Congrats to Chaka who solved the riddle I posed yesterday.

Here’s the riddle:

Who is Sissy Gus?
Or Susie Goose?
Or is it Sudzy? Or maybe Sidzy?
Gus may be a sissy but he’s no Susie.
(His name is most masculine)
His problem is feminine.
Or possibly felines. It’s a cat fight.
But that might not be right.
Maybe it’s just a difference of opinion.

The answer is: σύζυγε, a person referred to in Philippians 4:3.

Sissy Gus is asked by Paul to intervene in a dispute between Euodia and Syntche, two of Paul’s coworkers in his ministry.

There are two puzzles about this passage:

1. Were the women fighting or just having a difference of opinion?
2. Was Sissy Gus the name of an actual person or just a title?

If you compare versions of Philippians 4:2 at NeXt Bible you get Paul asking them to do everything from agree to live in harmony to be of the same mind. The Greek expression is “think the same thing.”

Similar expressions occur in three other places in the New Testament:

Rom 15:5: a spirit of unity

2 Cor. 13:11: Be of one mind

Phil 2:2: Being like-minded

(There may be other occurrences but I’m just doing a quick search)

Despite the linguistic evidence for saying this was just a difference of opinion, I think there is plenty of evidence for saying that this was a serious and possibly bitter disagreement:

• Paul names the women by name.
• He begins the passage with a repetition of the forceful verb “I appeal.”
• And he calls in a mediator, our mysterious friend, Sissy Gus.

Now let’s turn to the true identity of Sissy Gus, or to be more accurate Sydzygus. Was this an affectionate title or a proper name. The name literally means “yoke-fellow” (as rendered by the KJV) and it is one of the descriptive terms that Paul uses to refer to his coworkers in the Gospel. Based on that evidence I would lean toward Sydzygus being a descriptive noun. But there’s a problem here. General principles of participant reference would lead us to expect that a person has been referred to previously with a proper name before a bare descriptive “nickname” like this is used. The previous passage is referring to the two women by name. The passage prior to that is referring to Paul’s “dear siblings.” So I’m a bit confused by the evidence here. The letter to the Philippians is just that, a letter to a congregation. There is no Titus or Timothy here that could possibly be referred to as yoke-fellow. Of course that doesn’t exclude the possibility that both Paul and the Philippians knew who Paul was referring to, possibly a special overseer which everyone recognized as Paul’s coworker.

A final bit of evidence for just seeing this as a descriptive term is the inclusion of the adjective “true.” Paul uses a similar phrase in Titus 1:4 to refer to Titus, “my true son.”

One other option that we should consider is that Sissy Gus is Epaphroditus the person sent back to the Philippians by Paul who ostensibly carried the letter. See Phil. 2:25 in which he is called a brother, coworker and fellow soldier.

Now it’s time for you to cast your vote:

Feel free to give more evidence for your choice in the comments of this post.