ἀδελφὸς καὶ πιστὸς δίακονος καὶ σύνδουλος ἐν Κυρίῳ· ^8ὃν ἔπεμψα πρὸς
ὑμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ἵνα
καὶ πιστὸς κ.τ.λ.] The connexion of the words is not quite obvious. It
seems best however to take ἐν Κυρίῳ as referring to the whole clause
πιστὸς δίακονος καὶ σύνδουλος rather than to σύνδουλος alone: for (1)
The two substantives are thus bound together by the preceding πιστός and
the following ἐν Κυρίῳ in a natural way: (2) The attachment of ἐν Κυρίῳ
to πιστὸς δίακονος is suggested by the parallel passage Ephes. vi. 21
Τύχικος ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς καὶ πιστὸς δίακονος ἐν Κυρίῳ. The question of
connecting ἐν Κυρίῳ with ἀδελπὅς as well need not be entertained, since
the idea of ἀδελπὅς, ‘a Christian brother’, is complete in itself: see
the note on Phil. i. 14. The adjective πιστός will here have its passive
sense, ‘trustworthy, stedfast’, as also in ver. 9: see _Galatians_ p.
154 sq.
δίακονος] ‘_minister_’, but to whom? To the churches, or to St Paul
himself? The following σύνδουλος suggests the latter as the prominent
idea here. So in Acts xix. 22 Timothy and Erastus are described as δύο
τῶν διακονούντων αὐτῷ. Tychicus himself also was one of several who
ministered to St Paul about that same time (Acts xx. 4). It is not
probable however, that δίακονος has here its strict official sense, ‘a
deacon’, as in Rom. xvi. 1, Phil. i. 1, 1 Tim. iii. 8, 12.
σύνδουλος] The word does not occur elsewhere in St Paul, except in i. 7,
where it is said of Epaphras. It is probably owing to the fact of St
Paul’s applying the term in both these passages to persons whom he calls
δίακονοι, that σύνδουλος seems to have been adopted as a customary form
of address in the early Church on the part of a bishop, when speaking of
a deacon. In Ignatian letters for instance, the term is never used
except of deacons; _Ephes._ 2, _Magn._ 2, _Philad._ 4, _Smyrn._ 12.
Where the martyr has occasion to speak of a bishop or a presbyter some
other designation is used instead.
8. ἔπεμψα] ‘_I send_,’ or ‘_I have sent_,’ ἔπεμψα being the epistolary
aorist; see the note on ἔγραψα, Gal. vi. 11. Tychicus appears to have
accompanied the letter itself. For similar instances of the epistolary
ἔπεμψα, ἐπέστειλα, etc., see 2 Cor. viii. 18, 22, ix. 3, Ephes. vi. 22,
Phil. ii. 25, 28, Philem. 11, Hebr. xiii. 22, Polyc. _Phil._ 13.
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