Along with Timothy, Paul decides to send Epaphroditus back to the church in Philippi. He is the messenger that they sent, and Paul desires to send him home to continue the work there.

You can see his thoughts on this in Philippians 2:25-26:

Epaphroditus is from Philippi. And the church there sent him to Paul, to care for his needs, and to probably bring along the financial gift that they had gathered for him. This is all that we know of Epaphroditus. Along with 4:18, this is the only mention of his name, and we are left to guess just how helpful he was to Paul.

Apparently, Paul thinks highly of this man. He pays Epaphroditus a series of five compliments in this one verse alone, so his value to Paul was great. It may have been his intent to become Paul’s permanent helper, but his sickness prohibited it. That has been conjectured by many theologians, but there is simply no way of knowing for certain.

However, if that is the case, Paul’s glowing commendation of him would go a long way to eliminating any criticism of his return home instead of staying with Paul in Rome.

Paul gives five positive comments about Epaphroditus. Three of these give insight to his relationship to Paul, and the other two show his connection to the church.

Paul is sending Timothy to the Philippians, and soon. His desires, however, and even his expectation, is that he himself will be able to go to them as well.

You can see his desire in Philippians 2:23-24:

Paul is sending Timothy to the church in Philippi. Timothy is concerned for the believers in Philippi. His efforts for the gospel are first-rate. He is the logical choice to send.

And, in fact, Paul expects to do just that, as soon he sees how things will go with him. Just what he means by this is uncertain.

The most obvious conclusion is that Paul’s legal problems are being referred to, and that may well be the case. He is in prison, and needs the help that an outsider, such as Timothy, could give. And with his trial looming in the uncertain future, it may be expedient to only send Timothy once things in that area have been nailed down. The added benefit to this is that Timothy would be able to bring the Philippians news of Paul’s continued imprisonment or imminent release.

Another consideration, though, is that Paul may have been referring to personal needs, or a concern for the church. It may surprise many that at this point, Paul is probably in his 70s or even 80s. And prison is no easy thing for anyone, even without the frailties of age. Granted, Paul’s imprisonment in Rome may have been more of a “house arrest,” but he still would have needed the assistance Timothy could give, and he may not have had anyone else that he could depend upon.

The end of Philippians 2 contains a section of personal remarks from Paul about his coworkers, especially Timothy and Epaphroditus.In this week’s passage, he commends the work of Timothy.

You can see this encouraging passage in Philippians 2:21-22:

As Paul writes to the Philippians, he expresses his hope and desire to send Timothy to them in the near future. And while the Philippian church needs no introduction to Timothy, Paul still expresses his love and care for this staunch coworker for the sake of the gospel.

He has already expressed to them that Timothy genuinely cares for the church and people in Philippi, and that he longs to send Timothy to them, so he can return with news for Paul’s ears.

Timothy stands out in a world that is typically self-seeking. We must not read this first statement as a bitter complaint Paul makes about those around him, who have failed in displaying the commitment level needed for faith in Christ. That is not what Paul is doing here. Nor is he stating that of all the people around him, none but Timothy fit the qualities of this particular task.

Rather, Paul is making a blanket statement, it seems, concerning the times he lives in, and claims that Timothy is different, that he stands out from his culture because of his faith in Christ.

In this, Paul seems to be describing our own culture as well. In a world, where we each look out for “number one,” Timothy considers the needs of others ahead of his own. This is exemplary behavior, and Paul points it out to the Philippians.

Paul moves into one of the longest personal passages in Philippians, and yet he still uses this personal information to exhort the Philippian believers.

You can see the beginning of these personal remarks in Philippians 2:19-20:

Paul loves the Philippian church. They were instrumental in supporting his ministry, and maintaining him while he was imprisoned. This church sent financial gifts, and even sent people to assist Paul, Epaphroditus, who delivered the financial gifts they sent (4:18).

As a result, he shares a lot of personal information with them, interspersed throughout the letter. Typically, he would wait until the end of the letter to do so, as he does in most of his other letters to churches. But here, there are several sections within the body of the letter that show his heart more fully.

First of all, Paul expects to send Timothy to the church in Philippi soon. Timothy was his son in the faith, and was a steady help to Paul throughout his life and ministry. Paul also commissioned Timothy to serve the church, and wrote two letter instructing him, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. Paul relies on Timothy heavily, especially now that he cannot visit the church in Philippi himself, at the moment. Yet he does expect to be released, as we can see in verse 24.

Timothy’s task for now is to gather information and news about the church in Philippi and bring it back to Paul. Paul was very likely concerned about how his instruction was taken by the church, and how the problems were being resolved. And, by sending Timothy, he had a competent person in place to help instruct the church in such areas.

In the previous couple of verses, Paul expressed his desire to boast about the faith of the Philippian believers. As he finishes this paragraph in this week’s passage, you can see the urgency in his wish.

Take a look at this week’s passage in Philippians 2:17-18:

Paul uses imagery here that is very vivid. He compares his life to being poured out like a drink offering. It is generally believed that he is speaking about his own forthcoming death. It is doubtful if he means an execution, because in verse 24, he expresses hope that he will soon be released.

That means that his terminology here is more along the lines of “even if.” He has run the race. He has labored. And he is willing to die if necessary for the sake of the gospel.

He uses an Old Testament image as a means to illustrate this. A drink offering was something that accompanied a sacrifice, and was to be poured out on the altar, or at the base of it (See 2 Kings 16:13 for an example). In this case, the sacrifice stems from the faith of the Philippians, and Paul is willing to be the drink offering partnered with that sacrifice, if necessary.

It is noteworthy to remember that a drink offering was not worth anything on its own. It was to always accompany a regular sacrifice. What Paul is implying here is that the faith of the Philippian believers is what makes his offering valid. Without their faith, his efforts are in vain.

With all of the issues that Paul has addressed so far with the Philippian church, arrogance and conceit, lack of unity, and more, it is no surprise that complaining and arguing is cropping up. This is what Paul addresses next.

You can see this week’s passage in Philippians 2:14-16:

As Paul continues through this letter to the Philippian church, he becomes more and more practical. As is typical with Paul’s letters, he spent the first part dealing with doctrine and philosophical issues, “This is what is wrong.” Now he moves more into the practical application side of teaching, “This is how we can fix it.”

Complaining and arguing

First of all, he says, do everything without complaining or arguing. There isn’t anything else mentioned in this letter about complaining or arguing, so the question comes to mind that this could refer to Euodia and Syntyche in 4:2, although that is not certain. It could be that, with all of the other issues that were going on, some were finding reason to complain. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Blameless and pure

There is a reason for the Philippians’ need to set such things aside. It is for their own good, so that they can become blameless and pure. As they set aside their differences and focus on unity and humility, they will grow in their own spiritual health. Our main concern is the holding forth of the word of life, and if we don’t live such lives, our task goes unfinished. We shoot ourselves in the foot, because we look no different than the world, when we should look quite different.