Passage

Philippians 1.29

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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;

29. 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:

having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:27-30, ASV)

WEB

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.

29. Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,

having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear is in me. (Philippians 1:27-30, WEB)

KJV

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.

29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:27-30, KJV)

YLT

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;

29. because to you it was granted, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also on behalf of him to suffer;

the same conflict having, such as ye saw in me, and now hear of in me. (Philippians 1:27-30, 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 gives the ground of the call to stand firm and unafraid under opposition (Philippians 1:27-30).
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

"Because" ties the verse to the sign of verse 28. The verse opens with hoti (the KJV tags G3754, "For"). It gives the reason why the church's fearlessness is a token of salvation "and that from God" (Philippians 1:28, ASV). The passive "it hath been granted" leaves the giver unnamed, but the close of verse 28 has just named him. For the sign itself see Philippians 1:28, and for the verb "granted" and the shared conflict see Philippians 1:29-30.

The sentence breaks off and starts again. It begins "in the behalf of Christ," inserts "not only to believe on him," and resumes "but also to suffer in his behalf" (Philippians 1:29, ASV). The KJV tags hyper (G5228) at both ends, so "on behalf of" frames the whole sentence. Believing (pisteuō) is directed "on him," toward Christ himself, and suffering is "in his behalf," for his sake. Both are defined by their relation to the same person.

Whether faith itself is called a gift here is debated. "to believe on him" stands under "it hath been granted." Many read the verse alongside "by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8, ASV) and take it to teach that believing is itself given by God. Others answer that Philippians 1:29 speaks of a privilege granted, the honor of believing in Christ and suffering for him, rather than of how faith arises, and they note that what "that" refers to in Ephesians 2:8 is itself disputed. The text secures at least this: believing and suffering are placed under one verb of gift, and neither is presented as the church's own achievement.

Key words

G4100 - pisteuo, pisteuo (Strong's G4100). Also appears in: Matthew 18.6, Mark 15, Mark 16.16-18.
G5547 - christos, christos (Strong's G5547). Also appears in: Matthew 1.1, Matthew 1.16, Matthew 1.

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.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Argument from Meaningful Suffering

Concepts: