Philippians 2:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

That is, their own rest and safety. He says the same thing also in the Epistle to Timothy. Why does he grieve over this? In order to teach those who hear not to be such, and to teach them not to seek idleness. The one who seeks idleness seeks "not the things of Jesus Christ," but "all seek their own." We must be ready for every labor and every hardship.

That is, they seek their own rest and safety, since no one would freely wish to undertake such a journey. He says this both to praise Timothy and at the same time to teach his hearers not to seek rest. For whoever seeks it does not seek the things of Christ. Alas, how far we are from Christ!

What does it mean that they seek their own? Those who do not love God freely do not seek God for God's sake. They pursue passing advantages, seek profit, and thirst for honors from men.

When a superior is moved by love for such things and serves God for their sake, whoever he may be, he is a hireling. He cannot be numbered among the sons of God. Concerning such men the Lord says, "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward" (Mt 6:5).

The shepherd grieved among hirelings. He sought someone who would sincerely love the flock of Christ, and among those near him at that time he found none.

For all seek their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ. That is, they care only for their own benefit, instead of dying for the people entrusted to their care.

The praises of blessed Timothy are just. The divine Apostle has written them here both to show his own affection toward them, namely that he sent for their benefit the one in whom alone he found consolation, and to persuade them to receive him as a preacher of the truth with every readiness to serve (Phil 2:23). Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I know what will happen to me.

This work was entrusted to Timothy because he sincerely cares for you, and Paul gives precisely this reason. He also mentions the vice and sin: since all seek their own, that is, they are anxious for their own affairs, defend their own, and guard their own. This is not Christian. And what is Christian? It is to seek in each neighbor a brother who belongs to Christ.

"For all seek their own." With sorrow the Apostle reveals to the Philippians that those around him are for the most part self-seeking and do not show such devotion to the work of God as he sees in Timothy.

The Apostle hopes to receive comfort from this: that Saint Timothy, both by his good order and care for the Philippians and by his devotion to Saint Paul, will remove from their community all the undesirable things that so grieved the Apostle, according to the report brought by Epaphroditus. "For," Saint Paul says of Timothy, "I have no one equally zealous, who would care for you so sincerely. And you know his proven faithfulness, because as a son with a father he served with me in the Gospel."

Showing the fullness of his care for the Philippians, the Apostle tells them of his intention to send the Apostle Timothy to them. To awaken complete trust in him, he speaks of Timothy's entire devotion to the cause of Christianity, free from all self-interest, by which many false teachers were marked. The Apostle wished to send him, on the one hand, to learn the condition of the Philippians. On the other hand, he wished Timothy to be comforted by their progress, and at the same time to inform them of his own condition. This condition was evidently to change for the better. After that, he intended first to send Timothy, and then to go himself. From this the Philippians were to understand that the Apostle was not in a hopeless state. In all this, St.

The thought of possible death in bonds, or at least of their possible continuation, moves the Apostle to care for the spiritual good of the Philippians through someone else. The Apostle's choice rests on Timothy, who in character was very much like the Apostle, ΐαόψυχον. Therefore he could most suitably replace the Apostle Paul where Paul himself could not be present. All the others, who by bodily and spiritual qualities could have taken upon themselves the duty of envoy, lacked sufficient devotion to the work of Christ. They did not wish to obey the Apostle in everything as submissive children. The Apostle, however, will send Timothy only when he receives definite information about his own case. For he continues to hope for a speedy personal meeting with the Philippians. In that case Timothy's mission would, of course, prove unnecessary.

"All" does not mean all believers in general, but all those whom he could have sent. Probably none of the companions who accompanied him were with him except Timothy. Among the local believers there were some who had become especially attached to the Apostle. Yet they were still immature in the spiritual life. "They seek their own," that is, they had not yet ascended to perfect self-renunciation. They were not ready to sacrifice everything for the work of the Gospel: rest, possessions, and life. St. Chrysostom defines them as seeking "their own rest and safety." "And not the things of Christ Jesus." What is pleasing to the Lord embraces a wide field, the whole of life in all its manifestations. Those who were with the Apostle certainly did zealously all they could do in their own place.