Philippians 4:3

And I entreat Better, Yea, I request, or beg (as in our polite use of that word).

also Paul was doing what he could to "help" his two converts; his friend at Philippi must "help" too.

true yokefellow This person can only be conjecturally identified. He may have been a leading episcopus(Philippians 1:1) at Philippi. He may have been Epaphroditus, as Bp Lightfoot well suggests; charged with this commission by St Paul not only orally, but thus in writing, as a sort of credential. One curious conjecture, as old as St Clement of Alexandria (cent. 2) is that it was St Paul's wife[26]; and it is curious that the older Latin version has dilectissime conjux, "dearest partner." But the word conjux, like "partner," is elastic and ambiguous, and the adjective is masculine. Both the form of the Greek adjective here, and the plain statement in 1 Corinthians 7. of St Paul's celibacy a few years before, not to speak of the unlikelihood, had he been married, of his wife's residence at Philippi, are fatal to this explanation. Another guess is that the word rendered "yokefellow," syzy̆gus, or synzygusis a proper name, and that we should render "Syzygus, truly so called." But this, though possible, is unlikely; no such name is found in inscriptions or elsewhere.

[26] Renan translates the words here (Saint Paul, p. 148), ma chère êpouse. See Salmon, Introduction to N. T., p. 465, note.

Wyclif's rendering, "the german felowe," looks strange to modern eyes; it means "thee, germane (genuine) comrade."

help thosewomen] Lit., help them (feminine). "Them." means Euodia and Syntyche. The help would come in the way of personal conference and exhortation, with prayer.

which The Greek is well represented in R.V., for they.

laboured with me Lit., "strove along with me." The verb is the same as that Philippians 1:27, where see note. Euodia and Syntyche had aided devotedly in the missionary work in their town, perhaps as sharers of special "gifts" (see Acts 21:9), or simply as exhorters and instructors of their female neighbours, probably also in loving labours of mercy for the temporal needs of poor converts. Like Phœbe of Cenchreæ (Romans 16:1) they were perhaps deaconesses. See Appendix C.

in the gospel Cp. Philippians 1:5; Philippians 2:22; and below, on Philippians 4:15.

with Clement Does this mean, "Help them, and let Clement and others help also," or, "They strove along with me in the gospel, and Clement and others strove also"? The grammar is neutral in the question. On the whole, the first explanation seems best to suit the context, for it keeps the subject of the difference between Euodia and Syntyche still in view, which the second explanation scarcely does; and that difference was evidently an important and anxious fact, not to be lightly dismissed.

" Clement," Greek, Clêmês: we have no certain knowledge of his identity. The name was common. It is asserted by Origen (cent. 3) that he is the Clement who was at a later time bishop of Rome, and author of an Epistle to the Corinthians, probably the earliest of extant patristic writings. Eusebius (cent. 4) implies the same belief. There is nothing impossible in this, for a Philippian Christian, migrating to the all-receiving Capital, might very possibly become Chief Pastor there in course of time. But the chronology of the life and work of Clement of Rome is obscure in detail, and some evidence makes him survive till quite a.d. 120, more than half a century later than this: a length of labour likely to be noticed by church historians, if it were the fact. In his Epistle (c. 47) he makes special and reverent mention of St Paul; and this is perhaps the strongest point in favour of the identity; but certainly not decisive. See Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 168.

the book of life Cp. Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:12; Revelation 20:15; Revelation 21:27; and Luke 10:20. And see Exodus 32:32-33; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 87:6; Isaiah 4:3; Ezekiel 13:9; Daniel 12:1. The result of comparison of these passages with this seems to be that St Paul here refers to the Lord's "knowledge of them that are His" (2 Timothy 2:19; cp. John 10:27-28), for time and eternity. All the passages in the Revelation, save Revelation 3:5, are clearly in favour of a reference of the phrase to the certainty of the ultimate salvation of true saints; particularly Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; and so too Daniel 12:1, and Luke 10:20; Revelation 3:5 appears to point in another direction (see Trench on that passage). But in view of the other mentions of the "Book" in the Revelation, the language of Philippians 3:5 may well be only a vivid assertion that the name in question shall be foundin an indelible register. Exodus 32. and Psalms 69 are of course definite witnesses for a possible blotting out from "a book written" by God. But it is at least uncertain whether the book there in view is not the register of life temporal, not eternal. Practically, the Apostle here speaks of Clement and the rest as having given illustrious proof of their part and lot in that "life eternal" which is "to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent" (John 17:3). The word "names." powerfully suggests the individuality and speciality of Divine love.