What Does Philippians 4:3 Mean?
Yes, I ask you also, true yokefellow, take hold with those women, who struggled beside me in the good news, with Clement also, and with the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the scroll of life.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.THE KEY
The request to help these women rests on what they already are: yoked partners who have struggled alongside him.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to a community carrying work together: these women have already struggled alongside the speaker in the gospel, and the yokefellow is asked to join their labor. Their names are in the book of life; the verse holds them as named people, not anonymous hands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that being asked for help means someone has not already carried the work: these women are named as those who struggled alongside the speaker.
THE ROOT
σύζυγε
syzyge
GROWS FROM
ζυγ-
zyg-
Yoke; join for a shared pull.
“yokefellow” in this verse is syzyge. The word pictures a partner joined to the work, not a bystander assigned to help. The verse’s request makes sense because shared labor is already the relationship named here.
ALSO GROWS
zugos: Yoke
ζυγός
The concrete yoke joins two animals to one pull, making partnership part of the word’s image.
syzygos: Yokefellow; one joined with another
σύζυγος
This is the same word family as the address to the “true yokefellow,” carrying the image of shared work.
syzeugnymi: Join or yoke together
συζεύγνυμι
This verb makes the joining explicit: the shared bond is what brings the partners into one work.
συνήθλησαν
synēthlēsān
GROWS FROM
ἀθλε-
athle-
Strive or contend in a contest.
“laboured with” in this verse is synēthlēsān. The verb describes more than ordinary effort: it carries the force of striving in a contest. Its “together” prefix makes the struggle shared, matching the yoke image in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
athleō: Strive or contend in a contest
ἀθλέω
This is the verb’s core sense: the women’s labor involves exertion within a struggle.
athlēsis: Contest or struggle
ἄθλησις
This noun uses the same root for sustained striving, illuminating the weight carried in their labor.
synathleō: Strive or contend together
συναθλέω
This is the verb’s dictionary form; the prefix syn means “together,” so the contest is shared.
ὀνόματα
onomata
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
onom-
Name; the identity by which someone is known.
The plural keeps each person distinct within the group. Beside the book of life, their names point to people held as known and named, not only remembered for their work.
ALSO GROWS
onoma: Name
ὄνομα
The verse says their names are in the book of life, keeping their individual identities in view.
onomazō: Name or call
ὀνομάζω
This verb shows a name as something spoken and recognized, not merely an entry in a list.
THE PATTERN
Shared work is sustained by partnership: those who labor together bear the burden and remain present to one another.
But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and set it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on this side and the other on that side, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.Two are better than one, because they have good wages for their toil.Only live as citizens in a manner that carries the weight of the good news of the Anointed One, so that whether I come and see you or, being away, I hear of the things around you, that you stand in one breath, one living soul, wrestling together for the trust of the good news.THE THREAD
Only live as citizens in a manner that carries the weight of the good news of the Anointed One, so that whether I come and see you or, being away, I hear of the things around you, that you stand in one breath, one living soul, wrestling together for the trust of the good news.“Striving together” in Philippians 1:27 is συναθλέω (synathleō, strive together), the same Greek verb rendered “laboured with” here. Philippians 4:3 names these women as participants in that shared gospel struggle.
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