Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Philippians · About this commentary
Partnership from the First Day
Philippians 1:3-5
3 I thank my God whenever I remember you, · WEB
Paul thanks God at every memory of them, and names the reason: they had been in it with him from the start.
I thank my God whenever I remember you. The clause admits no exceptions, which is a considerable thing to write about any congregation — and this one had a quarrel running in it Philippians 4:2.
Always in every request of mine on behalf of you all, making my requests with joy. The word all recurs through this letter with unusual frequency, and in a church with a division it is doing quiet work: Paul refuses to pray for a faction.
Joy enters here for the first time and will not leave. It is introduced not as an exhortation but as a description of how the writer prays.
The reason follows: for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now. The noun is koinōnia, and here it means a shared enterprise rather than a warm feeling — they had put money and people into the work Philippians 4:15.
From the first day reaches back to a riverside prayer meeting, a businesswoman, and a jailer Acts 16:13–34. A decade later Paul is still counting from it.
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