Recently a dear Deaf friend shared verse Philippians 2:5 with me and others:

“In your life together, think the way Christ Jesus thought.” Philippians 2:5 (ERV)

I tell Deaf to read the ERV Bible translation because it was done with Deaf in mind. Its translators chose to use common English words familiar to Deaf. Also, it is not a word for word translation, but a thought for thought translation. When word for word might be hard for Deaf to understand, they explain the meaning with thought for thought.

Philippians 2:5 is a good example of the need for thought for thought explanation for Deaf readers of God’s Word!

First, we need to understand the verse in context of Chapter 2, in context with Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

The overall context is Paul is in jail at Rome and Paul writes a letter to the Philippians. Paul knows that they are divided over understanding God’s Word. Paul wants them to be like Christ Jesus. And, what is that, exactly?  According to commentator Dr. Wiersbe, Paul is talking about Unity in the Church instead of Uniformity. Our focus should be unity in Christ Jesus, not uniformity in traditions. Christians will have differences of opinions as well as traditions, but as long as we share the truths of Christianity, we have unity in Christ Jesus. 

One might say we need to have communion every week, others may say only once a year. Some might say the KJV is the only correct translation while others accept many translations. Uniformity on issues such as these are not required as it is not critical to salvation (What is critical to salvation I leave to more accomplished commentators.)

A key for me to understand these verses was finding out that other translations do not always include what ERV does with “In your life together”. Using a Bible Study tool, I find that in KJV and NKJV verse 5 is translated as:

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:5 (NKJV)

In another translation we have:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:5 (NIV)

By way of contrast, some translations leave out any mention of minds, shared lives or relationships with others:

“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:5 (CSB)

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” Philippians 2:5 (NLT)

Is any translation wrong here? If so, whose is right or wrong? I think it is simply a matter of choice for clarity as needed, or word for word.

An answer may be found using Strong’s Concordance. A good tool for those of us who do not have degrees in Ancient Greek! It is also a good idea to compare different translations because they were done by people who are supposed to actually know Ancient Greek. That there are differences mostly means that it is hard to translate word for word from Greek to English, let alone from Greek to an ASL reader. There are other easy English translations for those who know English as a Second language, but Deaf have an additional challenge and ERV tries to help Deaf with their unique translation needs.

Let us look to Strong’s. But use it with caution and not add your own meanings. Remember, it is based on Greek textual sources used by KJV. What does it say?

“— Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:5 (KJV)

Words (and punctuation) in teal are those where Strong’s provides the Greek. Words in bold black are either from Strong’s short list of words it does not provide the Greek, or, they can be English words added by translators to help make sense of the Greek sentence.

So, we see that in the KJV translation, the word “mind” is not in the Greek, but was added, and this translation is not word for word. The word “was” is past tense and Strong’s is clarifying since the Greek word has tense built into it. Not to forget, even our English punctuation “—“ has a Greek word behind it! It is usually translated as “for”. Having said all this, Strong’s word for word Greek goes:

“for this be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

What did Paul mean by “for this be in you”? This is where ERV translates as “In your life together”, what NIV says “In your relationships with one another”, what NKJV says as “Let this mind be in you”. Are they wrong? These translations chose to go with thought for thought and not word for word. For the other two translations, CSB and NLT, their translators chose to say “attitude” which is also not word for word. Why?

The Greek grammar here is a little confusing to us, and may be an ancient Greek idiom, but it makes a point. And that point is connecting with the previous verse! By that I mean the chain of Paul’s thought continues from verse 4 to verse 5 without change. Let us look at verse 4 in all the translations I’m using here.

Philippians 2:4 (ERV) “Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too.

Philippians 2:4 (NKJV) “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians 2:4 (NIV) “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:4 (CSB) “Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:4 (NLT) “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

As you can see, these translations pretty much agree on translating the Greek for verse 4. In summary we are to care for one another and not just for ourselves. 

However, it is verse 5 where they differ.

Depending on the translation, Paul either begins a brand new topic about Christ Jesus in verse 5, OR…

That as proof of verse 4, Paul shows an example of what he means by pointing to Christ Jesus an the example. Paul’s Greek in verse 5 opens with “for this be in you” and that means what follows is the same thing he is advising the Philippians up to verse 4!

What is Paul advising? Remember that the commentator Dr. Wiersbe says Paul is talking about Unity vs Uniformity. The Church at Philippi was divided over what was being taught. Exactly what the division was about is not said, but they had trouble agreeing with one another. Instead of thinking only of themselves, they should be thinking of others.

Paul’s advice to the Philippians was to point to Christ Jesus and His person in the next six verses! We will have Unity in the Church so long as we emulate Christ Jesus and as we worship, bow down and confess that Jesus is Lord of all.

Amen.