Send Someone to Antioch

Philo and Rheus Agathopus followed after me for God’s sake, and you did well to take them in as God’s servants. They give thanks to the Lord for you, because you gave them rest in every way. Nothing of it will be lost to you — nothing at all. My spirit is given in exchange for yours, and so are my chains — the chains you did not look down on and were not ashamed of. And the perfect hope, Jesus Christ, will not be ashamed of you. [a]

Your prayer went out to the church at Antioch in Syria. I come from there, bound in chains that could not be more fitting for God, and I greet all of you — I who am not worthy to be counted as from that place, since I am the least of them. Still, it was God’s will that I was counted worthy: not because of anything on my own conscience, but by the grace of God. I pray that grace may be given me in full, so that by your prayer I may reach God. So, for your work to be complete both on earth and in heaven, it is right that your church, in God’s honor, should elect an ambassador for God — someone to go to Syria and share their joy there, that they are at peace, that they have recovered their own proper size, and that their own body has been restored to them. It seems to me, then, a thing worthy of God: send one of your own with a letter, so that he can join them in praise — for the fair weather God has given them, and because your prayer has already brought them into harbor. Since you are complete, set your minds on what is complete. When you are willing, God stands ready to grant that things go well with you. [d]

The love of the brothers here in Troas greets you. I am writing to you from here by the hand of Burrhus, whom you sent with me along with the Ephesians, your brothers, and who has given me rest in everything. I wish everyone would copy him. He is a model of what serving God looks like. Grace will repay him in every way. I greet your overseer, who is worthy of God, and your council of elders, who befit God, and the deacons, my fellow servants, and all of you, one by one and together, in the name of Jesus Christ and in his flesh and blood, in his suffering and his resurrection, in flesh and in spirit, in the unity of God and of yourselves. Grace to you, mercy, peace, endurance, always. [i]

I greet the households of my brothers, with their wives and children, and the virgins who are called widows. Be strong, for my sake, in the power of the Father. Philo, who is here with me, greets you. I greet the household of Tavia, and I pray that she may be firmly settled in faith and love, in flesh and in spirit. I greet Alce — a name I long for — and Daphnus, who has no equal, and Eutecnus, and every one of you by name. Farewell, in the grace of God. [l]