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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Philippians 2:14 - 2:14
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Php_2:14. With Php_2:13 Paul has closed his exhortations, so far as the matter is concerned. He now adds a requisition in respect to the mode of carrying out these admonitions, namely, that they shall do everything (which, according to the admonitions previously given, and summarily comprised in Php_2:12, they have to do, 1Co_10:31) willingly and without hesitation,—an injunction for which, amidst the temptations of the present (Php_1:27-30), there was sufficient cause.
χωρὶς γογγυσμ .] without (far removed from) murmuring. The γογγυσμός (Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 358), that fault already prevalent in ancient Israel (Exo_16:7 ff.; Num_14:2), is to be conceived as directed against God, namely, on account of what He imposed upon them both to do and to suffer, as follows from the context in Php_2:13; Php_2:15; hence it is not to be referred to their fellow-Christians (Calvin, Wiesinger, Schnecken burger), or to their superiors (Estius), as Hoelemann also thinks. Comp. on 1Co_10:10.
διαλογισμῶν ] not: without disputes (Erasmus, Beza, and many others, including Schneckenburger), de imperatis cum imperatoribus (Hoelemann, comp. Estius), or among themselves (Calvin, Wiesinger), and that upon irrelevant questions (Grotius), and similar interpretations, which, although not repugnant to Greek usage generally (Plut. Mor. p. 180 C; Sir_9:15; Sir_13:3-5), are at variance with that of the N. T. (even 1Ti_2:8), and unsuitable to the reference of γογγυσμ . to God. It means: without hesitation, without your first entering upon scrupulous considerings as to whether you are under any obligation thereto, whether it is not too difficult, whether it is prudent, and the like. Comp. Luk_24:38, and on Rom_14:1; Plat. Ax. p. 367 A: φροντίδες … καὶ διαλογισμοί , Tim. p. 59 C: οὐδὲν ποικίλον ἔτι διαλογίσασθαι . Sir_40:2. The Vulgate renders it rightly, according to the essential sense: “haesitationibus.” The γογγυσμοί would presuppose aversion towards God; the διαλογισμοί , uncertainty in the consciousness of duty.