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Php_3:17. In carrying out this command they are to follow his example, which he has previously held up to their view, especially from Php_3:12 onwards.
συμμιμηταί ] co-imitators, is a word not elsewhere preserved. Comp., however, συμμιμούμενοι , Plat. Polit. p. 274 D. σύν is neither superfluous (Heinrichs, comp. Hofmann), nor does it refer to the imitation of Christ in common with the apostle (Bengel, Ewald),—a reference which cannot be derived from the remote Php_1:30 to Php_2:8, and which would be expressed somewhat as in 1Co_11:1; 1Th_1:6. Neither does it refer to the obligation of his readers collectively to imitate him (Beza, Grotius, and others, including Matthies, Hoelemann, van Hengel, de Wette), so that “omnes uno consensu et una mente” (Calvin) would be meant; but it means, as is required by the context that follows: “una cum aliis, qui me imitantur (Estius; comp. Erasmus, Annot., Vatablus, Cornelius a Lapide, Wiesinger, Weiss, Ellicott, and others). Theophylact aptly remarks: συγκολλᾷ αὐτοὺς τοῖς καλῶς περιπατοῦσι , whereby the weight of the exhortation is strengthened.
σκοπεῖτε ] direct your view to those who, etc., namely, in order to become imitators of me in like manner as they are. Other Christians, not Philippians, are meant, just as Php_3:18 also applies to those of other places.
καθώς ] does not correspond to the οὕτω , as most expositors think, but is the argumentative “as” (see on Php_1:7), by which the two previous requirements, συμμιμηταί κ . τ . λ . and σκοπεῖτε κ . τ . λ ., are established: in measure as ye have us for an example. This interpretation (which Wiesinger and Weiss adopt) is, notwithstanding the subtle distinction of thought which Hofmann suggests, required both by the second person ἔχετε (not ἔχουσι ) and by the plural ἡμᾶς (not ἐμέ ). This ἡμᾶς refers not to the apostle alone (so many, and still de Wette; but in this case, as before, the singular would have been used), nor yet generally to the apostle and his companions (van Hengel, Baumgarten-Crusius, Lightfoot), especially Timothy (Hofmann), or to all tried Christians (Matthies); but to him and those οὕτω (in this manner, imitative of me) περιπατοῦντας . This view is not at variance with τύπον in the singular (de Wette); for the several τύποι of individuals are conceived collectively as τύπος . Comp. 1Th_1:7 (Lachmann, Lünemann); see also 2Th_3:9; comp. generally, Bernhardy, p. 58 f.; Kühner, II. 1, p. 12 f. This predicative τύπον , which is therefore placed before ἡμᾶς , is emphatic.