Philippians 4:3
Women who contended for the gospel
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
Yes, and I ask you, my true yokefellow, to help these women who have contended at my side for the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
and I also ask you, genuine yoke-fellow, be assisting those women who strove along with me in the good news, with Clement also, and the others, my fellow-workers, whose names [are] in [the] Scroll of Life.
또 참으로 나와 멍에를 같이 한 자, 네게 구하노니 복음에 나와 함께 힘쓰던 저 부녀들을 돕고 또한 글레멘드와 그 위에 나의 동역자들을 도우라 그 이름들이 생명책에 있느니라
또 참된 멍에 동료인 네게도 간절히 권하노니 복음 안에서 나와 함께 수고하고 또 클레멘트와 나의 다른 동료 일꾼들과 함께 수고한 저 여자들을 도우라. 그들의 이름이 생명책에 있느니라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Phil 4:2-9 as a whole
Let believers be of one mind, and ready to help each other. As the apostle had found the benefit of their assistance, he knew how comfortable it would be to his fellow-labourers to have the help of others. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Phil 4:3
And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow - St. Paul had many fellowlabourers, but not many yokefellows. In this number was Barnabas first, and then Silas, whom he probably addresses here; for Silas had been his yokefellow at the very place, Acts 16:19. …
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Near the end of the letter Paul names names. He urges Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord, and asks his "true yokefellow" to help the two women. They had fought for the gospel at his side.
Yes, and I ask you, my true yokefellow, to help these women who have contended at my side for the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
Philippians 4:3The church at Philippi began with women. On the Sabbath Paul and his companions "spoke to the women who had gathered there" (Acts 16:13) by the river; Lydia believed, and her house became the church's first meeting place (Acts 16:15, 40). Euodia and Syntyche seem to have been well known in that church, women who had worked alongside Paul. He does not hide their quarrel, but neither does he take a side: he sets the same verb, parakalō, "I urge," before each of the two names (4:2).
Here is in the dative after en, "in the gospel," the field in which they labored. The verb, sunēthlēsan, is the aorist of , the word of 1:27, "contending together as one for the faith of the gospel." What Paul asked of the whole church in chapter 1, these two women had already done. Beside them stood Clement and "the rest of my fellow workers," sunergoi. The "yokefellow," , is one who pulls in the same yoke; some have read the word as a proper name, Syzygus.
The versions differ over the verb and over Clement. The KJV reads, "help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers," and "laboured" softens the athletic picture that the BSB's "contended at my side" keeps. The LSV has "strove along with me." The KJV and the BSB both attach Clement to the women's labor, as the Greek meta, "with," suggests: they worked with Paul and with Clement.
Wesley writes, "St. Paul had many fellowlabourers, but not many yokefellows," and suggests Silas, "for Silas had been his yokefellow at the very place" Wesley. Others have proposed Epaphroditus or Luke. Wesley takes the verb literally, "who wrestled," meaning not preaching but "danger and toil endured for the sake of the gospel," and hears in the Book of Life an allusion to the wrestlers at the Olympic games, "whose names were all enrolled in a book" Wesley. Matthew Henry's word is simple: "Let believers be of one mind, and ready to help each other" Matthew Henry.
The Book of Life is the record of those who belong to God (Exodus 32:32; Revelation 3:5). Jesus told His disciples, "rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Paul says that the names of two quarreling women are written there.
The work of the gospel was not one famous apostle's alone but Clement's too, and that of the rest of Paul's fellow workers, whose names the letter does not give. Left out of the letter, those names were not left out of the Book of Life.