Philippians 2:27

Philippians 2:27. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death. Such a sickness must also in all probability have extended over some time. And St. Paul's words indicate that the report which the Philippians had heard had come short of the reality.

but God had mercy on him. The phrase is common in the Gospels in the petitions to be healed which men utter to Jesus. St. Paul does not consider that for all men it is a mercy to them that they be taken away, though he can say of himself that ‘to die is gain.'

and not on him only, but on me also. For there appears only to have been Epaphroditus and Timothy to whom the apostle could look with confidence at this time. To lose one at such a time would have been a crushing stroke.

left I should have sorrow upon sorrow. St. Paul does not mean by this that he would have had the sorrow of mourning over Epaphroditus' death added to the grief which he had felt while he was sick. He rather regards his life as an heritage of sorrow, from which sorrow never departs, and he says that to this, his wonted grief, the death of his friend would have brought an addition of sorrow. That this was St. Paul's view of his life we may see from Acts 20:23, where he declares that the Spirit bears him witness that in every city bonds and afflictions await him.