Paul's Letter to the Philippians

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 1998 by Peterman, G W

Also, Fee misunderstands Greco-Roman gratitude, a concept important for our understanding of 4:10-20. He asks how Paul could express a genuine thank-you so reluctantly in 4:10-20. Despite the fact that scholars have recently shown that an expression of gratitude would have been inappropriate from a first-century perspective, Fee still seems eager to rescue Paul from the charge of ingratitude. He says that Paul gives thanks for the Philippians' gift at 4:10a, 14 and 18. But we should ask: Thanks by what standard? Twentieth-century western standards for gratitude (which it appears Fee is using) are inappropriate standards by which to judge Paul's thanks.

Fifth, in his recent commentary O'Brien argues cogently that Phil 1:3 should be rendered: "I thank my God for all your remembrance of me." The compelling support for this rendering is the fact that, in the extant Greek literature, every time the verb eucharistein is followed by the preposition epi with the dative case, the dative gives the reason(s) for thanks. Fee waters down this evidence and dismisses it in a footnote. We do not expect such neglect from a scholar of Fee's caliber.

Despite these shortcomings, I can highly recommend Fee's commentary for the pastor or layperson. It is more exegetically sound than Hawthorne, more thorough than Silva and less technical than O'Brien. It fills a needed gap in Philippians commentaries. As a final note, for a similar approach to this letter one should also consider the recent commentary by Ben Witherington, III (Friendship and Finances in Philippi, Trinity Press, 1994).

G. W. Peterman

Osceola Evangelical Free Church, Osceola, IA