The Christian Life

A Fellow Soldier (συστρατιώτης)
Paul refers to Epaphroditus as a fellow soldier in Philippians 2:25, highlighting those engaged in service who disregard the things of this world. A soldier is one enlisted to serve, as seen in 1 Corinthians 9:7 and 2 Timothy 2:4, where one avoids entanglement in civilian affairs to please the one who enlisted him. Believers must endure hardship as good soldiers of Christ (2 Timothy 2:3).
Examples include Epaphroditus, who publicly served Paul at his own risk, supplying what was lacking and nearly dying for the work of Christ (Philippians 2:29-30), and Archippus, who hosted the church (Philemon 2). Such servants are to be held in high esteem.
Serving as a soldier involves holding faith with a good conscience (1 Timothy 1:19-20), unlike those who shipwrecked their faith. Not all saints serve this way lifelong; it is for specific missions. Christian warfare uses spiritual weapons mighty in God for pulling down strongholds of false doctrines (2 Corinthians 10:3-4), not fleshly ones.
“Fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12) refers to agonizing like an athlete in training to lay hold of eternal life already possessed (1 Corinthians 9:25), not constant soldiering. Daily struggles target Satan or the flesh, but heavy armor of God defends against attacks, while light armor of hope and faith sustains everyday living in Christ. Opportunities to serve require setting aside daily concerns to serve well.

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A Fellow Soldier (συστρατιώτης) Word Study

Jude 6 | Fallen Angels Bound in Chains: Jude, Nephilim & God's Judgment
And the angels who did not keep their beginning but deserted their own dwelling, He has kept in perpetual chains under gloom until the great day of judgment.

While writing about men who have secretly slipped into the Church and changed the grace of God into licentiousness, Jude recalls God’s earlier judgments on such men. Among these punishments, Jude mentions the angels who left their first estate, or place of beginning.
These demons sought to corrupt the seed of man so that God’s promise to Satan in the Garden of Eden could be thwarted. They took women and bore mutants to them (Genesis 6:2, 4). The Nephilim resulted from this corruption of the human nature with the physical bodies the demons took on, abandoning their first estate as spirit beings. Not only did these demons seek to pervert the seed of man, but they worked out this unrighteousness in all flesh (Genesis 6:12).
After the flood, the demons again attempted to adulterate the seed of man; however, God did not permit them to succeed in their plan (Genesis 6:4). Those who sought to genetically modify the seed of man by using the woman to produce mutants, so that God’s promise could not come about, were bound in perpetual chains of gloom until the day of judgment comes.
Although these were men of renown for their stature and strength, they were a perversion of the human nature. As such, none of them will be resurrected to face judgment; they will be cast away forever into the lake of fire like the worthless adulterations that they are (Isaiah 26:14).

For more information about the Nephilim and Rephaim, read the Giants of Old.

Jude 6 | Fallen Angels Bound in Chains: Jude, Nephilim & God's Judgment Memory Verse