However others were found in some respects defective to the service of Christ, yet he appeals to their experience of the integrity and fidelity of Timothy in conjunction with himself, when he preached the gospel amongst them, and afterwards, Acts 16:1, Acts 17:15 18:5 Acts 19:22, Acts 20:4; which he amplifies and illustrates by a simile, when he saith, as a son with the father; q.d. Just as a genuine and obedient son is wont to retain the spirit of his father that begat him: and Paul doth metaphorically call Timothy his own son, begotten by the gospel, 1 Timothy 1:2, his dearly beloved Son, 2 Timothy 1:2, and faithful in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 4:17, likeminded with himself, Philippians 2:20; with whom he had not only preached, but served in the gospel, Philippians 1:1, given himself wholly to the thing. He doth not say, served me, or under me, but with me in the gospel, i.e. to advance the glory of Christ in promoting the gospel, by helping with Paul, and labouring, working the work of the Lord, as Paul also did, and being sometime a sufferer under restraint for that service, as Paul himself, Hebrews 13:23, for the gospel, which is not a domination, but ministration, wherein this great apostle owns Timothy as his fellow minister.
Related Commentaries of Philippians 2:22
Philippians 2:22
22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.