# To the Philippians 1.2

- Author: [Polycarp of Smyrna](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/polycarp-of-smyrna/)
- Work: [To the Philippians](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/) (*Epistula ad Philippenses*)
- Date: ca. 110–135 (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:282; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 282–301 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Also in: PG 5:1005c (found by text match)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/1/2/

Summary: The Philippians' long-standing faith still bears fruit in Christ, who died for our sins and was raised by God.

## Greek text

καὶ ὅτι ἡ βεβαία τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν ῥίζα, ἐξ ἀρχαίων καταγγελλομένη χρόνων, μέχρι νῦν διαμένει καὶ καρποφορεῖ εἰς τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὃς ὑπέμεινεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν ἕως θανάτου καταντῆσαι, ὃν ἤγειρεν ὁ θεός, λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας τοῦ ᾅδου·

## English translation (Claude)

and because the firm root of your faith, proclaimed from ancient times, remains to this day and bears fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins endured to come even to death, “whom God raised, having loosed the pangs of Hades.”

## Scripture references

- Acts 2:24: quotation, high confidence

## Translation notes

- “From ancient times” (ἐξ ἀρχαίων χρόνων): from the church's founding by Paul, some sixty years earlier.
- Acts 2:24 has “the pangs of death”; Polycarp's “of Hades” agrees with some other witnesses to the phrase.

## Citation (SBL)

Pol. Phil. 1.2 (PG 5:1005c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/1/2/).