Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

Philippians 2:25 Parallel Commentaries

July 11. "For it is God which Worketh in You" (Phil. Ii. 13).
"For it is God which worketh in you" (Phil. ii. 13). A day with Jesus. Let us seek its plan and direction from Him. Let us take His highest thought and will for us in it. Let us look to Him for our desires, ideals, expectations in it. Then shall it bring to us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Let Him be our Guide and Way. Let us not so much be thinking even of His plan and way as of Him as the Personal Guide of every moment, on whom we constantly depend to lead our every step. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 30. "In Lowliness of Mind Let Each Esteem Other Better than Themselves" (Phil. Ii. 3).
"In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves" (Phil. ii. 3). When the apostle speaks of "the deep things of God," he means more than deep spiritual truth. There must be something before this. There must be a deep soil and a thorough foundation. Very much of our spiritual teaching fails, because the people to whom we give it are so shallow. Their deeper nature has never been stirred. The beatitudes begin at the bottom of things, the poor in spirit, the mourners, and the hungry …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Willing Sacrifice
'That I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labour in vain. 17. Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. 18. And in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me.'--PHIL. ii. 16-18 (R.V.). We come here to another of the passages in which the Apostle pours out all his heart to his beloved Church. Perhaps there never was a Christian teacher (always excepting Christ) who spoke more about …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Plea for Unity
'If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, 2. Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3. Doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself; 4. Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.'--PHIL. ii. 1-4 (R.V.). There was much …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Copies of Jesus
'Do all things without murmurings and disputings; 15. That ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, 16. Holding forth the word of life.'--PHIL. ii. 14-16 (R.V.). We are told by some superfine modern moralists, that to regard one's own salvation as the great work of our lives is a kind of selfishness, and no doubt there may be a colour of truth in the charge. At least the meaning …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Paul and Timothy
'But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. 20. For I have no man like-minded, who will care truly for your state. 21. For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. 22. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child serveth a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel. 23. Him therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me: 24. But I trust in the Lord that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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 …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Descent of the Word
'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, 7. But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 8. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.'--PHIL. ii. 5-8 (R.V.). The purpose of the Apostle in this great passage must ever be kept clearly in view. Our Lord's example is set forth as the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Ascent of Jesus
'Wherefore also God highly exalted Him and gave unto Him the name which is above every name; 10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'--PHIL. ii. 9-11 (R.V.). 'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,' said Jesus. He is Himself the great example of that law. The Apostle here goes on to complete his picture of the Lord …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture