Philippians 4:15 Solidary

Now you Philippians also are aware that, in the beginning of the evangel, when I came out from Macedonia, not one ecclesia participates with me in the matter of giving and getting, except you only.

By writing to them as Philippians, he literally and figuratively puts his readers in one place (cf. Corinthians and Galatians in 2Cor.6:11 and Gal.3:1, respectively). In no place did Paul experience what he experienced from Philippi. He looks back to the very beginning, more than ten years earlier, when he had proclaimed the Gospel in Macedonia. Philippi, like Thessalonica and Berea, was in Macedonia. Paul’s stay there is described by Luke in Acts 16 and 17.

When Paul left the province of Macedonia and then went to Achaia (southern Greece), it was only the Philippians who supported him materially. He appropriately uses a commercial term for this: they participated in the matter of giving and getting. His financial situation was their concern. Again, the word for “participation” is the same as the word for “community.” Paul’s work in the Gospel had the heart of the Philippians, and therefore they wanted to relieve him as much as possible of material concerns. Not because he asked, on the contrary, but because they showed solidarity with his preaching! It made an unforgettable impression on Paul!

Delen: