Sermon Series: Philippians, Part 16
Help Is On The Way!
Philippians 2:19-30
19
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send
Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know
your state. 20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care
for your state. 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are
Jesus Christ’s. 22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with
the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. 23 Him therefore I
hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. 24 But
I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. 25 Yet I
supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in
labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my
wants. 26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness,
because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 27 For indeed he
was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on
me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I sent him
therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and
that I may be the less sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the
Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: 30 Because for
the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply
your lack of service toward me.
Outline:
I. One Of A Kind (2:19-22)
II. A.S.A.P. (2:23-24)
III. The Little “a” apostle — A Man of Many Hats (2:25-30)
I. One Of A Kind (2:19-22)
19
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send
Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know
your state. 20 For I have no man likeminded,[1] who will naturally care[2] for your state.[3] 21 For all seek their own, not
the things which are Jesus Christ’s.[4] 22 But ye know the proof of him,
that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.
1. Paul’s purpose in sending Timothy to Philippi (2:19)
2. Paul’s reason for sending Timothy (2:20-21)
3. Paul’s endorsement of Timothy (2:22)
1. Paul’s purpose in sending Timothy to Philippi (2:19)
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you,
that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
your
state (2x) — both phrases translated by these two English words in
2:19, 20 are from the identical three words in the Greek New Testament.
YLT: “the things concerning you….the things concerning you”
However, modern translations have obscured this connection by
opting to translate them differently:
NASB: “your condition.…your welfare”
ESV: “news of you….your welfare”
HCSB: “news about you….your interests”
NIV: “news about you….your welfare”
NLT: “how you are getting along….your welfare”
This same construction is used concerning Paul at the end of verse
23: “how it will go with me.” This connection between the phrase in 2:19, 20
and 23 is clear in YLT of verse 23: “the
things concerning me.”
Phil. 1:1 — Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all
the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Rom. 16:21 — Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason,
and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.
1 Cor. 4:17 — For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is
my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into
remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every
church.
1 Th. 3:2 — And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our
fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to
comfort you concerning your faith:
2. Paul’s reason for sending Timothy (2:20-21)
20
For I have no man likeminded, who will
naturally care
for your state. 21 For all
seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
NASB: kindred spirit
1 Cor. 16:10 — Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you
without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.
2 Tim. 3:10 — But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of
life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
2 Tim. 3:2 — For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
1 Cor. 10:24 — Let no man seek his own, but every man another's
wealth.
1 Cor. 13:5 — Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Phil. 2:3-4 — 3 Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4
Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
3. Paul’s endorsement of Timothy (2:22)
But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he
hath served with me in the gospel.
2 Cor. 2:9 — For to this end also did I write, that I might know
the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
Rom. 5:4 [Gr.] — And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
1 Tim. 1:2 — Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy,
and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Tim. 1:2 — To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and
peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Cor. 4:17 — For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my
beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into
remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every
church.
1 Cor. 16:10 — Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you
without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.
2 Tim. 3:10 — But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of
life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
II. A.S.A.P. (2:23-24)
23
Him therefore[5] I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it
will go with me.[6]
24
But I trust in the Lord that I also
myself shall come shortly.[7]
A.S.A.P. — not “as soon as possible” (military acronym), but “And
Soon Also Paul.”
1. The Precondition for Sending Timothy (2:23)
2. The Possibility for a Visit from Paul (2:24)
1. The Precondition for Sending Timothy (2:23)
Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how
it will go with me.
Phil. 2:19 — But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you,
that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
On the translation of “your state” in verses 19 and 20, and the
connection to “how it will go with me” in this verse see above on 2:19.
2. The Possibility for a Visit from Paul (2:24)
But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
Phil. 1:25 — And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide
and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
Phile. 22 — But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that
through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
III. The Little “a” apostle — A Man of Many Hats (2:25-30)
25
Yet I supposed it necessary to send to
you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but
your messenger, and he that ministered[8] to my wants. 26 For he longed after you all, and
was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 27
For indeed he was sick nigh[9] unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but
on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I sent him
therefore the more carefully,[10] that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less
sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness;
and hold such in reputation: 30 Because for the work of Christ he
was nigh unto death, not regarding[11] his life, to supply your lack of service[12] toward me.
1. The Necessity to Send Epaphroditus (2:25-28)
2. The Command for the Arrival of Epaphroditus (2:29)
3. The Basis for the
Reputation of Epaphroditus (2:30)
1. The Necessity to Send Epaphroditus (2:25-28)
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my
brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he
that ministered to my wants. 26 For he longed after you all, and was
full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 27 For
indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him
only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I
sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may
rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
your
messenger = “your apostle” — This word was used “…in a wider sense of
prominent Christian teachers, as Barnabas, Ac 14:14, apparently also Silvanus
and Timothy, 1 Th 2:6, and perhaps Andronicus and Junias (Junia?), Ro 16:7…”
— G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual
Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,
1922), pg. 55.
“Yet the name is also applied to the
first Christian missionaries or their most prominent representatives, including
some who did not belong even to the wider groups of disciples.
Even in Acts we find this usage at
least in 14:4, 14, where Paul and Barnabas are called ἀπόστολοι without any sense of impropriety on
the part of the author. Thus, although the twelve are ἀπόστολοι for Luke, they are not the only ἀπόστολοι. Paul esp. is an ἀπόστολος in this sense, and he constantly uses
the word of himself, esp. in the salutations to his epistles. James, the Lord’s
brother, may also be mentioned (Gl. 1:19), and like Paul he joined the
community only after the death of Jesus. In R. 16:7 the word is used of Junias
and Andronicus, two otherwise unknown fellow-workers of Paul of Jewish origin.
A wider circle (including James, the Lord’s brother) is mentioned in 1 C. 15:7.
In this connection we have side by side
both sending by a congregation (e.g., Paul and Barnabas by Antioch in Ac. 13:2
ff.) and the more precise description of the ἀπόστολος as an ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ in the Pauline salutations. In both
cases a link may be seen with the Jewish שָׁלִיחַ. Yet at this point the difference from the first group is also
clear. If it is not expressed in the term, or in different estimations of the
wider and the narrower circle, the reason must be sought in a basis of
apostolate which is common to both and which cannot be anything other than
encounter with the risen Lord and reception of the commission from Him
personally (“sending”; → 430).
It is to be noted that although
Barnabas of the original community (cf. 1 C. 9:5 f.), James the Lord’s brother
and Paul’s compatriots Junias and Andronicus (R. 16:7) are called ἀπόστολοι as well as Paul, this is not true of
Apollos, although it would have been natural for Paul to give him this title in
1 C. 3:5 ff. Again, Timothy is not an ἀπόστολος,
although he is actively and successfully engaged in missionary work (e.g., in
Thessalonica). Instead he is called an ἀδελφός (2
C. 1:1; Col. 1:1; Phlm. 1), a δοῦλος
Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ (Phil. 1:1), and even a συνεργὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (1 Th. 3:2). But these are
no substitutes for the title of apostle. Again, the common enjoyment of a
direct commission prevented a breach between Paul and the Jerusalem group
represented by James, in spite of the serious differences between them (Ac.
15:1 ff.; cf. Gl. 2:9). That basis of the apostolate is commissioning by the
risen Lord is expressly stated in 1 Cl., 42, 1ff. For Paul, too, the sense of
apostolate is linked with recollection of his encounter with the living Christ
(1 C. 9:1 and esp. 15:8ff.).”
— K. H.
Rengstorf, ἀποστέλλω (πέμπω), ἐξαποστέλλω, ἀπόστολος, Ψευδαπόστολος, ἀποστολή,
in Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, eds. G.
Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, and G. Friedrich, trans. G. W. Bromiley, electronic ed.
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976), I:422-423.
“Apparently Epaphroditus contracted an illness that ordinarily
ended in death…”
— Gordon D. Fee and Douglas
Stuart, How To Read The Bible For All Its
Worth, 4th ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981, 1993, 2003, 2014), pg. 70.
On Paul’s threefold purpose
for sending Epaphroditus with his epistle to the Philippian church including
the two exhortations he would personally communicate to them see Gordon D. Fee
and Douglas Stuart, op. cit., pg. 70.
“…Paul is sending him back
(2:25-30) with this letter in order to (1) tell them how things are with him
(1:12-16), (2) thank them for their gift (4:10, 14-19), and (3) exhort them on
a couple of matters: to live in harmony (1:27-2:18; 4:2-3) and to avoid the
Judaizing heresy (3:1-4:1).”
Jn. 13:16 — Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Rom. 16:3, 9, 21 — 3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in
Christ Jesus:…. 9 Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my
beloved…. 21 Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and
Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.
Phil. 4:3 — And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women
which laboured
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers,
whose names are in the book of life.
Phile. 1 — Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our
brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
Phile. 24 — Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
Phile. 2 — And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier,
and to the church in thy house:
2 Cor. 8:23 — Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner
and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of,
they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.
2:26 — cp. Phil. 1:8 — For God is my record, how greatly I long
after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
2. The Command for the Arrival of Epaphroditus (2:29)
Receive
him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
Rom. 16:2 — That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and
that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath
been a succourer of many, and of myself also.
1 Cor. 16:18 — For they have refreshed my spirit and yours:
therefore acknowledge
ye them that are such.
1 Th. 5:12-13 — 12 And we beseech you, brethren, to
know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish
you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.
And be at peace among yourselves.
1 Tim. 5:17 — Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
3. The Basis for the
Reputation of Epaphroditus (2:30)
Because
for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
Acts 20:24 — But none of these things move me, neither count I my
life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,
and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God.
1 Cor. 16:17 — I am glad of the coming of
Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied.
Phil. 4:10 — But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the
last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also
careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Phil. 4:18 — But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
2 Cor. 11:9 — And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was
chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from
Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being
burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
[Sermon preached 2 APR 2017 by Pastor John T. “Jack” Jeffery at
Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]
Complete
Outline:
I. One Of A Kind (2:19-22)
1. Paul’s purpose in sending
Timothy to Philippi (2:19)
2. Paul’s reason for sending Timothy
(2:20-21)
3. Paul’s endorsement of Timothy
(2:22)
II. A.S.A.P. (2:23-24)
1. The Precondition for Sending
Timothy (2:23)
2. The Possibility for a Visit from
Paul (2:24)
III. The Little “a” apostle — A Man of Many Hats (2:25-30)
1. The Necessity to Send
Epaphroditus (2:25-28)
2. The Command for the Arrival of
Epaphroditus (2:29)
3.
The Basis for the Reputation of Epaphroditus (2:30)
End Notes:
[1] At
least one respected New Testament scholar may have taken this and the following statements of Paul wrong.
“The pessimistic remark in Col. iv.
II was thrown off in a mood comparable to that of the peevish lines in Phil.
ii. 20 f., which also need not be weighed too nicely.”
— Adolf Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East: The New
Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World,
4th rev. ed. of Licht vom Osten
(Tübingen, 1909, 1923), trans. Lionel R. M. Strachan (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, n.d.; 1978 ed.), pg. 438.
[2] “Voluntative Result Clauses. A relative clause may express a result
which the context shows was intended or contemplated.”
“We have in this construction a
blending of purpose and result, and it is often difficult to determine which is
the more prominent. Where the voluntative force is but slightly felt the future
indicative is used, instead of the subjunctive as in the above case (Phs.
2:20).”
— H. E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament
(Toronto: The Macmillan Co., 1927, 1955), pg. 273, §253. (2).
[3] Phil. ii. 20 an example of περὶ with the
genitive (“…only so used in metaphorical senses.” pg. 62) “…exactly like the
usage with Acc. in v. 23…” (pg. 63)
— C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953, 1959), pp.. 62-63.
[4] On
this verse see especially Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, ed. Robert T. Walker
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), pg. 388.
[5] μὲν οὖν — “a primarily resumptive phrase; but it
evidently has other shades of meaning.” (pg. 162) Phil. ii. 23 is listed on pg.
163 as an example of a “purely resumptive or transitional” usage of this
phrase.
— C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953, 1959), pp. 162-163.
[6] Phil. ii. 23 an example of περὶ with the
accusative in a the metaphorical sense.
— C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953, 1959), pg. 62. Also see
the note on 2:20 above from Moule concerning the same sense with the genitive
concerning the Philippians.
[7] “Paul hopes, 2 23 (as
also appears from the tone of the whole letter), for an early and favourable
judgment on his case.”
— G. Adolf Deissmann, Bible Studies: Contributions Chiefly from
Papyri and Inscriptions to the History of the Language, the Literature, and the
Religion of Hellenistic Judaism and Primitive Christianity, trans.
Alexander Grieve (Winona Lake, IN: Alpha Publications, n.d.; 1979 ed., reprint
of Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1923, combining both Bibelstudien and Neue
Bibelstudien), pg. 108, footnote 1.
[8] “The words λειτουργός, λειτουργία and λειτουργεῖν are
used of Christian ministrations several times in the N.T. In some of these
passages they denote the ministering in worldly things. See Rom. 15:27; 2 Cor.
9:12, Phil. 2:25, 30. In Rom. 13:6 those in civil authority are honoured by
this title when described as God’s ministers.”
— Robert Baker Girdlestone,
Synonyms of the Old Testament: Their Bearing on Christian Doctrine, 2nd
ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d., 1976 reprint of 1897 ed.; Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1998), pg. 247.
[9] “‘Improper’ Prepositions, 32. παραπλήσιον is
used once only in the N.T. and then as a preposition, with the Dative = near to (Phil. ii. 27).”
— C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953, 1959), pg. 86.
[10] “The Epistolary Aorist. A Greek writer would sometimes place himself
at the viewpoint of his reader or readers, and use an aorist indicative in
stating an act or event which was present or future to him.”
Σπουδαιοτέρως οὖν ἔπεμψα αὐτόν.
The more quickly, therefore, I am
sending him. Phs. 2:28”
— H. E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament
(Toronto: The Macmillan Co., 1927, 1955), pg. 198, §181. (2).
“The Epistolary Aorist is an
understandable idiom—and a rather gracious one, though it causes more ambiguity
than the English—whereby the writer courteously projects himself in imagination
into the position of the reader, for whom actions contemporaneous with the time
of writing will be past.” [“Burton….quotes….Phil. ii. 28….”]
— C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek,
2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953, 1959), pg. 12. See also:
Ernest De Witt Burton, Syntax of the
Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel
Publications, 1978 reprint of 1900 edition, University of Chicago Press,
Chicago), pg. 21, §44. “The Epistolary Aorist.”
[11] “(14) St. Paul in Philippians 2:30
testifies of Epaphroditus that he had for the sake of the work of Christ come
nigh unto death, having daringly exposed himself. The verb παραβολεύομαι, “I
expose myself,” here used in the aorist participle, has not been found in other
writers, and was even in ancient times such a rare word that some copyists have
altered it. Nevertheless, though placed by Thayer in his list, it is not a
“Biblical” peculiarity. An inscription at Olbia on the Black Sea, probably of
the 2nd cent. A.D., in honour of a certain Carzoazus the son of Attalus,
employs exactly the same participle in a similar context, and helps to
elucidate the passage in Philippians, while itself receiving illumination from
the New Testament.”
— Adolf Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East: The New
Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World,
4th rev. ed. of Licht vom Osten
(Tübingen, 1909, 1923), trans. Lionel R. M. Strachan (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, n.d.; 1978 ed.), pg. 88 (pp. 84-85 in the 1910 ed. by Hodder &
Stoughton, London).
[12]
“We may note that λειτουργία,
‘service,’ may be translated ‘gift’ in Phil. 3:20 and 2 Cor. 9:12, but since
these passages are equivocal, it appears that the metonymy was not fully
established.”
— Moisés
Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meaning:
An Introduction To Lexical Semantics (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1983),
pg. 83, note 26. On this term see also Girdlestone, footnote 10 above.
