Ver. 28. The more carefully.—R.V. “diligently.” “With increased eagerness” (Lightfoot). How difficult it must have been for St. Paul to relinquish the company of so worthy a man we do not realise; but he who gives up is worthy of the friend he gives up, for neither of them is consulting his own wishes. “Love seeketh not her own.” What a contrast to sordid Hedonism—old or new! Ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.—A variation on the theme of the letter—the sum of which is, as Bengel says, “I rejoice; rejoice ye.” What an exquisitely chosen form of expression! “A prior sorrow will still remain unremoved,” says Lightfoot; “but if he cannot go so far as to say he will rejoice, the alleviation of the loss of such a friend’s society is the fact that they have him again.”
Ver. 29. Hold such in honour.—Learn to know the value of such—“grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.”
Ver. 30. For the work of Christ.—What noble self-oblivion the apostle manifests! He thinks more of the cause dear to his heart than of his own comfort or even life. Not regarding his life.—R.V. “hazarding his life.” There is the difference of a single letter in the long word of the R.V. The word of the R.V. means “having gambled with his life.” Just as to-day a visitor to Rome in the autumn must run the risk of malarial fever, so Epaphroditus, for the work of Christ, had faced that, and other dangers as great, probably. The A.V. would mean “as far as his life was concerned he followed an ill-advised course of action.” To supply your lack of service toward me.—Does not mean that they had been remiss in their attention. They did not lack the will, but the opportunity.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–4.
Christian Unity an Occasion of Joy.
I. Christian unity is a striving after the Spirit of Christ.—“That ye be likeminded” (ver. 2).
1. Manifested in loving consolation to those in distress.—“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love” (ver. 1). If the pagan expressed unity by those who dwelt in one village and drank of one fountain, how much more real is the union of those who drink of the same Spirit and practise the lovingkindness of the one Christ. A striking evidence of the unity of Christianity is seen in its sympathy everywhere for the poor, the sick, and the unfortunate. It is Christ-like to comfort and help the distressed.
2. Manifested in spiritual fellowship.—“If any fellowship of the Spirit” (ver. 1). Christians are one by their communion together, flowing from their joint participation in the same Spirit. The union of hearts is more real and stable than the external union expressed by creeds and contracts. The Spirit is the unifying power of Christendom.
3. Manifested in compassion for the suffering.—“If any bowels and mercies” (ver. 1). Christianity is a mission to the suffering. Before the Christian era there were no hospitals and infirmaries, no care for the afflicted poor. Unselfish benevolence was almost unknown. Nothing is more remarkable than the spirit of tender compassion that Christianity has breathed into social and national life.
II. Christianity is opposed to a spirit of faction and empty boasting.—“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory” (ver. 3). The message of the Gospel is one of peace and goodwill to all men. It is foreign to its spirit to exalt the interests of party or of self; it seeks to promote a universal and all-pervasive charity. The Germans have a legend connected with the terrific battle of Chalons between the Visigoths and the Romans against Attila. The bloody work of the sword was done, the plain was strewn with heaps of the slain; but for three nights following—so ran the story—the spirits of the slain hovered over the scene and continued the strife in the air. The like has been done again and again in the party strifes and controversies of the Church. Unity is impossible where contention and vanity have sway.