Helen Harray, 1 July 2014

Paul had laboured to build the Philippian church for 11 years. Now he’s been in prison for 4 years and he is writing this letter so that Epaphroditus whom they had sent to bring a gift to him, could return with it. Paul points out in the letter that they were the only church to support him – they had given him aid more than once – and he rejoices because he is amply supplied with the gifts they had sent along with Epaphroditus.
But he doesn’t thank them! Isn’t that interesting? He doesn’t outrightly thank them. How rude! Our Mums always told us to say thanks.
But wait, hold your judgment because in the Greco-Roman world the giving and receiving of gifts and services was loaded with social expectations and assumptions. Giving was a way in which you acquired honour and put others in your debt. To acknowledge a gift meant you would have to give something in return.
In Philippians, Paul puts giving into a new framework. It is not for our advantage or honour but for the benefit of others. It is to be driven by a superabundance of love and to imitate the sacrificial attitude of Jesus. If the money given is a sacrifice to God we act primarily toward God and not the receiver, and so no one should feel in our debt or like they have to account for it. Paul expresses joy and commends the Philippians for their giving because they ‘think, feel and act’ with a Christ-like disposition as he has been urging them throughout the epistle.
"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."