Verse 17
However the most important thing to Paul was not the gifts themselves. It was the spiritual reward that would come to the Philippians because of their financial investments in his ministry.
"They themselves will be Paul’s eschatological ’reward’ (Philippians 2:16; Philippians 4:1); their gift to him has the effect of accumulating ’interest’ toward their eschatological ’reward.’" [Note: ibid., p. 447.]
Throughout this section dealing with gifts Paul used common business terminology (i.e., "the matter of giving and receiving," Philippians 4:15; "profit" [NASB] or "credited to your account" [NIV], Philippians 4:17; "received . . . in full" [NASB], Philippians 4:18). Paul was very aware of business matters. Perhaps this reflects his Jewish heritage. His writings reveal a consistent concern over good investments that he regarded mainly as investments yielding eternal rewards.
Be the first to react on this!
