Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Philippians 2:22

"But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child [serveth] a father, [so] he served with me in furtherance of the gospel." — Philippians 2:22 (ASV)

The proven character of Timothy, however, put him in a class apart. By the thorough test of his repeated presence and ministry in Philippi, as well as by his reputation achieved elsewhere, the Philippian Christians knew him as a man of God. Paul also vouches for him on the basis of many years of personal experience. He and the younger Timothy had a father-son relationship. Together they had served Christ for the furtherance of the Gospel, beginning with Paul’s second missionary journey more than ten years earlier (Acts 16:1–4).