Paul now appeals to the Philippians to give Epaphroditus a cordial welcome. With joy (literally, “with all joy”) is best understood in the sense of “hearts full of joy” (Moffatt) or “most hearty welcome” (Jerusalem Bible). As a brother in the Lord is literally “in the Lord.” It is possible to take the phrase with receive him. If so, it could mean “receive him as the Lord would receive him.” It is also possible to take it as qualifying with joy. The sense would then be to give Epaphroditus a most hearty Christian welcome, that is, “welcome him the way Christians should welcome fellow believers.” If this phrase is to be understood as an attributive to joy, it may be necessary to expand it in such a way as to indicate more precisely what the relation would be, for example, “with all joy, as would be characteristic of those who are in union with the Lord,” “with all joy, such as being in union with the Lord would produce,” or “with all joy, as believers in the Lord should.” Another possibility is to take the phrase as referring to the mutual relationship of the Philippians and Epaphroditus. If so, it can mean as a brother in the Lord, or “as a fellow believer who is in union with the Lord,” or even “because you are fellow believers in the Lord.”

The clause show respect to all such people as he is rendered in New English Bible as “you should honor men like him.” The expression translated respect has the components of honor and value (Moffatt “value men like that”). Since the honor and respect due to people who are like Epaphroditus must be based upon what they have done, rather than upon some personal characteristic or outward features, it may be useful to translate show respect to all such people as he as “give honor to all people who have done what he has done.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .