The particle which connects this verse with the preceding can be rendered in two ways. (1) It can be taken as an adversative “but” (King James Version) with focus on the loss incurred in helping the apostle. The implication is that God will not fail to repay their need. If so, the force can be brought out with “in return” (Jerusalem Bible; “in turn” New American Bible). On the basis of this view, God’s supply to the Philippians is seen as an act of compensation. (2) Most modern translators, however, take it as a copulative “and,” with the possible meaning of “so” (Knox). In this case, God’s supply to the Philippians is considered a natural consequence of their generosity.

The phrase my God suggests an intimate relationship that Paul has with God, but this relationship should not be understood as “the God whom I possess” but as “the God whom I serve” (Knox Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). It can also have the sense of “God on my behalf.” Paul could not repay the debt, but God whom he serves would repay it on his behalf.

With all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus is literally “according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (American Standard Version Revised Standard Version). The preposition “according to” can be taken in several ways. (1) It can be understood in the sense of “in a worthy way of” (New American Bible), “according to the measure of,” or “on the scale of,” focusing on the extent to which God will supply his wealth (Jerusalem Bible “as lavishly as only God can”). (2) It can have the force of “from” (Moffatt Phillips New English Bible) or “out of” (Barclay), emphasizing God as the source of abundant wealth. (3) One can also render it as with (Good News Translation), highlighting the nature and quality of God as the one who has abundant wealth. On the whole, (3) and (2) appear to fit the context better than (1).

With all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus is best treated as a clause of cause or attendant circumstance, for example, “since my God has so much wealth through Christ Jesus,” or “in view of the fact that God is so very rich through Christ Jesus.” There is a difficulty, however, in rendering the phrase through Christ Jesus, for this might imply that it is Christ Jesus who made God wealthy. The meaning, of course, is that God’s wealth may be shared with others by means of Christ Jesus. In some languages it may be essential to combine the phrase through Christ Jesus with the expression will supply all your needs, or to make the phrase through Christ Jesus into a separate clause, for example, “wealth which God gives through Christ Jesus.”

The phrase “in glory” is also open to different interpretations. One can hardly give it a local sense, “in the realm of the heavenly.” Some persons want to give it a temporal sense, meaning “in the glorious life of the coming age.” This suggestion seems equally unsatisfactory, as it is not likely that Paul had in mind only the future heavenly reward of the Philippian believers. Another possibility is to take the phrase adverbially as qualifying the verb “supply.” The resultant meaning is “God will supply your needs in a glorious manner” (Goodspeed “gloriously supply”; cf. Jerusalem Bible Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). But it is probably best to join the phrase closely to the word “wealth,” as the majority of modern translators do—thus abundant wealth, “magnificent riches” (New American Bible Bible en français courant), “glorious wealth” (Bruce), “glorious resources” (Phillips), etc.

The characteristic Pauline phrase “in Christ Jesus” should probably be taken with the verb supply. Accordingly, the preposition “in” would acquire an instrumental sense, thus through Christ Jesus (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch cf. Goodspeed), translated as “Jesus Christ caused this” or “Jesus Christ brought this about.”

The clause will supply all your needs does not tell us whether Paul has in mind here material needs or spiritual needs. He probably means both. The verb will supply (identical with the one rendered I have all I need in verse 18) can mean “will supply fully” (New American Bible), or “will fully meet every need” (Bruce).

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .