.g. “new good word” (Tzotzil), or it may involve some special local usage:
the Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates as “all-transformative good news” (alles verändernde gute Botschaft), also “good news”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story about the translation into Rutul (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In Rutul, it was only during the most recent consultant checking session that I realized that the Rutul word for Gospel – Incir (from Arabic إنجيل — Injil) — sounds and looks exactly like the word that means ‘fig’ in Rutul. This is a case of homonymy, in which two completely non-related words from differing historical sources have come to sound exactly alike. Most Rutul speakers know that incir means ‘fig’ because they grow this fruit in their yard or buy it at the market every week. However, because the religious sphere of discourse was heavily disparaged during the Soviet era, most people simply never encountered Incir with the meaning of ‘Gospel.’ This meaning of the word, which Rutuls of the pre-Soviet era knew from the Koran, simply fell into disuse and never had much reason for returning into contemporary Rutul since there is no Christian church established among the people. So if the translator continues to use the term Incir as the rendering for ‘Gospel,’ he runs the risk that most readers will, at best, read the word with a smile because they know that it also means ‘fig,’ and, at worst, will completely misunderstand the word. The seemingly ‘easy’ solution in this case is for the translator to use a Rutul neologism meaning ‘Joyful Message’ or ‘Good News,’ [see above] instead of Incir; but in fact it is not all that easy to make this change if the translator himself insists on using the historical word because at least some Rutuls still understand it as meaning ‘Gospel.’ This is a situation in which the translation team has to gradually grow into the understanding that a fully intelligible translation of Scripture is preferable to one that maintains old words at the cost of alienating much of the readership.”
The Greek in Philippians 4:15 that is translated in English as “when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone” or similar is translated in Duna as “When I left your Macedonia ground no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.” Glenda Giles (in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 238ff. ) explains: “The Philippian people lived in Macedonia province. If, however, this verse is translated into Duna with no possessive pronoun modifying Macedonia, the possibility of Macedonia being where the Philippians lived is excluded from the minds of Duna readers. To avoid this exclusion of right meaning it is necessary to [add a pronoun to ‘Macedonia.’]”
The name that is transliterated as “Macedonia” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that shows pillars, a hallmark of the architecture used there in the Roman period and also prominently used today at Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia (see here ). (Source: Missão Kophós )
The Greek that is often translated as “church” in English is translated into Avaric as imanl’urazul ahlu: “the community of believers” or “the believing people.”
Magomed-Kamil Gimbatov and Yakov Testelets (in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 434ff. ) talk about the genesis of this term (click or tap here to read more):
“The word ‘Church’ presents particular difficulties, as we might expect when we think that even many Christians do not understand it correctly. When people today say ‘church,’ they often mean a particular building, or an organization consisting chiefly of clergy (priests and monks). It is even harder to find a word or combination of words which adequately translates the meaning for people unfamiliar with Christianity. Surprisingly, the Greek word ekklesia, indicating in the classical language ‘an assembly of the people,’ ‘a gathering of citizens,’ has come into Avar and other Dagestani languages in the form kilisa. This, like the word qanch (‘cross’), is an ancient borrowing, presumably from the time before the arrival of Islam, when Dagestan came under the influence of neighboring Christian states. In modern usage, however, this word indicates a place of Christian worship. Thus it is completely inappropriate as a translation of its New Testament ancestor ekklesia.
“We were obliged to look at various words which are closer to the meaning of the Greek. Some of these words are dandel’i (‘meeting’), danderussin (‘assembly’), the Arabic-derived mazhlis (‘meeting, conference’), zhama’at (‘society, community’), ahlu (‘race, people, family, group of people united by a common goal or interest’, as in the Arabic phrase ahlu-l-kitab ‘people of the Book’ or ‘people of the Scriptures’), which describes both Jews and Christians, and ummat (‘people, tribe’). In Islamic theology the phrase ‘Mohammed’s ummat’ means the universal community of Muslims, the Muslim world, in the same way as the Christian world is known as ‘Isa’s ummat.’ None of these descriptions on their own, without explanation, can be used to translate the word ‘Church’ in the New Testament. Thus, after long consideration, we adopted the phrase imanl’urazul ahlu, meaning ‘the community of believers,’ ‘the believing people,’ This translation corresponds closely to New Testament teaching about the Church.
“It is interesting that the same word ahlu with the meaning ‘tribe, community’ has been used by translators for different reasons in the introduction to the Gospel of Luke in order to translate the expression in the original Greek pepleroforemenon en hemin pragmaton (πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων), which the Russian Synodal translation renders ‘about the events well-known amongst us’ (Luke 1:1). The expression ‘amongst us’ cannot be translated literally into Avar, but has to be rendered ‘among our people’; and here the same term was used as for the word ‘church’, literally ‘among our tribe, community (ahlu).'”
In Kamo “church” is fang-balla (“owners of writing-people”) when referring to the church community and “house of writing-people” when referring to a church building. David Frank explains: “In Kamo culture, Christianity was associated with writing, so Christianity is called balla, which they say means ‘people who write.’ Christianity is balla, and Christians are called fang-balla, which means ‘owners of Christianity.’ That is the term that is used for the church, in the sense of people, rather than a building. In Philemon 1:1b-2a, Paul says he is writing ‘To our friend and fellow worker Philemon, and to the church (fang-balla ‘owners of Christianity) that meet in your house.’ The word fang “owner’ is very productive in the Kamo language. A disciple is an ‘owner of learning,’ an apostle is an ‘owner of sending,’ a believer is an ‘owner of truth,’ a hypocrite is an ‘owner of seeing eyes.’ The expression ‘house of writing-people’ is used in Matthew 16:18, which reads in Kamo, ‘And so I tell you Peter, you are a rock, and on top of this rock foundation I will build my house of writing-people, and never even death will not be able to overcome it.” (See also Peter – rock)
In Bacama there also is a differentiation between the building (vɨnə hiutə: “house of prayer”) and the community (ji-kottə: “followers”) (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
In 16th-century Classical Nahuatl, a transliteration from Spanish (Santa Yglesia or Santa Iglesia) is typically used rather than a translation, making the concept take on a personified meaning. Ottman (p. 169) explains: “The church building, or more precisely the church complex with its associated patio, has a Nahuatl name in common usage — generally teopan, something like ‘god-place,’ in contradistinction to teocalli, ‘god-house,’ applied to a prehispanic temple — but the abstract sense is always Santa Iglesia, a Spanish proper name like ‘Dios’ or ‘Santa María’, and like ‘Santa María’ often called ‘our mother.’ As a personified ‘mother,’ in the European tradition as well as in Nahuatl, She instructs Her children or chastises them; as Bride of Christ, She both longs for Her heavenly rest and bears witness to it, in the ‘always-already’ of eschatological time; as successor to the Synagogue, the blindfolded, broken-sceptred elder sister who accompanies Her in painting and sculpture, She represents the triumphant rule of truth. ‘The Church’ can mean the clerical hierarchy; it can also, or simultaneously, mean the assembly of the faithful. It dispenses grace to its members, living and dead, yet it is also enriched by them, living and dead, existing not only on earth but in purgatory and in heaven.”
In Lisu the building (“church”) is called “house of prayer” (source: Arrington 2020, p. 196) whereas in Highland Totonac the community is referred as “those who gather together” (source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. ), in Huehuetla Tepehua as “those who gather together who have confidence in Christ” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Uma as “Christian people” (source: Uma Back Translation), in Kankanaey as “the congregation of God’s people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa as “you whom God separated-out as his people because of your being-united/tied-together with Jesus Christ” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
In American Sign Language, “church” (as in the community of believers) is made up of the combination of the signs for “Jesus-into-heart” (signifying a believer), followed by the sign for “group.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Church” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
While British Sign Language also uses a sign that focuses on a group of people believing in Jesus (see here ), another sign that it uses combines the signs for “ringing the (church) bells” and a “group of people.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Church” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following are a number of back-translations of Philippians 4:15:
Uma: “Filipi relatives! When I first spread the Good News in your village, and I left from the province of Makedonia, there were no Kristen people in other villages who sent me money. No one else but you, relatives, supported me [lit., held-me-up-with-the-hands] at that time, as you know relatives.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “You the ones in Pilipi, you know that I first proclaimed the good news there at your’s (your place), then when I left from the place Makedoniya it was only you one group of trusters in Isa there who helped my need.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for you from Philippi, you know that when I left you there in the province of Macedonia when I first preached there the Good News, you were the only believers who helped me. There was no other group of believers who became my partners, for you were the only ones who gave me money.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You from-Filipos, you decidedly know that the first-time I preached the good news to you that time-when-I-left Macedonia, there was no other congregation of believers who helped me if not you alone.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Probably you haven’t yet forgotten that in the past when you had newly believed the Good News, only you Philippians were giving (financial) help, after I had left from Macedonia there. There was no other group of believers which helped me, but only you.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “You, the inhabitants of the city of Philippi, when I first spoke the word there in Macedonia your country, and then I departed from there going to another country, it was only you who helped me in what I needed.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
What Paul goes on to say is literally, “And you yourselves also know, Philippians….” The you is emphatic in Greek, and so one can render “you Philippians yourselves….” “Also know” has the force of know very well (so also Translator’s New Testament; cf. Jerusalem BibleBarclay). Even though Paul does not often address his readers by name, there seems to be no need to suppose a tone of rebuke as sometimes has been suggested (see 2 Cor 6.11; Gal 3.1). Paul simply desires to express his affectionate feeling toward his friends (New American Bible “my dear Philippians”; Barclay “my Philippian friends”).
It is rather difficult to translate the next two temporal references; literally, “in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia.” The relation of these clauses is appositional, but since the latter is more specific in mentioning a place name, it is probably better to reverse the clause order as in Good News Translation (cf. Knox “when I left Macedonia in those early days of gospel preaching”).
The clause when I left Macedonia can be understood in two different ways. Those who connect the gifts mentioned here with the ones referred to in 2 Cor 11.9 generally take the verb as a pluperfect, “when I had left Macedonia,” meaning “after my departure from Macedonia” (MoffattGoodspeedBarclay). It is also possible, with the majority of modern translations, to take the clause to mean “at the time of my departure from Macedonia.” According to this interpretation, the gifts are none other than those mentioned in verse 16, for Thessalonica was in the province of Macedonia. It is equally possible that the reference in verse 16 is to a still earlier instance. The translation is not affected in either case.
The clause “in the beginning of the gospel” does not seem to refer to the beginning of Paul’s Christian life or to the beginning of his missionary work. Paul seems to say simply “when the gospel was first preached among you,” that is, in the early days preaching the Good News among you.
In some languages it may be awkward to have two temporal expressions, one following the other. Therefore one may translate the first part of verse 15 as “You Philippians know very well that when I left Macedonia you were the only church to help me; those were the early days of my preaching the Good News,” or “… that was at the beginning of the time when I was preaching the Good News in that part of the world,” or “… in that region.”
What Paul says in the remainder of the verse is a negative statement in Greek, literally, “no church entered into partnership with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only.” To bring out the proper emphasis of “except you only,” one may restructure the sentence as Good News Translation does, you were the only church to help me; you were the only ones…. The church here is, of course, the local congregation (New English Bible “you were the only congregation”). In some languages “congregation” may be rendered a “group of believers.”
The phrase “in the matter of giving and receiving,” taken from commercial language, is equivalent to “on account of credit and debit.” It can be understood in various ways. (1) As a reference to financial transactions in a general sense; for example, “no church but yours went into partnership and opened an account with me” (Goodspeed), or “no church but yourselves had any financial dealings with me” (Moffatt). (2) One can take “giving” as the specific giving by the Philippians and “receiving” as the receiving by Paul; thus “you were the only church by whom in partnership I was offered, and from whom I accepted, any financial help” (Barclay). (3) Since Paul is obviously referring to the financial help he received from the Philippians, it is possible to take the phrase as alluding to the gifts of money, for example, “no other church helped me with gifts of money” (Jerusalem Bible). (4) In view of the fact that the picture here is that of “sharing” or “partnership” in a business venture, it is possible to take the two terms in the figurative sense of “profits” and “losses,” as Good News Translation does, you were the only ones who shared my profits and losses.
In some languages a literal rendering of who shared my profits and losses may be too specific, giving the impression that the church in Philippi was actually in some kind of business agreement with Paul—for example, that when he made money at tentmaking, the church in Philippi received profits, but when he lost money, they made up for his losses. Such an interpretation would go far beyond the implications of this text. Accordingly, most translators render the final clause of verse 15 as “the only ones who made gifts of money to me.”
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 .
Paul told the Philippians that he had received the generous gift they had sent to him with Epaphroditus. He told them that God would also supply what they needed.
4:15
During Paul’s travels after his first visit to Philippi, the believers there sent him gifts to help pay the expenses of his ministry. They were the only church that did that at that time. This is what Paul was talking about in 4:15.
4:15a
And as you Philippians know: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And can also be translated “indeed” or “and.” Paul was saying that they already knew what he was going to tell them in 4:15–16.
4:15b
in the early days of the gospel: This is literally “in the beginning of the gospel.” The phrase can be interpreted in several ways:
(1) It focuses on the Philippians and the time when they first heard the good news about Jesus Christ. It may also include the years when they were still new believers. (New International Version, New Living Translation (2004))
(2) It focuses on Paul and the time when he first preached the gospel in Macedonia. For example:
in the early days of preaching the Good News (Good News Translation) (NET Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Good News Translation)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). It is most likely here that Paul was writing from the point of view of the Philippians.
4:15c
when I left Macedonia: There are two ways to translate the form of the Greek verb in this part of the verse:
(1) It refers to the precise time when Paul actually left Macedonia to go to Athens and Corinth (Acts 17:14–15). (New International Version, Revised English Bible)
(2) It refers more generally to some time after Paul had left Macedonia to go to Athens and Corinth. For example:
After I left there…. (Contemporary English Version)
Many English versions are ambiguous. However, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The first gift Paul received from the Philippians was when he was in Thessalonica (4:16). Since Thessalonica was also in Macedonia, this favors interpretation (1).
4:15d
no church but you partnered with me: No other church sent gifts to Paul at that time. The church at Philippi was the only one that did.
partnered with me: The Philippian believers became partners with Paul in his work by sending money and perhaps other things to help him. See the note on 1:5a.
in the matter of giving and receiving: Paul was probably using a business or financial term here that means “in an accounting of expenses and receipts.” He was referring to the gifts of money and perhaps other things that the Philippians had sent to him and his companions. The use of both giving and receiving can be understood in two ways:
(1) The Philippians gave and Paul received. The Philippians gave physical (material) gifts to Paul, and he told them that he had received them. (New Century Version, New Living Translation (2004))
(2) The Philippians both gave and received. They had already received Paul’s gift of the gospel, and, in return, they gave him physical gifts (see 1 Corinthians 9:11). (God’s Word, Contemporary English Version)
Either interpretation is possible here, and many English versions are ambiguous. If you need to make explicit who was giving and who was receiving, it is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1).
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