translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET study note

text: According to the rules ( Grk “lawfully, by law”) referring to the rules of competition. In the ancient world these included requirements for training as well as rules for the competition itself.


text: This saying ( Grk “the saying”) refers to the following citation. See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9 ; Titus 3:8 for other occurrences of this phrase.


text: The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus , and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.


text: If we are unfaithful…he cannot deny himself. This could be (1) a word of warning (The Lord will exact punishment; he cannot deny his holiness) or (2) a word of hope (Because of who he is, he remains faithful to us despite our lapses). The latter is more likely, since Paul consistently cites God’s faithfulness as a reassurance, not as a warning (cf. especially Rom 3:3 ; also 1 Cor 1:9; 10:13 ; 2 Cor 1:18 ; 1 Thess 5:24 ; 2 Thess 3:3 ).


text: Accurately is a figure of speech that literally means something like “cutting a straight road.” In regard to the message of truth, it means “correctly handling” or “imparting it without deviation.”


text: Profane chatter was apparently a characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-4; 4:7; 6:20 ).


text: A quotation from Num 16:5 .


text: In company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart alludes to the value of the community of believers for the development of Christian virtues.


text: Correcting is the word for “child-training” or “discipline.” It is often positive (training, educating) but here denotes the negative side (correcting, disciplining).