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Concluding exhortations designed to secure co-operation between the philippians and the Apostle.
Php_4:2-20.
(1). Exhortation to unity addressed to individuals
Php_4:2-3.
Php_4:3. Yea I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow. Íáß , very common as particula offirmantis, but as particula obsecrantis, only elsewhere in Rev_22:20. It indicates the seriousness of the affair to the Apostle that he turns with his entreaties ( ἐñùôῶ ), to still another ( êáß óå ) besides the women. It is not clear who it is that he invokes in ãíÞóéå óýæõãå . The substantive, in the N. T. found only here, is plain from its opposite, ἑôåñïæõãåῖí (2Co_6:14), as also from the use of æõãüò (figuratively: Mat_9:29-30; Act_15:10; Gal_5:1; literally, 1Ti_6:1; Rev_6:5); hence partner, associate, and the relation of this person to Paul is described as very close, as that of one who draws at the same yoke with himself. It is a stricter connection than that of óõíåñãüò . The epithet ãíÞóéå describes the nature and character of this person (Php_2:20) as genuine, pure, true. Hence it cannot appear strange that Paul did not address him by name: every one is supposed to know him. It is incorrect to regard óýæõãå as a name (Chrysostom, Meyer, distinctly; Wiesinger with hesitation), as a designation of Epaphroditus (Grotius), or of Timothy (Estius), for these could not have been addressed as in Philippi; or arbitrarily of Silas (Bengel), of the husband of one of two women (the Greek interpreters)‚ or of Paul’s wife (Clemens Alex., Erasmus, et al.) contrary to the history (1Co_7:8) and against the grammar (masculine form). [The noun may be masculine or feminine, but the adj. has properly three terminations, and must be masculine here. Other conjectures, on the supposition that an anonymous person is meant are, that it may have been Luke who appears to have been absent from Rome when the Epistle was written (see on Php_1:1) or Epaphroditus (Lightfoot) at the side of Paul as he wrote, and whom he addressed ( ðáñáêáëῶ ) at the moment.—H.] Laurent’s view (Neutest. Studien, pp. 134–137) is worthy of notice. In reply to the assertion that the name Syzygus does not occur, he remarks that names are not objects of literature, but products of social or civil life, as for example, Onesimus, Tryphena, and Tryphosa (Rom_16:12). He explains the passage thus: “Thou, who, a genuine Syzygus, hast already by thy birth ( ãíÞóéå ) and thy name been called to be a yoke fellow and helper of all laborers in the vineyard of the Lord, lay hold now also of the work together with these two sisters, that they through thy aid may carry it forward with one spirit, not as heretofore, in discord! For Paul does not mean to blame them (as in Php_2:20) but to praise them, and hence would not imply that he has only one ãíÞóéïí óýæõãïí in Philippi.” Like Åὐïäßá (way of faith), Syntyche and Syzygus appear to him to have been names received after baptism, as in the case of others, whose names are more familiar to us. [The best view after all seems to be that of Meyer, Laurent, and others, that Syzygus or Synzygus ( óýíæõãïò ) is a proper name, borne by one who had been associated with Paul in Christian labors, who was at Philippi when the Apostle wrote the letter, and was well known there as deserving the encomium which this appeal to him implies. Paul nowhere uses this word ( óýæõãïò ) of any one of his official associates, being used in fact nowhere else in the N. T.; it is found here in the midst of other proper names (Php_4:2-3); and the attributive ãíÞóéå corresponds finely and significantly to the appellative sense of such a name. That such an alliteration is not foreign to Paul’s manner, see Philem., Php_4:10-11. The name, it is true, does not appear anywhere else; but many other names also are found only in single instances, and certainly many names to us must have been in use among the ancients which have not been transmitted at all. Paul himself repeatedly mentions persons in his epistles who are named only once, and a catalogue of names might be made out from the Acts of the Apostles, of those whose whole history for us lies in a single passage. See Meyer’s Brief an die Philipper on Php_4:3.—H.]—Help these women ( óõëëáìâÜíïõ áὐôáῖò ) presents the object of the request. The verb (Luk_5:1) signifies ‘to take hold vigorously with,’ ‘to assist one,’ i.e., hero to re-establish harmony, it is not ut habeant, unde se suosque sustentent (Grotius), against the context.—Who strove with me in the gospel, states the motive for helping these women in the work of reconciliation. Hence he adds áἴôéíåò =ut quæ (see Eph_1:23). Ἐí åὐáããåëßῳ marks the sphere, as in 1Th_3:2, in which they had labored with him ( óõíÞèëçóÜí ìïé ). The verb points back to the beginning of Christianity at Philippi, when the women embraced it (Act_16:13), and had exerted themselves to advance it. They had contended at Paul’s side for the gospel, and ought not now to strive against one another, against Christianity and against Paul; they are so useful and deserving in other respects, they should be right also in their relation to each other.—With Clement also, and with my other fellow-laborers ( ìåôὰ êáὶ ÊëÞìåíôïò êáὶ ôῶí ëïéðῶí óõíåñãῶí ìïõ ), brings to view the fact that various persons at Philippi at that time were harmoniously engaged in behalf of the gospel, men, as Clement and others, as well as ( êáß - êáß ) women associated with them. Paul thus exalts the merits of Syntyche and Euodia who labored in such company. Clement was a Philippian; which is evident, but nothing; further, not even that he was a teacher (Meyer). We have no right to suppose him to have been. Clemens Romanus (Catholics), or Flavius Clemens, Domitian’s patruelis (Baur). He does not of course mention the ëïéðïὶ óõíåñãïß by name, because it is superfluous, as in the case, of the ãíÞóéïò óýæõãïò . [The closer proximity and the nature of the thought connect ìåôá óõíåñãῶí ìïõ with óõíÞèëçóáí , rather than with óõëëáìâÜíïõ áὐôáῖò . The position and influence of the women as co-partners in Christian service with Paul and his associates rendered the spectacle and effects of such strife the more deplorable, and thus enforced the appeal ( óõëëáìâÜíïõ ) to strive the more earnestly to promote harmony between them.—H.]. In his joy on their account he adds:—Whose names are in the book of life, ὦí ὀíüìáôá ἐí âßâëῳ æùῆò . [We are to refer ù ̇͂ í æùῆò to ôῶí ëïéðῶí apart from Clement, because the Apostle having named the latter would recognize the others though unnamed by him, as yet having their names written in heaven (Meyer, Ellicott and others). This expression does not of itself decide whether these other fellow-laborers were living: or dead, but certainly it is altogether improbable that Clement was the only one of them who still remained.—H.] The figurative expression was suggested perhaps by Php_3:20, for the registers of the citizens of Israel, out of which one’s name was erased on his decease prepared the way for the expression íֶëֶּø çַéִּéí (Exo_32:32; Isa_4:3; Eze_13:9; Psa_69:29; Dan_12:1) which was adopted in the N. T. (Luk_10:20; Act_3:5; Act_13:8; Act_17:8; Act_20:15) in order to mark the certainty of the eternal inheritance, the blessedness which is to be reached by faithful striving. [It is clear from the expression “blotting out of the book,” (Rev_3:5) that the image suggested no idea of absolute predestination. For the use of the phrase in Rabbinical writers see Wetstein here (Lightfoot).—H.] Ἐóôß is to be supplied, not the optative (Bengel). It is the joyful certainty, not a wish that Paul has in mind here.
2. The pastor in his oversight of souls should not stand alone, but be aided by others properly qualified. The lay-element should be cultivated for the service of the church.
3. Goodness at the beginning does not protect one from a fall afterward, nor courageous striving for the gospel from ill-natured arrogance towards others, nor the vanquishing of outward foes from weak indulgence towards one’s self.
4. The unity of the church as a body must extend into the narrowest circle of neighborhood and home.
5. He who will exhort, incite others, must generously recognize what is praiseworthy, and attach himself to the good which already exists.
6. Women are to be highly esteemed in the church for their services; but they should act with men ( ìåôÜ ), and not work independently.
Rieger:—A tried, approved mediator can often by the grace of God adjust many difficulties.
Schleiermacher:—Let us strive with all our powers to extend Christian fellowship, and yet not weaken it.
Heubner:—To have a genuine collengue is not a privilege granted to every one (Php_4:3).
Footnotes:
Php_4:1. [On this change of the name see notes below. The Geneva version has the feminine form of the name instead of the masculine. Stephens’ text has Åὐùäßáí , which means ‘fragrance;’ but the correct reading is Åὐïäßáí , ‘good way,’ according to all the uncial manuscripts.—H.]
Php_4:2. [The common text has êáß , but íáß is undoubtedly the correct reading—H.]
Ibid. [Our English version misleads the reader here. In the Greek the first pronoun ( áὐôáῖò , ‘them’), refers to Euodia and Syntiche, and the second ( áἵôéíåò =‘since they’) assign them to the class of co-laborers with Paul whose toil and conflicts ( óõíῆèëçóáí ) they had shared. The translation therefore might be: ‘help them, since they labored,’ etc.—H.]
Ibid. [For this use of ‘other’ (=others) see the note on Php_2:3. Instead of the appositional form it may be rendered: ‘the rest of my co-laborers.’—H.]