Student loans. Mortgages. Credit card balances. Americans are drowning in debt. Earlier this year, for example, Experian reported that the average American household is carrying over $6000 in credit card debt alone. For many, revolving debt is a financial whirlpool that’s hard to escape.

But that’s not the only kind of debt we experience. There is a kind of relational debt in which we feel we owe others or others owe us. In some traditional cultures, for example, the sacrifices parents make for their children is expected to be repaid in obedience, respect, or even by caretaking in their later years.

Friends also expect a certain amount of reciprocal give-and-take. The best friendships don’t keep strict accounts; the friends simply know they can count on each other’s loyalty in general. But if relationships become too one-sided, the ones who see themselves as doing all the giving may bail.

As we’ve seen, reciprocity was also expected of friendships in Paul’s day. The Philippians were loyal to Paul because they owed their salvation to his ministry among them. Imagine, for example, the jailer who thought his life was forfeit because Paul, Silas, and the other prisoners were escaping (Acts 16:25-34). Then imagine his gratitude when he discovered that Paul was still there, waiting to minister to him. Would that man not feel he was forever in Paul’s debt?

The Philippians’ generosity with Paul, then, is born out of a sense of debt and obligation — but the obligation is not burdensome. They know what they have received, and they are honestly grateful.

Still, Paul wants to make sure that he’s not misunderstood, and that the whole matter of their gift to him is seen in its proper theological and spiritual context. Thus, he returns to the somewhat contractual language that Lydia and others would have understood readily:

I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:18-19, NIV)

Their “debt,” in a sense, is paid in full. But notice how Paul shifts the understanding of the relationship. It’s no longer just a matter of reciprocity between him and the Philippians; it’s a three-way relationship that includes God. Paul wants his friends to see that their gift to him is actually a fragrant and pleasing offering to God. Epaphroditus has essentially performed a priestly function on their behalf. This is already anticipated in 2:25, where Paul calls him the “minister to my need” (NRSVUE, in a more literal translation than the NIV). And since the offering is made to God, God is the one who will reciprocate.

It reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46. When the Son of Man returns as king, Jesus says, he will separate humanity into two camps: the sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left. He will bless the sheep for their faithfulness: to the extent they have cared for the needy, he will tell them, they have unknowingly ministered to him. The faithful embody the compassion of the king without thought of reward, and they will receive the blessing they are due.

The English translation of Paul’s words, unfortunately, often misses some of the ways in which Paul echoes themes he’s already raised in the letter. When he says he has “more than enough,” for example, it’s the same word he uses in verse 12 about knowing how to live “in plenty.” Not that the life of an apostle is financially rewarding one, of course; if Paul ever experiences a material kind of plenty, it’s because of friends like the Philippians.

More importantly, when Paul says that he is “amply supplied,” it’s the same word he uses to say that God “will meet” the Philippians’ needs. At root, the word suggests filling something to the brim and then some. If we don’t recognize that he’s intentionally using the same word, we may miss the implied reciprocity: You have filled me to overflowing, and God will do the same for you.

As I suggested in the previous post, endings matter. Paul wants the last thing the Philippians hear in the letter to be about how God will fill them up, will meet their needs.

But what, exactly, do they need? We’ll explore that in the next two posts.