inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Pp. 3:16)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer of the letter and the readers).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Philippians 3:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Philippians 3:16:

  • Uma: “Only/However, what we already know, that is what we must follow.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But we (incl.) should/ought-to continue to follow/obey what God has taught us (incl.) from the beginning/former times.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But it’s necessary now that we observe the things that were taught to us before by God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But whatever is in the minds of others, what is necessary for all of us is that we continue to follow what God has previously made-known to us which is correct.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “However it’s necessary that we continue following/obeying as much as we have already understood.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning all the word which we understand, it is necessary that we live according to it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Philippians 3:16

A number of translations render the conjunction used here as “only” (Goodspeed Moffatt Revised Standard Version New English Bible etc.). Such a rendering suggests that there must be a condition which needs to be satisfied, but it is not likely that Paul is introducing a parenthetical thought. Rather, he is making a kind of concluding statement, and one can best bring out the meaning by rendering the conjunction as “this one thing I say” (Barclay), “it is important that” (Phillips New American Bible), or however that may be (Good News Translation).

What the apostle says next is somewhat elliptical, literally “whereunto we have reached, by the same to walk.” Reflecting what appears to be the effort of some ancient copyist to remedy this obscurity, some inferior Greek texts (those which underlie the Textus Receptus on which King James Version is based) include the word “rule” after “the same” and an appended clause “think the same thing.” These interpolations seem to have been made on the basis of Phil 2.2 and Gal 6.16.

The infinitive “to walk” is used in an imperative sense. It seems basically “to stand in a row” or “to walk in line.” Even without inserting the word “rule,” some kind of “rule” or “standard” may be understood as implied in the verb, and is demanded by the context. For this reason Good News Translation renders the clause explicitly as let us go forward according to the same rules. One can also translate “we must live up to the standard” (Barclay “Let us never fall below the standard of conduct”). Or one may keep the metaphor of the race by rendering “we must continue the course in accordance with the same rules.” Let us go forward may be rendered in some instances as “let us continue to live,” or “let us continue to act.” It may, however, be important to restructure the relation of activity to rules by saying “let the same rules tell us what we should do,” or “let us continue to do what the same rules say.”

The verb rendered we have followed originally meant “to come before” or “to anticipate,” but in the New Testament it is generally used in the sense of “to come,” “to arrive at,” or “to reach.” The clause can be translated as we have followed until now or “we have obeyed thus far.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .