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And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

The Philippian believers had met Paul’s need out of their poverty. Paul now tells them that God will meet their needs out of the riches of Christ. This is not a promise (as some try to make it today) that God will give us everything that we want. First, notice that Paul says that God will supply their “need” (χρεία chreia), not desires or wants. God’s Word never teaches that God is going to give us all our wants, wishes, and whims. Men have many needs: physical, mental, social, spiritual, and economical. Not only these temporal needs, but we have spiritual and eternal needs. We have the eternal need for pardon, peace, and power.

Notice that Paul says “my” God – it is his way of saying that Paul (the servant) cannot meet your true needs, but the Master – God – will. Paul’s personal testimony is that God shall meet their needs, not could, not can, but shall. This is a total supply for their total need. God’s supply is totally inexhaustible, infinite, limitless, boundless, and abundant. As Paul says to the Church at Ephesus, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21.

Paul reminds them that God’s ability to supply their need, while their supplying Paul’s was from their poverty, will come from the riches of God. The supply will be according (κατά kata) to his riches. This supply comes not out of debt but from grace. It is not because we deserve it but because of His mercy. The word translated riches (πλοῦτος ploutos) in the New Testament is always used with the genitive item – in this case, that is the word “his.”^[1] The riches are not “in glory,” but they are God. We will have our needs met through God Himself. The channel Paul says is Christ Jesus. Every need we have can and will be met in the Lord Jesus Christ.

More in-depth Insights

And my God will supply every need. Paul saw that God was his friend like he had been the friend of Abraham. And his friend had provided what he needed in Paul’s distressful times. Thus, Paul had the utmost confidence that God would take care of the needs of the Philippian congregation as well. This was not one of his revelations from God; instead, it was based on his long-established experience as a friend of God. Paul knew that they had taken care of Paul’s needs first and foremost out of their love for God and that God would not forget such sacrifices. The general principle of the Bible is that one will get good in return if one does good.

According to his riches in glory. The Greek word (πλοῦτος ploutos) rendered riches here means God’s abundance of possessions and resources; for, in essence, he possesses all things. Therefore, he had the limitless ability to supply their needs. The phrase (ἐν δόξα en doxa) in glory is connected with the words, “in Christ Jesus;” which means that only those believing in or having faith in Christ Jesus, God, will then bless them with glorious provisions according to his will and purposes.

In Christ Jesus. All the needs Paul and his fellow workers have ever had delivered to him have come through Christ Jesus. The ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ opened the storehouse of blessings upon man.

[1] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments – Volume 3, Vol. 3 (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc, 2008). Page 438.