Passage

Philippians 1.5

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

3. I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, 4. always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy,

5. for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now;

being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7. even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace. (Philippians 1:3-7, ASV)

WEB

3. I thank my God whenever I remember you, 4. always in every request of mine on behalf of you all making my requests with joy,

5. for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now;

being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 7. It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace. (Philippians 1:3-7, WEB)

KJV

3. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, ^{remembrance: or, mention} 4. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

5. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: ^{perform: or, finish} 7. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. ^{I have: or, ye have me in your heart} ^{of my: or, with me of grace} (Philippians 1:3-7, KJV)

YLT

3. I give thanks to my God upon all the remembrance of you, 4. always, in every supplication of mine for you all, with joy making the supplication,

5. for your contribution to the good news from the first day till now,

having been confident of this very thing, that He who did begin in you a good work, will perform [it] till a day of Jesus Christ, 7. according as it is righteous for me to think this in behalf of you all, because of my having you in the heart, both in my bonds, and [in] the defence and confirmation of the good news, all of you being fellow-partakers with me of grace. (Philippians 1:3-7, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Phil 1:1).
Audience: The church at Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia and the first congregation Paul planted in Europe (Acts 16:11-40). The letter names overseers and deacons at 1:1 and thanks the church for repeated financial support.
Location: Written from imprisonment. Paul refers to his bonds and to "Caesar's household" (Phil 1:13, 4:22); the traditional identification is Roman custody, with Ephesus and Caesarea proposed as alternatives.
Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the traditional Roman-imprisonment dating.

Theological reading

Epi tē koinōnia hymōn eis to euangelion apo tēs prōtēs hēmeras achri tou nyn.

Koinōnia here is concrete, not sentimental. The noun covers fellowship, participation, and partnership, and in commercial usage it denotes a business partnership with shared investment and shared return. Chapter 4 makes the concrete sense explicit: the Philippians sent support repeatedly (4:15-16) and are the only church that entered into such an arrangement with him. So the thanksgiving is for a working partnership, not merely for warm relations.

Eis to euangelion, "for the gospel." The preposition marks direction and purpose. Their partnership is not with Paul as a personality but toward a shared object.

"From the first day until now." Apo tēs prōtēs hēmeras points back to Acts 16, the founding of the church: Lydia the seller of purple, the exorcised slave girl, the earthquake, and the jailer. The first day was one on which Paul was beaten and imprisoned in that city, and he is now writing from a different imprisonment. The continuity noted is between two custodies.

Achri tou nyn, "until now," records that the partnership had not lapsed, which is the ground for the confidence expressed in the next verse.

Structural function. Verse 5 is the reason for the thanksgiving of verses 3 and 4 and the evidence behind the assurance of verse 6. Paul's confidence that God will complete the work is not free-floating; it rests on observable, sustained partnership.

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.

G2098 - euangelion, euangelion, Strong's G2098

Quoted in

Concepts:

Church at Philippi

Lexicon:

G2098 - euangelion

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.