Colossians 4:7 - Exposition

All that relates to me (literally, the things concerning me ) Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant ( bondman ) , will make known to you ( Ephesians 6:21 , Ephesians 6:22 ; Titus 3:12 ; 2 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 1:8 ; 1 Thessalonians 3:2 ; Philippians 2:25 ). Tychicus appears first in Acts 20:4 , where he is called an "Asian" (of the Roman province of Asia, of which Ephesus was capital), along with Trophimus, who, in Acts 21:29 , is styled "the Ephesian." He accompanied the apostle on his voyage to Jerusalem (A.D. 58), with a number of others representing different Churches, and deputed, as Lightfoot thinks, in conformity with the directions of 1 Corinthians 16:3 , 1 Corinthians 16:4 , to convey the contributions raised for "the poor saints at Jerusalem." Trophimus was with St. Paul in Jerusalem ( Acts 21:29 ), and so, probably, his colleague (the words, "as far as Asia," in Acts 20:4 , are of very doubtful authority), he is now with the apostle in his imprisonment at Rome, about to be sent home with these two letters (comp. Ephesians 6:21 , Ephesians 6:22 ), and in charge of Onesimus, on whose account the apostle sends a private letter to Philemon. In the interval between the first (present) and second imprisonment (2 Timothy), the apostle revisited the Asiatic Churches (so we infer from 1 Timothy 1:3 ), and Tychicus rejoined him; for we find St. Paul proposing to send him to Titus in Crete ( Titus 3:12 ), and finally sending him from Rome once more to Ephesus (2 Timothy 6:12). These facts sustain the high terms in which he is here spoken of. "In the Lord" belongs both to "minister" and "fellow servant." This language is almost identical with that used of Epaphras in Colossians 1:7 (see notes). Tychicus is "minister" ( διάκονος ), not to Paul himself ( Acts 19:22 ; Acts 13:5 , ὑπηρέτης ), nor in the official sense of Philippians 1:1 , but "of Christ," "of the gospel," or "the Church" ( 1 Thessalonians 3:2 ), as St. Paul himself ( Colossians 1:23 , Colossians 1:25 ). He is "a beloved brother" to his fellow.believers, "a faithful minister" of the Lord Christ, and "a fellow servant" with the apostle ( Colossians 1:7 ; Colossians 4:10 ; Philippians 2:25 ).