Passage

Philippians 1.30

Book: Philippians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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:

30. having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:28-30, ASV)

WEB

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,

30. having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear is in me. (Philippians 1:28-30, WEB)

KJV

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;

30. Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:28-30, KJV)

YLT

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;

30. the same conflict having, such as ye saw in me, and now hear of in me. (Philippians 1:28-30, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

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 closes the exhortation of Philippians 1:27-30, which calls the church to stand firm together and to accept suffering as part of its calling.
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 conflict is an agōn. "having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me" (Philippians 1:30, ASV). Agōn (G73) is a contest or struggle, with an athletic background. Paul uses it of his labor for churches he had not seen, "how greatly I strive for you" (Colossians 2:1, ASV), and of preaching under opposition, "in much conflict" (1 Thessalonians 2:2, ASV). It carries on the language of 1:27, where the church is to stand "with one soul striving for the faith of the gospel" (Philippians 1:27, ASV).

"Ye saw in me" points back to Philippi itself. At the founding of the church Paul and Silas were beaten and jailed in the city (Acts 16:19-24). Paul recalls it in another letter: "having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi" (1 Thessalonians 2:2, ASV). "Now hear to be in me" is his present imprisonment. The church saw the first and hears of the second, and Paul calls both the same contest it now shares.

Suffering is presented as a gift. The verse completes verse 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" (Philippians 1:29, ASV). "Granted" is charizomai (G5483), cognate with charis, grace. Believing and suffering are both given. Verse 30 explains what that means in practice: their suffering is of the same kind as Paul's, which marks them as partners, as he said in 1:7, "ye all are partakers with me of grace" (Philippians 1:7, ASV).

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.

G0191 - akouo, akouo, Strong's G0191
G1492 - oida, oida, Strong's G1492

Quoted in

Concepts:

Church at Philippi, via Philippians 1.27-30, Philippians 1.29-30

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.