Philippians 2:21

“For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ”

“For they all seek their own”: “They are all pursuing their own aims” (TCNT). “Everyone else seems to be worrying about his own plans” (Tay). This is not intended to refer to all the Christians that Paul knew, because Paul commends other Christians around the same time that he wrote this letter (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7). From 1 Peter 1:15 we have already learned that not every Christian in Rome was inspired by the highest motives. Hendriksen adds, “And so also, the very people whose names had momentarily occurred to Paul when the decision was made to send someone to Philippi, either had offered excuses or upon further reflection were simply dismissed from the apostle's mind as spiritually unqualified” (p. 136). “Paul had found, in all probability, that when he proposed to some that they should visit far-distant Philippi (some 600 miles distant), they all shrank, making various excuses.

Hendriksen notes, “But is it not true that upon his release Paul would like nothing better than to keep Timothy in his own immediate company? Was not Timothy the man whom Paul could least afford to spare? True, but in his mind and heart the apostle had already decided on this personal sacrifice. And this willingness always to subordinate his own immediate interests to those of the kingdom (1 Corinthians 10:33) also explains why the apostle can use such strong language with respect to those who are of an opposite disposition. Thus later also, during his second and far more severe Roman imprisonment, he was not selfishly going to try to keep around him as many friends as possible (2 Timothy 4:10)” (pp. 134-135).