Passage

Philippians 1.10

Book: Philippians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

8. For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;

10. so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ;

being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. 12. Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel; (Philippians 1:8-12, ASV)

WEB

8. For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. 9. This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;

10. so that you may approve the things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ;

being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 12. Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News; (Philippians 1:8-12, WEB)

KJV

8. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; ^{judgment: or, sense}

10. That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; ^{approve: or, try} ^{are: or, differ}

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. 12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; (Philippians 1:8-12, KJV)

YLT

8. For God is my witness, how I long for you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, 9. and this I pray, that your love yet more and more may abound in full knowledge, and all judgment,

10. for your proving the things that differ, that ye may be pure and offenceless, to a day of Christ,

being filled with the fruit of righteousness, that [is] through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 12. And I wish you to know, brethren, that the things concerning me, rather to an advancement of the good news have come, (Philippians 1:8-12, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Philippians 1:1).
Audience: The Church at Philippi, in a Roman colony of Macedonia (Acts 16:12), founded on the mission narrated in Acts 16 and addressed with its bishops and deacons (Philippians 1:1). The church had sent Paul a gift by Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-30, 4:18). The verse states the purpose of the prayer begun in Philippians 1:9, which moves from love and discernment to readiness for the day of Christ (Philippians 1:9-11).
Location: Written from imprisonment (Philippians 1:7, 1:13). The place is debated: Rome is the traditional identification, and Ephesus and Caesarea are proposed as alternatives.
Time period: Depends on the imprisonment: c. AD 60-62 if Rome, c. AD 57-59 if Caesarea, the mid-50s if Ephesus.

Theological reading

The prayer aims at tested judgment. "so that ye may approve the things that are excellent" (Philippians 1:10, ASV). The verb dokimazō (G1381) means to test something and, having tested it, to approve it. Its object, ta diapheronta (G1308), can mean "the things that differ" or "the things that excel", and the ASV takes the second. Paul uses the same verb and object in Romans 2:18, of the Jewish teacher who "approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law" (Romans 2:18, ASV). Here the capacity grows instead out of love that abounds "in knowledge and all discernment" (Philippians 1:9, ASV).

"Sincere" and "void of offence" describe the result. Eilikrinēs (G1506) means pure or unmixed; its only other New Testament use is 2 Peter 3:1, "your sincere mind" (2 Peter 3:1, ASV). Aproskopos (G677) is debated. Read intransitively it means not stumbling, the sense of Acts 24:16, "a conscience void of offence toward God and men always" (Acts 24:16, ASV). Read transitively it means not causing others to stumble, as in "Give no occasion of stumbling" (1 Corinthians 10:32, ASV). Both fit a prayer for a church Paul will soon urge toward unity (Philippians 2:1-4), and some readers hold that both are in view.

The horizon is "the day of Christ". The phrase looks back to 1:6, "he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6, ASV), and forward to 2:16. Paul holds the two together without strain: God completes the work, and the church is to grow in discernment so as to be found pure on that day. The same pairing returns in 2:12-13, where the church works out its salvation because God is at work in it.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G5547 - christos, christos, Strong's G5547

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Tree of Knowledge Objection Defeater, via Philippians 1.9-10

Concepts:

Atheism, via Philippians 1.9-10
Christian Discernment, via Philippians 1.9-10
Tree of Knowledge Objection, via Philippians 1.9-10

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.