My grandma thinks I’m clever…

οὐδένα γὰρ ἔχω ἰσόψυχον ὅστις γνησίως τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν μεριμνήσει,
Πρός Φιλίπποιυς 2.20

oydena gar echw isopsychon ostis gnhsiws ta peri thmwn merimnhsei,
Pros Philippoius 2.20

For I have no one of kindred spirit who will be genuinely concerned about your affairs,
To the Philippians 2.20

A hapax legomenon—hapaxes, for short—is a word that occurs only once in the text. The word, isopsychon, is such a word, as it does not appear anywhere else in the New Testament. It’s a difficult word to translate. If you break it into its parts, it literally means “same spirit”. “Iso” is the same prefix as in “isosceles” triangle, a three-sided polygon will sides of equal lengths. “Psychon” has the same root as the word we translate as “spirit”, as in the “Holy Spirit” or “body and spirit”.[^1] Because it’s not found anywhere else in Paul’s writings, we have to look both to the context and to external sources to determine what it means. This particular word is a minor point, perhaps, but it is an uncertain word choice—and Biblical scholars just eat this stuff up. Continue reading 'Rejected Translations of the Hapaxes in Philippians 2:20'

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