Ver. 22. +But the test through which he+, Timotheus, +passed+ (_ten dokimen autou_) you remember (_ginoskete_, "you recognize," as you look back); you know +that as child with father+ so +he with me+, in closest companionship and sympathy, +did bondservice[3] for the Gospel+, _eis to euaggelion_, "_unto_ it," for the furtherance Ver. 23. of its enterprise and message. +So him then+ (_touton men oun_[4]) +I hope to send, immediately upon+ (_hos an_ . . . _exautes_) +my getting a view of+ (_apido_) +my circumstances+, my position with regard to my trial Ver. 24. and its result. +But+ (though I thus allude to external uncertainties) +I feel sure, in the Lord+, in the light of union and communion with Him, +that I too in person shall speedily arrive+, in the track of this my messenger and forerunner. Ver. 25. +But I count[5] it obligatory+ (_anagkaion_), and not merely a matter for hopes and personal satisfaction, +to send to you+, as I now do, in charge of this Letter, another person, +Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier+, a man who has toiled and contended at my very side for the Lord and against the Enemy, +while he is+ also +your missionary and ministrant[6] for my need+. Yes, I feel that I _ought_ Ver. 26. to send him, and to send him _now_; +since he has been suffering from home-sickness for[7] all of you+, (all, without exception; his affection knows no party or partiality,) +and from the distraction+ (_ademonon_) of over-wrought feeling, because you have heard that he Ver. 27. fell ill[8] (_esthenese_). +And+ so it was; +for he did fall ill, almost fatally+ (_paraplesion thanato_). +But our+ (_ho_) +God pitied him+, sparing him the grief of broken hopes and purposes in the Lord's work on earth, and the grief of being a cause of tears to you; +and not only him but also me, that I might not have[9] sorrow upon sorrow+. For had he died, I should have had a sore bereavement, and the sad consciousness that you, in a loving effort for my benefit, had lost a beloved friend; and all this added to, heaped upon (_epi_ _c. acc._), the antecedent pain of my captivity and the trials which it involves. Ver. 28. +With the more earnestness therefore I have sent him,[10] that seeing him you may be glad again, and that I may feel less sorrow+, finding my imprisonment, and also my loss of this dear friend's company, softened to my heart by the thought of your joy in Ver. 29. welcoming him back. +Receive him therefore in the Lord+, in all the union and sympathy due to your common share in Him, +with all gladness, and+ Ver. 30. +hold in high value such men as he is; because on account of Christ's work he was at death's very door,[11] playing+ as it were the +gambler with his life,[12] that he might+ (lit., "may") +supply your lack+, do the service which you could not do, and so complete your loving purposes, in regard +of the ministration+ you designed +for me+.