OET interlinear PHP 2:21

2:21a

For: The Greek conjunction (connecting word) here means “because.” It shows that 2:21 gives the reason why Paul had said there was no one else like Timothy (2:20).

all the others: The Greek here literally means “all (of them).” Some commentators think that Paul was making an overstatement (saying more than he meant) by saying that all the others have selfish interests and don’t have the interests of Jesus Christ.” Paul wrote like this to emphasize a point. The point was probably that all the other believers who could have gone to Philippi (with the exception of Epaphroditus—see notes on 2:25a) were only concerned about their own interests. So they were not willing to go. This left only Timothy to go to Philippi and return to Paul with news from the Philippians.

So it is clear that the phrase all the others here does not literally mean “all people.” In many languages people can use such overstatements in a figurative (non-literal) sense. But if readers of your translation understand this literally, you may need to translate the non-literal meaning of 2:21a. See 2:21a in the Display.

look after their own interests: Each person was concerned only about the things that were important to himself. This implies that each of those whom Paul referred to in 2:21a was primarily interested in his own affairs and in what he himself needed and wanted.

2:21b

not those of Jesus Christ: Notice there is no verb here. This is because it is the same verb “look after” that was in 2:21a. However, in some languages it may be necessary to make this verb explicit here.