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Verse 21

But that ye also may know my affairs, how I do, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known unto you all things: whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts.

This message is nearly identical with Colossians 4:7f, indicating that Tychicus was also the bearer of other letters besides this one. Tychicus was a native of Asia (Acts 20:4), is named among the delegates to the Gentile churches who went with Paul to Jerusalem, and was mentioned as a messenger of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:12 and Titus 3:12. Bruce observed that, "On the present occasion, he was probably Paul's special envoy to churches in the province of Asia which were planted in the course of Paul's Ephesian ministry."[25]

Whom I have sent ... This may sound strange, since Tychicus was still with Paul when this was written. "This is the epistolary aorist tense ... at the time they read this letter, he will have been sent."[26]

[25] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 135.

[26] Alfred Martin, op. cit., p. 753.

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