Epaphroditus, the unexpected synergist (Phil 2:25)

(Php 2:25)  I have thought it necessary to send to you
Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier,
and your messenger and minister to my need
In this last video, a special case of this word synergia.
Just to demonstrate the sometimes our synergoi, the people
who God brings into our lives or alongside us may not be quite
who we expect.
(Php 2:29)  So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor
such men,
(Php 2:30)  for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his
life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Paul is writing Philippians from prison. He gets visited and
encouraged in prison by a visitor from Philippi. Whether this is a
Roman imprisonment or an Ephesian imprisonment, it’s a long
long way from Philippi.
But who was Epaphroditus?

– Epathroditus: all the instances from history are
of an enslaved person
– Named for/dedicated to Aphrodite – the
goddess of love/sex (aphrodisiac).
– A slave named after the goddess of sex. He is
a sex slave.
– His male owner would have kept him
effeminate and beardless and used him.
Paul calls him “brother, synergos and fellow soldier”
He calls him your messenger, “apostolos.”

V29 Receive him, honour him – urging them because they
might not naturally think like that
V30. Shames them a little – he completed what was lacking in
your service to me. I was in prison and he came – either on his
own initiative or sent by you. And this most unlikely of co-
workers has been such a blessing to me!