Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Philippians 4:1 - 4:1
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Php_4:1. Conclusion drawn from what precedes, from Php_4:17 onwards. We are not justified in going further back (de Wette refers it to the whole exhortation, Php_3:2 ff., comp. also Wiesinger, Weiss, Hofmann), because the direct address to the readers in the second person is only introduced at Php_4:17, and that with ἀδελφοί , as in the passage now before us; secondly, because the predicates ἀγαπητοὶ … στέφανός μου place the summons in that close personal relation to the apostle, which entirely corresponds with the words συμμιμηταί μου γίνεσθε in Php_4:17; thirdly, because ὥστε finds its logical reference in that which immediately precedes, and this in its turn is connected with the exhortation συμμιμηταί κ . τ . λ . in Php_4:17; and lastly, because οὕτω in Php_4:1 is correlative to the οὕτω in Php_3:17.[175]
ὥστε ] accordingly; the ethical actual result, which what has been said of the ἡμεῖς in. Php_3:20 f. ought to have with the readers. Comp. Php_2:12; 1Co_15:58.
ἀγαπητοί κ . τ . λ .] “blandis appellationibus in eorum affectus se insinuat, quae tamen non sunt adulationis, sed sinceri amoris,” Calvin.
How might they disappoint and grieve such love as this by non-compliance!
ἐπιπόθητοι ] longed for, for whom I yearn (comp. Php_1:8); not occurring elsewhere in the N. T.; comp. App. Hisp. 43; Eust. Opusc, p. 357. 39; Aq. Eze_23:11 ( ἐπιπόθησις ); Psa_139:9 ( ἐπιπόθημα ); Ael. N. A. vii. 3 ( ποθητός ).
στέφανος ] comp. 1Th_2:19; Sir_1:9; Sir_6:31; Sir_15:6; Eze_16:12; Eze_23:42; Pro_16:31; Pro_17:6; Job_19:9. The honour, which accrued to the apostle from the excellent Christian condition of the church, is represented by him under the figure of a crown of victory. Comp. στέφανον εὐκλείας μέγαν , Soph. Aj. 465; Eur. Suppl. 313; Iph. A. 193, Herc. F. 1334; Thuc. ii. 46; Jacobs, ad Anthol. IX. p. 30; Lobeck ad Aj. l.c.; also στεφανοῦν (Wesseling, ad Diod. Sic. I. p. 684), στεφάνωμα , Pind. Pyth. i. 96, xii. 9, στεφανηφορεῖν , Wis_4:2, and Grimm in loc. The reference of χαρά to the present time, and of στέφ . to the future judgment (Calvin and others, comp. Pelagius), introduces arbitrarily a reflective distinction of ideas, which is not in keeping with the fervour of the emotion.
οὕτω ] corresponding to the τύπος that has just been set forth and recommended to you (Php_3:17 ff.). Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Erasmus, Calvin, Bengel, and others, interpret: so, as ye stand, so that Paul “praesentem statum laudando ad perseverantiam eos hortetur,” Calvin. This is at variance with the context, for he has just adduced others as a model for his readers; and the exhortation would not agree with συμμιμ . μ . γίνεσθε , Php_3:17, which, notwithstanding all the praise of the morally advanced community, still does not presuppose the existence already of a normal Christian state.
ἐν κυρίῳ ] Comp. 1Th_3:8. Christ is to be the element in which the standing fast required of them is to have its specific character, so that in no case can the moral life ever act apart from the fellowship of Christ.
ἀγαπητοί ] “ περιπαθὴς haec vocis hujus ἀναφορά ,” Grotius. In no other epistle so much as in this has Paul multiplied the expressions of love and praise of his readers; a strong testimony certainly as to the praiseworthy condition of the church, from which, however, Weiss infers too much. Here, as always (Rom_12:19; 2Co_7:1; 2Co_12:19; Php_2:12; 1Co_10:14; Heb_6:9, et al.), moreover, ἀγαπητοί stands as an address without any more precise self-evident definition, and is not to be connected (as Hofmann holds) with ἐν κυρίῳ .
[175] In opposition to which Hofmann quite groundlessly urges the objection, that Paul in that case would have written περιπατεῖτε instead of στήκετε . As if he must have thought and spoken thus mechanically! The στήκετε is in fact substantially just a περιπατεῖν which maintains its ground.