The Apostle’s Grateful Acknowledgment of Their Gift (Philippians 4:10–20)

Fifthly and finally, St. Paul gratefully recalls the aid that was sent, pointing especially to the spirit in which it was received (Phil. 4:10–20).

He had already mentioned this earlier, calling it a ministry to his need and a work of God (Phil. 2:25–30). Now he returns to the same subject again, explaining more fully the significance of their giving and his receiving.

Phil. 4:10. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me; wherein you had been concerned, but you lacked opportunity.

Approaching the discussion of this passage, St. Chrysostom says: “I have often said that almsgiving was instituted not for those who receive, but for those who give. For the latter are the ones who gain very great benefit. Paul demonstrates this very thing here. In what way? The Philippians, after a long time since previous gifts, sent him something again—even to Rome—entrusting it to Epaphroditus. Therefore the Apostle, intending to send him back with this Epistle, see how he praises them and shows that what was sent benefited not him who received, but them who gave. He does this so that benefactors may not become proud, yet be zealous for beneficence—since through this they benefit themselves most of all—while those who receive benefactions may not rush to receive without a measure of fear, lest they incur condemnation. For it is written: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35). What then does he show by the words: ‘I rejoiced in the Lord greatly’? I rejoiced, he says, not in the way the world and the present life rejoice, but in the Lord; not because I was relieved, but because you made progress—for that is my relief. And that is why he said ‘greatly’; for he did not rejoice in his own comfort, but in their advancement.”

The words “that now at length you have revived your concern for me” carry in our Church Slavonic translation a tone of reproach; but this is not visible in the original. “Have revived”—the Greek is ανεθαλετε — which means: you have blossomed again, budded again, put forth a new shoot. The holy Apostle presents the virtue or beneficence of the Philippians as a tree which, after winter, in the springtime, under the favorable breath of the sun and warmed air, is clothed again in leaves, puts forth shoots and new buds. The Philippians had been helping him; then circumstances prevented them from doing so. As soon as opportunity opened, they sent him aid again. The Apostle says to them: I am very glad that after the winter, the unfavorable circumstances, you have again put forth a shoot of concern for me.

“Wherein you had been concerned.” Lest it seem to them that he was reproaching them for having forgotten him, the Apostle sets this aside by saying: I do not mean it in that sense; for I know that though you could not help me, you were thinking of me, εφρονειτε. You were thinking of me—not simply thinking, but devising how to help; but: ηκαιρεισθε — you lacked opportunity, which in our translation reads: “you were constrained by an unfavorable time.” Lack of opportunity may also be understood as pointing to a scarcity of means—there was nothing to share. Thus St. Chrysostom: “What does ηκαιρεισθε mean? This depended, he says, not on your negligence, but on necessity. You had nothing at hand; you yourselves were not wealthy. That is the meaning of ‘lacked opportunity’—you were constrained by inopportunity. This is borrowed from common usage; for thus do most people speak when the necessities of life come to them not in abundance, but scantily.‘But it is more fitting here to see a reference to the inconvenience of the time. Thus Blessed Theodoret:’Long had you wished to attend to serving me, but you had no convenient time.”

Phil. 4:11. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

What do I mean by “speak”? By expressing such joy. I do not rejoice thus because poverty had been crushing me and you relieved it. To that I am already accustomed; I have already learned to be content with what I have, with whatever I happen to possess. He does not say that there was no poverty—but he declares that it did not weigh upon him, that he did not feel it, that it was not a grief that crushed him. “I have learned”—learned through the experiences of life and through a reasonable understanding of its course, in surrender to God, who orders our ways. “In whatsoever state I am”—in whatever circumstances I find myself, whether I have little or plenty, I accept all of it as from the hand of the Lord, and I am content with all of it. All glory to God.

Phil. 4:12. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

“To be abased”—he said this in place of “to suffer need.” For need humbles. “I know, he says, how to make use of little, to endure hunger and poverty, and how to abound. He was neither elated nor rejoiced at his abundance, but remained the same in both scarcity and plenty—neither oppressed by the former nor made proud by the latter. ‘I know both how to be full and how to be hungry.’ Many do not know how to bear plenty, as did the Israelites, for ‘they ate… and rebelled’ (Deut. 32:15). But I, says the Apostle, am always in the same disposition of spirit. By this he shows that he neither rejoiced now nor grieved before. ‘Everywhere,’ he says, ‘and in all things I am instructed’—that is, in the course of so long a time I have experienced everything and been perfected in all things” (St. Chrysostom). This means: he had altogether forgotten about the bodily life, and no concern for it arose in his heart. He had but one care—the work of preaching, the success of the Gospel: everything else—whether it was there or not was all the same. A grace-filled disposition of spirit! And therefore the Apostle adds:

Phil. 4:13. I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

“This, he says, is not my perfection, but that of Him who gave me strength” (St. Chrysostom). The grace of God brought it about that even without eating I did not hunger; and having nothing, I was as one who is rich. Moses, having gone forty days without food, did not grow weak. Is not the Lord of the Apostles the same as the Lord of Moses?! Where the power of God is, infirmities vanish. Fire often did not burn the martyrs, water did not drown them, and torture did not wound them. Is it a great thing to keep the Apostle’s hunger always satisfied, so as to leave him free to turn all his care to the Gospel? The infirmities of nature were the same in them as in us, but the strength of spirit was not the same.

Phil. 4:14. Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my tribulation.

It might have appeared, judging by the preceding words, that St. Paul set little store by and disregarded the aid. No, he says, I was not speaking in that sense—I only wished to comfort you, so that you would not grieve, imagining that all the time you were unable to help me I had been overwhelmed with sorrow. No—I was of good cheer, being strengthened by my Lord. That is what I wished to express to you. But the fact that you have now sent aid—you did well, because by this you have shared in my tribulation. As “he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward” (Mt. 10:41): so also they, having intended to relieve the Apostle’s tribulation—even though there was none—will receive the reward of those who relieved tribulation. The Apostle is dealing with their soul, with what was in their heart. They supposed the Apostle was in distress and sent help. This distress on his behalf gives worth to their aid. The Apostle says as it were: you will receive the same reward as is due to me for bearing want for the sake of the preaching of the Gospel (St. Chrysostom). Your deed is very beneficial and saving for you.

Phil. 4:15. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you only.

“What a commendation! For the Corinthians and the Romans are touched by what they now hear from the Apostle. The Philippians, at a time when not a single Church was yet established (in Europe, at the very beginning of the preaching of the Gospel there), showed such zeal for this saint that, having absolutely no example before them, they were the first of their own accord to begin such a bearing of fruit. And one cannot say that they did this because Paul had remained long among them, or because they had received some benefaction from him” (St. Chrysostom).

They did this out of their own particular goodness of heart, because they saw that the Apostle was in need. Therefore they were ready to share with him everything that God had given them.

The expression “shared in the matter of giving and receiving” is taken from commercial transactions or dealings. In trade, both the merchant and the buyer mutually give and receive. One gives goods and receives money, while the other gives money and receives goods. This is a fellowship between them in trade in the sense of giving and receiving. The Apostle applies this to himself and the Philippians and says that from the very beginning they entered into fellowship with him in the sense of a transaction—“in the matter of giving and receiving”—meaning thereby that they did not merely give, but also received. They contributed the bodily, and received the spiritual—as if a transaction were taking place between them in which the bodily was used to purchase the spiritual, the earthly to purchase the heavenly. “Do you see what kind of fellowship they had? By the giving of bodily things and the receiving of spiritual ones. For just as those who sell and buy communicate mutually, receiving from and giving to one another—this is fellowship—so here too. And nothing is more profitable than this purchase and this trade; it is transacted on earth, but concluded in heaven. The purchasers are on earth, yet they buy and enter into agreements concerning heavenly things, setting an earthly price. Do not, however, accuse me: the blessings of heaven are not sold for money; they are not bought with money, but with the will of the one who distributes the money, with love of wisdom, with elevation above worldly things, with love of humanity, and with almsgiving. For if those blessings could be bought with silver, the woman who placed two mites would have received little; but since it was not silver but the will that had power, she, having shown her complete readiness, received everything” (St. Chrysostom).

Phil. 4:16. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need.

He explains that truly at the very beginning of the preaching of the Gospel—there, in their lands—they entered into fellowship with the Apostle in giving and receiving. For from them he went to the Thessalonians, and no sooner had he gone than they sent to his needs—and then sent again a second time. They saw that he had nothing and had gone from them empty-handed. Their tender-heartedness could not endure leaving him in such a helpless condition: for they did not yet know whether the Thessalonians would receive him as they had. And so they sent. In this is great praise of their goodheartedness. “To my need,” εις την χρειαν — for the needs. It was not the Apostle who demanded—rather they themselves, supposing him to be in need, sent. “My” is not in the original. St. Paul the Apostle maintains here also what he said before—that even in need he did not feel want, but reckoned himself content. And therefore he does not say “for my needs”; but that they themselves, imagining him to be in need, hastened to relieve him of this burden (St. Chrysostom).

Phil. 4:17. Not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

I say this not because I seek donations from those I have converted, and am pleased when they give—but because this testifies to their fruitfulness. From this it is evident that the seed of my word fell on good ground, grew up into a tree, and has begun to bear fruit. Such fruit, he says, is what I seek, and I rejoice when I see it; but it is not for me—it is for you. Loving you, I rejoice that you are fruitful. “Do you see that the fruit grows for them? I am saying this, he says, not for my own sake, but for yours, for your salvation. For in receiving from you I gain nothing: the grace belongs to those who give; for to those who give the reward is preserved there, while to those who receive what is given is distributed here. By this the Apostle expresses his concern for their inner state” (St. Chrysostom).

Phil. 4:18. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.

“‘But I have received all’—not as an assurance that Epaphroditus concealed nothing, but expressing that he received it with an open, joyful heart. He said this so that, having heard ‘I do not desire a gift,’ they would not suppose that they were pressing their gift upon him and burdening him. For the same reason he says: ‘I am full, I abound.’ In these words too he has their good in view. ‘You have not only supplied what was lacking in the past time, but have done even more’ (St. Chrysostom). Thanks be to God! Now there is an abundance of all things. But this gladdens me not because it brings me comfort, but because what you sent is a sacrifice well-pleasing to God, and was received by Him as an odor of a sweet smell. What delicate gradations of Apostolic feeling! How he teaches us to look at everything as it stands before God, and at the same time to refer every deed to Him! ‘Ah, how he exalted their gift! Not I received it, he says—not I, but God through me. Therefore, although I have no need, nevertheless pay no heed to this; for God too had no need, yet He received it, so that the Divine Scripture did not refuse to say: God’smelled ‘a sweet savor’ (Gen. 8:21)—meaning that it was pleasing to Him. It was not the smell or the smoke that was pleasing, but the will of the one who offered it” (St. Chrysostom). The Apostle expresses the same thing here. God sees your soul, your good disposition and readiness to give, and graciously receives it as a fragrant sacrifice to Him. And such is every act of beneficence when it is done with the right disposition of heart—not out of vainglory, but for God.

Phil. 4:19. But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

“My God”—whom I serve, to whom I refer all that befalls me, from whom I always receive what I ask. God, who holds me in His right hand, may this “God of mine supply all your need.” Need, χρεια — wants, the necessities of life. “Since he had previously said ‘you were constrained by an unfavorable time’ (you were without means—yourselves in poverty); here he adds the same as in the Epistle to the Corinthians, saying: ‘He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, may He supply and multiply your seed’ (2 Cor. 9:10). For he prays for them, that they may have abundance and have something to sow. And he prays not simply that they may have abundance, but ‘according to His riches.’ He did this in view of their condition. For if they had been like Paul, equally lovers of wisdom and equally crucified to the world, he would not have done this. But since they were tradespeople, poor, had wives, were raising children, managing households, and gave to him out of little—and moreover still had some attachment to the things of the present—he therefore so prays, condescending to their condition. For there is nothing unseemly in praying that people who have so used their possessions may have sufficiency and abundance. See, then, what he prays for: he did not say—may God make you rich and exceedingly rich, but what? ‘May He supply all your need’—so that you might not be in want, but have all that is necessary. For Christ commanded prayer for this very thing in the prayer He gave us, teaching us to say: ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ (Mt. 6:11)” (St. Chrysostom).

“According to His riches” means: either richly, abundantly—so that you have plenty of everything and all live in sufficiency, as it was in the Church in Jerusalem where there was not a single poor person (Acts 4:34); or “according to His generosity, inasmuch as for Him all things are easy and possible to accomplish, and moreover quickly” (both meanings from St. Chrysostom). “In glory”—either gloriously, that is, abundantly; or to the glory of His name, because the glory of His name required that He should bestow prosperity upon such as they—those who know how to employ their possessions to the glory of His name; or “in glory,” so that you, enriched by His mercies, might glorify Him still more by your deeds, according to the word of the Lord: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).

“In Christ Jesus”—for the sake of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the fact that they believed in Christ the Lord, clung to Him, and walked in His commandments. For in obstinate unbelievers even acts of beneficence count for nothing before God.

From all of this, St. Chrysostom draws the following lesson: “If Paul prays for those who give, all the more must we, when receiving benefactions, not be ashamed to act in this way. We must not receive as though we ourselves were in need; we must rejoice not for ourselves, but for those who give. In this way we will have a reward even when we receive, if we rejoice on their behalf. Likewise, we must not be displeased when they do not give, but rather grieve for them. In this way we will make them more zealous as well, having shown them that we do this not for ourselves (that is, we receive—if we grieve when we do not receive).”

Phil. 4:20. Now to God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is a conclusion not only to the preceding thought, but to the entire Epistle. “To God”—our God—not only great and unsearchable and unapproachable, but also “our Father,” approachable, who drew near to us in His incarnate Son and drew us near to Himself in that same Son, as sons by grace, born of the Holy Spirit—to such a God and Father be “glory” for all things and from all, “forever and ever,” not only now but throughout all eternity. “Amen”—so be it; may all come to know His mercies and glorify Him with lips and heart both in this life and beyond the grave.