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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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I , im at all , nnd to treat him , and such as resembled him , with confrflpt * The incidental mention of Rpap hrodkus by Suetonius and Dio , serve to place the words of our apostle in their true , which is an important , light . When
the Gospel was first announced to the heathen world , every convert was expected to withdraw from such situations or emp loyments in the state as were deemed inconsistent with the pure
spirit of the Gospel . This is what the consul Clement did : and thus he incurred the accusation of the most despicable inactivity . Epaphrodkus from different views pursued a different conduct . Notwithstanding his conversion he
remained at his post , in the service of Nero , thus giving unavoidable offence _ to such Christians in Rome and other places as had any knowledge of him ; and the Philippians it seems were in the number of those who suspected
or accused him of duplicity and Weakness . The apostle Paul , with whose concurrence , and probably with whose advice , he acted , undertook his defence : and in this
interesting light the above pas . sage is to be considered . The term tjwsvy i o'S } he was sick , means to I * weak either in mind or in body , and the writer , agreeably to a custom familiar to him and other
astern authors , uses it in the same place , first in a metaphorical * jd then in a literal sense . See Mat . viii . 22 . Rom . iv . 1 Q . nenc 6 , verse 26 should be thus
pidcred : « He is full of anguish because ye heard that he is we ah , at indeed he is weak , being / by Jk nessnigh unto death . " Epa-^ roditus was naturally anxious to
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visit the Philippians and the other churches , because his conduct had been misconceived and cen - sured . Hence the pertinence and force of the apostle ' s testimony in his favour ; and hence too the propriety of the admonition tore * ceive him in the Lord with glad - ness , and to hold him and others like him in esteem . There were persons at Rome and other places .
who were loud in their profession of the Gospel in seasons of tranquillity and ease , but who be * came silent or fled in times of
trial . Epaphroditus was a man of a character the reverse of this : He courted no danger ; he made no vain boast of his profession ; but remained at his post till such
opportunities occurred as called upon him to honour and support the cause of Christ : and th « apostle calls upon the Philippians to receive and to respect him as a man of deeds and not of mere words , in opposition to those who
were men of words and not of deeds . As the ernperor u as at the head of the army , every man in hi * household was virtually a soldier ^ and in this respect as well as for his office of minister , no common odium had attached to Epaphroditus ; and to remove or to soften
this odium , the apostle with great dexterity calls him a fellow-sol dier xvith mey a minister of my wants , which terms are contrast * ed with the offices which Epaphroditus was known to sustain in the court of Nero . As the Philippiam
presumed to censure Epaphro - ditus , the apostle reminds them that at the risk of his life , he had
supplied to his friend in bond * what their inattention or unkind * ness had suffered him to want * ic the work of Christ he was
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On the Character of Epaphroditus * 423
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1811, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2418/page/39/
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