Ver. 25. “But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and fellow- worker, and fellow-soldier.” And him too he sends with the same praises as Timothy, for he commended him on these two points; first, in that he loved them, when he says, “who will care truly for you”; and secondly, in that he had approved himself in the Gospel. And for the same reason, and in the same terms, he praises this man also: and how? By calling him a brother, and a fellow- worker, and not stopping at this point, but also “fellow-soldier,” he showed how he shared in his dangers, and testifies of him the same things which he testifies of himself. For “fellow- soldier” is more than “fellow-worker”; for perchance he gave aid in quiet matters, yet not so in wars and dangers; but in saying “fellow-soldier,” he showed this too. Ver. 25. “To send to you your messenger, and minister to my needs”; that is, I give you 225 your own, since I send to you him that is your own, or, perhaps, that is your Teacher.643 Again he adds many things concerning his love, in saying, Ver. 26, 27. “Since he longed after you all, and was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.” Here he aims at a farther point, making it manifest, that Epaphroditus too was well aware, how he was beloved of them. And this is no light thing toward loving. You know how he was sick, he says; and he grieved that on his recovery he did not see you, and free you from the grief ye had by reason of his sickness. Here too he gives another reason for sending so late to them, not from any remissness, but he kept Timothy because he had no one else, (for, as he had written, he had “no one likeminded,”) and Epaphroditus because of his sickness. He then shows that this was a long sickness, and had consumed much time, by adding, “for he was sick nigh unto death.” You see how anxious Paul is to cut off from his disciples all occasion of slighting or contempt, and every suspicion that his not coming was because he despised them. For nothing will have such power to draw a disciple toward one, as the persuasion that his superior cares for him, and that he is full of heaviness on his account, for this is the part of exceeding love. Because “ye have heard,” he says, “that he was sick; for he was sick nigh unto death.” And that I am not making an excuse, hear what follows. “But God had mercy on him.” What sayest thou, O heretic? Here it is written, that God’s mercy retained and brought back again him who was on the point of departure. And yet if the world is evil, it is no mercy to leave a man in the evil. Our answer to the heretic is easy, but what shall we say to the Christian? for he perchance will question, and say, “if to depart and to be with Christ is far better,” how saith he that he hath obtained mercy? I would ask 643 Referring to the word translated “Messenger,” which is “Apostle,” and may mean “Bishop,” as Theodoret clearly takes it here. In 2 Cor. viii. 23, St. Chrys. understands it “messengers” or “deputies.” 399 Philippians 2:19-21