Objection: Epaphroditus Worked Closely with Paul, Yet Was Sick unto Death

Philippians 2:25-30:
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.
For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

It is amusing that people would use the case of a man who was raised from his deathbed by the power of God as an objection to divine healing.  The objection is that if people could just receive healing by faith, Epaphroditus should have just done it.  It is also sometimes added that if Paul really had authority over sickness, he should have healed Epaphroditus right away.

Consider why Epaphroditus was sick.  He was sick “for the work of Christ,” ministering to Paul’s needs, trying to supply the Philippians’ lack of service toward Paul.  In other words, he was making the mistake of trying to do someone else’s job as well as his own because the other job wasn’t getting done.  While that seems noble, it can also be the path to exhaustion in the ministry.  Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).  He is not an Egyptian taskmaster who drives people to the point of despair.  In ministry, you need to be led by the Spirit, not led by every need you see.  You will always see more needs than you can possibly meet yourself.  It’s not your job to try to solve every problem in the world.

Natural laws still apply to Christians.  If you overwork yourself, even in the ministry, you will wear your body down and become susceptible to illness.  Likewise, if every meal you eat is a hot fudge sundae, you will eventually get sick, and it would have nothing to do with any failure of God’s healing covenant.  It is a natural law that you will have various problems in your body if you weigh so much that you practically need a fork-lift to get you out of bed.

Now consider Epaphroditus’s attitude toward his illness.  Paul obviously didn’t teach him that it was something good.  Epaphroditus was heavy in heart because he knew that word of his sickness had gotten back to Philippi.  Paul was sending Epaphroditus back so that everyone could rejoice in his healing!

Although Epaphroditus may have overworked himself trying to help Paul, God was merciful to him and healed him.  If you are seeking God’s kingdom first, God will overlook some of your faults and have mercy on you, as long as you don’t deliberately try to live on mercy.

The fact that his healing was attributed to God’s mercy proves that his healing was supernatural.  So why didn’t Paul just “instantly” heal him?  Jesus never promised that all sick people would recover instantly when we lay hands on them.  He promised only that they would recover.  Why didn’t Epaphroditus just pray and instantly receive his healing?  There can be a time between the point that you “believe that you receive” and the point that your healing fully manifests in your body.

If it were God’s will for Epaphroditus to be sick, He would not have healed him!  If you are “sick unto death” as Epaphroditus was, you should take comfort from the fact that Jesus is your merciful High Priest.  He can show you mercy just as He showed Epaphroditus mercy, even if you brought on your sickness yourself.  Far from being a real objection, the story of Epaphroditus is one more proof that God wants His people to be healthy.