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It's not good to be a nice guy, they say. It's the aggressive types who see little advantage in being kind and caring who are most likely to succeed.

The apostle Paul was in prison at the time he wrote his epistle to the Phillipians. Recognizing that others were "taking up the slack" in his absence, he wrote about them (Phil. 1:14-17). Surprisingly perhaps, he believed that some were evangelizing for their own self-interest (ἐριθεία). Others, the nice guys, were motivated by love (ἀγάπη). The two categories are listed in verses 16-17.

The most ancient of the prominent manuscripts, AlephCodex Sinaiticus and BCodex Vaticanus , list the good guys first.

16 οἱ μὲν ἐξ ἀγάπης, εἰδότες ὅτι εἰς ἀπολογίαν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κεῖμαι,
17 οἱ δὲ ἐξ ἐριθείας τὸν Χριστὸν καταγγέλλουσιν, οὐχ ἁγνῶς, οἰόμενοι θλῖψιν ἐγείρειν τοῖς δεσμοῖς μου.

The later Byzantine manuscripts list the good guys last:

16 οἱ μὲν ἐξ ἐριθείας τὸν χριστὸν καταγγέλλουσιν, οὐχ ἁγνῶς, οἰόμενοι θλίψιν ἐπιφέρειν τοῖς δεσμοῖς μου·
17 οἱ δὲ ἐξ ἀγάπης, εἰδότες ὅτι εἰς ἀπολογίαν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κεῖμαι.

Somebody made a switch and we don't know for sure which way it went. We would love to know which group actually came to Paul's mind first. Then we'd like to know how and when the order was reversed in the tranmission from his pen to some of the manuscripts we have available to us today. We can't assume it was deliberate. If it was, we would certainly like to know why as well.