EPAPHRODITUS . Mentioned by St. Paul in Philippians 2:25-30; Philippians 4:18 , and described by him as his ‘brother, fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier’ ( Philippians 2:25 ). He was the messenger by whom the Philippians sent the offerings which fully supplied the necessities of St. Paul during his first Roman imprisonment ( Philippians 2:25 , Philippians 4:18 ). In Rome he laboured so zealously for the Church and for the Apostle as to ‘hazard’ his life ( Philippians 2:30 ); indeed, he came ‘nigh unto death,’ but God had mercy on him, and the Apostle was spared this ‘sorrow upon sorrow’ ( Philippians 2:27 ). News of his illness reached Philippi, and the distress thus caused his friends made him long to return ( Philippians 2:26 ). St. Paul therefore sent him ‘the more diligently,’ thus relieving their minds, and at the same time lessening his own sorrows by his knowledge of their joy at receiving him back in health. Apparently the Epistle to the Philippians was sent by him.
Charles T. P. Grierson.