“Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.”
Welcome him in the Lord with all honor — the reiteration of 'welcome... in the Lord' frames Epaphroditus's reception as Christological event. His near-death and recovery becomes a sign of God's mercy. 'With all honor' (meta pasēs timēs) reverses the shame of his illness: he is victor-like welcome, not cautious pity. The repetition of this welcome formula (cf. v. 29) shows its importance: receiving Christ's servants is receiving Christ.
Church Fathers on Philippians 2:25
“But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier.” And him too he sends with the same praises as Timothy, for he commended him on these two points; first, in that he loved them, when he says, “who will care truly for you”; and secondly, in that he had approved himself in the Gospel. And for the same reason, and in the same terms, he praises this man also: and how? By calling him a brother, and a fellow-worker, and not…
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