Euodia and Syntyche were presumably members of the church at Philippi. Evidently there was some disagreement between them. These women in verse 3 obviously refers back to them.

In his appeal to them Paul repeats the verb “I urge,” indicating his eagerness in trying to resolve their disagreement. Good News Translation tries to capture this sense by rendering “I urge” as please, I beg you.

Try to agree as sisters in the Lord is literally “to think the same thing…” or “to have the same mind in the Lord.” The expression try to agree as sisters (rendered having the same thoughts in 2.2) means much more than to agree in thought or opinion; it means rather to strive after a unity and harmony in life which is possible because of their common bond in the Lord. No sisterhood is possible without the lordship of Christ. In this context the familiar phrase in the Lord may have the meaning of “in submission to the Lord.” A literal rendering of try to agree as sisters might suggest to some readers that Euodia and Syntyche were, in fact, close kin. It may be better in some languages to render sisters in a manner parallel to the way in which brothers is translated, namely, “as fellow believers.” In this type of context in the Lord may be made more specific by rendering this phrase as “by obeying the Lord.”

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 .