A Better Pastoral Understanding of Anxiety Part 3 of 4
Analysis of the Phil 2:20 and 4:6 & difficulties of translating emotion words
This is part 3 (of 4) of my research paper on translating merimnaō in Philippians. I am going to cover Jesus’ use of this word in the Gospels in my dissertation.
μεριμνάω in Philippians 2 and 4
I turn now to Paul’s usage of μεριμνήσει in Philippians 2:20 and μεριμνᾶτε in Phil 4:6. The two forms of μεριμνάω give insight into the range of meanings of the emotion concept. This concept of μεριμνάω, “care for, be concerned about” (BDAG 632b), has to do with objects that capture the concerns of one’s heart.[1] Hellerman writes, “The verb is used negatively or positively depending on the object. Anxiety about self-related issues is discouraged (Matt 6:25; Phil 4:6). Concern directed toward others is commendable (1 Cor 7:32-34; 12:25; Phil 2:20).”[2]
2:20 οὐδένα γὰρ ἔχω ἰσόψυχον, ὅστις γνησίως τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν μεριμνήσει / “I have no one so like myself who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” (NRSVUE)
Hellerman notes this use holds “‘overtones of the pressure or weight of anxiety that grows out of true concern for the welfare of others.’ (H-M 154).”[3] Cohick writes, “Timothy exhibited the characteristics Paul notes in 2:3-5, namely, looking toward others’ interests and focusing on Christ and his gospel. Paul provides a negative example in his rather sharp comments in 2:21 against those who, in contrast with Timothy, look to their own interests.”[4] This contrast of people who are concerned with themselves versus people who are concerned with others seems important in understanding this word. Bird and Gupta note this is a reflection of Paul’s own single-minded devotion.[5] There is nothing negative about this type of concern.
2:28 σπουδαιοτέρως οὖν ἔπεμψα αὐτὸν ἵνα ἰδόντες αὐτὸν, πάλιν χαρῆτε κἀγὼ ἀλυπότερος ὦ. / “I am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious.” (NRSVUE)
I give a brief mention of ἀλυπότερος in Phil 2:28 because it is often translated anxious in English Bibles, but Fee argues this is incorrect. Reumann translates this phrase, “and I too be the more without sorrow.”[6] Holloway translates it, “and I might have one fewer cause for worry.”[7] Hellerman notes a linguistic oddity: “Curiously… ἀλυπότερος is consistently glossed as less anxious… The word, however, is formed from λυπε = a privative and means to be without sorrow. The notion of anxiety (we would expect the μεριμνα word group) has ‘no lexical basis whatever’ (Fee 281).”[8] Fee writes about this hapax legomenon: “The meaning advocated by BDAG (‘free from anxiety’) and followed by the NIV, NRSV, and NAB seems to be an invented meaning with no lexical basis whatever (the ‘be less concerned about you’ of the NASB is impossible.) …‘anxiety’ is not even in the purview of this word.”[9]
4:6 μηδὲν μεριμνᾶτε, ἀλλ’ ἐν παντὶ τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ τῇ δεήσει μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τὰ αἰτήματα ὑμῶν γνωριζέσθω πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. / “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (NRSVUE)
Cohick uses strong language when she calls Paul’s instruction here a “serious injunction against worry or anxiety”[10] while Bird and Gupta call it “a word of comfort.”[11] Fee calls it “the word against anxiety with its inverse call to prayer and thanksgiving.”[12] Cohick defines anxiety as “worry without purpose or effecting change, as though one spins in circles, going nowhere.”[13] But Bird and Gupta see purpose in anxiety: “a certain kind of uneasiness is beneficial. For example, Paul already used this verb earlier in his letter in relation to Timothy’s concern (merimnaō) for the Philippians’ well-being.”[14] John MacArthur is the only commentator of those I surveyed who speaks of sin in this passage: “Anxious, fretful, worried, harried believers are inherently unstable and vulnerable to trials and temptations. Anxiety is both a violation of Scripture and totally unnecessary. In a magnificent passage in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed out the sinful folly of anxiety.”[15]
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