Sunday, September 12, 2021

Philippians 4:4,5 - The Lord is Near and the Trinity/Oneness Doctrines

Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:5 - Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. -- Christian Standard.

Philippians 4:4
chairete en kuriw pantote palin erw
BE YOU REJOICING IN LORD ALWAYS; AGAIN I SHALL SAY,
5463 1722 2962 3842 3825 2064_5
chairete
BE YOU REJOICING.
5463
Philippians 4:5
to epieikes humwn gnwstheetw pasin anthrwpois
THE YIELDING(NESS) OF YOU LET IT BE KNOWN TO ALL MEN.
3588 1933 4771_5 1097 3956 0444
ho kurios eggus
THE LORD NEAR;
3588 2962 1451
Westcott & Hort Interlinear.

Philippians 4:4,5 is often given as alleged proof that Jesus is Jehovah. Usually a translation is used such as the New Living Translation, which renders verse 5 as:

Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

This is often tied in with certain verses in Revelation, such as Revelation 1:7,8, and it is claimed that it is Jesus who the God Almighty in verse 8 who is coming. Having discussed Revelation 1:8 many times, we only provide a link to such discussions at the end of this short study.

Some try to connect Philippians 4:5 with Jesus' parousia spoken of in James 5:8.

In Philippians 4:4, the word transliterated as "kuriw" (meaning, Lord) is anarthrous. It does not have the definite article before it. The lack of the article before KURIOS in many cases appear to be because the Holy Name was changed the a form of KURIOS. Being viewed as a proper name, it is indefinite. Thus, this is considered to be very likely one of the places that copyists changed the Holy Name to a form of KURIOS. This agrees with many scriptures in the Old Testament, where rejoicing is associated with Jehovah. 

Nevertheless, in Koine Greek the definite article often appears before a name, so the presence of the article does not necessarily mean that KURIOS is not being used to replace the Holy Name. Thus, in verse 5, "ho kurios" also appears to be a replacement of the Holy Name. Thus, using the World English as basis with the Holy Name supplied as "Jehovah", it would read:

Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in Jehovah always. Again I will say, Rejoice!
Philippians 4:5 - Let your mildness be known to all men. Jehovah is at hand. 

This would agree with Acts 17:27, where Paul is quoted as saying that Jehovah "is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:27) That this is not speaking of Jesus can be seen from Acts 17:30, where it speaks of "he" of the context as judging the world by means of the man [person] whom he (God, Jehovah) has ordained, and also that "he {God in the context) raised him [Jesus] from the dead." Jehovah, the God of Jesus, is especially near, however, to the regenerated sons of God, who, through Christ, are no longer alienated from Jehovah.

While we view the above aa being most probable, we must at the same time consider that Paul may have had Jesus in mind as "Lord" in both verses 4 and 5. If this is so, it would have to be understood, not as designating Jesus as being Jehovah, but rather as the one whom Jehovah anointed, making Jesus both Lord and Christ. (Ezekiel 34:23,24; Isaiah 61:1,2; Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6) Not only this, but at the time that Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, Jesus' God and Father had exalted him to the highest position in the universe, even above the angels, next to Jehovah. -- Acts 2:33,36; 5:31; Philippians 2:9; Ephesians 1:3,17-23; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Hebrews 1:4,6; 1 Peter 3:22.

The Greek word rendered as "at hand" in the World English is Strong's #1451 (often transliterated engýs), meaning "near, of place and postion." Some translations render this as "coming," evidently with the thought of the usage of word "coming" as applied to Jesus during Jesus' second advent. There is no scriptural reason, however, to think that Paul had in mind Jesus' coming during his Second Advent. Contrary to the way some translations would make it appear, no form of Strong's #1451 is used in James 5:8, nor in the words often translated as "come" or "coming" in Revelation.

For further study of Strong's Greek #1451
https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/eng/greek/1451.html

Regarding Revelation 1:8, see links to our studies at:
https://jesusnotyhwh.blogspot.com/p/revelation.html#rev1-8
















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