Translation commentary on Philippians 4:23

Paul usually closed his letters with a benediction (1 Cor 16.23; Gal 6.18; Col 4.18; 1 Thes 5.28; 2 Thes 3.18). The central element in all benedictions is the grace. It certainly means more than “favor” (New American Bible), as the term is usually understood. It expresses the love and mercy which God shows and gives through Jesus Christ to people who do not deserve it. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is not to be thought of as something distinct from “the grace of God,” but rather as an expression of it. In Paul’s letters, God and Christ are so identified that he can speak in one breath of the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thes 1.12; cf. Rom 5.15; 1 Cor 1.3). Since grace here refers essentially to an event, the expression the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ must not be interpreted as a character or quality of Jesus, but as something that he shows and does. For this reason, it may be desirable to express this benediction in some languages as “may the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace,” “I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ may continue to show you grace,” “… show you his great kindness,” or “… be so kind to you.”

The phrase be with you is literally “be with your spirit.” Since the word “spirit” is often used in the sense of “person” or “oneself,” the Good News Translation rendering is preferable. In the Greek text the pronoun rendered you all is plural.

Some manuscripts conclude with an “Amen” (King James Version). Most likely it was not present in the original but was added by copyists in accordance with liturgical practice. Otherwise it would be difficult to account for its omission in many early manuscripts.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Philippians 4:23

4:23

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit: Paul ended many of his letters with a form of blessing or prayer. The form varied from letter to letter. See also 1 Thessalonians 5:28 and Philemon verse 25.

grace: The idea of grace here implies both physical and spiritual blessing. It refers to God being kind and favorable toward people.

be with your spirit: It seems that Paul used the phrase be with your spirit here as meaning simply “be with you” or “be with you all” (see 4:23 in Good News Translation). He was probably using the singular word translated spirit to refer to the group of believers in Philippi as a whole, as a unified group. But he also could have been using the singular form to apply his blessing to each individual in the group. See also Galatians 6:18; 2 Timothy 4:22 and Philemon verse 25.

(New International Version🙂 Amen: See note on 4:20. The word amēn is in some Greek manuscripts here and not in others. The King James Version, New American Bible, and New International Version include it, but the Berean Standard Bible and some other modern English versions omit it. You must decide whether you want to include this ending (Amen) in your translation. It is recommended that you follow the national language version in this.

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Sung version of Philippians 4

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