Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Philippians 1:3 - 1:3
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Php_1:3 f. Comp. Rom_1:9; 1Co_1:4; Eph_1:16; 1Th_1:2; Phm_1:4; Col_1:3.
ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ μνείᾳ ὑμ .] not: in every recollection, but, as the article requires: in my whole recollection of you, so that the sense is not: as often as I remember you (so usually, following Chrysostom and Luther), but: my remembrance of you in its entire tenor and compass is mingled with thankfulness towards God. On ἐπί with the dative, comp. Php_2:17. Maldonatus, Homberg, Peirce, Michaelis, Bretschneider, Hofmann, are mistaken in making ὑμῶν genitive of the subject (and ἐπὶ as stating the ground, 1Co_1:4): “that ye are constantly mindful of me,” or “on account of your collective remembrance” (Hofmann), which is supposed to imply and include the aid transmitted to him as a single μνεία . That for which Paul thanks God—and it is here, as in the openings of the other epistles, something of a far higher and more general nature—does not follow until Php_1:5.
μνείᾳ ] is to be rendered in the usual sense of remembrance (comp. 1Th_3:6; 2Ti_1:3), and not, as by van Hengel, in that of mention, which it only obtains in the passages—certainly otherwise corresponding
Rom_1:9, Eph_1:16, 1Th_1:2, Phm_1:4, by the addition of ποιεῖσθαι . In this case it is the μνείαν ἔχειν (1Th_3:6; 2Ti_1:3; Plat. Legg. vii. p. 798 A), and not the μν . ποιεῖσθαι , that is thought of.
πάντοτε ] cannot belong to εὐχαριστῶ in such a way that the following ἐν πάσῃ δεήσει κ . τ . λ . should be separated from it and joined to the participial clause, as Hofmann[49] desires. It is true that πάντοτε down to ὑμῶν is closely linked with what precedes; but the connection is of such a character that πάντοτε already finds the befitting limitation through ἐπὶ πάσῃ τ . μνείᾳ ὑμῶν , and now by πάντοτε κ . τ . λ . can be announced, when the εὐχαριστῶ τ . Θ . μ . ἐπὶ π . τ . μν . ὑμ . takes place, namely, “at all times, in every request which I make for you all, thanksgiving towards my God is joined with my entire remembrance of you.” Negatively expressed, the sense up to this point therefore is: “I never ( πάντοτε ) make my intercessory prayer for you all, without always ( πάντοτε , as in Rom_1:10, Col_1:4) in it associating thanks towards my God with my entire remembrance of you.” This does not render the πάντων inappropriate, as Hofmann objects, the fact being that the apostle constantly bears all his Philippians upon his heart, and cannot help praying for them all; he feels this, and expresses it. If we should, with Castalio, Beza, and many others, including Weiss, connect as follows: “whilst I at all times in all my praying for you all make the prayer with joy,” the expression ἐν πάσῃ δεήσει τὴν δέησιν ποιούμενος , as thus linked together, would be only a burdensome tautology. Instead of μετὰ χαρ . τ . δ . ποιούμ ., Paul would have simply and naturally written the mere χαίρων . This applies also to the view of Huther, who (in the Mecklenb. Zeitschr. 1863, p. 400) substantially agrees with Weiss. Hoelemann incorrectly connects ὑπὲρ παντ . ὑμ . with εὐχαριστῶ (Rom_1:8; Eph_1:16; 1Th_1:2; 2Th_1:3). Against this it may be urged, that the otherwise too general ἐν πάσῃ δεήσει μου needs[50] an addition more precisely defining it; and the words ΜΕΤᾺ ΧΑΡ . ΤῊΝ ΔΈΗΣ . ΠΟΙΟΎΜ . which follow, show that the thought is still occupied with the prayer, and has it as yet in prospect to express the object of the thanks. Lastly, the article in τὴν δέησιν points back to a more precisely defined δέησις , the specification of which is contained in this very ὙΠ . Π . ὙΜ . Comp. Col_1:3.
As to the distinction between ΔΈΗΣΙς and ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΉ (Php_1:9; Php_4:6), see on Eph_6:18.
On the emphatic sequence of ΠΆΣῌ , ΠΆΝΤΟΤΕ , ΠΆΣῌ , ΠΆΝΤΩΝ , comp. Lobeck, Paral. p. 56. Paul does not aim at such accumulations, but the fulness of his heart suggests them to him; comp. 2Co_9:8.
μετὰ χαρᾶς κ . τ . λ .] His heart urges him, while mentioning his prayer for them all, to add: “when I make with joy the (mentioned) prayer ( τὴν δ .),”—a feature which is met with in the opening of this epistle only. Php_1:4 is not to be placed in a parenthesis (as by Luther), nor yet from μετὰ χαρ . onwards, for ΠΟΙΟΎΜ . is connected with ΕὐΧΑΡΙΣΤῶ (in opposition to Heinrichs), as containing the characteristic definition of mode for ΔΈΗΣΙς ὙΠ . ΠΆΝΤ . ὙΜ .
[49] According to whom Paul is supposed to say that “he thanks his God for their collective remembrance at all times, in each of his intercessory prayers making the request for them all with joy.” Thus, however, the apostle would in fact have expressed himself in a manner extravagant even to falsehood, because implying an impossibility.
[50] This applies also in opposition to Ewald, who attaches ὑπὲρ πάντων ὑμῶν , and to Hofmann, who at the same time joins ἐν πάσῃ δεήσει , to the participial clause. The participial clause only begins with the emphatically prefixed μετὰ χαρᾶς .