The paragraph relating to Tychicus is almost identical with that of Colossians iv. 7, 8. It begins with a “But” connecting what follows with the statement the apostle has just made respecting his position at Rome. As much as to say: “I want your prayers, set as I am for the defence of the gospel and in circumstances of difficulty and peril. But Tychicus will tell you more about me than I can convey by letter. I am sending him, in fact, for this very purpose.”
St Paul knew the great anxiety of the Christians of Asia on his account. Epaphras of Colossæ had “shown him the love in the Spirit” that was felt towards him even by those in this region who had never seen him in the flesh (Col. i. 8). The tender heart of the apostle is touched by this assurance. So he sends Tychicus to visit as many of the Asian Churches as he may be able to reach, bringing news that will cheer their hearts and relieve their discouragement (iii. 13).[183] The note sent at this time to Philemon indicates the hopeful tidings that Tychicus was able to convey to Paul’s friends in the East: “I trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you” (Philem. 22). To the Philippians he writes, perhaps a little later, in the same strain: “I trust in the Lord that I myself shall come shortly” (Phil. ii. 24). He anticipates, with some confidence, his speedy acquital and release: it is not likely that this expectation, on the part of such a man as St Paul, was disappointed. The good news went round the Asian and Macedonian Churches: “Paul is likely soon to be free, and we shall see and hear him again!”
In the parallel epistle he writes, “that you may know” (Col. iv. 8); here it is, “that you also may know my affairs.” The added word is significant. The writer is imagining his letter read in the various assemblies which it will reach. He has the other epistle in his mind, and remembering that he there introduced Tychicus in similar terms, he says to this wider circle of Asian disciples: “That you also, as well as the Churches of the Lycus valley, may know how things are with me, I send Tychicus to give you a full report.” It is not necessary, however, to look beyond the last two verses for the reference of the also of verse 21: “I have asked your prayers on my behalf; and I wish you in turn to know how things go with me.” Possibly, there were some matters connected with St Paul’s trial at Rome that could not be fitly or safely communicated by letter. Hence he adds: “He shall make known unto you all things.” When he writes “that ye may know my affairs, how I do,” we gather that Tychicus was to communicate to those he visited everything about the beloved apostle that would be of interest to his Asian brethren.
The apostle commends Tychicus in language identical in the two letters, except that in Colossians “fellow-servant” is added to the honourable designations of “beloved brother and faithful minister,” under which he is here introduced. We find him first associated with St Paul in Acts xx. 4, where “Tychicus and Trophimus” represent Asia in the number of those who accompanied the apostle on his voyage to Jerusalem, when he carried the contributions of his Gentile Churches to the relief of the Christian poor in Jerusalem. Trophimus, his companion, is called a “Greek” and an “Ephesian” (Acts xxi. 28, 29). Whether Tychicus belonged to the same city or not, we cannot tell. He was almost certainly a Greek. The Pastoral epistles show Tychicus still in the apostle’s service in his last years. He appears to have joined St Paul’s staff and remained with him from the time that he accompanied him to Jerusalem in the year 59. From 2 Timothy iv 9–12 we gather that Tychicus was sent to Ephesus to relieve Timothy, when St Paul desired the presence of the latter at Rome. It is evident that he was a man greatly valued by the apostle and endeared to him.
Tychicus was well known in the Asian Churches, and suitable therefore to be sent upon this errand. And the commendation given to him would be very welcome to the circle to which he belonged. The apostle has great tact in these personal matters, the tact which belongs to delicate feeling and a generous mind. He calls his messenger “the beloved brother” in his relation to the Church in general, and “faithful minister in the Lord” in his special relation to himself. So he describes Epaphroditus to the Philippians as “your apostle and minister of my need.” In conveying these letters and messages, this worthy man was Paul’s apostle and minister of his need in regard to the Asian Churches. He is a “minister in the Lord,” inasmuch as this office lies within the range of his service to the Lord Christ.
We observe that in writing to the Colossians the apostle applies to Onesimus, the converted slave, the honourable epithets applied here to this long-tried friend: “the faithful and beloved brother” (Col. iv. 9). Every Christian believer should be in the eyes of his fellows a “beloved brother.” And every true servant of Christ and His people is a “faithful minister in the Lord,” be his rank high or low, and whether official hands have been laid upon his head or not. We are apt, by a trick of words, to limit to the order which we suitably call “the ministry” expressions that the New Testament applies to the common ministry of Christ’s saints (comp. iv. 12). This devoted servant of Christ is employed just now as a newsman and letter-carrier. But what a high responsibility it was, to be the bearer to the Asian cities, and to the Church for all time, of the epistles of Paul the apostle to the Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon. Had Tychicus been careless or dishonest, had he lost these precious documents or tampered with them, how great the loss to mankind! We cannot read them without feeling our debt to this beloved brother and faithful servant of the Church. Those who travel upon Christ’s business, who link distant communities to each other and convey from one to another the Holy Spirit’s fellowship and grace, are “the messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. viii. 23).
The Benediction.
“Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith,
From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
In incorruption” (vv. 23, 24).
Grace and Peace were the first words of the epistle,—the apostle’s salutation to all his Churches. In Peace and Grace he breathes out his final blessing. The benediction is fuller than in most of the epistles, and exhibits several peculiar features.
To the Thessalonians (2 Ep. iii. 16) St Paul wished: “Peace continually, in all ways, from the Lord of peace Himself”; and he commends the Romans twice to “the God of peace” (ch. xv. 33, xvi. 20): the Corinthians he bids to “live in peace,” so that “the God of love and peace” may be with them (2 Cor. xiii. 11). There is nothing in the least degree strange or un-Pauline in the wishes here expressed, except the fact that they are put in the third person—“Peace to the brethren,” etc.—instead of being addressed directly to the readers in the second person, as in all other of the apostle’s extant closing benedictions. This peculiarity, as we observed in the first Chapter, is in accordance with the encyclical and impersonal stamp of the epistle.[184] It is Paul’s most catholic benediction, his blessing upon “all the Israel of God” (comp. Gal. vi. 16).