Teammates - Euodia And Syntyche

Philippians 4:2-3

A cynic might say that Christian history is all about church fights. In the first few centuries, disputes over various heresies shaped Christian theology. Later, church splits made big news—the East-West Schism, the Protestant Reformation, the Methodist movement, Pentecostalism, etc. In each case, there have been faithful people on both sides, each side believing that the other was terribly wrong.

We see a glimpse of this in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Two women were disagreeing. We know nothing about the details of this tiff, but it was important enough for Paul to mention. We don’t even know who Euodia and Syntyche were, apart from what Paul tells us. They had worked side by side with Paul in spreading the gospel, but now they were working against each other.

From clues in Acts 16, we might guess that these women were hosting or leading house churches. It’s even possible that one of these women was also known as Lydia, the woman who had opened her home to the apostles on their initial visit.

Now Paul urges them to “Settle your disagreement”—literally to “be of the same mind” (Philippians 4:2). Was the dispute personal, procedural, or doctrinal? We know of other church rifts based on a Jew-Gentile division, or on policies regarding holidays or what food could be eaten, but these themes don’t appear in Philippians. What does appear is the beautiful hymn to the humility of Christ in chapter 2. There, the people are urged to “be of the same mind” and to share the mind of Christ. Perhaps the Euodia-Syntyche dispute was merely a matter of “complaining and arguing” between two people who liked to get their own way (Philippians 2:14).

Note that Paul does not take sides, nor does he criticize the character of either woman. Instead, he affirms them for their past efforts. He also asks for some mediation from his “true partner” (Philippians 4:3). The Greek word he uses is syzygus, which could be a name, but it also means “teammate,” a fellow ox pulling a plow. This could be Timothy or Epaphroditus, both mentioned already in this epistle—or it could refer to the whole church. All of us can step up and bring peace to contentious situations, affirming the contenders but also calling them to abandon their pride and to agree to pull together in the Lord’s work.

Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.

Philippians 4:2