Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 2:25

"But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need;" — Philippians 2:25 (ASV)

Epaphroditus.—The name was often shortened to Epaphras. But it was a common name; therefore, any identification with the Epaphras of Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12; Philemon 1:23, is, to say the least, extremely precarious. It is hardly likely that one who was a native Colossian would be a resident and chosen messenger of Philippi. The three titles given to him here are closely joined together in the original and form a kind of climax: “brother” in a common Christianity, “fellow-worker” in the service of Christ, and “fellow-soldier” in the “hardness” of daring and suffering, which the warfare of the Cross implies (See 2 Timothy 2:3–4).

Your messenger.—The original word is apostle; and by some interpreters, ancient and modern, it has been thought that the intention here is to designate the chief pastor—or, in the modern sense, the bishop—of the Philippian Church (as is probably the case with the “angels” of the churches in the Apocalypse); and the word “your” is then explained in the same sense as the words of the Gentiles in Romans 11:13.

But this is very unlikely, for several reasons:

1. Because there seems to be no example to confirm the statement that the chief pastor of a church was ever called its “apostle.”
2. Because the character of the apostolate, being general and evangelistic, was very different from that of the local and pastoral episcopate.
3. Because in this passage the word is inseparably connected with the following phrase, “and minister to my needs,” showing the latter phrase to be explanatory of the previous word.
4. Because the style of commendation in Philippians 2:29 is hardly suitable as applied to one whose office alone should have commanded respect.

Our version is, therefore, correct in rendering it “messenger,” just as in 2 Corinthians 8:23 (the messengers of the churches), where there is a similar reference to the transmission of alms.