Care

Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be encouraged by news about you. For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests; all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know his proven character, because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father. Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.

-Philippians 2:19-24

Years ago, I read verse 22, "For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests; all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.", and was struck by it, and realized I want to be like that.

What is striking is that Paul says "all".  Is he is talking about everyone in the world?  Or is he talking about everyone that he can think of on the apostolic ministry team?

Paul is saying, "No one else cares!" (Hawthorne).  Is this hyperbole?  Is Paul saying that Timothy is the one person uniquely fitted for the mission of helping the Philippians?

Timothy is a rare bird, who is, "anxious to promote the welfare of other people, and to give himself to a fatiguing journey and to the resolving of personal quarrels in the Philippian church" (Martin).

When Paul says, "all seek their own",  is he referring to the ministers who were in front of him and in his judgement, available for this difficult mission?  Is he referring to people he saw that simply would not volunteer?

Paul is writing here that, in his view, these people just did not care enough about Jesus, but were more filled with self-interest.  Paul sort of wins here, because we don't get to hear the other side.  Were these people acting like pagans and running after worldly things, or did they just disagree and thought that the ministry they were already engaged in was more important?

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Gerald F. Hawthorne & Ralph P. Martin, Philippians