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Php_2:2. The joy which Paul already feels in respect to the Philippians (Php_1:4), they are to make full to him, like a measure (comp. Joh_3:29; Joh_15:11; Joh_17:13; 1Jn_1:4; 2Jn_1:12; 2Co_10:6). For the circumstances of the case, comp. Php_1:9. The μου represents, as it very often does in the N. T. (e.g. Php_4:14; Col_4:18; Phm_1:20), and in Greek authors, the dative of interest.
ἵνα ] The mode in which they are to make his joy full is conceived in telic form, as that which is to be striven for in the action of making full; and in this aim of the πληροῦν the regulative standard for this activity was to consist. Paul might quite as fitly have put the τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν in the imperative, and the πληροῦν τὴν χαράν in the telic form; but the immediate relation to himself, in which he had conceived the whole exhortation, induced him to place the πληροῦν τ . χ . in the foreground.
τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε ] denotes generally harmony, and that, indeed, more closely defined by the sequel here as identity of sentiment. See Tittmann, Synon. p. 67; Fritzsche, ad Rom. III. p. 87 f.; comp. Herod. i. 60, ix. 54, and the passages in Wetstein. The opposite: ἀμφὶς φρ ., Hom. Il. xiii. 345; ἄλλῃ φρ ., hymn. Ap. 469; διχοφρονεῖν , Plut. Mor. p. 763 E; διχόμητις , Nonn. ev. Joh_20:29; and similar forms. Hoelemann interprets τὸ αὐτό as illud ipsum, that, namely, which was said in Php_2:1, the παράκλησις ἐν Χ . down to οἰκτιρμοί . This is at variance with the context (see the following τ . αὐτ . ἀγάπ . and ἕν φρον .), and contrary to the wonted use of the expression elsewhere (Rom_12:16; Rom_15:5; 2Co_13:11; Php_4:2).
τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγ . ἔχ ., σύμψ . τὸ ἓν φρον .] Two more precise definitions of that like-mindedness, so far as it is identity of (mutual) love, and agreement of feeling and active impulse, sympathy ( σύμψυχοι , only found here in the N. T.; but see Polemo, ii. 54, and comp. on Php_1:27, also on ἰσόψυχον , Php_2:20). This accumulation of definitions indicates earnestness; Paul cannot sever himself from the thought, of which his heart is so full. Comp. Chrysostom: βαβαὶ , ποσάκις τὸ αὐτὸ λέγει ἀπὸ διαθέσεως πολλῆς ! He also well remarks on τ . αὐτ . ἀγάπ . ἔχ .: τουτέστι ὁμοίως φιλεῖν καὶ φιλεῖσθαι . The following τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες is to be closely connected with σύμψ ., so that σύμψυχοι has the emphasis and adds the more precise definition of the previously mentioned unity of mind: with harmony of soul cherishing the one sentiment. There are therefore only two, and not three, special explanations of the τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε ; and ἕν with the article points back to the previous τὸ αὐτό , which is now represented by τὸ ἕν without any essential difference in sense. Expositors, not attending to this close connection of σύμψ . with τὸ ἓν φρον . (which Wiesinger, Weiss, Ellicott, and Schenkel have acknowledged), have either made the apostle say the very same thing twice over (Oecumenius: διπλασιάζει τὸ ὁμοφρονεῖν ), or have drawn entirely arbitrary distinctions between τὸ αὐτό and τὸ ἓν φρον .—e.g. Bengel, who makes the former refer to the same objects of the sentiment, and the latter to the same sentiment itself; Tittmann, l.c., that the former is idem sentire, velle et quaerere, and the latter in uno expetendo consentire; Beza and others, that the former means the agreement of will, the latter the agreement in doctrine; while others put it inversely; Hofmann thinks that ἕν with the article means the one thing, on which a Christian must inwardly be bent (comp. Luk_10:42). It means, on the contrary, the one thing which has just been designated by τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε (as in Php_4:2; Rom_12:16; and other passages); the context affords no other reference for the article.
It is usual, even in classical authors, for the participle of a verb to stand by the side of the verb itself, in such a way that one of the two conveys a more precise specification. See Stallb. ad Plat. Hipp. m. p. 292 A; Bornemann, ad Cyrop. viii. 4. 9; Lobeck, Paral. p. 532 f.