Philippians 1:28

and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is ¹  a sign of their ²  destruction, but of your salvation – a sign which ³  is from God.

Ge 49:18; Ps 50:23; Ps 68:19,20; Isa 12:2; Isa 51:7,12; Mt 5:10-12; Mt 10:28; Lu 3:6; Lu 12:4-7; Lu 21:12-19; Ac 4:19-31; Ac 5:40-42; Ac 28:28; Ro 8:17; 1Th 2:2; 2Th 1:5,6; 2Ti 1:7,8; 2Ti 2:11,12; Heb 13:6; 1Pe 4:12-14; Re 2:10

¹ tn Grk “which is,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 27.

sn The antecedent of the pronoun This is conceptual, most likely referring to the Philippian Christians standing firm for the gospel. Thus, their stand for the gospel is the dual sign of their opponents’ destruction and of their own salvation.

² tn Grk “to them.”

sn Paul uses the dative “to them” (translated here as their) to describe the coming destruction of the gospel’s enemies, but the genitive “your” to describe the believers’ coming salvation. The dative accents what will happen to the enemies (called a dative of disadvantage [see ExSyn 143-44]), while the genitive accents what the believers will possess (and, in fact, do already possess, as v. 29 makes clear).

³ tn Grk “this.” The pronoun refers back to “a sign”; thus these words have been repeated for clarity.