Philippians 4:15

Now ye Philippians know also. — Properly, But ye also yourselves know. The mention of the proper name is always emphatic (comp. 2 Corinthians 6:11); here it evidently marks the dignity of their exclusive position of benefaction.

In the beginning of the gospel. — At the beginning (that is) of the gospel to them and their sister churches in Macedonia. The time referred to is his leaving Macedonia for Athens and Corinth (Acts 17:14). At Corinth we know that he received offerings from Macedonia: “That which was lacking to me the brethren who came (when they came) from Macedonia supplied” (2 Corinthians 11:9). His language to the Thessalonian Church (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8) precludes all idea that any part of this contribution was from Thessalonica; we learn here that it was from no other Church than Philippi. It is probably to this gift that reference is made; though it is of course possible that some contribution may have reached him at the time of his actual departure in haste after the persecution at Berœa.

Communicated with me as concerning... — The metaphor here is drawn from commercial transaction. Literally the passage runs, had dealings with me on account of giving and receiving; “opened (so to speak) an account with me,” not of debit and credit, but “of free giving and receiving.” There is possibly an allusion (as Chrysostom suggests) to the idea embodied in 1 Corinthians 9:11, “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?” (Comp. Romans 15:27.) In the one respect he had all to give, and they to receive; in the other the relations were reversed. But if there be such allusion, it is kept in the background. The prominent idea is of the Philippians, and of them alone, as givers.