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Php_2:25 f. About Epaphroditus; the sending him home, and recommendation of him, down to Php_2:30.
ἀναγκ . δὲ ἡγ .] I have, however, judged it necessary, although. Epaphroditus, namely, according to Php_2:19-24, might have remained here still, in order to have made his return-journey to you later, either in company with Timothy, or eventually with myself. For the special reason, which Paul had for not keeping him longer with himself in Rome, see Php_2:26; Php_2:28.
Ἐπαφρόδιτον ] otherwise not further known. The name (signifying Venustus) was a common one (Tac. Ann. xv. 55; Suet. Domit. 14; Joseph. Vit. 76; Wetstein in loc.), also written Ἐπαφρόδειτος (Boeckh, Corp. inscr. 1811, 2562); but to regard the man as identical with Ἐπαφρᾶς (Col_1:7; Col_4:12; Phm_1:23) (Grotius, Paulus, and others) is all the more arbitrary, since Epaphras was a Colossian teacher.
The grouping together of five predicates which follows, has arisen out of loving and grateful regard for Epaphroditus, as an honourable testimony to him in his relation to the apostle as well as to the church.
ἀδελφ ., συνεργ ., συστρατ .] a climactic threefold description of companionship, advancing from the most general category, that of Christian brotherhood ( ἀδελφός ), to a twofold more special relation. On συστρατ ., which sets forth the joint working ( συνεργ .) in relation to the hostile powers, comp. Phm_1:2; 2Ti_2:3.
ὑμῶν δὲ ἀπόστ . κ . λειτουργ . τ . χρ . μου .] still belonging to τόν ; hence ὑμῶν , placed in contrast to the μου , belongs to λειτουργ . τ . χ . μ . as well (in opposition to de Wette and others). Ἀπόστολος here means delegate (2Co_8:23), and not apostle (Vulgate, Hilarius, Theodoret, Luther, Erasmus, Calovius, Wetstein: “mei muneris vicarium apud vos,” am Ende, and others), which would necessitate the genitive ὑμῶν being taken as in Rom_11:13, against which the context, by the union with λειτουργ . τ . χ . μ ., is decisive; as, indeed, Paul uses ἀπόστ . as an official designation only in the sense of the actual apostolic rank, based upon a direct call by Christ, in its narrower and wider reference (comp. on Gal_1:19; Rom_16:7; 1Co_15:7), and hence there is no necessity to seek even an allusion to his “quasi”-apostolic position towards the Philippians (Matthies).
κ . λειτουργ . τ . χ . μ .] the sacrificial minister of my need, ὡς τὰ παρʼ αὐτῶν ἀποσταλέντα κομίσαντα χρήματα , Theodoret. By sending aid they had cared for the apostle’s need (Php_4:16); and that gift of love being regarded as a sacrifice offered to God, Epaphroditus, who had been entrusted by them with the conveying of it, was the λειτουργός in the matter, that is, he who performed the priestly service in the bringing of this offering (comp. Php_2:17). Such is also the conception in 2Co_9:12. On τῆς χρείας μ . comp. Php_4:16; Rom_12:13.
πέμψαι ] as also in Greek authors frequently, in the sense of dimittere domum, to send home,[140] consequently equivalent to ἀποπέμπειν or ἀναπέμπειν (Phm_1:12); Xen. Hell. ii. 7. 9; Sop. O. R. 1518; Polyb. v. 100. 10; and frequently in Homer. See especially Od. xv. 74: χρῆ ξεῖνον παρεόντα φιλεῖν , ἐθέλοντα δὲ πέμπειν .
[140] That Paul, however, here writes πέμψαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς , and, on the other hand, π . ὑμῖν in ver. 19, is an accidental and undesigned variation. Hofmann thinks that by π . ὑμῖν is meant the sending of a representative of the apostle to the Church, and by π . πρὸς ὑμᾶς the sending of a representative of the Church to the apostle. This distinction is involved in the state of the case, but has nothing to do with the difference between the ὑμῖν and πρὸς ὑμᾶς . Comp. 1Co_4:17; Eph_6:22; Col_4:8; Tit_3:12; 2Co_12:17.