The Sending of Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25–30)

Phil. 2:25. Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need.

“I considered it necessary”—I reckoned it more urgent. Although the Greek literally reads differently—the text there has αναγκαιον, meaning “I considered it necessary”—the flow of speech more readily suggests the Slavonic rendering. Until the mission of Timothy is accomplished and I come to you myself, in the present moment it is more needful to send Epaphroditus to you. Why it is more needful is explained below; here only a passing mention is made of it.

Of Epaphroditus nothing is known beyond what is written in this Epistle. Epaphras, mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians and to Philemon, is an entirely different person, and there is no reason to confuse them: one is a Colossian, the other a Philippian. — In sending him back to his own people, St Paul praises him no less than Timothy (St Chrysostom). He sets forth five commendable qualities in him: “brother”—as a Christian, and perhaps also as one who had grown closer to the Apostle than others through repeated meetings; “fellow worker”—as a co-laborer in the preaching of the gospel and the spreading of the faith: evidently he had assisted St Paul in confirming the faith and establishing the Church in Philippi; he may have been entrusted with continuing what the Apostle had begun after his departure from there; and he contributed to the fact that the Philippian Church proved so devoted to St Paul and to the faith; “fellow soldier”—already by virtue of being a fellow worker, since the spreading of the gospel is a true struggle against the darkness of impiety and wickedness; but more directly this signifies that he had suffered together with the Apostle for the gospel—a fellow soldier as a sharer with the Apostle in trials and hardships (St Chrysostom). Where and when is not evident. Perhaps the Apostle had in mind here that he had been exposed to the danger of death in matters of faith and the Church while there in Rome; or perhaps he also suffered considerably in Philippi itself. If of all the Philippians it is said that to them it was granted not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for His sake, then outstanding individuals such as Epaphroditus would certainly have had a far greater share in this. “Your messenger”—in the immediate flow of the sentence, this conveys the meaning that he was sent by the Philippians to the Apostle: he is your envoy—that is, your delegate. So Oecumenius. But he may also be called their Apostle in the sense that he taught them, continuing among them the work of Paul’s Apostleship. So St Chrysostom and Theophylact. — Or because the care of them was entrusted to him. So Theodoret. — “Who ministered to my need”—as the one who brought from the Philippians what was necessary for St Paul. The word used for him here, λειτουργος, suggests that St Paul regarded this kind of service as a sacred ministry—fittingly so, because it contributed to the success of the gospel proclamation, which is elsewhere in St Paul called a priestly service (Rom. 15:16).

Phil. 2:26. Since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was ill.

This is why St Paul considered it more necessary to send Epaphroditus quickly—to set at rest both Epaphroditus himself and the Philippians. There was great anxiety on their part regarding him, and on his part regarding them. They, noticing that he had been gone a long time, inquired into the reason, and when they found out that it was due to illness, they naturally grieved that he had fallen into such danger in fulfilling their wish. He, for his part, grieved both at not having seen them for so long, and at their grieving over him because of his illness. In all this is revealed the intensity of their mutual love. The Apostle expresses this from Epaphroditus’s side, saying that he was longing with deep longing to see them—he yearned for them, he strained toward them irresistibly—and that he was “distressed” that they had heard of his illness: he grieved bitterly, his soul ached to the point of exhaustion. Beneath both of these must be assumed the most sincere and deep bond of love.

Phil. 2:27. For indeed he was ill, near to death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

The illness was serious and threatened to cut short the days of Epaphroditus. “But God,” he says, “had mercy on him.” How did God show mercy? Since all things are from God, the favorable outcome of an illness that ran its natural course is itself the mercy of God. But one must suppose that in this case the mercy was of a special kind. It may be assumed that the Apostle Paul did not look on this illness with indifference but turned to God with a prayer for healing; and Epaphroditus, of course, had sufficient faith to be a worthy recipient of the highest mercy. Therefore one need not doubt that God showed mercy on him through a miracle wrought through the Apostle Paul. In Ephesus, handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched the Apostle’s person healed diseases and drove out evil spirits (Acts 19:12). Something similar took place here as well. St Paul, however, expresses this in a general phrase: “God had mercy on him,” since he was speaking of himself. — Yet he clearly recalls it with full gratitude, calling the healing of Epaphroditus a great mercy toward himself as well. As he had taken the illness to heart, so he rejoiced wholeheartedly at the recovery. If he had died, he says, it would have been sorrow upon sorrow. — He already had sorrow, being in bonds. The death of Epaphroditus would have been sorrow upon sorrow. He would have grieved at having been deprived of such a fellow worker, and at the death having grieved the beloved Philippians, and at its having come about through his service to the Apostle’s need. And so he is glad. He sincerely regarded the restoration of Epaphroditus’s health as a great mercy of God toward himself as well.

Phil. 2:28. Therefore I sent him more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful.

“What does ‘more eagerly’ mean? Without delay, without procrastination, with great haste—bidding him leave everything and go to you, so as to deliver you from grief. For we rejoice not so much when we hear that our beloved ones are well, as when we see them to be so—and especially if this happens beyond our expectation, as happened then with Epaphroditus” (St Chrysostom). And so the Apostle hastened to bring joy to the Philippians, confident that Epaphroditus’s arrival would dispel the grief they had felt because of his illness and fill them with joy. “And I may be less sorrowful.” By this the Apostle said that their grief is his grief, and that when they are delivered from grief, he too will be delivered from it. Yet he did not say: I shall be entirely without sorrow, but: I shall be less sorrowful, αλυποτερος — that is, this grief will fall away, but others will remain. “His soul was never without grief. For when was he free from grief who says: ‘Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?’ (2 Cor. 11:29)” (St Chrysostom).

Phil. 2:29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such people in honor.

“Receive him in the Lord”—that is, in the spirit of faith in the Lord, “spiritually” (St Chrysostom), or as one preserved for you by the Lord and sent to you by Him, or “receive him in a manner pleasing to God, according to God” (blessed Theophylact). “Receive him with all joy, as it is proper to receive holy persons” (St Chrysostom). All of this would have followed naturally of itself. By recalling it, the Apostle bestows his blessing upon them for it, and by this blessing sanctifies what is on the surface a simple act.

“And hold such persons in honor among you.” This is a commandment—to treat with special respect those who have labored in the work of God. “Hold such as these in honor, as it is proper to honor holy persons” (St Chrysostom), “not for their sake, but for your own, since you receive them with honor—for this will increase the reward that is prepared for you” (Oecumenius). He says: hold all such persons in honor, not Epaphroditus alone—of this he had no doubt. “He exhorts them to honor all in general who display such virtue, so that it might not appear that he favors Epaphroditus alone” (blessed Theophylact).

Phil. 2:30. Because for the work of Christ he came close to death, risking his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

This is why the Philippians were to receive Epaphroditus with joy and always hold him and those like him in honor—because he labored in the work of Christ to the point of laying down his life. The work of Christ here is understood as the work of advancing the spread of the gospel of Christ by aiding its proclaimer—the Apostle. Or the work of Christ is the work of the Church. Epaphroditus went to the Apostle from all the faithful, bearing aid to him; and this is already a work of the Church. But if he also had in view the clarification of certain questions concerning the faith and Christian morality—as the content of the Epistle in part suggests—then it is all the more directly and profoundly the work of Christ. In this, then, we have a lesson: to hold in honor all those who labor in the affairs of the faith and the Church.

But Epaphroditus had in this regard a quality not every laborer in the work of Christ is able to possess—namely, that for this work he “came close to death.” Here one may understand both the dangers of the journey and in particular the fact that, while fulfilling the commission entrusted to him by the Church, he fell ill and was “near to death.” Yet this is not so great as what is greater still—that even before this chance event, he had surrendered himself wholeheartedly to the work of Christ, so that had he suffered incomparably greater hardships, tribulations, and even death itself, this would not have been unexpected for him, but simply the fulfillment of what he had resolved in his soul—to lay down his life for the work of Christ. From this self-denying resolve the labors endured on the journey and his being “near to death” drew special value. For because of it he accepted all of this willingly and joyfully, freely and not under constraint—even though it all happened against his own will. The words “risking his life” in Greek read: παραβολευσαμεος τη ψυχη. This is difficult to render word for word. In our Slavonic, a marginal note adds: “having despised his own soul”; in Russian it is rendered: “exposing his life to danger.” The sense is that Epaphroditus devoted himself to the work of Christ without sparing his life, with readiness to die for it. It is precisely for this that St Chrysostom especially praises him: “The fearless Epaphroditus despised every danger—if only he could come and minister to Paul and do all that needed to be done. The Apostle did not say: for my sake, but says: ‘for the work of God.’ For it was not for me but for God that he was ‘near to death.’ What then? Although he did not die, by God’s arrangement—yet he faced danger and surrendered himself in such a way that he would not have refused to serve me, whatever he might have had to suffer. And if for the service of Paul he surrendered himself to death, how much more would he have done so for the preaching of the gospel—or rather, to die for Paul was the same as to die for the preaching. For not only by refusing to sacrifice to idols can one receive the martyr’s crown—such circumstances as these also make a martyr; and if anything is to be called admirable, the latter is more so than the former. For one who resolves on death for a lesser matter will all the more do so for a greater. Therefore let us also, when we see holy men in trials, not spare ourselves. For one who is irresolute can never do anything noble; and one who seeks safety here necessarily loses it in the life to come.”

“To supply what was lacking in your service toward me.” Here St Paul turns Epaphroditus’s same service into a credit to the Philippians themselves. He speaks as though saying: what you yourselves ought to have done for me in person (but could not—“your lack of service”), he did on your behalf. “The city was not with me, but rendered me every service (that was due to it) through him, by sending him. Consequently, he supplied the deficiency of your (personal) service. And therefore he has the right to receive great honor, since he alone did on your behalf what all of you ought to have done. — Do you see the Apostle’s lofty feeling? It comes not from pride, but from great concern for them. He calls what they did ‘service’ and ‘a lack’ (that is, an obligation, whose non-fulfillment is a deficiency in them)—so that they would not be lifted up, but remain humble; so that they would not think they had done something great, but would be modest” (St Chrysostom).