Passage

Philippians 1.28

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

26. that your glorying may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again. 27. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the gospel;

28. and in nothing affrighted by the adversaries: which is for them an evident token of perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God;

because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf: 30. having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:26-30, ASV)

WEB

26. that your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again. 27. Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;

28. and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30. having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear is in me. (Philippians 1:26-30, WEB)

KJV

26. That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. 27. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

28. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 30. Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:26-30, KJV)

YLT

26. that your boasting may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence again to you. 27. Only worthily of the good news of the Christ conduct ye yourselves, that, whether having come and seen you, whether being absent I may hear of the things concerning you, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul, striving together for the faith of the good news,

28. and not terrified in anything by those opposing, which to them indeed is a token of destruction, and to you of salvation, and that from God;

because to you it was granted, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also on behalf of him to suffer; 30. the same conflict having, such as ye saw in me, and now hear of in me. (Philippians 1:26-30, 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 continues the exhortation of Philippians 1:27 to stand firm together.
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 command is to be unafraid. The church is to be "in nothing affrighted by the adversaries" (Philippians 1:28, ASV). The verb (G4426) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The adversaries are not named; the Philippians had seen civic hostility from the beginning, when Paul and Silas were beaten and jailed in their city (Acts 16:19-24).

Fearlessness is itself a sign. Their steadiness "is for them an evident token of perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God" (Philippians 1:28, ASV). "Evident token" is endeixis (G1732), a demonstration or proof, used by Paul at Romans 3:25-26 of God showing his righteousness and at 2 Corinthians 8:24 of the proof of love.

Perdition and salvation are the two ends of the letter's paths. "Perdition" is apōleia (G684), the same word as 3:19, "whose end is perdition" (Philippians 3:19, ASV). "Salvation" is sōtēria, as at 1:19 and 2:12. The sign points to destinations, not only to present circumstances.

"And that from God" covers the whole matter. The pronoun is the neuter touto (the KJV tags G5124), while both "token" and "salvation" are feminine nouns in Greek. The neuter therefore does not pick out one noun but refers to the whole situation: the sign, and what it signifies, come from God.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G4991 - soteria, soteria, Strong's G4991
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Concepts:

Church at Philippi, via Philippians 1.27-30

Lexicon:

G4991 - soteria

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.