To what does “the fruit of righteousness” refer?

Explanation:

Paul prays that the Philippians will abound in love, knowledge, and discernment, filled with the fruit of righteousness. So what is the fruit of righteousness? We get a clue when we recognize the term fruit of righteousness is sometimes used in the Old Testament.³ For example, in Amos 6:12 the prophet writes about the coming judgment of God, for the Israelites have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. The phrase used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament is the fruit of righteousness, which is the same phrase Paul uses in Philippians 1:11. And in the context of Amos 6:12, the fruit of righteousness has to do with right ethical behaviour. Similarly, we read in Proverbs 11:30 that the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life.⁴ In other words, right ethical behaviour leads to a healthy life. Thus, when Paul uses the phrase the fruit of righteousness, he likely has in mind right ethical behaviour.

Counterargument:

The problem with using these Old Testament passages to inform the meaning of Philippians 1:11 is that these passages refer generically to right ethical behaviour, while Paul has in mind ethical behaviour that comes through Christ. That is, the term the fruit of righteousness does denote right ethical behaviour, but of course, right ethical behaviour is not possible unless Christ works in the lives of people. This is why Paul refers not only to the fruit of righteousness but to the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ.⁵ In other words, he has in mind not just ethical behaviour, but the sort of behaviour that is produced by the righteousness that Christ has bestowed on the believers.⁶

Response to counterargument:

No one denies that it is through Christ that the Philippians are enabled to live ethically. Still, there is a subtle difference between this counterargument and Interpretation 1. This counterargument suggests that the fruit Paul has in mind is the righteousness that Christ bestows on the believers. That is, Christ gives the believers the legal status righteous, and this legal status is the fruit.⁷ Our argument is that the fruit is ethical behaviour, that is, behaviour that is righteous, but that it is only possible to live out such behaviour through Christ.⁸ So Paul has ethical behaviour in mind, but it is ethical behaviour that comes about because Christ works in the Philippians.

Explanation:

When Paul refers to the Philippians’ being filled with the fruit of righteousness, we want to know if he has in mind right standing before God or ethical behaviour. We can decide between these by noticing that the definite article (τὸν) is in the accusative case, and therefore modifies the noun καρπὸν (fruit).⁹ In this context, the article functions as a relative pronoun and is translated that. Thus, when Paul says the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, he emphasizes the fruit. That is, he is saying, the fruit (which consists of righteousness), that comes through Jesus Christ.¹⁰ In other words, Paul has in mind the ethical behaviour that is produced by Christ’s working in the Philippians.

Counterargument:

That Paul uses the article as a relative pronoun to emphasize the fruit does not mean that he has ethical behaviour in mind. Rather, he has in mind that the fruit is produced by righteousness. That is, while he does emphasize the fruit with the definite article, he does not emphasize the fruit as in fruit that consists in ethical behaviour. Rather, he emphasizes the fruit that is produced by the righteousness that comes from Christ.¹¹ Thus, he has a particular sort of fruit in mind, that is, fruit produced by Christ, not fruit that consists in ethical behaviour.

Response to counterargument:

We must keep in mind not just the grammar but the immediate context. In Philippians 1:9–10, Paul prays that their love may abound so they will be pure and blameless, and then follows, filled with the fruit of righteousness. Thus, we must see that the whole clause of Philippians 1:11 modifies what Paul says in Philippians 1:10, which is his prayer that the Philippians be pure and blameless. Thus, to be filled with the fruit of righteousness has to do with being pure and blameless.¹²

It is difficult to see what the weakness of this view might be. As long as one sees that it is because of Christ that the Philippians are able to live ethical lives, it seems obvious that the fruit of righteousness is ethical behaviour.

Explanation:

Paul prays that the Philippians will be pure and blameless, filled with the fruit of righteousness. To understand what Paul means by the fruit of righteousness, it is important to notice that he characterizes the fruit of righteousness as coming through Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Does it mean that Christ empowers the Philippians to live righteously, or does it mean something else? When we look to Philippians 3:8–9, we learn that it means more than that Christ empowers the Philippians to live ethically. There Paul explains that he has suffered all things in order to gain Christ that he may be found in him, not having a righteousness of his own, but the righteousness from God that depends on faith.¹³ In other words, Paul is saying that there is a difference between humans acting righteously in that they live ethical lives, and humans who have the righteousness that comes from God. The righteousness that comes from God comes through Jesus Christ by faith. So the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ is not ethical behaviour, but more like a legal status, that is, the status of righteousness that God bestows on believers through faith.¹⁴

Counterargument:

When Paul refers to the righteousness that comes from God through faith, he likely does not have in mind legal status. We can deduce this because when Paul says he suffers in order to be found in Christ with a righteousness not his own, he contrasts the righteousness he had through faith with the righteousness produced by the law. That is, in Phil 1:9, Paul says the righteousness that is his own is the righteousness that is based on the law. The righteousness based on the law has to do with the ethical behaviour that results from living by the law. Paul understands that the ethical behaviour produced by living according to the law ends up being superficial, so he desires the ethical behaviour that is produced by faith in Christ. Thus, if Philippians 3:9 informs the meaning of Philippians 1:11, then the fruit of righteousness has to do with the ethical behaviour produced by faith in Christ, not one’s legal standing before God.

The weakness of this view is it seems to import theological concepts into the text instead of allowing the text to speak for itself. That is, there is a theological concept that by faith in Christ crucified, we have his righteousness put on our account so that we have a new legal standing before God. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness is a rich and important theological concept, but we have to let the text speak for itself, for it is not at all obvious that Paul has legal status in mind in Philippians 1:11. Thus, we ought to take the plain interpretation, which is that Paul has in mind ethical behaviour produced by Christ.