Friday, January 11, 2008

Philippians 4:17

Greek:
οὐχ ὅτι ἐπιζητῶ τὸ δόμα ἀλλὰ ἐπιζητῶ τὸν καρπὸν τὸν πλεονάζοντα εἰς λόγον ὑμῶν

KJV:
Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

Comments:
to your account: Paul exemplifies here the attitude he taught the Philippians in chapter 2:4. He is not simply looking at his own needs, but also on the needs of others. His need is real, and their giving meets it, as the next verse makes clear. But all the facts about himself do not change his determination to be altruistic rather than self-centered.

Expanded Paraphrase:
I am glad I received this gift from you not because I got what I wanted, but because your accounting will be better since you gave it, and because I want you to receive the benefit of having a giving attitude.

1 comment:

Joel said...

Doc! You are doing this again. Wonderful! I will continue to read if you continue to post.

You know, I feel like I'm learning a lot at school, but I have this thought lingering in the back of my mind... "I bet Dr. Creamer would contest that..." ha.

Hope all is well