Philippians 2:27

For indeed, &c. Epaphroditus would have made light of the illness; St Paul assures them that the report was seriously true, and that the illness had a generous origin.

he was He has been.

God had mercy on him Though for him also "to die" would have been "gain" (Philippians 1:21), yet death in itselfis a dark passage, even to the Christian (see John 21:18; and 2 Corinthians 5:4). And meanwhile great are the joys of service on the pilgrimage, and deep their connexion with the coming joys of the heavenly country. "Those who are departed this life," says St Chrysostom here, "can no longer win souls." But perhaps the immediate thought is simply that death would have bereaved the Philippians of their friend, to whose loving heart it was thus "a mercy," for their sakes, to recover.

on me also Here, as so often in St Paul, a heart glowing with holy and generous affection expresses itself in a recognition of the importance of his friends to him. See e.g. Romans 16:4.

sorrow upon sorrow A sore bereavement would have been added to the grief caused him by the "brethren" of Philippians 1:15-16, and to the pervading grief of his separation by imprisonment from so many beloved friends. Observe the perfect naturalness of his language. He abides in "the peace of God"; he "has strength for all things" (Philippians 4:7; Philippians 4:13). But that peace is no frost, or torpor, of the heart; that strength is not hardness. He is released from embitterment and from murmurs, but every sensibility is refined by that very fact. It was so with his Lord before him; John 11:33; John 11:35; John 11:38.

This passage among others (e.g. 2 Timothy 4:20) shews that the mysterious "gift of healing," used by St Paul at Melita (Acts 28:8), was not at the absolutedisposal of even the faith of its recipient.