Partnership in the Gospel...

Philippians 1:3-6
I thank my God every time I remember you.
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I often hear people misinterpreting this passage of scripture.
They use it to bolster the concept that if you support their ministry God will bless you.
And while it is often true that the Lord will be pleased when you support ministries doing His work,
I honestly do not see this passage of scripture speaking about that at all.

The truth is that, read in context here, the word "partnership" means litterally
"equal partakers of"
Lets use that in its place and see how it reads..

Philippians 1:3-6 Modified NIV

I thank my God every time I remember you.
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy
because you have been eaual partakers of the gospel from the first day until now,
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Paul was saying that He prays with great joy and thanks God every time because he knows that
they (and we) have been all along partakers of the Gospel and that God's work in them (and us)
will be completed on the day of Christ Jesus.

I firmly believe that Jesus will return for a spotless bride, a matured body, a perfected church.
And the reason for it is that we are partakers of the Gospel, partners in its promises/glories/effect.

God is indeed the Author and Finisher of our faith. And the goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls.

This Site Is Copyright (C) 2006 by Dan Sharpe. Unless otherwise marked, all scriptures are taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.