Philippians 4:17

Not&c. Here again see the sensitive delicacy of love. This allusion to the cherished past, begun with the wish to shew that he needed no present proof of sympathy, might after all be taken to be "thanks for future" liberality. It shall not be so.

desire Better, with R.V., seek. The verb occurs e.g. Matthew 12:39; Romans 11:7. Both its form and usage suggest here the appropriate meaning of an active, restless search; a "hunting for" the object.

a gift Lit. and much better, the gift; the mere moneyof the collection.

desire Again, seek: the same idea, with a beautiful change of reference.

fruit that may abound Lit. and better, the fruit &c. St Chrysostom's comment here, in which he uses the Greek verb akin to the noun (tokos) meaning interest on money, seems to imply that he, a Greek, understood the phrase to be borrowed from the money-market. If so, we may translate, the interest that is accruing to your credit. The imagery, by its very paradox, would be appropriate in this passage of ingeniouskindness. The only objection to the rendering is that the precise Greek words are not actually found in special pecuniary connexions, though they would easily fit into them.

"That may": that does is certainly right, and in point. He regards it as as a present certainty that "God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:16) with their gift of love, and that the blessed "profit" of His "well done, good and faithful" (Matthew 25:21) is secure for them.