Philippians - Lesson 16

I. Conclusion of Ch 3 & Introduction to Ch 4

In our lesson today, we're going to take a look at three verses. These verses are the first three in chapter 4, and they serve as a conclusion of chapter 3. And they also may serve as a conclusion, if you will, from the very opening of the letter when Paul greets the Philippians, including the overseers and deacons.

So as a reminder, Philippians chapter 3 ends with a passage—well, that is just so exciting. Our citizenship is in heaven. We're awaiting a Savior who will transform our lowly bodies so that they'll be like his glorious body. And then the chapter ends. But actually, Paul's thought doesn't end there. Actually, chapter 4, verse 1, completes Paul's thought. In this verse, Paul says, "stand firm," and he encourages them with this "stand fast" as they await the Savior.

And I should probably just remind us all, the chapter and verse is a later addition. And also the subheadings in our Bibles today, those are all added much later as a way to help people who are reading through the Bible to find passages that they like. But when Paul wrote this, it would just be line after line after line. Well, actually, Paul didn't physically write it. He had what we call an amanuensis, or a scribe, write it. And there were, if you can imagine, even no breaks between the words, just letters in a row. And people read things aloud. Even if they were by themselves, they would say the words aloud as a way to help them discern words in the line of script.

II. The Call to Stand Firm

So when Paul says then in verse 1, chapter 4, "Therefore, my brothers and sisters," what he is saying "therefore" to is the previous statement that Jesus, our Savior, is returning. And when he does, we will be transformed from our lowly bodies now to be in our transformed body in the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Savior. And so Paul says here in this verse 1 of chapter 4, that the believers should stand firm. This call to stand firm—we've already seen this at the end of chapter 1 in verse 27, "stand firm in one spirit with a single purpose." So Paul is repeating this posture to stand firm—stand firm because we have hope, because God, God's got this, and we stand firm and hopeful and looking to the future in the hope of this new kingdom, this sure and certain hope of the new kingdom.

Paul describes the believers here as beloved, as dear friends. In fact, twice he will use the term "beloved," although some translations will say "beloved" once and then "dear friends" another time, because in English we like to use synonyms and not repeat the same word. But in Greek, they don't mind repeating the same word. And so Paul is affectionate here to the Philippians, and he has this term beloved at the beginning of the verse and also at the end of the verse. Paul also indicates that he longs for them. He sees them as his crown, as his joy. This is very similar to his response to the Thessalonians in his first letter to the Thessalonians in chapter 2, verse 19. He is sharing with them his friendship and his joy, or actually saying that they, in fact, are his joy.

III. The Appeal to Euodia & Syntyche

I want to emphasize this attitude of joy as we move then into verses 2 and 3. Again, Paul writing—let's pretend there's not verse numbers in here. Paul would have finished his remarks of referring to, "Therefore, brothers and sisters, my beloved, my joy, my crown, beloved, I appeal to Euodia, I appeal to Syntyche." I want you to hear how that all flowed because we want to grasp the proper tone that Paul has when he is speaking to his co-workers here, Euodia and Syntyche. He has just used the word "beloved." They are part of this group of beloved, of dear friends. In other words, there's a warm tone. So let's remember that as we now explore verses 2 and 3.

Paul will ask Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind. This is a repeat of the same phrase we saw in verse 2 of chapter 2, where Paul encourages all of the Philippians to be of the same mind. And in fact, he says something similar as we saw in chapter 2, verse 5, "have the same mindset." So Paul is repeating a general injunction here in chapter 4 to Euodia and Syntyche. It's not only to the Philippians that Paul has this kind of encouragement. Paul uses the phrase twice when he's writing to the Romans in chapter 12:16, and then also in 15:5 to the Romans. Paul says they're to think of each other as above their own self, putting the other person first and living with one mind with each other. That's what he says to the Romans.

We also find a similar language in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians, at the end of the letter, chapter 13, verse 11, we find Paul saying, "finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice." That's the joy that permeates also our Philippians letter, rejoice. He says to the Corinthians, "strive for full restoration." And then he picks up, "encourage one another," which is the verb that we find here in Philippians 4:2, "encourage," I encourage or I urge. Like to the Corinthians, so too Paul urges, pleads with, encourages Euodia and Syntyche. To the Corinthians, he says, "be of one mind," like he says to Euodia and Syntyche. So part of what I'm trying to paint here is a picture that says his injunctions to Euodia and Syntyche are not peculiar or unique to these two women. They represent general statements that Paul makes to his congregations at different times.

Nevertheless, he does identify these women by name, and so they are likely important to the community in some way. So their not being of the same mind at this moment in some way impacts the community, and Paul's concerned about that. But we don't actually know what the problem is, what the issue is. We know they're co-workers alongside Epaphroditus and Clement, the other two named co-workers. We also know that it is rare for Paul to mention a person's name if he has a disagreement with them. Hymenaeus and Alexander, Paul does mention by name in 1 Timothy 1:20. Otherwise, Paul tends not to name opponents, which means that Euodia and Syntyche are not enemies of Paul. I wouldn't say they're enemies of each other either. They're co-workers with Paul because he appeals to them. He pleads with them. And because he has just finished calling everyone there in Philippi "beloved, dear friends," I think Paul approaches this situation with the confidence that these women, along with the help from the community, they're going to sort this out.

And so Paul asks a true companion. He doesn't name the person, the Greek term. Some people think maybe it is actually a name, but we don't have any evidence in inscriptions or in written documents of anyone named this. So Paul is using this true companion language. And some people think maybe what he means here is a personification of the church itself, the community. You all as a church, you're their true companion. Help them sort this out. Help one another. The verb that Paul uses as he's describing the help that he wants to be given to Euodia and Syntyche, it's a help that the verb itself is talking about coming alongside or taking part with someone else in an activity. For that reason, I'm less confident that Paul imagines this true companion to be a mediator. It seems like instead what he imagines is someone who is part of the solution, working alongside Euodia and Syntyche.

IV. Background & Status of Euodia & Syntyche

Well, let's look a little bit closer at who these women are. Euodia's name means good journey, pleasant. It's a name that we find among Gentiles for sure, but there are several examples of Jewish women who have this name. Syntyche's name is related to the goddess Tyche or fate or good luck. Fortuna is the name she holds in Latin. No Jew that we have on record would ever use this name because it's the name of a female deity. Both names though are used quite a bit for Gentiles. These names suggest low status. They're possibly slaves or freed slaves, but they don't have to be. It's just a common name. Because Paul addresses both of them in the same way using the verb and the noun each time, it's likely that these women are of equal status within the church. We also know their names are written in the Book of Life.

So what might be going on? Boy, it's difficult because Paul gives us almost no clues as to what the issues were. I would say what's not going on, most scholars agree what's not going on is that there is a theological disagreement. Because if there was, then Paul could just sort it out and say, you know, here's the correct doctrine and so you all can just move forward with that. Likely then the disagreement or the issue at stake has to do with practically living out the gospel in some way, not the doctrinal or truth components of the gospel.

So one possible scenario, the church at Philippi, maybe they met in a couple of different homes like we have in Corinth. So maybe these two women led their respective house churches. For example, we know in Colossae of Nympha and the church that meets at her house, or Lydia who opened her home to Paul and Silas in Philippi, we see that in Acts chapter 16. Prisca and Aquila, they have a church that meets in their home. We know about that from Romans chapter 16. So churches, remember at this time, they were meeting in houses, domiciles. There wasn't a separate building down the street that was set apart as a church. Now if they each had groups that met in their homes, then Euodia and Syntyche would have influence over others. But I think it's important to note that influence need not be tied to a particular title, particular office.

In the 1 century, we want to remember that the social system of patronage or benefaction was incredibly powerful, even though it wasn't connected with like a particular office or a particular title. Paul draws on patronage when he's in Philippi for the first time because he stays with Lydia. Or Phoebe, who's mentioned in Romans chapter 16, she is identified as a benefactor. Prostates is the Greek term there, where she is someone who has acted as a patron in a particular way for Paul. So it may be that these women had influence as patrons and also, of course, as co-workers with Paul.

It is also possible that Euodia and Syntyche were part of the groups that Paul mentions at the beginning of his letter. He mentions overseers, or episkopoi in the Greek, and deacons, diakonoi. Many commentators think that these women were part of either of those groups, especially because it's so rare for Paul to mention individuals in his letter or reasonably, especially in the body of the letter, not at the closing. And also because Paul never mentions in the introduction episkopoi and diakonoi, except here in the letter to the Philippians. So we have these two unusual features, right? The groups mentioned in the greeting and then mentioning these women by name. A 4th century church father, Chrysostom, claimed that these women were ta kephalaia, or the chief or the head of the church in Philippi.

If they were members of either of these groups, what would that have meant? Well, the term episkopoi, or from which we get overseers or bishops, it's difficult to know what that would have entailed. We know the term overseers plural is found in Acts 20:28. This is Paul talking to the leaders of Ephesus. We find it also in 1 Timothy 3:2 and following; again, the setting is Ephesus. And we find it as a title for Christ Jesus used by Peter in 1 Peter 2:25. Often the English translation will be "shepherd," that is— So that may be what you would read in your English. There's no other person in the New Testament aside from Jesus Christ who is named as an overseer. So we don't have an example, say it another way, we don't have an example of a man like Peter or Paul or Timothy ever being identified as episkopos, only Christ.

And the term diakonoi, again plural deacon, here we have more evidence, but I'm not sure more clarity. Paul will talk about himself as a deacon to the Corinthians, the Ephesians, the Colossians. He'll identify Tychicus both in Ephesians and Colossians as a deacon, Timothy, Epaphras, who's mentioned in Colossians, Phoebe, who I mentioned earlier in Romans chapter 16. And then Paul will speak more generally about deacons in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 8 and following. It's interesting, twice Paul will refer to Christ as a deacon, or sometimes it's translated as "servant." And he does identify these super-apostles who are the bad guys that he talks about in 2 Corinthians 11, he will use in a negative way a deacon. So "deacon" can mean servant, sometimes it's translated as minister. In chapter 3 of 1 Timothy, that's where you'll see a description of both overseer and deacon. So that can provide more background if you'd like on how the earliest churches are thinking about these terms.

So as we wrap up this look at the evidence, what might we be able to say about Euodia and Syntyche? I think in the first-century world, people would be comfortable with seeing these women as leaders. And I say that because patronage is so important, and patronage, having that influence, the wealthy or those who have social connections, using those to benefit others—I mean, it's basically what patronage is—was not seen as something only men did. Both men and women, if they had financial resources or social resources, and they used that for the benefit of others, that was really important. So if Euodia and Syntyche were in that spot, these women then would function, would be seen as important for the overall functioning of the community.

Secondly, Paul identifies them as co-workers. And that term co-worker is often used by Paul to identify itinerant missionaries, those who are out evangelizing and discipling people. We see that in 1 Corinthians 3:9, and also in Philemon 1. So they are co-workers alongside Paul in the gospel, that's stated. I mentioned some others that are identified as co-workers: Timothy, Titus, Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos, Philemon, Urbanus, Epaphroditus, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke. There's a lot, a lot of co-workers. And we should note that Paul doesn't work on his own. He has a team and he functions as a member of that team. Okay. So in some way, Euodia and Syntyche are members of the community that have a status and importance relative to the overall functioning of the community there of believers in Philippi.

V. Exploring the Nature of the Disagreement

So what's the disagreement? Well, one, and we're speculating here using godly imagination as a way to help us understand the situation, and then by extension, maybe see if there's some parallels for our own circumstances today. Well, maybe these two women disagreed about the financial gift given to Paul. Either it wasn't done in an appropriate way. I don't know. Was it too little money? Was it too much? We don't know. But maybe there was some kind of disagreement about the financial gift.

I wonder if there might be, especially if Euodia is Jewish, if you had a tension related to the ethnic difference between Euodia and Syntyche. Again, I don't know if Euodia is Jewish, but it is a name that some Jewish women had. And so maybe they were differing here on how to live a holy life, very similar to what Paul writes about in Romans chapter 14.

Maybe these two women were competing with each other in the manner of competition that characterized the social category of friendship. We tend not to think of friendship as competitive today, but in the ancient world, there was an aspect of friendship where the friends tried to outdo each other. And so it may be that there's an unhealthy competition between these two women. They wanted a competition for honor maybe or influence in the church.

One scholar suggests that maybe these two women are in a court battle. And the scholar points to the Corinthian situation that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Maybe another idea is that the women were in a dispute about how aid would be given to the poor in their midst. You think of Acts chapter 6, where the widows from the diaspora, these Jewish widows from diaspora, were treated less well than the widows who were from Judea. So the Greek-speaking widows were treated differently and were given less than the Hebrew-speaking widows in Acts chapter 6. Maybe something like that is going on in this dispute between Euodia and Syntyche. We just don't know.

What I think we can say with more confidence is that Paul believes they can sort it out. I say that because the verb that Paul uses here, "plead with," suggests a positive, has a positive tone. And so he's speaking to these two co-workers with affection, right? Beloved. And using a verb that in other places is very positive. He doesn't use the verb here elsewhere in Philippians, but he uses it in his other letters. I guess maybe I could say it in this way: Paul's not wagging his finger at them or scolding them. He's confident they'll sort it out, and I hope that they did.

VI. Theological & Practical Models for Today

It calls to mind, for me, another disagreement that happened of much more import than this disagreement. It's the one that Paul and Barnabas had. In the book of Acts, chapter 15, we read that as Paul and Barnabas are ready to head out on their second missionary journey, they have a strong disagreement about whether or not a third member of the initial group, John Mark, should be invited to come along. And so the two men, Paul and Barnabas, separate. And Barnabas and John Mark go to one area and continue to preach the gospel. And Paul continues on, as Luke tells us in the book of Acts. This is a serious break in fellowship, but it's not the end of the story. We know, because Paul tells us, that this John Mark, Barnabas' cousin, eventually is reconciled to Paul, because Paul mentions him with approval in Colossians 4:10, and also in Philemon 24.

It may be that this experience of reconciliation that Paul had with Barnabas and John Mark served to give Paul confidence and also wisdom in speaking to Euodia and Syntyche. He, like them, faces struggle in ministry, but he's confident that the Spirit will work it out. As Paul talks to Euodia and Syntyche, can we see that as a model of how important it is for us in churches today to seek reconciliation and to work together instead of doing things to criticize or to do things to cause disunity? Yes. Yes, I think so. I think several aspects of this short section are very instructive today.

First of all, Paul sees it as a problem for the whole Philippian church. I do think this loyal or "true yokefellow," this odd phrase, true companion—that Paul, this genuine person, I do think that phrase is pointing towards some in the community, if not the whole community, that needs to work towards unity. I think too often today we imagine it's their problem and that we need to pick sides, and Paul is saying we're all on Jesus' team.

Secondly, I would say Paul is very clear this is not a doctrinal issue. They are not enemies of the cross. They are not dogs. They are not those opponents at the end of chapter 1 that we meet. They are not those who are "preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry, knowing that I'm in chains." I mean, Paul can say with real clarity where there's a theological problem, and this is not it. And I think in churches today, sometimes we confuse or mix a theological issue with a practical ministry issue, and suddenly the choice of either handing out tracts or having a soup kitchen suddenly becomes a theological issue, and it's not. It's a practical ministry issue of how is our church equipping and being equipped by the Spirit to meet the needs of the community.

Paul, in this section, reminds us that when you have a ministry difference, focus on how to bring unity, get clarity that way, involve everyone in the community together in the Lord. And he reminds the Philippians, all of them, they are his beloved, and he has great confidence in them. They are his crown. They are his joy. So he's very positive towards them. He knows that Epaphroditus and also Timothy are going to be there to help. He's got Clement there who will help. Everyone is involved because the ministry moving forward is what should be the goal.

And I think then Paul models, as I mentioned from the book of Acts, neither Paul or Barnabas or John Mark, none of them were comfortable with the status quo. When the break happened, although it's not written down in Acts, I imagine that the Spirit continued to agitate and also to heal because I'm sure both of them were hurt. All three of them were hurt to have healing, but also a bit of uncomfortableness until they were able to sort it out. I don't know how long it took Euodia and Syntyche to be restored and have their ministry, you know, both of them back on the same page, singing from the same songbook, that kind of thing. I don't know how long it took. What I imagine is that they brought their hurts before the Lord, hopefully before each other, and were able to apologize to each other for any hurt that happened. And also, you know, just didn't let themselves become the center of everything, but put Christ back in the center. Their names are written in the Book of Life, and that's a helpful reminder because I think at times if we disagree so strongly with someone, we're almost tempted to say they can't be on God's team at all. And Paul, in this situation, absolutely does not allow that door to be open.