8 Responses He did not act on his own. Epaphroditus was one with Paul in sympathy, one with him in work, and one with him in danger. Spam, February 08 2023 Work done for Paul was done for Jesus, and that, not because of any special apostolic closeness of relation of Paul to Jesus, but because, like all other Christians, he was one with his Lord. delivering the money and someone who would work so closely with the apostle would have to be Not only did He save the former Pharisee, but He also gave Paul ext God's sparing of Epaphroditus' life was a tangible expression of His abundant grace to Paul. He comes back to the theme in the last words of the context, where he says that the Philippian messenger had 'hazarded' his life, or, as we might put it with equal accuracy and more force, had 'gambled' his life, or 'staked it on the die' for Paul's sake. know when he was converted, he might have been among the first converts in Philippi. 2:25-30) and Paul no longer had the gift of healing, and was no longer able to heal as he did only a few years earlier in Acts 28:9. of the church. "lovely or charming." We can now give a scriptural answer to the question that we started with: when did the sign gifts cease? The gift of healing by the laying on of hands, etc., was no longer needed, because that particular gift was a gift for a sign to the Jews! Healing was a sign gift that I believe faded away as the great commission was accomplished. financial gift, and was there to minister to Paul in any way that he could; do his laundry, carry We need to work hard in intellectual areas; we need to toil in study. The church, however, was not to think of Epaphroditus as second best. 13:8).1. back" but "send." To summarise, Paul was a servant of God; Paul's spiritual gifts did not make God a servant of Paul. We have no reason to suppose that Epaphroditus took part with Paul in his more properly apostolic work, and the fact that the purely material help, and pecuniary service which most probably comprised all his 'ministering,' is honoured by Paul with these lofty designations, carries with it large lessons as to the sanctity of common life. someone's concern for your condition? He was not just to to worry about me. (Phil. were operating all through the Book of Acts, and these gifts are mentioned in the letters that Paul wrote during the Acts period. healthy. If the Apostle Paul still had the power to heal why would he leave Trophimus sick, while Epaphroditus was also sick to the point of death in Philippians 2:27 and encouraged Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach and frequent ailments (1 Timothy 5:23)? Parallel Commentaries . The gift of tongues, prophecy and knowledge during the Acts period were only in partthey were incomplete, they did not communicate the full knowledge that the Lord had to reveal. Epaphroditus wanted to go back to Philippi so they would see that he was alright and end their Epaphroditus doesn't deserve to live and I don't deserve to have such a Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. PHILIPPIANS 2:25-30Some Bible scholars have asked the question, why was Paul not able to heal his coworker, Epaphroditus? He wasn't a teacher nor preacher that we know of. In Philippians 2 we read of a healing that God did after the gift of healing had ceased to operate: Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. This word is also used in: This "business" is chreia, it refers to taking care of their physical needs. feel bad because he is sick. means: "to intensely crave, desire greatly." So, in short, Epaphroditus grew sick on his 600-mile journey to Rome, to the point of death, which delayed him from fulfilling his mission of helping Paul. looked at it as "spiritual worship." If the Apostle Paul still retained the gift of healing by laying on of hands (or healing, in general), then there is absolutely no way under the sun that he (Paul) would have left any brother sick. They had prophesied in Jesus name, they had cast out demons and done miracles in His name. great opposition." If our hearts are set to 'hallow all we find,' the most secular duties will be acts of worship. Did Paul's handkerchief heal sick people (Acts 19:11-12)? This is Heresy 101 at its best!). 1:14). Those things are just as 3:3,4,9 and Col. 1:26,27, etc.). fulfilling our mission statement: "To influence friends who are living in spiritual darkness that This is not a rebuke, it literally means: "to complete your service to me." He knew they would be sad and their sadness has greatly affected him-- not his It was their aim to visit the prisoners and the sick, especially those In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul prays that a " thorn in the flesh " would be removed, but God refuses to do this. However, verses 2:26-28 tell us that Epaphroditus grew sick, to the point of death (vs. 27), while he was on his way to Rome. In the first six letters, all written during the period covered by the Book of Acts, we find that the sign gifts were operating in all these churches. We are to follow the example of Christ who "emptied We may further note the intensity of Paul's sympathy. [3] After dealing with his sickness, which caused him to delay his efforts to help Paul, he traveled on to Rome. He says that Epaphroditus risked his life to 'supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.' It is a compound word from Negative thoughts that flood our minds are the actual contributors to our self-defeating emotions. Whatever your condition is, it is far better than you deserve. God's sparing of Epaphroditus' life was a tangible expression of His abundant grace to Paul. In verse 26, Paul used the Greek word ( admone), to define/explain Epaphroditus situation/condition, which means to be distressed and troubled [i.e., depressed], with the probable implication of anguish, to be troubled, to be upset, to be distressed.[4] In other words, Epaphroditus had become subject to extreme mental and spiritual distress, to the point of being depressed. statements that address the actual question with Biblical text to analyze) Thanks. 1:22) so God gave them signsamong the Gentiles!in order to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom. sadness. God heals when it's in His will to heal; the difference is that the gift of healing (a man laying on of hands with instant healing) has ceased, and 2) so has the gift of tongues (it's no longer needed, but if it is used, I believe that God will allow it to occur, only when the church is edified, and only when there is an interpreter amidst the assembly! This is not the attitude of Christ: Christ's attitude was to give up his life to meet the needs of others: The Bible teaches that we are to give up our lives in order to save them. Why would he not heal his friend? When I had Guillain-Barre syndrome I didn't tell my mother I was sick because I didn't want her We know that Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus were all godly men. His level of sacrificial service becomes very instructive to us. 0 Responses [7] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. [5] Lightfoot John Lightfoot, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, 4 vols. Paul teaches that it's the "Word of Faith" which we preach. There were only 14 apostles in the official sense, the 12 plus Paul and The word believe means to accept, to receive, to take and also to agree. It came from God, and God could and apparently did choose to slowly withdraw the gift of miraculous healing from the Early Church. This word is used 13 times in the New Testament, 12 by Paul of people who work with him in He was a man of courage-- anyone who would offer himself as the personal attendant of a Most of us do the opposite of Epaphroditus, we regard our life as a thing so precious that it is to Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. God. We need to reach out and take back three areas of toil that used to be so much a part All through the Book of Acts we read of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of healing, etc.for example, tongues and prophecy in Acts 19:6, the gift of prophecy in Acts 21:10-14, the gift of healing in Acts 19:11-12 and 28:8,9, etc. At any rate he worked till he made himself ill. Was it because he had lost his faith, as some would tell us? Why did not the Apostle Paul ever say "In the name of him who says" (i.e., Heb. Many say that Epaphroditus was homesick. We are co-laborers. Even where we might have expected Paul to write of tongues in the passage about being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:17, he has nothing to say about tongues. Maybe you can't preach or teach, maybe you're not a leader or an administrator, but you can Then he goes on to say that he was God healed me completely and perfectly today. Those who couldn't be 1. Testament, 20 of them refer to physical sickness. It was used as a sign gift to unbelievers at those times when it was necessary to make To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. Simply: Stop! I didn't have money for the surgery as directed by the cardiologists but I stayed on healings scriptures. The power of working miracles, like that of foreseeing the future (comp. We but feebly echo Paul's rapture when he thought that there was 'neither Barbarian or Scythian, bond or free, but all were one in Christ Jesus,' and for all our talk about the unity of humanity and the like, we permit the old gulfs of separation to gape as deeply as ever. derived from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess, better known by her Roman name , Venus. And are we offering up spiritual sacrifices to God through our service? 12:9). . But, what happened? Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992). Weak in the faith is another use. self, to give of himself wholly to others. Paul says, in essence: "I will continue to do those signs IF God permit." And as for the gift of healing, we read of a co-worker of Paul's, Epaphroditus, who fell seriously ill during this time (Phil. Was it perhaps meant to ask for a clarification of my own comment ? Epaphroditus was ministering to Paul physically; he brought him a financial gift, and was there to minister to Paul in any way that he could; do his laundry, carry messages, or do what ever Paul needed. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. Epaphroditus' parents were most likely worshipers of Aphrodite. teaching. The principle here is that "God exalts the humble." Epaphroditus is that Paul didn't heal. Paul could no longer heal anyonenot Epaphroditus in Philippians 2, not Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23, not Trophimus in 2 Timothy 4:20. Pauls gift of healing (Acts 28:9) was no longer operating in Philippians 2:27, 1 Timothy 5:23 and 2 Timothy 4:20. Epaphroditus. The Lord does the same thing for us today, although the little blessings He provides often go unnoticed. and they sure wouldn't have sent a lazy man. But the Edward D. Andrews wrote. Every breath that you take, every beat of your heart is mercy. on Phil no. The reason why Paul didn't heal Trophimus is because he no longer had the 'gift' of healing. Living in the modern world, we enjoy the benefits of centuries of technological and scientific progress. You find in 2nd Timothy 4:20, etc., that Paul lost the ability to heal people, and so on. 1 Corinthians 7:5. Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. We have work to do, EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. Epaphroditus was not distressed, i.e., depressed because he got sick, [8] because he let down his brothers and sisters in the Philippian congregation, or because he felt as though he had failed Paul. >From this verb we get the 2 Cor. Paul put the needs of the Philippians ahead of his own. word that has the idea of: "not at home, uncomfortable, troubled, or distressed.". It wasn't Paul's lack of compassion for his friend. He has authored ninety-five books. is not an official title. When is the last time you set aside something on your agenda But to understand when the sign gifts ceased, we need to read Pauls letters in the order that he wrote them. But with the close of Acts, God sets aside Israel for a time, and when God gave up on the sign people for a time, the sign gifts passed out of His program. chained to a guard: The Philippians, upon hearing about Paul's needs, took an offering and sent it by the hand of No wonder that men were eager to risk their lives for a leader who lavished such praise and such love upon them. [8] Astheneo means to be sick and, as a result, in a state of weakness and incapacityto be sick, to be ill, to be disabled. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 269. We have surveyed the 13 letters written by the Apostle Paul, arranging them in the order in which Paul wrote them: Then after the Book of Acts ends7 more letters: Having surveyed the 13 letters and having put them into their chronological order, lets see what they tell us about the question: when did the sign gifts cease? "Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus" -- Why? Again, we have no indication whatsoever that healing was his "right" or something which he could "claim." . When Jesus said in Mark 16:17-20 that these signs shall follow those who believe. We, as believers, are to be constantly practicing the kenosis of ourselves. Thanks for contributing an answer to Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange! So, to sum up what we have seen so far, from Acts 9 through Acts 28 we read of the earlier ministry of the Apostle Paul and find that during these years he wrote 6 of his 13 letters. Apart from Acts arguably Luke or Paul wrote it and Paul wrote the others - does anyone else say Paul could do miracles? Arranging Pauls letters in the order that he wrote them allows us to see the pattern of truth that is found in the Word of God: The sign gifts were operating in Acts and in all of the Acts Epistles: Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians and Romans. Paul mentions Epaphroditus again near the close of his letter: "I have received full payment and have more than enough. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. He was sent by them, he was their Events, what people say, and circumstances do not cause mental distress, anxiety, or depression. 8 And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. (II Corinthians 12:7-9) Epaphroditus came to Paul at Rome and became gravely ill, but Paul who had miraculously healed so many did not miraculously heal him (Philippians 2:25-30). 2:13) and that is where he wrote the second letter to the Corinthians. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preachI'm sorry, but there is no "Word of Faith Movement." But the Lord revealed to Paul that that which is perfect was coming. We as Berean Bible Church need to work at Though Paul had the gift of healing, he did not heal this individual. In Acts 13,14 Paul and Barnabas went on their first apostolic journey which took them into Galatiacities like Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, etc. Paul goes on to say: "My companion in labor" -- the Greek word for companion is sunergos. and stand against the social evils of our day. Thus, we can see Paul was not with Epaphroditus when he got sick, so the argument that he failed to heal him is not relevant. Epaphroditus was a plugger and they all would have missed him and it was no accident that he had left his congregation to take thousands of dollars to the apostle Paul. The terms in which the work of Epaphroditus is spoken of by Paul are very significant. used for minister is deokonos -- deacon. Galatians was written soon after Paul returned from that first journeysoon after Acts 14:27. 2:25-30) and Paul no longer had the gift of healing, and was no longer able to heal as he did only a few years earlier in Acts 28:9. goddess of luck. First-century life, however, was far different. These very thoughts are what keep us sluggish and contribute to our feeling frustrated, angry, or worthless. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. mean what ever Paul needed done, he would do. What contributes to mental and spiritual anguish? , , , , , For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. Paul uses this as a term of affection. The word of God is a Spirit. He is a co-worker, it's speaking of common effort, diligence. Paul uses the word sunergos here of himself and Apollos. And they did, because in the letters written after the Book of Acts, the sign gifts had ceased, just as the Lord said that they would. A trustworthy member of the congregation at Philippi, Macedonia, who was sent with a gift to Paul, then a prisoner at Rome (c. 60-61 C.E.). We simply don't know why Epaphroditus was so sick, aside from the statement in v. 30 that "he came close to death for the work of Christ." Whether there were so or no, the exhortation itself traces lightly but surely the lines on which Christians should render, and their fellow-Christians can rightly receive, even praise from men. All we know about him is what we learn from this passage. No matter where you go you can find God's family. That will tell you what an answer is. Calculating probabilities from d6 dice pool (Degenesis rules for botches and triggers), Recovering from a blunder I made while emailing a professor. soldiers marched abreast behind a solid wall of shields. What should they do? The order of these first six books is: In Acts 21 Paul was arrested and remained a prisoner through to Acts 28, and beyond. Have you taken the tour of our site yet? For indeed he was sick nigh unto death - Dr. Paley has remarked (Hor. Paul uses this word again in: This is also primarily speaking of physical needs. If I walk down the street and I get a word of knowledge for someone, it is 1. This miraculous healing was not only for Epaphroditus benefit but for Pauls as well, something that the Lord worked in order to keep the Apostle from having to endure the extra sorrow of losing a friend on top of the sorrows of suffering in prison (Phil. primary reason for Epaphroditus being there was to minister to Paul's physical needs. The context is that Paul was suggesting for this brother to use wine to help him with his stomach sickness. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV). 11:23; 15:3; Gal. They labor in setting up the In verse 25, we have a description of Epaphroditus. When I was in the military I met brothers and So if you're not dead, how could you ever complain (verse 14). He speaks of Epaphroditus' recovery as a mercy to himself 'lest he should have the sorrow of imprisonment increased by the sorrow of his friend's death.' they also may know the joy of loving the Lord Jesus Christ." Keyword: "IF". Is it possible to rotate a window 90 degrees if it has the same length and width? I waited several days until I began to get better before I let her know I was Why wasn't Pauls companion healed that day, I have no clue. Therefore, this thinking is the key to our relief. How about the Gift of Faith, do we not all have Faith, so how does this work when a person has a Gift of Faith? What is a word for the arcane equivalent of a monastery? Asked January 21 2014 If the gift of healing was still in operation, it's unlikely that Paul would have said to use something to merely "help" with your "infirmities." Jesus is speaking: 17 And these signs shall follow them that BELIEVE; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER. from death it is mercy. Romans 10:8-10 tells us: 8 But what saith it? Speakers: Pastor Ricky Kurth, Pastor Don HosfeldDetails, "But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping" (John 20:11).