Philippians 4:2-4
2 I entreat and advise Euodia and I entreat and advise Syntyche to agree and to work in harmony in the Lord.
3 And I exhort you too, [my] genuine yokefellow, help these [two women to keep on cooperating], for they have toiled along with me in [the spreading of] the good news (the Gospel), as have Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life.

I came across this passage soon after publishing the last article on Conflict Resolution: A Necessary Skill.  I feel there are a few leader lessons we can learn from this small portion of scripture.

Let’s examine the situation.  These were two specific women.  Paul knew these women and had actually worked along side them for the gospels sake.  However, the news of the problem between these two women had made it from Philippi to Rome! (A distance by sea of at least 1200 miles!)

 Euodia means prosperous journey.  As one commentary puts it “she could be spoken of as one who has arrived.” 1
Syntyche means pleasant acquaintance, happy chance, good luck!  With personalities to match their names we might assume they could have been great friends.  Something happened between them, that Paul chose not to tell, but it was enough of a problem that he felt he had to intervene.

Here are some lessons we can learn from their situation.
 
1.   Disagreements rarely stay just between the two people.  We need to be aware of this, not only as individuals, but also in working with others in the church or region.  Unless people are instructed in how to settle disputes quickly, the flame will grow.

2.  We cannot take the settling of disagreements lightly.  Paul used the words “entreat and advise” and in other translations it is “beseech”.  These are strong words.  Beseech means “I exhort, I beg, please”.  He is asking each of these women to become reconciled and let go of the dispute for harmony in the Lord.  We need to understand the importance of settling even minor disputes before they grow into bigger problems.

3.  Leaders must take a role if necessary in helping settle the problem.  Paul exhorted the yoke-fellow to help these two women.  Leaders need to learn how to help others resolve issues.  Paul reminded this man that these women were valuable to him as well as the kingdom and he needed to get involved in the reconciliation. The Greek word for “help” means to take hold together with one, to assist, help, to succor.  Many leaders

4.  We cannot underestimate the need for unity and harmony in the body of Christ.

5.  These two women were apparently great assets to the church at Philippi, but something went wrong.  We need to guard our hearts and actions or the blessing we have been to the body can with an even small problem be negated by our attitude.  All of us can become victims of this divisive attitude if we do not keep in mind that those we work with have their names written in the Book of Life as well as ourselves.

Other added insights:

6.  Paul does not mention that fact that they were “women” as a reason for this conflict, and neither should we, as women, allow our hormonal changes become an excuse for not acting Christ like.  We need to help our women understand how to rely on the Holy Spirit to rein in those emotions.

 1Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Php 4:2-4). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.