Philippians 1:7-8 I Have You in My Heart

I am still a week behind the suggested readings.  What’s my excuse?  Besides trying to spend some time getting ready for a workshop on biblical storytelling this weekend?  And the fact that I already have Philippians1:9-11 pretty well memorized? 

Well, I got sidetracked writing a hymn setting of Philippians 1:3-6.  I won’t post it here yet, because I’m hoping the words in verse 2 will still get a bit of fine tuning… but I now have a short, easily-singable, rhythmic/rhyming version of Phil. 1:3-6. 

But on to Philippians 1:7-8!  These, by the way, are verses I often skip or skim over.  I wonder why.  I love verse 6…really, that whole paragraph from 3-6.  And I love verses 9-11.  Am I missing something of substance in between those two beloved paragraphs?  Why did an upcoming conference for women in ministry (which I won’t be attending) choose these two verses as their theme?

⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you,

since I have you in my heart;
for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel,
all of you share in God’s grace with me.
⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
                                                - New International Version (NIV)

If I look at verse 7, at least in NIV, the first half of it flows naturally from what precedes it.  Paul has just spent a whole paragraph giving thanks for the believers in Philippi.  Now he says, “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart.”  But what’s up with that next phrase?  I could fluently say,

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you,

since I have you in my heart;

for all of you share in God’s grace with me.

The phrase about sharing in God’s grace has ties to the bit about sharing in the Gospel from the first day until now (v.5), and to the mention of grace in the salutation (v.2).  And, knowing Paul, I suspect “grace” might show up again before this letter is over.  Of course, we know (if we’ve looked ahead) that the theme of imprisonment is going to come up.  Paul wrote this letter from prison.  But the insertion of that “whether I’m in chains or out of them” contrast here seems quite abrupt…and disrupts the flow of what I want to memorize.

I had thought that for convenience’ sake, I might just go with NIV on verses 7-8.  After all, the tiny New Testament that fits in the purse I carry most frequently is NIV.  That’s what I’m likely to pull out and consult while I’m waiting for school to let out.  But maybe I better consult some other versions, after all!

⁷ It is right for me to think this way about all of you,

because you hold me in your heart,
for all of you share in God’s grace with me,
both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
⁸ For God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

- New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the NRSV, by the way, the entire chunk from verse 3 to the end of verse 11 is one paragraph.  In NIV, those verses are three paragraphs.  In some of the other versions I have sometimes quoted, I’m consulting an electronic text that doesn’t show me paragraph divisions.  (Which, in any case, wouldn’t have been in the original Greek texts.)

I think these two versions will suffice, this week, to represent the breadth of the versions I’ve looked at.  Except I have to quote the King James of verse 8, just as an example of a place where the 400-year-old English probably obscures the meaning, at least to today’s listeners/readers:

⁸ For God is my record,
how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

- King James Version (KJV)

I think I won’t memorize that version.

So, what will I memorize?

As a whole, I like the flow – the progression of ideas – in NRSV much better than NIV.  All three of the phrases that I want to group together are grouped together.  Then the “both in prison and out of it” idea comes in…and it makes sense to me, the way it’s presented in NRSV, as a subordinate idea that follows the main thoughts.  Also as foreshadowing of what will come up after verses 9-11 (Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, which I’ve often adapted into either a public benediction or a private benediction/prayer during my own devotions).  NIV more closely follows the Greek word order here, but in this instance I don’t want to keep the Greek word order.  I want to say what flows more naturally to me in English.

Do I want to memorize exclusively NRSV, or do I want to adjust any words or phrases?

“It is right for me to think this way about all of you…” (NRSV)  Most of the other versions I looked at said feel instead of think.  The Greek word is more often translated “think,” I think…but it seems that “feel” would be at least as appropriate here; perhaps more so.  In the Myers-Briggs personality test, I’m borderline between “thinking” and “feeling,” so maybe I’ll simply allow myself to fluctuate between the two words and say whatever comes out at the time.

The next question is a weightier one, and I suspect it’s one I can’t answer.  Who is in whose heart?  NIV and most other translations say, “I hold you in my heart,” or some such thing.  NRSV reverses that:  “you hold me in your heart.”   But there’s a footnote saying that “I hold you in my heart” is another possible reading.  I looked at the Greek, but everything is in accusative case, and participles are involved; and if biblical scholars at their best haven’t come up with a definitive translation, then I suspect a sleepy me is also not going to figure out exactly what Paul meant.  I wonder if both meanings could have been intended.  I’m inclined to go with “I hold you…” …but it doesn’t hurt to also think about the other way around.  Being held in someone’s heart gives you a warm, cared-about feeling.

For the next two phrases, I’m going to choose pure NRSV.  I realize that I can’t choose what to memorize based on what I want to memorize rather than what the Bible says!  But these thoughts, presented in this order, make so much more sense to me than the NIV. 

And for verse 8, I also like the NRSV phrasing better than NIV, at least at the beginning of the verse.  “Compassion” and “affection” are both good, and I would be comfortable using either, but I suspect that “compassion” will come to my mind more readily.

So I think I have come up with the text of what I want to memorize.  I already have the first two phrases by memory; and choosing this arrangement of thoughts should get me past the road block of what comes after “I hold you in my heart.”  I don’t have any hymns or musical settings of these two verses.  (This may be part of why I skip these two verses and gravitate toward the ones that do show up in musical settings.)  Should I add a few verses to the Philippians 1:3-6 hymn I just wrote?  If so, I’d want to include verses 9-11, as well.

⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you,

because I hold you in my heart;
for all of you share in God’s grace with me,
both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
⁸ For God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.