Commendation.  'But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received

of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a

sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God' (Phil. 4:18).

Final Independent Note.  'But my God shall supply all your need

according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus' (Phil. 4:19).

It is not usual that a prisoner who has suffered the law's delay for

over three years should write such words as 'I have all and abound', 'I am

full', but Paul was an unusual prisoner.  In this epistle he has already made

it clear that all purely personal considerations had gone, and as he put it

'for to me to live is Christ'.  He had counted all things but loss for the

excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and so had already

'learned' the secret of true contentment and independence.

It does not always follow that an independent spirit is also a very

gracious and kindly spirit; independence is sometimes accompanied by an

element of harshness, possibly as an unconscious effort at defence.  This man

of God however, knows something of 'the mind that was in Christ Jesus', and

so can show both a face of flint and a meek and lowly heart.

At one moment he could cast his eye around his prison chamber and treat

with sublime indifference the evidences of his captivity and its degrading

accompaniments, the next minute his eye would fill with tears, his heart be

too full for words, as he looked on the little parcel of 'things' that had

been sent by the Philippians.  The present writer has just looked up as these

words were written, and over his desk hangs a photograph of the Greek

inscription that constituted 'the middle wall of partition'.  Next to it

hangs a weirdly cut piece of paper, and no one could guess what its object

may be (it was a pattern cut out by the writer's baby daughter some years ago

and given as a present).  Those who know these things will need no

explanation and see nothing incongruous; those who do not, cannot be

instructed apart from experience.  The apostle blended in one great heart the

whole range of human feeling, and his message and ministry were ennobled and

enriched thereby.  So he swiftly turns from his holy independence to pour out

his heart in the fullest gratitude.  The word 'abound' has occurred twice

before in this chapter:

'I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ... both to

abound and to suffer need' (Phil. 4:12),

and this endurance of both extremes he attributes solely to Christ:

'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me' (Phil.

Yet the Philippians had no need to hesitate as they sent their gifts.

This independent saint, will at the very sight of their fellowship use this

same word 'abound' to tell them what their gifts mean to him.  They were an

odour of a sweet smell.  These words, written by one who was by race an

Israelite, referred back to the typical offerings of the Levitical

ceremonial.  This expression is used of the burnt offering (Lev. 1:9), an

offering that was not offered for the putting away of sin, but as an act of

devotion, and the recognition that the Lord had a full claim upon man, to

love Him with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.  This no man has ever

done except the Man Christ Jesus, but the apostle by using this term, shows

how deep was his gratitude and that he recognized in the gifts sent,

something of the Spirit of Christ,