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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Philippians 3:21 - 3:21
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Shall change (μετασχηματίσει)
See on Mat 17:2; see on 1Co 4:6; 1Co 11:13. Also see on form, Phi 2:6; and see on fashion, Phi 2:8. The word thus indicates a change in what is outward and shifting - the body. Rev., correctly, shall fashion anew. Refashion (?).
Our vile body (τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν)
Wrong. Render, as Rev., the body of our humiliation. See, for the vicious use of hendiadys in A.V., on Eph 1:19. Lightfoot observes that the A.V. seems to countenance the stoic contempt of the body. Compare Col 1:22. The biographer of Archbishop Whately relates that, during his last illness, one of his chaplains, watching, during the night at his bedside, in making some remark expressive of sympathy for his sufferings, quoted these words: “Who shall change our vile body.” The Archbishop interrupted him with the request “Read the words.” The chaplain read them from the English Bible; but he reiterated, “Read his own words.” The chaplain gave the literal translation, “this body of our humiliation.” “That's right, interrupted the Archbishop, “not vile - nothing that He made is vile.”
That it may be fashioned like (εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον).
The words that it may be, or become, are omitted from the correct Greek text, so that the strict rendering is the body of our humiliation conformed, etc. The words are, however, properly inserted in A.V. and Rev. for the sake of perspicuity. Rev., correctly, conformed for fashioned like. Fashion belongs to the preceding verb. See on shall change. The adjective conformed is compounded with μορφή form (see on Phi 2:6, and see on made conformable, Phi 3:10). As the body of Christ's glory is a spiritual body, this word is appropriate to describe a conformation to what is more essential, permanent, and characteristic. See 1 Corinthians 15:35-53.
His glorious body (τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ)
Wrong. Rev., correctly, the body of His glory. The body in which He appears in His present glorified state. See on Col 2:9.
The working whereby He is able (τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ δύνασθαι)
Lit., the energy of His being able. Δύνασθαι expresses ability, faculty, natural ability, not necessarily manifest. Ἑνέργεια is power in exercise, used only of superhuman power. See on Joh 1:12; see on 2Pe 2:11. Hence, as Calvin remarks, “Paul notes not only the power of God as it resides in Him, but the power as it puts itself into act.” See Eph 1:19, where four of the six words for power are used.
Subdue (ὑποτάξαι)
Rev., subject. See on Jam 4:7. It is more than merely subdue. It is to bring all things within His divine economy; to marshal them all under Himself in the new heaven and the new earth in which shall dwell righteousness. Hence the perfected heavenly state as depicted by John is thrown into the figure of a city, an organized commonwealth. The verb is thus in harmony with Phi 3:20. The work of God in Christ is therefore not only to transform, but to subject, and that not only the body, but all things. See 1Co 15:25-27; Rom 8:19, Rom 8:20; Eph 1:10, Eph 1:21, Eph 1:22; Eph 4:10.