We know that he habitually lived by his own labour. He could call to
witness the assembled elders at Ephesus, when he declared that 'these
hands ministered unto my necessities,' and could propose himself as an
illustration of the words of the Lord Jesus, 'It is more blessed to give
than to receive.' He firmly holds the right of Christian teachers to be
supported by the churches, and vehemently insists upon it in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians. But he waives the right in his own case, and
passionately insists that it were better for him rather to die than that
any man should make his glorying void. He will not use to the full his
right in the Gospel 'that he may make a Gospel without charge,' but when
needed he gladly accepted money gifts, as he did from the Philippians.
In our text he points back to an earlier instance of this. The history
of that instance we may briefly recall. After his indignities and
imprisonment in Philippi he went straight to Thessalonica, stayed there
a short time till a riot drove him to take refuge in Berea, whence again
he had to flee, and guided by brethren reached Athens. There he was
left alone, and his guides went back to Macedonia to send on Silas and
Timothy. From Athens he went to Corinth, and there was rejoined by them.
According to our text, 'in the beginning of the Gospel,' that is, of
course, its beginning in Philippi, they relieved him twice in
Thessalonica, and if the words in our text which date the Philippians'
gift may be read 'when I had departed from Macedonia,' we should have
here another reference to the same incident mentioned in 2 Corinthians,
chap. xi. 8-9, where he speaks of being in want there, and having 'the
measure of my want' supplied by the brethren who came from Macedonia.
The coincidence of these two incidental references hid away, as it were,
confirms the historical truthfulness of both Epistles. And if we take
into view the circumstances in which he was placed in Thessalonica and
at the beginning of his stay in Corinth, his needing and receiving such
aid is amply accounted for. Once again, after a long interval, when he
was a prisoner in Rome, and probably unable to work for his maintenance,
their care of him flourished again.
In the present circumstances of our churches, it seems necessary that
the right which Paul so strongly asserted should, for the most part, not
be waived, but the only true way of giving and receiving as between
minister and people is when it is a matter not of payment but a gift.
When it is an expression of sympathy and affection on both sides, the
relationship is pleasant and may be blessed. When it comes to be a
business transaction, and is to be measured by the rules applicable to
such, it goes far to destroy some of the sweetest bonds, and to endanger
a preacher's best influence.