What Does Philippians 4:18 Mean?

(18) **I have all, and abound.**—The original is stronger, *I have all to the full* (as in Matthew 6:2; Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:16), *and more than to the full. “I* have all, and more than all, I need.” Yet not content with this, he adds, “I am full,” thoroughly complete in all things. The exuberance of courtesy and gratitude is strongly marked. **An odour of a sweet smell.**—See Ephesians 5:2, and Note there. Here St. Paul adds at once an explanation of the meaning of this metaphorical phrase, in the words, “a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.” Comp. Romans 12:2, “a sacrifice holy, acceptable to God.” The word “sacrifice” used in both cases is the one which properly signifies a “bloody sacrifice,” and in relation to such sacrifices the idea of propitiation naturally occurs to our minds; since we know that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” But it is clear that here it belongs to the class of Eucharistic or free-will offerings; for it is simply an offering made freely, in grateful love to God and man; and exactly in this sense we find, in Hebrews 13:16 (in close connection with “we have an altar”), “To do good, and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” In the Epistle to the Romans it is, on the other hand, used for that which the burnt offering typified—the absolute self-dedication of the sacrificer, body and soul, to God. (See Note on Romans 12:2.) To 1Peter 2:5, where all Christians are called “a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God in Jesus Christ,” both senses may be fairly applied. It may be noted that most superstitions in the Church as to the spiritual value of either of these forms of sacrifice, have come from confusion between them and the true or propitiatory sacrifice.