Philippians 4:3

‘Yes, I ask you also, true yoke-fellow, help these women, for they laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life.'

Paul now seeks a mediator in one whom he calls ‘a true yoke-fellow ' (gnesie sunzuge) or alternatively one whom he names as Syzygos, (but if so the name is not witnessed anywhere else in the Greek world). We do not know who this was. Perhaps Luke had gone to them again. He was certainly Paul's yoke-fellow. In this regard note how the ‘we' passage in Acts 16 becomes ‘they' in chapter 17, returning to ‘we' when Paul returned to Philippi (Acts 20:6), possibly suggesting that Luke remained at Philippi for a time assisting the infant church, although we should note that he joined Paul again later. However, he may well have been a native of the area, and thus now labouring among them again. But however that may be, the important thing for us to note is that Paul expected a true yoke-fellow to strive for the unity of the church. This is one test of a true yoke-fellow of Christ. And Paul's plea was that he would help these women who had laboured with him in the Gospel, labouring alongside Clement (otherwise unknown. It was a very common name) and ‘the rest of my fellow-workers'. This possibly refers to the whole church of believers, for they are identified as those whose names are in the book of life. This is the book of life in which the names of all true believers were written from the foundation of the world (Revelation 17:8, compare Revelation 13:8). Compare how the disciples were to rejoice because their names were ‘written in Heaven' (Luke 10:20).

The appeal does not appear to suggest a serious situation, only one that could have developed into one if left to fester. It is one of concern for the unity of the church.