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Philippians 4 · a question people ask

"you sent once and again to my need" (4:16). What did they send?

In the text

The letter doesn't say. It says, "For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need." (4:16), calls it "the gift" (4:17), and speaks of "the things that came from you" (4:18). It doesn't say what those things were, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need. Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account. But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.”
Philippians 4:16-18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Philippians 4

Philippians 4: I have learned the secret

Philippians greets its readers with grace and ends with grace (1:2, 4:23). Near its close it says, "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it" (4:11), and behind learned the secret in the next verse (4:12) is a Greek verb the New Testament has nowhere else.

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions