CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Philippians 4:3. And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow.—It is doubtful whom the apostle addresses. On the whole, however, it seems most probable that Epaphroditus, the bearer of the epistle, is intended (so Lightfoot, following Hofmann). Meyer says: “Laying aside arbitrariness and seeing that the address is surrounded by proper names, we can only find in the word for ‘yokefellow’ a proper name, … genuine Syzygus, i.e. thou who art in reality and substantially that which thy name expresses: “fellow-in-yoke, fellow-labourer.” Whose names are in the book of life.—St. Paul had before said the polity of the Christians was a heavenly one. Here he says there is a “burgess list” from which no name of a true citizen is ever by accident omitted—though by any chance he might have omitted to mention his co-workers in his epistle.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Philippians 4:2-3
Glimpses of Life in the Early Church.
I. The early planting of the gospel involved arduous and united toil.—“Which laboured with me in the gospel” (Philippians 4:3). Prodigious as were the labours of Paul, he could never have accomplished the work he did but for the willing co-operation of others. There is great art in evoking the sympathy and help of those who can help forward the work of God. Christian work finds scope for all kinds of talents and agencies. Pioneer work is rough work and tests all our powers and resources. The difficulties of the work unite its propagators in heart and hand. There is little good done without strenuous labour, though the results of our toil are not always immediately apparent. Dr. Judson laboured diligently for six years in Burmah before he baptised a convert. At the end of three years he was asked what evidence he had of ultimate success. He replied, “As much as there is a God who will fulfil all His promises.” A hundred churches and thousands of converts already answer his faith.
II. The names of gospel pioneers are not forgotten.—“With Clement also, and with other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3). Some of these names are recorded in the pages of history and handed down to our day; the rest, though unknown on earth, are registered in the imperishable pages of “the book of life.” Clement, though unknown to fame and unidentified with any other of the same name mentioned in history, is referred to here as recognising the apostle’s cordial recollection of his valuable work. But the unknown on earth are not forgotten in heaven. The work we do for God will live for ever. When Columbus was homeward bound after his brilliant discovery of a new world he was overtaken by a terrific storm. In his indescribable agony that not only his life and that of his crew, but his magnificent discovery must all go down and be lost in the abyss, and that, too, not far from land, he committed to the deep hurried entries of that discovery sealed up in bottles, in the hope that some day they might reach land. We need not be unduly anxious about either our work or our fame; God will take care of both.
III. From the earliest times women have rendered valuable help in the propagation of the gospel.—“Euodias, Syntyche, … women which laboured with me in the gospel” (Philippians 4:2-3). In the Temple worship the Jewish women were fenced off in a court by themselves. The woman occupied an inferior religious position in Rabbinical teaching. It was a shock to public feeling to see a rabbi talking to a female. Even the disciples were surprised that their Master should be found conversing with a woman on the brink of the Samaritan well. Jesus Christ broke down this middle wall of partition as He had broken down the other. Here, again, He made both one. If in Christ there is no distinction of Jew and Gentile, neither is there of male or female. Women were His faithful and constant attendants; women were the favoured witnesses of His resurrection; women were among the most helpful fellow-workers of the apostles. There was an organised ministry of women deaconesses and widows in the Apostolic Church. “What women those Christians have,” exclaimed the heathen rhetorician, on learning about Anthusa, the mother of Chrysostom. Anthusa at the early age of twenty lost her husband, and thenceforward devoted herself wholly to the education of her son, refusing all offers of further marriage. Her intelligence and piety moulded the boy’s character and shaped the destiny of the man, who in his subsequent eminence never forgot what he owed to maternal influence. It is no exaggeration to say that we owe those rich homilies of Chrysostom, of which interpreters of Scripture still make great use, to the mind and heart of Anthusa.
IV. We learn the apostolic method of reconciling two eminent women in serious disagreement.—
1. He addresses to each an earnest and pointed exhortation to unity. “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord” (Philippians 4:2). He repeats the entreaty to show that he placed the like obligation on each of them. He does not exhort the one to be reconciled to the other, for they might have doubted who should take the initiative, and they might wonder, from the position of their names and construction of the sentence, to which of them the apostle attached the more blame. But he exhorts them both, the one and the other, to think the same thing—not only to come to a mutual understanding, but to preserve it. The cause of quarrel might be some unworthy question about priority or privilege, even in the prosecution of the good work—vainglory leading to strife. It does not seem to have been any difference in creed or practice (Eadie).
2. He recognises their devoted and impartial labours.—“Those women which laboured with me in the gospel” (Philippians 4:3). Their work does not appear to have been done from personal friendship, as is often the case; they treated all and helped all alike. They were deeply interested in the spread of the gospel and the increase of the Church, and toiled with such self-sacrificing devotion as to elicit the special commendation of the apostle.
3. He entreated that help might be rendered them in the adjustment of their quarrel.—“And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women” (Philippians 4:3). A third party is appealed to, to interpose his good offices—an evidence that Paul regarded the harmony of these two women a matter of no small importance. Mediation between two persons at variance is delicate and difficult work, but if judiciously done may help to a reconciliation. Women were the first to receive the gospel at Philippi, and from the first used their influence and opportunities in commending it to their sex. The unseemly misunderstanding between these two women whose labours had been so blessed made it the more necessary that something should be done to heal the breach.
Lessons.—
1. Pioneer work has special hardships and temptations.
2. The best of women may quarrel.
3. It is the wise policy of the Christian statesman to compose and strive to prevent discord and disunion.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Philippians 4:2. Feminine Disagreement—
I. May occasion much mischief in a Church.
II. All the more dangerous where the parties are eminent in gifts and labours (Philippians 4:3).
III. Reconciled when truly possessing one mind in Christ.—“Be of the same mind in the Lord.”
IV. The most earnest entreaty should be employed to rectify.—“I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche.”
Philippians 4:3. Names in the Book.
1. Some observations.—
1. It is a great thing to have a name in the New Testament.—Think of the roll-call in Romans 16 and Hebrews 11.
2. It is a great thing now to have a name in the family Bible, for that generally signifies Christian training and parental prayers.
3. It is a great thing to have a name upon the pages of a church register.—How affecting are these old manuals, with their lists of pious men and women, many of whom have passed into the skies.
4. It is the greatest thing of all to have a name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.—Beyond all fame (Matthew 11:11). Beyond all power (Luke 10:20).
II. Some questions.—
1. In how many books is your name written now?
2. How can a human name be written securely in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
3. To backsliders: are you going to return to your name, or do you want it to come back to you?
4. To Christian workers: how many names have you helped to write in the Book of Life?
5. Is there any cheer in thinking how our names will sound when the books are opened in the white light of the throne?—Homiletic Monthly.