Honor your gospel servants
But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26 For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
Paul goes on to speak of another coworker who was well known to the Philippians, Epaphroditus. He calls Epaphroditus a brother united with him in faith, a fellow worker for the gospel, and a fellow soldier who has shared danger and hardship with the apostle in the struggle for the gospel. Epaphroditus, who was probably a leader in the church at Philippi, had been commissioned by the congregation to go to Rome, not only to take Paul a gift from their congregation but also to remain with Paul in Rome as his personal servant and assistant. Epaphroditus himself was actually a part of the gift that the Philippians had sent to Paul. Paul regarded their sending of this man as a real spiritual service, something given not only to him but to the Lord.
Now, however, Paul was sending Epaphroditus back to the Philippians sooner than they had expected. In the course of serving the apostle, Epaphroditus had fallen ill. We are not told the nature of his illness. Perhaps the long journey, followed by strenuous efforts for the gospel and the apostle in Rome, had exhausted him. Perhaps he had fallen victim to malaria or to the fevers that often raged in Rome. At any rate, Epaphroditus had been gravely ill. For a while, humanly speaking, his very life hung in the balance. In his mercy the Lord spared Epaphroditus’ life, and, in that same mercy the Lord spared the apostle the grief of having his faithful servant taken from him by death.