What is the image that comes to mind when you read Philippians 1:6? “ . . . he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Who is the “you” that comes to mind?
What is the image that comes to mind when you read Philippians 2:12-13? “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Who is the “you” that comes to mind?
If you are like me, you imagined yourself individually in both passages. Yet each “you” in these verses is plural. In fact, my friend Ross Wagner pointed out that there is only one singular “you” in the whole letter (4:3). Certainly, English using the same word, “you,” for both singular and plural hinders us from seeing the emphasis on community in the Bible. Yet that is not the only problem. What else gets in the way? And how might we read these texts in Philippians differently?
I sat taking notes in Richard Hays’s New Testament Ethics class, the first semester of my doctoral studies. He read Romans 12:1-2 and he pointed out the importance of “therefore” at the beginning. The imperatives that follow flow from 11 chapters of indicative teaching of God’s loving action to save us. I silently applauded him for making this point that so many run by, and I, silently, applauded myself—I had been making the same point for a number of years. My pride did not last long. He then said, “Notice that Paul does not say ‘sacrifices.’ He says to present your bodies, plural, as one sacrifice. It is something done as a community.” I sat there, humbled. Even though it goes against the clear reading of the text, I had always thought of it as each person presenting themself as an individual sacrifice. I can’t blame that on the “you” problem in English—"bodies” is clearly plural.
Even more damming evidence is the fact that I also read the Bible in Spanish, and Spanish does not have the “you” problem. In my Spanish Bible both Phil 1:6 and 2:13 use the word ustedes”—you plural. Yet when I read “el que comenzó tan buena obra en ustedes la irá perfeccionando” (he who began such a good work in y'all will go on perfecting it) I individualized the plural. I imagined it as saying, “a good work in each one of you.” Then, several years ago I heard someone suggest the translation used by NASB, “He who began a good work among you will complete it.” It was a paradigm shift, like the moment in Richard Hays’s class. It left me with a radically different image when I read the verse—God completing the work in a group instead of in an individual. (Both “in” and “among” are possible translations.)
Yet even more damming evidence: even though, for years now, I have imagined Paul having the Philippian church as a body in mind when he says “you”/”ustedes” in 1:6, I still individualized the “you”/”ustedes” in 2:13. Until a few weeks ago I had read it as “in each one of you.” Then I read a chapter on Philippians by Ross Wagner.
Ross states, “Paul addresses his exhortation and teaching in Philippians not to isolated individuals, but to individuals in community. As the Philippians work out their own salvation, they do so as a community” (2). And then, by not only reminding me of the plural “you” but also using “among” in his translation he led me to change the image I have in mind when I read Phil 4:13.
12 And so, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, so now—not only as those who do so just in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for God is the one who is working among you both [your] willing and [your] working, for his good pleasure.
Yes, the English “you” does hinder us from seeing the emphasis on community in the Bible. Yet, at least in my case, North American individualism is a bigger problem. I grew up in it, marinated in it, and absorbed it deeply into my being. My lenses are so individualistic that at times even when I see the plural in the Bible I still interpret it as addressing me, an individual.
How do we respond? I have four suggestions. First, let’s recognize the you problem in our English Bibles and check either the original languages or a different language (Spanish for me) to know whether the text is “you” singular or “you” plural. Then, when leading Bibles studies, preaching or conversing with others about a text, perhaps we should join southern in saying “y’all” for “you” plural. (I have noticed that Tim Mackie does this in Bible Project podcasts.)
Second, let us regularly ask questions like Ross does near the end of his chapter. “Paul’s letter challenges contemporary communities of faith to ask, ‘What would it mean for us, as God’s holy people, to “work out” together, in our particular setting and circumstances, the salvation that God is working among us?’” (16). And, let us speak more often of the communal, not just when we are referring to biblical passages.
Third, let us share stories with each other of God’s work in and through a community. Let’s taste its richness so we desire more.
Fourth, if you are anything like me, recognize that this requires persistence and ongoing intentionality. For years I have taught the same examples I learned from Richard Hays. I have written commentaries on Galatians, in Spanish and English, that highlight the communal emphasis of that letter. Yet, my lenses still default to individualism in other texts. Let us pray for reorientation, for ourselves and others.
Two further notes: It is not that an individual orientation is bad and communal is good. There are times when Paul addresses individuals, and belief as an individual is important (Rom 10:9, for instance). The problem is when one overrides the other. Stephan Mairori, a student from Kenya, taught me this point in a classroom moment as indelible as the one in Richard Hays’s class. In a Galatians course I advocated for a more communal understanding of justification. It baffled me that Stephan pushed back stronger than any of the students. Finally, I just blurted out my confusion. “Stephan, I thought that because of your African communal perspective you would be the most supportive of this reading. Help me understand.” Stephan then told us that in his tribal context, the challenge was getting people to recognize the importance of individual belief and not just think “we.” In my context greater emphasis on the communal was needed, for Stephan it was the opposite.
The chapter by Ross does much more than discuss Paul’s communal emphasis. Ross highlights statements of what God has done and God is doing. The indicative emphasis moved me. It keeps us from reading the working as religious striving. “In urging the Philippians to work out their own salvation, Paul is calling them to embody in their experience who they already are, by God’s grace, in Christ” (9). I commend the chapter to you.
J. Ross Wagner, “Working out Salvation in Philippians,” in Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament, Kent Brower and Andy Johnson, eds.,(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007). (The page numbers in the blog are from a pre-publication manuscript, not from the book.)