Hello,
I was flipping through Paul’s letter and something struck me as odd. In Thess and Cor he is so proud of the fact that he needs no patronage and that working with your hands is important. But in Phil, he accepts money from the community no problem and even mentions that he has before.
I was wondering why he denied patronage in the 2 communities and accepted it in the third. Thoughts?
I don’t think he said he didn’t need it and I don’t think pride was involved at all, he defended himself against those in Corinth who were questioning on why the Apostles would deserve donations from the church in 1 Corinthians 9:1-23 (too long to post)
However, Paul refused to accept donations as long as he was able to work. He refused to accept donations from the churches because he didn’t want anything to stand in the way of the message of Christ and also because most of the churches were new and made up mostly of poor members, he felt that accepting the money would be robbing the churches. In fact again when admonishing the Corinthians he states
2 Corinthians 7-8
7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.
Paul did indeed receive support from the church in Phillipi, but he didn’t necessarily like that they did it.
Philippians 4:14-16
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.
This passage is called “Paul’s thankless thank you”. He is basically stating, Never has he taken anything from any other church, but the sneaky people in Phillipi gave him money not just once but twice. Not that it wasn’t needed, but it most assuredly wasn’t wanted or desired. You will notice that the money was given to him without his asking for it and in situations where it would be very difficult for him to actively refuse it. And by this I mean they never gave it to him in person, they waited until he was apart from him then sent the money. Once when he was in Thessalonica and once again when he was in prison.
On my birthday, my dear grandmother tries to give me money. I thank her for the thought, but explain I don’t need the money, and I politely refuse. Later in the week, invariably, I get a card in an envelope and tucked inside the card is the same money she tried to give me earlier. I could send it back, but this is when charity kicks in and I could not hurt my grandmothers feelings by sending the money back to her after she went through all the trouble to get it to me. I think this is the situation Paul found himself in with the church in Phillipi.
So the fact that one church out of the many he visted was the only one to send him money, did so when he was in a place where it would be difficult to refuse and didn’t ask for it when it was given to him, doesn’t make him a hypocrite. He was just a victim of circumstances.
