Php 4:2 f. After this general exhortation, Php 4:1, the apostle, still deeply concerned for the community that is so dear to him, finds it requisite to give a special admonition to and for two meritorious women,[176] through whose disagreement, the details of which are unknown to us, but which probably turned on differences of their working in the church, a scandal had occurred, and the στήκειν ἐν κυρίῳ might more or less be imperilled. Whether they were deaconesses in Philippi (as many conjecture), must remain undecided. Grotius has erroneously considered both names, Hammond and Calmet only the second, to be masculine,[177] and in that case αὐταῖς in Php 4:3 is made to apply to others (viz. ΑἽΤΙΝΕς Κ.Τ.Λ.). For the two feminine names on inscriptions, see Gruter and Muratori. With Tischendorf and Lipsius (Gramm. Unters. p. 31), Συντυχή is to be treated as oxytone. Comp. generally Kühner, I. p. 256. The twice used παρακ.: “quasi coram adhortans seorsum utramvis, idque summa cum aequitate,” Bengel. An earnestly individualizing ἘΠΙΜΟΝΉ (Bremi, ad Aeschin. p. 400).

τὸ αὐτὸ φρον.] see on Php 2:2.

ἘΝ ΚΥΡ.] characterizes the specifically Christian concord, the moral nature and effort of which are grounded on Christ as their determining vital principle. Paul does not desire a union of minds apart from Christ.

Whether the disunion, which must be assumed, had its deeper root in moral pride on account of services in the cause of the gospel (Schinz), is not clear.

[176] According to Baur, indeed, they are alleged to be two parties rather than two women; and Schwegler (nachapostol. Zeitalt. II. p. 135) makes out that Euodia represents the Jewish-Christian, and Syntyche the Gentile-Christian party, and that γνήσιος σύζυγος applies to Peter! On the basis of Constitutt. ap. vii. 46. 1 (according to which Peter appointed an Euodius, and Paul Ignatius, as Bishop of Antioch), this discovery has been amplified with further caprice by Volkmar in the Theol. Jahrb. 1857, p. 147 ff. But exegetical fiction in connection with the two feminine names has been pushed to the utmost by Hitzig, z. Krit. Paulin. Br. p. 5 ff., according to whom they are supposed to have their origin in Genesis 30:9 ff.; he represents our author as having changed Asher and Gad into women in order to represent figuratively two parties, and both of them Gentile-Christian.

[177] Theodore of Mopsuestia quotes the opinion that the two were husband and wife.

Php 4:2. Εὐοδ. κ.τ.λ. This direct reference to a difference of opinion between two women of prominence in the Philippian Church is probably the best comment we have on the slight dissensions which are here and there hinted at throughout the Epistle. For, as Schinz aptly puts it (op. cit., p. 37), “in such a pure Church, even slight bickerings would make a great impression”. We find no trace of the cause. It may have turned on the question discussed in chap. Php 3:15-16. It may have been accidental friction between two energetic Christian women. But from the whole tone of the Epistle it cannot have gone far. Six Christian bishops named Εὐόδιος are mentioned in the Dict. of Christ. Biogr. The feminine name is also found in Inscrr[15].—Συντύχη. The name occurs both in Greek and Latin Inscrr[16]., as well as in the Acta Sanctorum (v., 225). Curiously enough, there is no masculine name precisely corresponding to be found except the form Sintichus (C.I.L., xii., no. 4703, from Narbo in Gaul. The Inscr. quoted by Lft[17]. is spurious). On the correct accentuation see the elaborate note in W-Sch[18]., p. 71. Lft[19]. has collected valuable evidence to show the superior position occupied by women in Macedonia. See his Philippians, p. 56, notes 2, 3, where he quotes Inscrr[20]., in some of which a metronymic takes the place of the patronymic, while others record monuments erected in honour of women by public bodies. We may add, from Heuzey, Voyage Archéol., p. 423, an Inscr. of Larissa, where a woman’s name occurs among the winners in the horse-races (see Introduction). For the prominence of women generally in the Pauline Churches, Cf. Romans 16 passim, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. The repetition of παρακαλῶ perhaps hints that Paul wishes to treat each of them alike. [Hitzig, Zur Kritik Paulin. Brr., p. 5 ff., exemplifies the pitch of absurdity which N.T. critics reached in a former generation, by supposing that these names represent two heathen-Christian parties, the one Greek, the other Roman.]

[15] scrr. Inscriptions.

[16] scrr. Inscriptions.

[17] Lightfoot.

[18] Sch. Schmiedel’s Ed. of Winer.

[19] Lightfoot.

[20] scrr. Inscriptions.

2. I beseech] R.V., I exhort. But the tenderer English word well represents the general tone here, and the Greek fully admits it as a rendering. See e.g. 2 Corinthians 12:8. Observe the repetition of the word.

Euodias … Syntyche] Read certainly Euodia, a feminine name. In the versions of Tyndale and Cranmer the second name appears as “Sintiches,” intended (like Euodias) to be a masculine name. But such a name is nowhere found in Greek inscriptions, nor is Euodias, though this might be contracted from the known name Euodianus. Both Euodia and Syntychê are known feminine names, and the persons here are evidently referred to as women, Php 4:3.—Of these two Christians we know nothing but from this mention. They may have been “deaconesses,” like Phœbe (Romans 16:1); they were certainly (see Php 4:3) active helpers of the Missionary in his days of labour at Philippi. Perhaps their activity, and the reputation it won, had occasioned a temptation to self-esteem and mutual jealousy; a phenomenon unhappily not rare in the modern Church.—Bp Lightfoot (on this verse, and p. 55 of his edition) remarks on the prominence of women in the narrative of the evangelisation of Macedonia; Acts 16:13-15; Acts 16:40; Acts 17:4; Acts 17:12. He gives proof that the social position and influence of Macedonian women was higher than in most ancient communities. See above, Introduction, p. 13. The mention here of two women as important persons in the Philippian Church is certainly an interesting coincidence with the Acts.—As a curiosity of interpretation, Ellicott (see also Lightfoot, p. 170) mentions the conjecture of Schwegler that Euodia and Syntyche are really designations of Church-parties, the names being devised and significant. This theory, of course, regards our Epistle as a fabrication of a later generation, intended as an eirenicon. “What will not men affirm?”

of the same mind in the Lord] They must lay aside pique and prejudice, in the power and peace of their common union with Christ.

Php 4:2. Παρακαλῶ, I [beseech], exhort) He uses this word twice, as if exhorting each of them apart face to face, and doing it with the utmost impartiality [implied by repeating the like word to each separately].

Verse 2. - I beseech Enodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord; rather, Euodia. It is plain from the next verse that both are female names. The narrative in Acts 16 shows that the female element was more than usually important in the early Philippian Church. These ladies seem to have held a high position in that Church; possibly they may have been deaconesses, like Phoebe at Cenchrea. Their dissensions disturbed the peace of the Church. The repeated "I beseech" is emphatic; it may, perhaps, also imply that both were in fault. St. Paul earnestly begs them to be reconciled, and to be reconciled as Christians, in the Lord, as members of his body, in the consciousness of his presence. Mark how often the words, "in Christ," "in the Lord," occur in this Epistle; how constantly the thought of spiritual union with Christ was present to the apostle's mind. Philippians 4:2I beseech Euodias and beseech Syntyche (Εὐωδίαν παρακαλῶ καὶ Συντύχην παρακαλῶ)

Euodias is incorrect, the name being feminine, Euodia. According to the Tex. Rec., with the long o, the name means fragrance; but the correct reading is with the short o, the meaning being prosperous journey. Syntyche means happy chance. These were prominent women in the Church, possibly deaconesses. The position of women in Macedonia was exceptional. In Greece, generally, their standing was inferior. The Athenian law prescribed that everything that a man might do by the consent or request of a woman should be null in law. In Macedonia monuments were erected to women by public bodies, and in Macedonian inscriptions records of male proper names are found formed on the mother's name instead of the father's. Macedonian women were permitted to hold property. In the account of Paul's labors in Macedonia there are notices of the addition of women of rank to the church in Thessalonica and Beroea.

For beseech, render exhort, and notice the repetition of that word with each name, making the exhortation individual and specific.

To be of the same mind (τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν)

The same expression as in Philippians 2:2, see note. Compare Romans 12:16. The verb φρονέω to be minded, occurs eleven times in this epistle, and but seventeen times in the rest of the New Testament.

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