Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Philippians 4:3
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Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, etc.] Not his wife, as some think f28 , for he had none, as appears from (<460707>1 Corinthians 7:7,8), at the writing of which epistle he was at Ephesus, where he stayed some little time, and then went to Jerusalem; where he was quickly apprehended, and sent a prisoner to Rome, and where he now was as such; and therefore it is not likely that he should marry a wife within this compass of time, and much less that he should have one at Philippi; besides, the word used is of the masculine gender, and designs a man and not a woman: some think it is the proper name of a man, who was called “Syzygus”, and so the Arabic interpreter seems to understand it; and by the apostle, true “Syzygus”, signifying that as was his name, so was he, really and in truth, a companion and fellow labourer, that drew in the same yoke with him; the Syriac version renders it, “the son of my yoke”, and the Ethiopic version, “my brother and my companion”: some think this person was the husband or brother of one of the above women; and therefore is entreated to use his interest, and compose the difference between them, or endeavour to reconcile them to the church; and others that it was the jailer, that was converted by the apostle: but it seems most likely to have been one that was under the same yoke of the Gospel, and who had been employed with him in preaching of it, a fellow labourer; such an one as Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy, and might be one of those; or rather Epaphroditus, who was minister in this church, and by whom the apostle sent this letter, and whom he might address and importune in this manner; the word may very well be thought to answer to the Hebrew word rbj, often used in Jewish writings, for an associate, a colleague, and a disciple of the wise men, to which the apostle may allude; (see <507425>Philippians 2:25); help those women; Euodias and Syntyche. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions read “them”, referring to the above women; and the Arabic version reads, “help both”; that is, both those women; not by relieving their temporal wants, which it does not appear they were in; but either by composing their differences, or by assisting them with good counsel and advice; and giving them proper instructions in the doctrines of the Gospel, that they might be brought to think the same things the church did: and the rather such pains should be taken with them, since they were such, says the apostle, which laboured with me in the Gospel; not in preaching it, for he suffered not a woman to teach in the church, (<540212>1 Timothy 2:12); but by professing it, and bearing reproach and persecution for it; and by supporting and encouraging, and spreading it with their worldly substance: with Clement also; which some think is the same with Clemens Romanus, who was afterwards bishop of Rome, and whose epistle to the Corinthians is still extant; other writings are ascribed to him, but are spurious; however, by his name he seems to be a Roman; and from his being joined with the apostle, as one with whom these women also laboured in the Gospel, he appears to be a preacher of it at Philippi: and [with] other my fellow labourers; in the work of the ministry, as Timothy, who was with him at Philippi, when he first preached the Gospel there, (<441601>Acts 16:1,12), and some others: whose names [are] in the book of life; the book of God's eternal purposes and decrees, divine predestination to eternal life; and this being called…
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