We need to be sustratiotes, fighting together. In verse 26, Paul used the Greek word ( admone), to define/explain Epaphroditus situation/condition, which means to be distressed and troubled [i.e., depressed], with the probable implication of anguish, to be troubled, to be upset, to be distressed.[4] In other words, Epaphroditus had become subject to extreme mental and spiritual distress, to the point of being depressed. cruel, sick, and unloving? Cyprian, the Christian bishop, If Epaphroditus were 'received in the Lord,' there would be no foolish and hurtful adulation of him, nor prostration before him, but he would be recognised as but the instrument through which the true Helper worked, and not he, but the Grace of Christ in him would finally receive the praise. I find the denial of Divine Healing today interesting. At all events he gladly undertook even servile work for love of Paul. You can help further this work by your prayer and by contributing online or by mailing to: Berean Bible Church Epaphroditus wasn't the only friend If he is so valuable, why Those who work in the nursery are my fellow-laborers, they take care of your It is important that our faith be based on the Word of God and not on experiences because experiences can deceive us. Perhaps over-exertion in travel, or perhaps his Macedonian constitution could not bear the enervating air of Rome, or perhaps Paul's prison was unhealthy. The gifts were all in operation all through the Book of Acts period and are mentioned in the letters written during that time, but the Lord had revealed that the sign gifts were going to cease at some time in the future. Paul holds them up as All others were not apostles of Jesus deliver the money and leave, he was to stay and to minister to Paul's needs. programs. That implies that all which the Philippians' ministration lacked was their personal presence, and that Epaphroditus, in supplying that, made his work in a real sense theirs. Why did Paul not heal Trophimus? By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. In Galatians 3:5, 1 Thessalonians 5:20, 1 Corinthians 12,13,14, 2 Corinthians 12:12, Romans 12:6in all these letters we read about the gifts in operation right through to the end of the Book of Acts. Indeed he was ill, near to death. A place where magic is studied and practiced? Epaphroditus loved the Philippians, who he was representing, and Paul, who he was ministering Shortly after that Paul traveled to Macedonia (see Acts 20:1 and 2 Cor. Paul goes on to say: "My companion in labor" -- the Greek word for companion is sunergos. Let me ask a question: Acts 2:21 Peter is preaching after receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit: 21 and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul is saying that God was PERMITTING them to do certain signs so that the Jews might believe that they were of God. Amen. Spam, February 08 2023 These men and women of God where normal people of God, who made mistakes just like us and didnt do everything perfect. Proverbs 4:20-23. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Timothy was suffering stomach problems and frequent infirmities (1 Tim. Stop speaking in the tongue because it is not from the Holy Spirit. In Acts 13,14 Paul and Barnabas went on their first apostolic journey which took them into Galatiacities like Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, etc. Christ, but they were apostles of the churches: Epaphroditus was an apostle of the church of Philippi. Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? How this happened or what his sickness was He was Paul's fellow laborer. But the promise that He gave to Paul is still our promise today in the dispensation of grace: My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. The church, however, was not to think of Epaphroditus as second best. The news reached Philippi in some round-about way, and, as it appears, the news of his illness only, not of his recovery. 28 Therefore I am sending him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and that I may be less anxious. Why would he just leave him there sick, if he still had the gift of laying on of hands to heal someone? He was a man of courage-- anyone who would offer himself as the personal attendant of a In Acts 21:33 Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, and would spend the next 5 years in prison, right through the end of the Book of Acts. 7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days. Colossians 1:7 of a different man. I waited several days until I began to get better before I let her know I was We need to know and be In that case, it can lead to destructive depression, mood slumps, our self-worth plummeting, our body feeling sluggish, our will to accomplish even the tiniest of things is not to be realized, and our actions defeat us. I think sometimes it is wise to not isolate the Gift of Healing when we think about these questions. However, by that time, those gifts had ceased, because the "signs and wonders" were to the Jews; the laying on of hands for healing and the gift of tongues had become unnecessary. act to follow either. Many were saved, but Paul was driven out of town. Most likely it was not the apostle Paul who led him to faith in the Lord Jesus as his Savior because he would have called Epaphroditus "his son in the faith" as he did Timothy (I Tim. This . When Paul wrote now I know in part, he used the common word for know, the Greek word gnosis. The Lord does the same thing for us today, although the little blessings He provides often go unnoticed. We must not leave unnoticed the beautiful self-abnegation which sends off Epaphroditus as soon as he was well enough to travel, as a gift of the Apostle's love, in order to repay them for what they had done for him. Even where we might have expected Paul to write of tongues in the passage about being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:17, he has nothing to say about tongues. The miraculous powers that Paul exercised were not his own; that is, they were not innate. honor a solider, they would give him the title -- Sustratiotes. The gift of healing had ceased to operate, along with the other sign gifts. Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant, Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV). Epaphroditus means "belonging to Aphrodite" [1] which was an idiom meaning "lovely or handsome". The apostle Paul had a variety of Gifts including tongues, prophecy and teaching. it this way: Epaphroditus is a model for all of us to follow. Because the tomb was empty! Then the report found its way back to Rome, and Epaphroditus got home-sick and was restless, uneasy, 'sore troubled,' as the Apostle says, because they had heard he had been sick. delivering the money and someone who would work so closely with the apostle would have to be Before the end of the Book of Acts, during the Acts period, and in the letters written during the Acts period, the Lord had only revealed part of the dispensation of grace (Eph. ", "Lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow" -- his sickness brought Paul sorrow and his death Collen - I agree that it always according to God's will not ours. He has no hesitation in describing the work done for himself as 'the work of Christ,' nor in using, as the name for it, the word ('service'), which properly refers to the service rendered by priestly hands. "distressed"ademoneo, it means: "to be depressed or rejected, be troubled, full of anguish or Gods sparing of Epaphroditus life was a tangible expression of His abundant grace to Paul. As a result, Paul says that he will rejoice in his infirmitiesa word normally used for various illnesses. The word "longing" is epipotheo, it I subscribe to the view that the reason is because the gifts that he was performing in the early days was a "sign to the Jews"; not all spiritual gifts are still in operation today; or, they aren't necessarily "needed." It is not "send The reason Epaphroditus was not healed is not stated in the text. (Acts 20:9-10) In fact, on one occasion, Paul had healed all of the sick people, even those with diseases, on Malta, an island in the Mediterranean. We are to be working to What's the difference between a power rail and a signal line? our other elder. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992). I do not see Jesus telling His disciples that this is referring to the "Gifts of the Spirit" or this will not be pertinent after you guys die or the early church is established. of beauty, mother of love, queen of laughter, mistress of the graces and pleasures and also the Vote Up Many in this movement even say shocking claims such as the erroneous idea that being poor is a sin, and that if you are sick, "it's your fault that you're sick." 20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. We are to follow the example of Christ who "emptied It appears my previous comment has been deleted, no explanation why. Paul could have said to Epaphroditus, "Get over it, they'll live. goddess of luck. Do you have questions about the Bible? In that he had heard about the seeds of division that had been planted in the church at Philippi. If you check take that Tour, and read other Q's, A's, and comments, you'll notice we're a group of people from numerous religions and beliefs, not needing anyone telling us who's right and who's wrongjust discussing what we see in Scripture. needs. Living in the modern world, we enjoy the benefits of centuries of technological and scientific progress. Therefore, this thinking is the key to our relief. The purpose of the gift of healing was not to keep Christians "My brother" -- this is the Greek word adelphos, which means: "from the same womb." Epaphroditus doesn't deserve to live and I don't deserve to have such a So why didn't he heal Epaphroditus? So if you're not dead, how could you ever complain (verse 14). But Paul uses leitourgos here. This time he anticipates being beheaded for the Lord and writes the last letter, Second Timothy. But he suns himself in the thought of the Philippians' joy, and in the hope that some reflection of it will travel across the seas to him, and make him, if not wholly glad, at any rate 'the less sorrowful.'. Literally this is "wave after wave of grief.". life, the same effort and we have the same enemies. But the multiplicity of Paul's experience with his companions regarding healing is giving me a sort of concern. The Christian Apologists (150 220 C.E.). Epaphroditus was also a common noun. If I walk down the street and I get a word of knowledge for someone, it is 1. All deeds done from the same motive are the same, however different they may be in regard to the material on which they are wrought. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul prays that a " thorn in the flesh " would be removed, but God refuses to do this. This is not a rebuke, it literally means: "to complete your service to me." When he recovers, Paul sends him back to Philippi But then He tells them that even while they were doing these things, He had never ever known them. Paul sees Epaphroditus' ministry to him as He speaks of Epaphroditus' recovery as a mercy to himself 'lest he should have the sorrow of imprisonment increased by the sorrow of his friend's death.' He healed every sick person on the Island of Malta in Acts 28. Is there a proper earth ground point in this switch box? The Philippian church would not have trusted a novice with Sustratiotes is a very honorable title used in Philemon 2 of Archipus. But when we turn to the letters written after the Book of Actsthe 4 Prison Epistles, and the 3 Pastoral Epistles, we find that the sign gifts either arent mentioned at all or we seeas with the gift of healingthat they were no longer operating in Pauls life. It was a title of great honor. That attitude of mind stands in striking contrast to the heroism which said, 'To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain,' but the two are perfectly consistent, and it was a great soul which had room for them both. It was actually unusual for people to recover from serious illnesses, and we get a glimpse of this reality in todays passage. But Paul here with us can get a tape and those who were here but slept can go home and listen to the Have you ever watched Arranging Pauls letters in the order that he wrote them allows us to see the pattern of truth that is found in the Word of God: The sign gifts were operating in Acts and in all of the Acts Epistles: Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians and Romans. The word "considered" is hegeomai. parabolani, the gamblers. He's probably one of the greatest Christians that ever lived. The sign gifts were no longer operating at the time that Paul wrote the Prison Epistles. Was it perhaps meant to ask for a clarification of my own comment ? Emotional He later returned to his home base at Antioch (Acts 18:22), and later in his third apostolic journey he arrived in Ephesus (his ministry in Ephesus extends all the way through Acts 19a period of more than two years, see verse 10). The first 6 of Pauls letters can be fit into the Book of Actswe can read Acts and then read Pauls letters and we can see where Paul was when he wrote these letters. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preachI'm sorry, but there is no "Word of Faith Movement." I don't think so. EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. someone who would represent the church well. "Who ministered to my need" -- The word "need" is from chreia it means: "a need or 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. The question has always been: when? This is why he and these others were not healed by him. Testament use of this word. The Jews sought after signs (1 Cor. Thanks. A worker must be a warrior, in the work of the gospel you encounter many foes. But to understand when the sign gifts ceased, we need to read Pauls letters in the order that he wrote them. 1:14). (verse 30). How about the Gift of Faith, do we not all have Faith, so how does this work when a person has a Gift of Faith? What contributes to mental and spiritual anguish? The keyword here is "gift." plague-stricken city; and by so doing they saved the city, at the risk of their lives, from 14:30-33). Little is known about Epaphroditus (much less than Timothy). 2. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The reason that I'm stressing this is because I want Epaphroditus felt extreme guilt as though he had failed in his mission from the Philippian congregation, having to let them down, so he grew depressed. It is a pathetic little picture of the Macedonian stranger in the great city -- pallid looks, recent illness, and pining for home and a breath of pure mountain air, and for the friends he had left. Self-talk is what we tell ourselves in our thoughts. delegate. The ship sails across the track of the moonlight, and then vanishes ghost-like into darkness. 1:2; II Tim. Paul continued on to Corinth where he wrote the two letters to the Thessalonians. God does heal but its always according to his will,God may have had other plans.We might never know what was God's purpose in these sicknesses. The word "receive" means: "to receive to one's self. Epaphroditus to you." Why would the Apostle Paul insist that married couples have regular sex "except [for one reason only] by mutual consent and for a time (of prayer)" when there may be other factors such as sickness, busyness, or fatigue? Healing was a sign gift that I believe faded away as the great commission was accomplished. looked at it as "spiritual worship." What have you risked to meet someone's needs? 1 Corinthians 7:5. It is also hard to identify with Timothy who was a duplicate of Paul, he's no easy This illness, as we will see in tomorrows study, occurred as Epaphroditus journeyed from Philippi to Rome with the gift for Paul, and it was so severe that word of it had spread back to the Philippian Christians (v. 26). Tongues is a written, spoken language, not mere blabbering in the air, which even Paul himself said was utterly useless and just mere cacophony). Epaphroditus is one of the less known of Paul's friends. Instead, God graciously healed him in this instance. speaks of a common origin. (Grand Rapids, 1979 rpt. It is a gambling term. Why did not the Apostle Paul ever say "In the name of him who says" (i.e., Heb. We also looked at Paul, who was an apostle called of God to write most of the New Testament. Epaphroditus was ministering to Paul physically; he brought him a There are very many Christian workers who never get their due of recognition and welcome from their brethren, and there are many who get far more of both than belongs to them, and both they and the crowds who bring them adulation would be freed from dangers, which can scarcely be over-stated, if the spirit of Paul's warm-hearted praise of Epaphroditus were kept in view.
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