Philippians 2:17
in Philippians 2But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all:
KJV
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
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This verse in Philippians 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verseBut writing in bonds to the Thessalonians, he certainly affirmed that they were blessed, since to them it had been given not only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer for His sake. "Having," says he, "the same conflier which ye both saw in me, and now hear to be in me." "For though I are offered upon the sacrifice, I joy and rejoice with you all; in like manner do ye also joy and rejoice with me.
This site's exposition
poured out like a drink offering
on Philippians 2:17-18
The phrase poured out like a drink offering translates spendomai, the libation poured over a burning sacrifice. The Philippians' faith is the sacrifice and service, and Paul's possible execution the libation on it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Yea, and if I am offered." He said not, "and if I die even," nor did he when writing to Timothy, for there, too, he has made use of the same expression, "For I am already being offered." He is both consoling them about his own death, and instructing them to bear gladly the death that is for Christ's sake. I am become, he says, as it were a libation and a sacrifice. O blessed soul! His bringing them to God he calls a sacrifice. It is much better to present a soul than to present oxen. "If, then, over and above this offering," he says, "I add myself, my death as a libation, I rejoice." For this he implies, when he says, "Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service, I joy and rejoice with you all; and in the same manner do ye also joy and rejoice with me." Why dost thou rejoice with them? Seest thou that he shows that it is their duty to rejoice? On the one hand then, I rejoice in being made a libation; on the other, I rejoice with you, in having presented a sacrifice; "and in the same manner do ye also joy and rejoice with me," that I am offered up; "rejoice with me," "who rejoice in myself." So that the death of the just is no subject for tears, but for joy. If they rejoice, we should rejoice with them. For it is misplaced for us to weep, while they rejoice. "But," it is urged, "we long for our wonted intercourse." This is a mere pretext and excuse; and that it is so, mark what he enjoins: "Rejoice with me, and joy." Dost thou miss thy wonted intercourse? If thou wert thyself destined to remain here, there would be reason in what thou sayest; but if after a brief space thou wilt overtake him who has departed, what is that intercourse which thou dost seek? for it is only when he is forever severed from him that a man misses the society of another, but if he will go the same way that thou wilt go, what is the intercourse which thou longest for? […]
When he says you, he means all the faithful.… And he says this to work on their souls and to teach them that his martyrdom is so great that it has the character of a libation and a sacrifice.
The Medieval Church2 voices
He refers to his suffering when he says, even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith. For in converting others he offers to God a sacrifice of those he converts. But sometimes tyrants mingle the blood …
Although, he says, I also die, for he calls death a sacrifice, "I am being poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice and service of your faith," that is, having first made you a sacrifice to God, having dedicated you to the service of …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Upon the sacrifice of your faith - The Philippians, as the other converted heathens, were a sacrifice to God through St. Paul's ministry, Rom. xv, 16. And as in sacrificing, wine was poured at the foot of the altar, so he was willing that his blood should be poured out. The expression well agrees with that kind of martyrdom by which he was afterwards offered up to God.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Yea, and if I be offered,....
He could reckon himself happy if he could promote the honour of Christ, the edification of the church, and the welfare of the souls of men; though it were not only by hazarding, but by laying down, his life: he could willingly be a sacrifice at their altars, to serve the faith of God's elect.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Yea, and if I be offered - Margin, “poured forth.” The mention of his labors in their behalf, in the previous verse, seems to have suggested to him the sufferings which he was likely yet to endure on their account. He had labored for their salvation. He had exposed himself to peril that they and others might have the gospel. On their account he had suffered much; he had been made a prisoner at Rome; and there was a possibility, if not a probability, that his life might be a forfeit for his labors in their behalf.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
I be offered--rather as Greek, "I am poured out." "I am made a libation." Present, not future, as the danger is threatening him now. As in sacrifices libations of wine were "poured upon" the offerings, so he represents his Philippian converts, offered through faith (or else their faith itself), as the sacrifice, and his blood as the libation "poured upon" it (compare Ro 15:16;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service - The metaphor appears to be still carried on. As it was customary for the weather-beaten mariner, when he had gained his port, to offer a sacrifice, θυσια, to God, of some particular animal which he had vowed while in his state of danger, and this was considered to be a religious service, λειτουργια· the apostle, pursuing the idea, states himself to be willing to become the libation, (for so much the word σπενδομαι imports), that was to be poured upon the sacrifice. Parkhurst observes that the apostle compares the faith of the Philippians to the sacrificial victim, and his own blood shed in martyrdom to the libation, i.e. the wine poured out on occasion of the sacrifice. Raphelius observes that Arrian uses the phrase σπενδειν επι τῃ θυσιᾳ for pouring out the libation after the sacrifice. The apostle had guided them safely into port; their faith in the atoning death of Christ was their sacrifice; and he was willing that his blood in martyrdom should be poured out as a libation on that sacrificial offering.
The words behind it
17 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀλλ᾽ | all᾽ | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| εἰ | ei | if | G1487 → | 508 times |
| καὶ | kai | even | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| σπένδομαι | spendomai | I am being poured out | G4689 → | |
| ἐπὶ | epi | on | G1909 → | 883 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θυσίᾳ | thusia | sacrifice | G2378 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| λειτουργίᾳ | leitourgia | on [the] service | G3009 → | |
| τῆς | tes | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πίστεως | pisteos | faith | G4102 → | 242 times |
| ὑμῶν, | humon | of you, | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| χαίρω | chairo | I am glad | G5463 → | 74 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| συγχαίρω | sugchairo | I rejoice with | G4796 → | |
| πᾶσιν | pasin | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ὑμῖν· | humin | you; | G4771 → | 2973 times |
ἀλλ᾽but
all᾽G235 →635 times
εἰif
eiG1487 →508 times
καὶeven
kaiG2532 →9120 times
σπένδομαιI am being poured out
spendomaiG4689 →
ἐπὶon
epiG1909 →883 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
θυσίᾳsacrifice
thusiaG2378 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
λειτουργίᾳon [the] service
leitourgiaG3009 →
τῆςof the
tesG3588 →19766 times
πίστεωςfaith
pisteosG4102 →242 times
ὑμῶν,of you,
humonG4771 →2973 times
χαίρωI am glad
chairoG5463 →74 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
συγχαίρωI rejoice with
sugchairoG4796 →
πᾶσινall
pasinG3956 →1235 times
ὑμῖν·you;
huminG4771 →2973 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Timothy 4:6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
it leads to
- Philippians 1:23
I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed.
- Philippians 1:23
Through
2 Corinthians 12:15And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?
it leads to
- Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:8
We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.
- 2 Corinthians 1:6
If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience.
- Colossians 1:24
Through
Romans 15:16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy…
it leads to
- Romans 11:13
I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
- Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—
- Acts 9:15
“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
- Romans 11:13
Through
2 Corinthians 7:4Great is my confidence in you; great is my pride in you; I am filled with encouragement; in all our troubles my joy overflows.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 1:4
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
- 2 Corinthians 1:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies13
About Philippians
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Philippians 8; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, Scorpiace; Theodoret of Cyrus, EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.17; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Philippians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Philippians.