(2) In the RV of Ac V 13^^ 175^ j^q 1313^ 1 q^ 33^ Ja 3'4. 16 'jealousy' is substituted for AV 'envy,' in Ac 5^'^ for 'indignation,' and in 2 Co 12^0 for 'emulation.' In all these instances the word is f^Xos (vb. f??Xdw), used in a bad sense, though in many other cases it has a good meaning and is translated ' zeal ' (Ro 10^, 2 Co T'- " 9'^ Ph 3«). In 2 Co ir-^ f^Xcjj ^eoO means a zeal or jealousy like
that which is an attribute of God, most pure in its quality, and making its possessor intensely solici- tous for the salvation of men.
In 2 Co 9^ the RVm suggests ' emulation of you ' as the translation of 6 vij.G)v ^rjXos. William Law, who calls envy ' the most ungenerous, base, and wicked passion that can enter the heart of man ' (A. Whyte, Characters and Characteristics of William Laiv^, 1907, p. 77), denies that any real distinction can be drawn between envy and emula- tion.
' If this were to be attempted, the fineness of the distinction would show that it is easier to divide them in words than to separate them in action. For emulation, when it is defined in its best manner, is nothing else but a refinement upon envy, or rather the most plausible part of that black and poisonous passion. And though it is easy to separate them in the notion, yet the most acute philosopher, that understands the art of distinguishing ever so well, if he gives himself up to emulation, will certainly find himself deep in envy.'
If this were the case, there would be an end of all generous rivalry and fair competition. But it is contrary to the natural feeling of mankind. Plato says, ' Let every man contend in the race without envy' (Jowetf-, 1875, v. 75), and St. Paul frequently stimulates his readers with the lan- guage of the arena. The distinction between (pd6vos and f^Xos (in the good sense) is broad and deep. The one is a moral disease — ' rottenness in the bones' (Pr 14^"), ' aegritudo suscepta propter alterius res secundas ' (Cicero, Tusc. iv. 8) ; the other is the health and vigour of a spirit that covets earnestly the best gifts. Nothing but good can come of the strenuous endeavour to equal and even excel the virtues, graces, and high achieve- ments of another. Ben Jonson has the line, ' This faire semulation, and no envy is,' and Dryden ' a noble emulation heats your breast.' f7?Xos (from f^w, 'boil') is, in fact, like its Hebrew equivalent .iN:p ('heat,' ' ardour '), an ethically neutral energy, which may become either good or bad, according to the quality of the objects to which it is directed and the spirit in which they are pursued. It in- stigated the patriarchs (^rjXdjaavTes, Ac 7^) to sell their brother into Egypt, and the Judaizers (f7?Xoi}- aiv, Gal 4''') to seek the perversion of St. Paul's spiritual children. Love (dyaTrr]) has no affinity with this base passion (oi f'l^Xo?, 1 Co 13*). Love generates a rarer, purer zeal of its own, and ' it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times' (KoXbi' di ^TjXovcrOai iv /caXy -rravTOTe, Gal 4^^).
James Steahan. EPiENETUS ('ETratVeros, Ro 16^— a Greek name). — Eptenetus is saluted by St. Paul and described as 'my beloved' and as 'the firstfruits of Asia unto Christ ' {rbv a-ya-rr-qTbv fiov, 6s iffriv airapXTl rrjs 'Aulas els Xpiarbv). The only other persons de- scribed in Ro 16 as 'my beloved' are Ampliatus (t6v dyaTrrjTdv /nov iv Kvpli^, v.*) and Stachys (v.^). Persis, a woman, is saluted perhaps with inten- tional delicacy as 'the beloved' (w.^'^). Epa^netus was probably a personal convert of the Apostle's, and as such specially dear to him. He was the first to become a Christian in the Roman pro- vince of Asia (the TR reading 'Axai'as must be re- jected in favour of 'Aaias, supported by the over- whelming authority of }«fABCD). Assuming the Roman destination of these salutations, Eppenetus must have been at the time of writing resident in or on a visit to Rome. (The discovery of an Ephesian Epa?netus on a Roman inscription is interesting but unimportant [Sanday-Headlam, Boman.-^ {ICC, 1902), p. 421].) But the reference to Epajnetus, together with the salutation of Prisca and Aquila (v.^), who appear in 1 Co 16"* and again in 2 Ti 41^* as living in Ephesus, has given rise to the suggestion that this section of Romans was originally addressed to the Church of Ephesus. Epsenetus, however, is not said to have
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EPAPHRODITUS
l>een an Ephesian (see Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, 1S93, p. 301).
For the designation ' firstfruits ' we must com- pare the description of the ' household of Stephanas ' (1 Co 16^^) — 'the firstfruits of Achaia' (d7rapx'7 t^s 'Axi^'^'s) — a-nd note the suggestion that ministry in the Church was connected at first with seniority (if faitli, a suggestion more than supported by Clement of Rome, Up. ad Cor. xlii. Nothing could be more natural than that the work of sujjer- intending the local Christian communities should be entrusted to those among the first converts who were found capable of undertaking it. The term 'firstfruits' had a special religious significance — that of dedication to God — and this idea must have been present when the original nucleus of a church was so called. Epoenetus, as the senior Christian, had a position of responsibility ; and that he was actually a leader would appear from his place in these salutations — second only to ' Prisca and Aquila my fellow-Avorkers ' (Ro 16®). Cf. also Andronicus and Junias (or Junia), who are said to 'have been in Christ' before St. Paul, and the possibility that tliey were known as apostles (v.^) ; also the prominence given to Mnason as an 'original' disciple in Ac 21'^. The position thus given to the earliest converts of the missions and the services demanded from them may have been analogous to the privileges and obligations of the relations of the Lord. Blood-relationship ^^^th Jesus gave to those who could claim it an official status in the Church which was handed on to tlieir descendants (see A. Harnack, Constitution and Law of the Church, Eng. tr., 1910, pp. 32-37).