Ephesians: Paul Sends Tychicus
Ephesians 6:21-22 - Paul recognizes that he can’t do it all by himself, but he needs beloved friends and other believers to help him.
“But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts.”
Ephesians 6:21-22 NASB1995
Paul is wrapping things up in his epistle to the Ephesians. He is sending a beloved brother as an envoy to the Ephesians to inform them of his circumstances and what they in Rome are doing to bring comfort to the hearts of believers.
So who was Tychicus? Let’s look at Gotquestions.org for an answer:
Tychicus is one of those Bible characters who probably doesn’t receive the recognition due them. True, Tychicus is only mentioned five times in the New Testament, but the ministry he provided was noteworthy.
We first meet Tychicus in Acts 20:4, during Paul’s third missionary journey. He is mentioned as one of Paul’s companions on the way from Corinth to Jerusalem to deliver a gift to the church there (see Romans 15:25–26). We learn that Tychicus was a native of Asia, or what we would call Asia Minor today.
Tychicus is called a “dear brother” of Paul’s and a “faithful servant” of the Lord’s (Ephesians 6:21). In Colossians 4:7, Tychicus is a “faithful minister and fellow servant” who was with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment. He was entrusted to deliver Paul’s epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians and to bring news of the apostle to those congregations: “Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. . . . I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts” (Colossians 4:7–8). Encouragement is also mentioned as part of Tychicus’s ministry in Ephesians 6:22.
In traveling to Colossae, Tychicus accompanied Onesimus, the former slave who was returning to Philemon. No doubt, Tychicus, as a good friend of Paul’s, emphasized the need for grace in receiving Onesimus back home (see Philemon 1:17).
Paul intended to send either Tychicus or another man to Crete in order to give Titus a chance to visit Paul (Titus 3:12). Later, Tychicus was with Paul in Rome during the apostle’s second Roman imprisonment, and Paul sent him to Ephesus in order to free up Timothy for a visit (2 Timothy 4:12). In both Crete and Ephesus, then, Tychicus was an “interim pastor” of sorts, filling in for Titus and Timothy.
There is an unnamed believer alluded to in 2 Corinthians 8:22, described as a “brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you.” Many commentators surmise that this is a reference to Tychicus. The description seems to fit.
We may not know much about Tychicus, but what we do know is impressive and praiseworthy. Tychicus was a trusted messenger, faithful preacher, and loyal friend. Paul placed great confidence in him, sending him to accomplish important works. Tychicus obviously had the ability to minister in a variety of situations, bringing encouragement to those he served. Tychicus surely modeled the quality that all church elders are to possess: “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:9).
There are so many unsung heroes of the faith in the New Testament. Their names are mentioned a few times or they are lauded, like Tychicus (I believe it is pronounced Tuchickus). We don’t have sufficient records from the early church, but there must have been many leaders like Tychicus who gladly traveled from one place to another to bring the messages from Paul and the other Apostles to growing congregations .
A word of caution: When trying to place these events historically to understand the development of early church, I seriously do NOT recommend using Wikipedia as a source of information. They rely entirely too much on “critical” modern historians and scholars that question or deny Scripture; these sources also disbelieve the veracity of the Apostles and early church leaders. Whenever I read one of their articles on Christianity, I always sense an underlying motive to dismiss the claims of our faith and plant seeds of doubt. I do use Wikipedia for other reasons (space history, history of World War II), but believers would be better served by relying on sites like Bible Hub and Gotquestions and Precept Austin for church history.
For more on how Paul shows the Ephesians his concern and care through Tychicus, I recommend this sermon from Steven Cole: The Caring Church. Precept Austin also links to a sermon by Wayne Barber; here are a few paragraphs from that sermon:
We live in a star-studded world. If you are not a somebody, you are a nobody. There is no in between. That is not the way it is in the body of Christ. Many of you have gifts that nobody will ever see function, but you are just as important as the people who are out front. One day when the rewards are given out we are going to be surprised by who are first in line. They may not be the people we thought they were going to be. It doesn’t matter who is out in front as long as each of us are loving God and serving Him out of the gifts that God has given to us. Because when the job gets done it is not man’s work anyway. It is God’s work, and He will get the glory for all of that.
Tychicus was the “Joshua” behind Paul. Do you realize that for 40 years all Joshua did was say “Yes” to Moses. That is a real good job. “What do you do?” “I do whatever Moses wants me to do.” “Come on, what else do you do?” “I do whatever Moses tells me to do.” “How long have you been doing this job?” “Forty years.” That is real thrilling. But behind every person who is out in front, there are many you may never see or hear but they are just as important to God as the people who are the most visible.
Let’s look at Tychicus and see what Paul has to say about him. There are three things that he calls him. Two of them are in this passage and one is in Colossians 4:7. To me this helps us understand how the people who are the unsung heroes work alongside the heroes of the faith and how the work of the ministry gets done in the New Testament. Verse 21 says, “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister.” First of all, he is a beloved brother. The term “brother” immediately casts the idea of a family. Some of you may have brothers that you might want to think about today. I don’t happen to have one. I have a sister.
You may have a brother. They tell me brothers are very close. They share a lot in common. There is kinship, a blood tie. There is something about being a brother. There is something about being in a family. We know Paul is not talking about a natural, physical brother. He is talking about a spiritual brother.
You may ask, “How in the world can I find brothers in the family of God? Do you mean when I receive Jesus into my heart I become a part of a huge family? Do you mean if somebody else has received Christ, he is a brother or she is a sister?” Yes. The family of God is wonderful. By the way, the family of God is a functional family. Thank God He took us out of the dysfunctional family of Adam and put us into the functional family of the Lord Jesus Christ, into eternal life. He put us into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. So we are a part of the family, a spiritual family, and I have many spiritual brothers just like Paul.
The key to the whole thing is not the fact that he is a spiritual brother, but that he is a beloved brother. The term beloved is a term of endearment. It is someone that you love, but it also someone that you are deeply devoted to. You don’t call everybody “beloved.” Beloved means they have struck something in your heart. There is a common cord there. There is a bond of love, a bond of faith that draws you together. In this picture of being beloved, it is not just from me to you. If you were beloved to me, then I would be beloved to you. In other words, Tychicus could say of Paul that he was a beloved brother, just like Paul says of Tychicus that he is a beloved brother. Why? Because they were devoted to each other. The term “beloved” is a two-way street. There is a flip side to that. You are not going to call somebody who doesn’t love you, somebody you don’t trust, somebody you don’t share things in common with beloved. But when you find somebody who loves you that way and you can love them that way, the two of you to each other are beloved.
What a great message! The whole sermon is at this link. May you find beloved brothers and sisters in the faith!
My next devotional examines the last two verses of Ephesians (6:23-24), where Paul sends a blessing to the Saints at Ephesus.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I pray that I can have a beloved relationship with other believers; I’m not the warmest and kindest person in the world (I am slowly improving), but I can learn about Christian fellowship through the examples of Paul and his beloved companions. Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
Precept Austin was accessed on 07/09/2026 to review commentary for Ephesians 6:21-22.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 07/09/2026 to answer the question, Who was Tychicus in the Bible? © COPYRIGHT 2002-2026 GOT QUESTIONS MINISTRIES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com. Commentary from Enduring Word was not used for this devotional.