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Greek Lessons
- Vindicated at the Table: How Speech Condemns and Grammar Acquits
- Carried, Not Carrying: The Grammar That Topples Boasting
- Spliced into Abundance: The Grammar of Displacement and Participation in ἐνεκεντρίσθης
- When the Heart Expands Toward Ruin: The Grammar of Self-Watchfulness
- Living, Begetting, Dying: The Grammar of Time and Continuity
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Category
Tag Archives: Philippians 2:1
The Grammar of Appeal: Conditional Particles and Rhetorical Force in Philippians 2:1
Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία Πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί, (Philippians 2:1)
Paul’s Conditional Framework
Philippians 2:1 begins one of Paul’s most moving exhortations, where he appeals to the believers’ shared experience in Christ as the foundation for unity. The verse consists of four conditional clauses introduced by εἴ (“if”): Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία Πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί. These clauses pile up rhetorical “ifs,” not to express doubt but to remind the Philippians of realities they already know. In effect, the construction is equivalent to: “Since there is encouragement in Christ…”
Breaking Down the Clauses Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ — “If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ.”… Learn Koine Greek