“Holy Spirit, please give me discernment as I seek to find your message for me in these verses.”
25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, and your [a]messenger and minister to my need; 26 since he longed [b]after you all, and was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he was sick: 27 for indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy; and hold such in honor: 30 because for the work of [c]Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me. Link to ASV
These verses are, I think, self-explanatory. Most of the information I found either restates the obvious or gets into some interesting speculation. If you are ready for a break and would like to do things differently, then this lesson will be refreshing.
There’s a lot of information in the links below. Some of this is quite fascinating to me. I have tried to describe the links so that you’ll know what sounds appealing to you.
First, a sermon from radio preacher John MacArthur. It’s about an hour in length. What’s really nice is that you can read along as he preaches. This sermon, centering on the letter to the Philippians, provides some very interesting insight into the letter and the time period.
You can find “Model Spiritual Servants, Part 3, Epaphroditus” based on Philippians 2:25-30 here. Follow the prompts…this site does have a bit of a ‘learning curve’ in that it took me a minute or so to figure it out. There’s a button at the very top that says “Listen” and it turns into a bouncing equalizer sort of thing. Just click on that.
106.9 The Light airs Rev. MacArthur’s radio program, Grace To You. I assume that means the Billy Graham organization has vetted him and he’s “orthodox evangelical”.
I’ll include the IVP Commentary on verses 25-30 concerning Epaphroditus as well as Matthew Henry’s comments and a link to Wikipedia. However, the two links below cover this and much more.
I found a blog called “New Wineskins” with one entry called “4 Life Lessons from Epaphroditus”. The first part of the essay repeats what we’ve covered in the commentaries above. But the second part is four “life lessons” the author derives from the Biblical text. You might find it interesting. It was at this website that I found the icon for Epaphroditus.
For a much more speculative reading, check out The Shiloh Excavations blog “Epaphroditus: A Gambling Veteran” for some historical fun. The author says, “I suspect, but can not conclusively prove…” and then speculates. I skimmed through this. It does seem to present some aspects of the Greco-Roman world to us that we might not know. I recommend it mostly for “fun” and not for serious historical/Biblical truth. However, the author(s) of this blog do confirm most of what Rev. MacArthur says. They also provide a different look at the “life lessons” we can derive from Epaphroditus.
I you feel like there’s a lot of information here, You are correct. I provided these links just in case there was something here that might interest you. Just remember that you’re not on a schedule. There are no deadlines to meet. In addition, you don’t have to read/listen to all of it. Just the items that seem interesting to you.
Please let me know how you like listening instead of reading. I’ll look for more audio if you find it helpful.