Paul doesn’t write his letters just because it’s a nice hobby. His letters always come in response to questions, updates, and crises. And he waits until the close of his letter to the Philippian church to finally address the concrete reason for writing the letter. The church in Philippi has commissioned one of their own, a man named Epaphroditus, to find Paul and deliver to him a monetary gift (churches have been sending money to missionaries since the beginning). In addition to the gift, Epaphroditus has brought news of the goings on in the church – the general stress within the church, the theological uncertainty in the church, the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche. Paul addresses these issues in turn and then finally the financial gift itself.
When he addresses the gift, he expresses both joyful gratitude (Philippians 4:10: “I rejoice in the Lord greatly now that you have revived your concern for me.”) as well as indifference (4:11, 18: “Not that I am referring to being in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have… I have been paid in full and have more than enough.”) Paul is doing something impossible here, saying two things that can’t be true at the same time, and yet they are. He is overjoyed by the church’s generosity, and yet belonging to Christ has rendered Paul to be in need of nothing. He’s been saying this since the letter’s beginning – gift or no gift, prison or no prison, enemies or no enemies – it’s all the same thing. None of these things can add to or subtract from belonging to Christ.
And so he tells us the “secret” of “being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty an of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (4:12-13) This popular memory verse has nothing to do with accomplishing great things. If anything, it means the opposite: I can be small and hungry and powerless because Christ is the only source of strength I need. To belong to Christ is to have nothing to lose or gain. Surely this is the good life, to be able to look at more money or less of it, to have more support or less of it, to land even in prison, and say it’s all the same thing. As the Psalmist says, “The Lord is my shepherd, so what else would I even bother wanting?”
Christ has given us his very self, which is not the greatest gift among all other gifts. Christ is that which reorders all gifts and all sufferings. Christ is that which re-contextualizes everything we gain or lose, robbing it of its ability to define us. The Paul we’re meeting in Philippians is free, free from need itself. Whether we realize it or not, that’s what we really want for ourselves too, not to secure the best outcome all the time, but to be free of the need for any outcome at all. This is what Paul has been saying since chapter 3, that whatever once offered us security and validation – it can get lost. There is only Christ who has given us his very self. What else would we even bother wanting?
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