Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Philippians 2:26

"since he longed after you all, and was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he was sick:" — Philippians 2:26 (ASV)

The verb “longs for” (GK 2160) expresses Epaphroditus’s intense desire. It had been used to describe Paul’s own feelings toward the Philippians in 1:8. Elsewhere it designates the Spirit’s strong yearning for the total allegiance of one’s heart (James 4:5) and of a newborn baby’s longing for milk (1 Peter 2:2).

The addition of “distressed” (GK 86) to the mention of Epaphroditus’s longings emphasizes the intensity of his feeling (cf. the use of this word to describe our Lord’s emotions in Gethsemane; Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33). Epaphroditus had become deeply distressed when he learned that the Philippians knew of his serious illness. Conceivably some misunderstanding had arisen in Philippi, and word of it had gotten back to Rome. Perhaps there were rumors that he was a malingerer, or that he had been more of a burden than a help to Paul.