Philippians 4:17

οὐχ ὅτι κτλ. Here again see the sensitive delicacy of love. He fears lest this allusion to the cherished past, made only to shew that he needs no present proof of sympathy, might after all read like “thanks for future favours.”

ἐπιζητῶ. Almost “am hunting for.” Cp. Matthew 12:39, γενεὰ πονηρὰ … σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ: Romans 11:7, ὅ ἐπιζ. Ἰσραήλ, τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπέτυχε.

τὸ δὁμα. “The gift”; the mere money, for myself.

τὸν καρπὸν τὸν πλεονάζοντα κτλ. “The fruit which is abounding to your account.” Chrysostom writes here, ὁ καρπὸς ἐκείνοις τίκτεται. (Cp. æsch. S. c. T. 437, τῷδε κέρδει κέρδος ἄλλο τίκτεται.) Τόκος is regularly used in the sense of interest on money; and it is probable that Chrysostom’s τίκτεται implies that he, a Greek, took St Paul to be using here the language of the money market; so that καρπός, πλεονάζειν, λόγος, might all be metaphorical; “The interest which is accruing to your credit.” The objection is that καρπός and πλεονάζειν do not appear elsewhere as technical financial words; but such an application of them here is at least possible.

Observe τὸν πλεονάζοντα. He takes it as certain that the καρπός “is abounding,” not only “may abound.”