Philemon 1:23

There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Philemon 1:23-25. There salute thee Epaphras, &c. — Respecting these persons, see on Colossians 4:10; Colossians 4:12; Colossians 4:14. In that chapter, Philemon 1:10, Aristarchus is called the apostle’s fellow-prisoner; but as that particular is not mentioned here, it is not improbable that he had obtained his liberty about the time when this letter was written. Demas afterward forsook the apostle, namely, during his second imprisonment, from love to this present world, 2 Timothy 4:10. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ — That is, his unmerited favour, and the influences of his Spirit; be with your spirit — Imparting that wisdom and power, that peace and comfort, which nothing but the communications of his grace can give. As the word υμων, your, is plural, it signifies that the apostle’s wish did not respect Philemon alone, but all the persons mentioned in the inscription of this letter.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:23-25 Never have believers found more enjoyment of God, than when suffering together for him. Grace is the best wish for ourselves and others; with this the apostle begins and ends. All grace is from Christ; he purchased, and he bestows it. What need we more to make us happy, than to have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with our spirit? Let us do that now, which we should do at the last breath. Then men are ready to renounce the world, and to prefer the least portion of grace and faith before a kingdom.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

There salute thee Epaphras - The same persons who are here mentioned as greeting Philemon, are mentioned in the close of the Epistle to the Colossians - furnishing a high degree of evidence that Philemon resided at Colosse. Epaphras was a member of the church there; the notes at Colossians 4:12.

My fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus - In the cause of Christ; Notes, Plm 1:1. The circumstance of his being a prisoner is not mentioned in the parallel place in the Epistle to the Colossians, but nothing is more probable.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. The same persons send salutations in the accompanying Epistle, except that "Jesus Justus" is not mentioned here.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner—He had been sent by the Colossian Church to inquire after, and minister to, Paul, and possibly was cast into prison by the Roman authorities on suspicion. However, he is not mentioned as a prisoner in Col 4:12, so that "fellow prisoner" here may mean merely one who was a faithful companion to Paul in his imprisonment, and by his society put himself in the position of a prisoner. So also "Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner," Col 4:10, may mean. Benson conjectures the meaning to be that on some former occasion these two were Paul's "fellow prisoners," not at the time.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

We read of this Epaphras, Colossians 1:7, where he is called Paul’s fellow servant, and a faithful minister of Christ: he was with Paul at Rome, Colossians 4:12, but there is no mention of him as a prisoner; but now he was a fellow prisoner with Paul, either in the same place, or upon the same account.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

There salute thee Epaphras,.... Who was a Colossian, and minister of the church at Colosse, and so might be well known to Philemon, who seems to have been of the same place and church; see Colossians 1:7 his name is omitted in the Ethiopic version:

my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus; this good man, and minister of Christ, might have been sent by the Colossians, as Epaphroditus was by the Philippians, to the apostle at Rome, to pay him a visit, and comfort and assist him under his afflictions; and staying and preaching the Gospel there, was committed to prison, or was laid in bonds, as the apostle was, and upon the same account; namely, for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel. For by this time Nero began to persecute the Christians, which he did in the better and more moderate part of his reign; for among several things for which he is commended by the historian (b), this is one,

""Afficti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novae ac maleficae"; the Christians were punished, a sort of men of a new and bad religion:

and Epaphras being at Rome, when this persecution broke out, was taken up and put in prison, as were also Aristarchus, Colossians 4:10 and Timothy, Hebrews 13:23.

(b) Suetonius in Vita Neronis, c. 16.

Geneva Study Bible

There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Philemon 1:23 f. Salutations from the same persons, Colossians 4:10-14.

ὁ συναιχμάλωτός μου] See on Colossians 4:10. Here it further has expressly the specifically Christian character.[82] Comp. δέσμιος ἐν κυρίῳ, Ephesians 4:1.

The Jesus Justus mentioned at Colossians 4:11 does not here join in the greeting. The reason for this cannot be ascertained. It is possible that this man was absent just at the moment of Paul’s writing the brief letter to Philemon. According to Wieseler, p. 417, he was not among those in the abode of the apostle under surveillance (in Rome).

[82] Yet ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ might also be conceived as connected with ἀσπάζεται (Bleek). Comp. Php 4:21; Romans 16:22; 1 Corinthians 16:19. There is, however, no reason for separating it from the nearest word, with which even Chrysostom in his day expressly connected it.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Philemon 1:23. συναιχμάλωτος: lit. “a prisoner of war,” used metaphorically like συνστρατιώτης, see note on Philemon 1:2; cf. Romans 16:7, where the word is used in reference to Andronicus and Junius.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23–25. Salutations

23. There salute thee] Cp. Colossians 4:10.

Epaphras] Cp. Colossians 1:7, and note.

my fellowprisoner] Cp. Colossians 4:10, and note. This passage is in favour of explaining the term there also to mean “a visitor who is so much with me as to be, as it were, in prison too.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Philemon 1:23. Συναιχμάλωτος, my fellow-prisoner) On this very account Epaphras is placed before the others.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 23, 24. - Salute. The salutations correspond generally to those with which the Epistle to the Colossians closes, but they are fuller, as is natural, in the longer Epistle. The order is in - Colossians:

Tychicus

Onesimus

Aristarchus

Marcus

Jesus Justus

Epaphras

Lucas

Demas Philemon:

Epaphras

Marcus

Aristarchus

Demas

Lucas My fellow-prisoner. The word occurs elsewhere only in Romans 16:7, besides the parallel passage in Colossians 4:10. As to Epaphras, see above. Marcus, having once forsaken the apostle (Acts 13:13; Acts 15:37-39), had now returned, and was with him in Rome. Aristarchus was "a Macedonian of Thessalonica," and had accompanied St. Paul in his memorable voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2). Demas was now the "co-worker" of the apostle at Rome, but at a later period he had departed unto Thessalonica (2 Timothy 4:10), and we know nothing of his subsequent history. Tradition (Epiph., 'Haer.,' 41:6) relates that he also apostatized from Christianity; but the apostle's phrase, though a strong one, does not necessarily mean this. Lucas (see 2 Corinthians 8:18). Philemon 1:23

Vincent's Word Studies

Epaphras my fellow prisoner (Ἑπαφρᾶς ὁ συναιχμάλωτός μου).

Epaphras is mentioned Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12. Some identify him with Epaphroditus, but without sufficient reason. Epaphroditus appears to have been a native of Philippi (Philippians 2:25), and Epaphras of Colossae (Colossians 4:12). Epaphroditus is always used of the Philippian, and Epaphras of the Colossian. The names, however, are the same, Epaphras being a contraction.

It is disputed whether fellow-prisoner is to be taken in a literal or in a spiritual sense. For the latter see Romans 7:23; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Ephesians 4:8. Compare fellow-soldier, Plm 1:2, and Philippians 2:25. In Romans 16:7, the word used here is applied to Andronicus and Junia. Paul was not strictly an αἰχμάλωτος prisoner of war (see on Luke 4:18). The probabilities seem to favor the spiritual sense. Lightfoot suggests that Epaphras' relations with Paul at Rome may have excited suspicion and led to his temporally confinement; or that he may voluntarily have shared Paul's imprisonment.