say even
of us, 'he hath served with Me in the Gospel.'

PAUL AND EPAPHRODITUS

'But I counted it necessary to send to you
Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and
fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister to
my need. 26. Since he longed after you all, and
was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he
was sick. 27. 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. 28. I have sent him therefore the
more diligently, that, when ye see him again, ye
may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all
joy; and hold such in honour: 30. Because for the
work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding
his life to supply that which was lacking in your
service toward me.'--PHIL. ii. 25-30 (R.V.).

Epaphroditus is one of the less known of Paul's friends. All our
information about him is contained in this context, and in a brief
reference in Chapter iv. His was a singular fate--to cross Paul's path,
and for one short period of his life to be known to all the world, and
for all the rest before and after to be utterly unknown. The ship sails
across the track of the moonlight, and then vanishes ghost-like into
darkness. Of all the inhabitants of Philippi at that time we know the
names of but three, Euodias, Syntiche, and Epaphroditus, and we owe them
all to Paul. The context gives us an interesting miniature of the last,
and pathetic glimpses into the private life of the Apostle in his
imprisonment, and it is worth our while to try to bring our historic
imagination to bear on Epaphroditus, and to make him a living man.

The first fact about him is, that he was one of the Philippian
Christians, and sent by them to Rome, with some pecuniary or material
help, such as comforts for Paul's prison-house, food, clothing, or
money. There was no reliable way of getting these to Paul but to take
them, and so Epaphroditus faced the long journey across Greece to
Brindisi and Rome, and when arrived there threw himself with ardour into
serving Paul. The Apostle's heartfelt eulogium upon him shows two phases
of his work. He was in the first place Paul's helper in the Gospel, and
his faithfulness there is set forth in a glowing