5. Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and (as) the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas ?
This is an amplification of the preceding verse. Have we not the power^ i. e. the right. To lead about^ a form of expres- sion chosen because the apostles were not stationary ministers, each with his own parish or diocese, but were constantly tra- velling from place to place. A sister^ i. e. a Christian Avoman. A wife, this determines the relation which this traveUing com- panion sustained. It is as much as saying, 'A sister who is a wife.' Many of the Fathers explain this passage as refer- ring to the custom of rich women attending the apostles on their journeys in order to minister to their support. In this interpretation they are followed by many Romanists in order to avoid the sanction which the ordinary and only legitimate interpretation gives to the marriage of the clergy. As other apostles ; Hterally, " the other apostles." This does not neces- sarily imply that all the other apostles were married ; but the implication is that as a body they were married men. 01s- hausen and others understand the apostle, in the vs. 4-6, as asserting his Hberty as to three points ; 1. As to meats, ' Have I not the same liberty that you claim as to eating and drink- ing ? ' 2. As to marriage, ' Have I not the right to marry ? ' 3. As to support. But this introduces more into the text than the connection warrants. There is no question about the right of marriage alluded to in the context ; and what fol- lows is a defence neither of his liberty to disregard the Jewish laws about meats and drinks, nor of his right to be married.
A7id the brethren of the Lord. Whether these were the children of Joseph and Mary, or the children of Mary, the sister of our Lord's mother, is a point very difficult to deter- mine. Tradition, or the general voice of the church, is great- ly in favour of the latter opinion. The former, however, is probably the opinion embraced by a majority of modern com- mentators. The discussion of this question belongs properly to the evangelical history.* The following passages may be compared on this subject: Matt. 1,25. 12,46. 13,55. Luke
*^The question is discussed by Neander, in his Planting of the Church, p. 654 ; by Winer, in Real Worterbuch, under the head of Jacobus ; by Prof Schaf, who has devoted to it a volume ; and by many other writers, ancient and modern.