# To the Philippians 7.2

- Author: [Polycarp of Smyrna](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/polycarp-of-smyrna/)
- Work: [To the Philippians](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/) (*Epistula ad Philippenses*)
- Date: ca. 110–135 (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:292; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 282–301 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Also in: PG 5:1012b–1012c (found by text match)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/7/2/

Summary: Believers should hold to the teaching handed down from the beginning, watching in prayer and fasting as the Lord taught.

## Greek text

διὸ ἀπολιπόντες τὴν ματαιότητα τῶν πολλῶν καὶ τὰς ψευδοδιδασκαλίας ἐπὶ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν παραδοθέντα λόγον ἐπιστρέψωμεν, νήφοντες πρὸς τὰς εὐχὰς καὶ προσκαρτεροῦντες νηστείαις, δεήσεσιν αἰτούμενοι τὸν παντεπόπτην θεὸν μὴ εἰσενεγκεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ κύριος· Τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής.

## English translation (Claude)

Therefore, leaving behind the futility of the many and their false teachings, let us return to the word handed down to us from the beginning, being watchful in prayer and persevering in fasting, asking the all-seeing God in our petitions “not to bring us into temptation,” just as the Lord said: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

## Scripture references

- 1 Pet 4:7: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 6:13: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 26:41: quotation, high confidence
- Mark 14:38: quotation, high confidence
- Jude 1:3: echo, low confidence

## Citation (SBL)

Pol. Phil. 7.2 (PG 5:1012b–1012c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pol-philippians/7/2/).