# To the Philippians 1.3

- 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 24:282–284; 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)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/1/3/

Summary: Believers rejoice in the unseen Christ, knowing they are saved by grace and not by works.

## Greek text

εἰς ὃν οὐκ ἰδόντες πιστεύετε χαρᾷ ἀνεκλαλήτῳ καὶ δεδοξασμένῃ, εἰς ἣν πολλοὶ ἐπιθυμοῦσιν εἰσελθεῖν, εἰδότες, ὅτι χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι, οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων, ἀλλὰ θελήματι θεοῦ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

## English translation (Claude)

In him, though you have not seen him, you believe with joy inexpressible and full of glory, a joy into which many long to enter, knowing that “by grace you have been saved, not by works,” but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.

## Scripture references

- 1 Pet 1:8: quotation, high confidence
- 1 Pet 1:12: allusion, medium confidence
- Eph 2:8–9: quotation, high confidence

## Translation notes

- “Into which” (εἰς ἣν) refers to the joy, not to Christ.

## Citation (SBL)

Pol. Phil. 1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/1/3/).