THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
Here the Apostle says much in their praise, that is, in praise of the Philippians, indeed very much, as someone else might say of Apostles and Evangelists. You, he says, do not care only for one city entrusted to you. You do everything to share my labors with me. Everywhere you are present, working with me and taking part in my preaching.
And not for one, two, or three years, but always from the time you received the faith, even until now, you preserve apostolic zeal. See how the Romans abandoned him. Listen to what he says: "You know that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among them Phygellus and Hermogenes" (2 Tim 1:15). And again: "Demas has forsaken me" (2 Tim 4:10). And again: "At my first defense no one stood with me" (2 Tim 4:16).
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But they, the Philippians, even at a distance from him, shared in his afflictions. They sent men to him, served him according to their strength, and in general left him lacking in nothing. You do this, he says, not only now, but always, helping me in every way.
To help the Apostle means to take part in the preaching of the gospel. When he preaches and you serve the preacher, you also take part in his crowns. In outward contests, the crown belongs not only to the athlete, but also to his trainer, his attendant, and all who care for him. Those who strengthen and encourage him may justly share also in the victory.
In battles too, not only the man who distinguished himself, but also all who served him, may rightly claim the trophies and share the glory, insofar as they took part in his struggle by their services.
To render service to the saints is not a small thing, but a great one. It makes us sharers in the rewards prepared for them. For example, someone has left great possessions for God, always relies on God, and labors much in virtue, observing great strictness in everything, even in words and thoughts. Yet even without such strictness you can share in the rewards prepared for him for such struggles.
How? If you serve him in word and deed, if you comfort him by supplying what he needs, and by every kind of service. By this you make the difficult path easier for him.
Therefore, if you marvel at those who live in deserts, who have chosen the angelic life, and at those who struggle like them in the churches, and if you marvel and grieve that you fall very far behind them, you can become their participants in another way, through service and zeal.
This too is the work of God's love for mankind. Even those who are less zealous and unable to lead a harsh, difficult, and strict life, He raises by another path to the same rank. This is what Paul calls fellowship.
They, he says, share with us in carnal things, and we share with them in spiritual things (Rom 15:27). If God grants the Kingdom for what is small and insignificant, then His servants also repay spiritual things for what is small and sensible. Or rather, through them God Himself gives both.
You cannot fast, live in solitude, sleep on the ground, or spend whole nights in vigil. Yet it is possible for you to receive the reward for all this in another way: if you show zeal toward the one who struggles in this, if you constantly give him rest and encouragement, and if you lighten his labor.
He stands in battle and receives wounds. Serve him when he returns from the battlefield. Receive him with outstretched arms. Dry his sweat, give him rest, comfort him, cherish him, and encourage his weary soul.
If we serve the saints with such zeal, we shall be participants in their rewards. Christ also speaks of this: "Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations" (Lk 16:9).
Do you see how they became participants? "From the first day," he says, "even until now." Therefore, he says, "I rejoice with joy for your fellowship." I rejoice not only over the past, but also over the future, because from the past I infer the future.