Philippians 4:2–3
2 4:2I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 4:3Yes, I ask you also, true companion,1 help these women, who have labored2 side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Section Overview
This passage is the climax of the body of the letter. Paul urges two prominent women in the church to “agree in the Lord” (4:2). This exhortation is not an afterthought to the gospel; it is an application. Reconciliation is gospel application. The gospel is relevant for all of life, including personal conflicts. Gospel reconciliation requires gospel thinking. Paul’s joy and the Philippians’ joy are both at stake. Look again at the similarities between this passage and 2:2 (AT):
Complete my joy so that you may think the same thing (to auto phronēte). (2:2)
I urge Euodia and Syntyche to think the same thing (to auto phronein) in the Lord. (4:2)
Disunity will quickly dissolve a gospel partnership, so Paul asks someone to help these women reconcile. The women can reconcile in the gospel now because they were contending for the gospel at Paul’s side, just as Clement and the rest of Paul’s coworkers were (4:3).
This passage has a key connection to the thesis verse of the letter (table 2.15).
TABLE 2.15: Key Connection between Philippians 1:27 and 4:3
| “striving side by side (synathleō) for the faith of the gospel” (1:27) | “who have labored side by side (synathleō) with me in the gospel” (4:3) |
Section Outline
Response
The Mind of Christ and Personal Conflict
Personal conflict is possible for people in Christ only when they have lost the mind of Christ. The goal of a third-person mediator is very pointed: help the conflicting parties recover the mind of Christ. In the body of Christ, we can never claim irreconcilable differences. It should come as no surprise that conflict will come to fallen people living in a fallen world, but the gospel gives hope amid conflict because in Christ there are no irreconcilable differences. The word “irreconcilable” (ESV “unappeasable”) appears only once in the NT: in 2 Timothy 3:3, where it describes non-Christians. The word literally means “no offering” or “no altar.” The cross has cancelled out the word “irreconcilable” because Christ was slain on the altar as a sacrifice sufficient for forgiveness.
All differences will be resolved between brothers and sisters in Christ in heaven. Because they will be resolved there, we have hope they can be resolved here. As much as it depends upon us, we should try to be at peace with all people because of our belief in the gospel. Do you need to apply the gospel and reconcile with someone? Do you need to apply the gospel by helping others reconcile?