The apostle advances a further proof of the character of Timothy.

`But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel' (Phil. 2:22).

A man may honourably serve as a servant does a Master (Col. 3:22-24) and in that capacity he can `serve the

Lord Christ', but the highest form of service is that which is seen in the ministry of the Lord. While indeed He took

on Him the form of a servant there was nothing servile about His obedience. He indeed `served as a Son with the

Father' and no higher conception of service is to be found either in the pages of Scripture or in the testimony of

experience. This digression on the quality of Timothy's service is in keeping with the theme of the epistle. As we

have seen, Philippians is the epistle of service (Phil. 1:1).

The word dokime `proof' (Phil. 2:22) finds its correspondence in 2 Timothy 2:15, dokimos `approved', where

Timothy is addressed as `a workman', service still being uppermost.

The date of Timothy's journey to Philippi being somewhat dependent upon the apostle's knowledge of his affairs,

and seeing that another faithful messenger was already eager to return to that city, the apostle speaks of the bearer of

the epistle, Epaphroditus.

Bloomfield expands the apostle's thought thus :

`But (since these things, though probable are uncertain, that you might not be any longer ignorant of the state of

my affairs), I judge it necessary to send Epaphroditus, though he be not quite restored to health; yet lest you

should hear any false tidings of my fate, or his, I thought better to send him now, without waiting for another

opportunity'.

It is a well established fact that Epaphras is an accepted contraction of Epaphroditus, even as Silas is of

Sylvanus, or Apollos of Apollodorus.

It has been a matter of speculation as to whether Epaphras (Col. 1:7) and Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25) are not one

and the same person. Epaphras was a native of Colosse, `one of you' (Col. 4:12), but Epaphroditus is not so called

when writing to the Philippians. Both Epaphras and Epaphroditus are described by the apostle in similar terms.

Epaphras is described as `our dear fellowservant who is for you a faithful minister of Christ', while Epaphroditus is

described `my brother and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my

But these things prove nothing.  Epaphras may have been another fellow servant, quite distinct from

Epaphroditus. Both names were very common. We will therefore confine ourselves to the record in Philippians.

Epaphroditus `had hazarded his life', or had `not regarded his life', that he might supply the service which the

Philippians were prevented from rendering to the apostle.

The Received Text of Philippians 2:30 reads parabouleusamenos `regarding', but the critical texts read

paraboleusamenos `hazarding' and this has been accepted without comment in the Revised Version.

As a law term parabolos was the deposit made in an appeal case as a security, and so a `stake'. There is,

however, the possibility that the apostle when speaking of `the hazard' run by Epaphroditus was indulging in a

gracious piece of word-play. Before the reader can expect to follow this possible play on words, a little digression

will be necessary.

First, the reader will perceive that the name Epaphroditus contains the name of the goddess Aphrodite, the

Roman Venus. Secondly, we must remember that the apostle was well acquainted with the game of dice, for he uses

it in Ephesians 4:14, where the word `sleight' is the translation of the Greek kubeia `dice', from which comes the

English word `cube'; the word dice is the plural of the word `die', the `die' giving us the figure `the die is cast'.

Dice, similar to those in present use were found at Herculaneum, where the gamesters were overwhelmed at the

time of the destruction of Pompeii.

The game of dice was so popular that the Emperor Augustus wrote a treatise on it. We learn that the highest

throw, three sixes was called Aphrodite or Venus (cf. the `love' terms in tennis), the three aces being the lowest

possible throw and called `the dog'.