Friday, December 21, 2007

Philippians 4:15

Greek:
οἴδατε δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς Φιλιππήσιοι ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ὅτε ἐξῆλθον ἀπὸ Μακεδονίας οὐδεμία μοι ἐκκλησία ἐκοινώνησεν εἰς λόγον δόσεως καὶ λήμψεως εἰ μὴ ὑμεῖς μόνοι

KJV:
Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.

Comments:
in the beginning of the gospel: Apparently, Paul uses the phrase to refer generally to the time they were introduced to and received the gospel, and to the kingdom expanding from there in the form of his traveling and preaching.

communicated with me: The Philippians had consistently met Paul's needs as he served in other places, including Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:8-12) and Thessaloníki (Thessalonica), as he mentions in the next verse. Not only were they serving him by doing so, but as Paul describes things to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 12:13, he was also doing the Philippians a service by giving them a means of participating in the ministry. But they had also joined with him in fellowship while he was in their city. For instance, after his imprisonment, it was Lydia's household that took him in and consoled him. (Acts 16:40).

Expanded Paraphrase:
After all, you Philippians also know that from the time you first received the good news, you became the ones who joined in that message with me. I practically went out as your missionary. Even when I first left your area, Macedonia, and ended up in Thessaloníki, you were already sending gifts to meet my needs. No one else did that.

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