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Php_4:19. The thought starts from τῷ Θεῷ . But God, to whom your gift stands in the relation of such a sacrifice, will recompense you.
Paul says ὁ δὲ Θεός μου (comp. Php_1:3), because he himself had been the recipient of that which they had brought as a sacrifice pleasing to God; as his God (to whom he belongs and whom he serves, comp. on Rom_1:8), therefore, will God carry out the recompense.
πληρώσει ] used with significant reference to πεπλήρ ., Php_4:18, according to the idea of recompense. Not, however, a wish (hence also in Codd. and in the Vulgate the reading πληρώσαι ), as Chrysostom, Luther, and others take it, but a promise.
πᾶσαν χρείαν ὑμῶν ] likewise corresponding to the service which the readers had rendered; for they had sent εἰς τὴν χρείαν (Php_4:16) of the apostle. To be understood as: every need which ye have, not merely bodily (so usually, following Chrysostom, who explains it as the fulfilment of the fourth petition, also van Hengel, de Wette, Wiesinger), and not merely spiritual (Pelagius, Rilliet, also mainly Weiss), but as it stands: every need. It is not, however, an earthly recompense which is meant (Hofmann), but (comp. on Php_4:17) the recompense in the Messiah’s kingdom, where, in the enjoyment of the σωτηρία , the highest satisfaction of every need (comp. on πληρ . χρείαν , Thuc. i. 70. 4, and Wetstein in loc.) shall have set in amidst the full, blessed sufficiency of the eternal ζωή (comp. Rom_8:17 f.; Rev_21:4).[194] There are specifications of this satisfaction in the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5; comp. especially the χορτασθήσεσθε and γελάσετε , Luk_6:21, also the οὐ μὴ διψήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα in Joh_4:14, and the sarcastic κεκορεσμένοι , in 1Co_4:8. That it is the Messianic satisfaction in the ἐλευθερία τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ (Rom_8:21), in the possession of the πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ (Eph_1:18), which is to be thought of, Paul himself states by ἐν δόξῃ , which is to be taken as instrumental (Eph_1:23; Eph_5:18) and dependent on πληρ .: with glory, whereby the Messianic is indicated. Hofmann also, though he rejects the instrumental view, comes ultimately to it: “Therewith and thus will God fulfil all their need, in that He gives them glory.”[195] Others, who also correctly join the words with πληρ ., take them as a modal definition: in a glorious way, that is, amply, splendide, and the like. See Castalio, Beza, Calvin, and many others, including Hoelemann, van Hengel, Rilliet, de Wette, Wiesinger, Weiss. But what an indefinite yet peculiarly affected, and withal—by its so habitual reference elsewhere to the final judgment—misleading expression would this be for so simple an idea! And how far would it be from the apostle’s mind, considering his expectation of the nearness of the Parousia (comp. 1Co_7:29; 1Co_7:31), to promise on this side of it a hearty recompense, which was to take place, moreover, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ! An appeal is wrongly made to 2Co_9:8, where an increase of means for further well-doing, to be granted through God’s blessing, and not the recompense, is the point under discussion. Others erroneously join ἐν δόξῃ with τὸ πλοῦτος αὐτοῦ (Grotius, Storr, Flatt, Rheinwald, and others): “pro amplissimis suis divitiis, id est, potestate sua omnia excedente,” Heinrichs. It is true that ἐν δόξῃ might be attached without a connecting article (according to the combination πλουτεῖν ἐν τινι , 1Ti_6:8; comp. 1Co_1:5; 2Co_9:11); but Paul always connects πλοῦτος with the genitive of the thing, and πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης in particular, said of God, is so constantly used by him, that it seems altogether unwarranted to assume the expression πλοῦτος ἐν δόξῃ in this passage. See Rom_9:23; Eph_1:18; Eph_3:16; Col_1:27. He would have written: κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ , comp. Rom_9:23.
κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος αὐτοῦ ] that is, in conformity with His being so rich, and consequently having so much to give. Comp. Rom_10:12; Rom_11:33. This assures what is promised.
ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ] definition annexed to πληρώσει … δόξῃ ; that which is promised has its causal ground in Christ, who by His work has acquired for believers the eternal δόξα . Christ is, in fact, ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης , Col_1:27.
[194] Hofmann very irrelevantly objects that it is out of place to speak of want in that kingdom. But just, in fact, on that account is the bliss of the kingdom the complete satisfaction of every need. Comp. Rev_7:16 f.; 2Ti_4:7 f. Thus also is the perfect then put in the place of that which is in part. Consequently the idea of the satisfaction of every χρεία in eternal life, where man even beholds God, and where He is all in all, is anything but a “monstrous thought.”
[195] In order, however, to bring out of the passage, notwithstanding this ἐν δόξῃ , the idea of a recompense in this life, Hofmann makes δόξα mean the glory of the children of God which is hidden from the world, and which is the fulfilment of every want only in proportion “as there is lacking in us what, either corporally or spiritually, is necessary for the completion of our divine sonship.” Instead of such arbitrary inventions, let us keep clearly before us how great a weight in the very word of promise, which forms the conclusion of the epistle, lies in the fact that the grand aim of all promise and hope, i.e. the glory of eternal life (Rom_5:2; Rom_8:18; Rom_8:21; Rom_9:23; 1Co_15:43; 2Co_4:17; Col_3:4; and many other passages), is once more presented to the reader’s view.