through Christ, and likewise God had intended it as a constant activity for Paul in that same Christ (v. 18b). 18 Just as Paul himself always gave thanks (cf. 1:2; 2:13) to God (unexpressed here but always understood) so he asks for the same from his readers whatever happens. This last phrase is literally ‘in every’ and requires to be completed by something like ‘occasion’ or ‘circumstance’; here either is possible; at 2 Cor. 9:8 it cannot have the former meaning; mostly elsewhere in Paul it can