Provision (2024) (epichoregia from epi = upon + choregeo = supply, furnish) (Click for word study on the verb epichoregeo) means literally to furnish or supply upon and refers to lavish or generous giving or furnishing abundantly not in a stingy manner. In the present context epichoregia refers to the gift of God's Holy Spirit, Who was "poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (see notes Titus 3:6; 3:7) The root of epichoregia is the Greek choregia. In the ancient days in Greece at the great festivals the great dramatists like Euripides and Sophocles presented their plays; Greek plays all have a chorus; to equip and train a chorus was expensive, and public-spirited Greeks generously offered to defray the entire expenses of the chorus. (That gift is described by the word choregia.) Later, in war time, patriotic citizens gave free contributions to the state and choregia was used for this, too. In still later Greek, in the papyri, the word is common in marriage contracts and describes the support that a husband, out of his love, undertakes to give his wife. Choregia underlines the generosity of God, a generosity which is born of love, of which the love of a citizen for his city and of a man for his wife are dim suggestions. The only other NT use of epichoregia is by Paul describing the building up of the body of Christ explaining that it is Christ... from Whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies (epichoregia), according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (see note Ephesians 4:16) Barclay gives us his version of the historical background on this word group, writing that... epichoregeo "is one of the many Greek words which have a pictorial background. The verb epichoregein comes from the noun choregos, which literally means the leader of a chorus. Perhaps the greatest gift that Greece, and especially Athens, gave to the world was the great works of men like Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, which are still among its most cherished possessions. All these plays needed large choruses and were, therefore, very expensive to produce. In the great days of Athens there were public-spirited citizens who voluntarily took on the duty, at their own expense, of collecting, maintaining, training and equipping such choruses. It was at the great religious festivals that these plays were produced. For instance, at the city of Dionysia there were produced three tragedies, five comedies and five dithyrambs (a passionate choral hymn in honour of Dionysus). Men had to be found to provide the choruses for them all, a duty which could cost as much as 3,000 drachmae (Ed note: A drachma was a Greek coin made of silver, roughly equivalent to the Roman denarius, and one denarius was approximately one day's wage, which makes 3000 drachmae equate with a relatively large sum of money, so large that only a very wealthy person could provide...which is an interesting thought when we look at the use in Peter. Certainly all who are in Christ now have access to "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col 2:3, and have abundant spiritual riches accessible for the "production" of abundant life and godliness as Peter explained in 2Pe 1:3 [note]; 2Pe 1:4 [note]). The men who undertook these duties out of their own pocket and out of love for their city were called choregoi, and choregein was the verb used for undertaking such a duty. The word has a certain lavishness in it. It never means to equip in any cheese-paring and miserly way; it means lavishly to pour out everything that is necessary for a noble performance. Epichoregein (Ed note: note the prefix preposition epi which means "upon") went out into a larger world and it grew to mean not only to equip a chorus but to be responsible for any kind of equipment. It can mean to equip an army with all necessary provisions it can mean to equip the soul with all the necessary virtues for life. But always at the back of it there is this idea of a lavish generosity in the equipment. So Peter urges his people to equip their lives with every virtue; and that equipment must not be simply a necessary minimum, but lavish and generous. The very word is an incitement to be content with nothing less than the loveliest and the most splendid life." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos) (Bolding added) Vincent explains that the derivation of the verb (see note 2 Peter 1:5) epichoregeo is from choron, a chorus, such as was employed in the representation of the Greek tragedies. The verb originally means to bear the expense of a chorus, which was done by a person selected by the state, who was obliged to defray all the expenses of training and maintenance. In the New Testament the word has lost this technical sense, and is used in the general sense of supplying or providing. (Cp Gal. 3:5, in 2Pet 1:11 translated "abundantly supplied") Philippians 1:20. according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame (1SFPI) in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted (1SFPI) in my body, whether by life or by death (NASB: Lockman) Greek: kata ten apokaradokian kai elpida mou hoti en oudeni aischunthesomai, (1SFPI) all' en pase parresia os pantote kai nun megalunethesetai (3SFPI) Christos en to somati mou, eite dia zoes eite dia thanatou. Amplified: This is in keeping with my own eager desire and persistent expectation and hope, that I shall not disgrace myself nor be put to shame in anything; but that with the utmost freedom of speech and unfailing courage, now as always heretofore, Christ (the Messiah) will be magnified and get glory and praise in this body of mine and be boldly exalted in my person, whether through (by) life or through (by) death. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) KJV: According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. NIV: I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (NIV - IBS) NLT: For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die. (NLT - Tyndale House) Phillips: It all accords with my own earnest wishes and hopes, which are that I should never be in any way ashamed, but that now, as always, I should honour Christ with the utmost boldness by the way I live, whether that means I am to face death or to go on living. (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: And this is exactly in accordance with my undivided and intense expectancy and hope, namely, that with respect to not even one thing shall I be put to shame [defeated], but in every boldness, courage, and fearlessness of uninhibited freedom of speech as always so also now, Christ shall be conspicuously and gloriously manifested in my body, whether through [a continued] life [on earth] or through [a martyr’s] death, (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, and in all freedom, as always, also now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_118-24.htm#provision