# To the Philippians 2.1

- 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 24:284; 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/2/1/

Summary: Serve God faithfully, believing in the God who raised Christ, who now reigns and will come to judge the living and the dead.

## Greek text

Διὸ ἀναζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας ὑμῶν δουλεύσατε τῷ θεῷ ἐν φόβῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, ἀπολιπόντες τὴν κενὴν ματαιολογίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν πλάνην, πιστεύσαντες εἰς τὸν ἐγείραντα τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ δόντα αὐτῷ δόξαν καὶ θρόνον ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ· ᾧ ὑπετάγη τὰ πάντα ἐπουράνια καὶ ἐπίγεια, ᾧ πᾶσα πνοὴ λατρεύει, ὃς ἔρχεται κριτὴς ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν, οὗ τὸ αἷμα ἐκζητήσει ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπειθούντων αὐτῷ.

## English translation (Claude)

“Therefore gird up your loins” and “serve God in fear” and truth, leaving behind empty, idle talk and the error of the many, “believing in him who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave him glory” and a throne at his right hand; to whom all things in heaven and on earth were made subject, whom every breath serves, who is coming as judge of the living and the dead, whose blood God will require of those who disobey him.

## Scripture references

- 1 Pet 1:13: allusion, high confidence
- Ps 2:11: allusion, high confidence
- 1 Pet 1:21: quotation, high confidence
- Phil 2:10: allusion, medium confidence
- Ps 150:6: echo, low confidence
- Acts 10:42: allusion, medium confidence
- 1 Pet 4:5: echo, low confidence

## Translation notes

- “Of those who disobey him”: “him” may be God or Christ.
- “Whose blood God will require”: the language of avenging a killing (compare Gen 9:5; Luke 11:50–51).

## Citation (SBL)

Pol. Phil. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/2/1/).