2. 1 Ti 3". — VJTis (sc. okos) (cttIv iKKKriala. Oeou i^wvTos, (TTi'Xos Kal eopaiwfxa rrjs a.\ijOflas, * which is the church of the living God, the jiillar and ground (stay) of tlie truth.' iopalu/ia is dira^ \ey. in both cla.ssical and NT Greek. 'Hou.se of God 'in the OT denoted, in the first place, the Temple, and then, by metonymy, the covenant people— -/ami/ia Dei. Here it stands for the congregation of be- lievers among whom God dwells. Hort (The Christian Ecdesia, p. 172ir.) renders, ' a household of God, which is an Ecclesia of a living God, a pillar and stay of the truth,' and contends that the absence of the article is not immaterial, and says, in opiiosition to the rendering in the RV : ' There is no clear evidence that the rare word iSpaioifia ever means " ground " = " foundation." It is rather, in accordance with the almost universal Latin rendering /r?«amen<Mm, a " stay " or " bul- wark." St. Paul's idea then is that each living society of Christian men is a pillar and stay of " the truth " as an object of belief and a guide of life for mankind, each sucli Christian society bearing its part in sustaining and supporting the one truth common to all' (cf. ExpT viii. [1896-97] 471). The reference would then be to the local Church of Ephesus. But a large body of inter- preters favour the rendering of the AV and the RV — the whole society of believers, the Church universal, is regarded as the ground and stay of the truth (cf. J. Strachan, ]Vestmi7ister NT, 'The Captivity and the Pastoral Epistles.' London, 1910, p. 218). The Church is first pictured as a house, inhabited by a living God, and then, by a quick change of metaphor, is described as ctti'Xos Kal edpaloi/ia, holding up the truth, the saving truth of the gospel. Attempts have been made to avoid the mixture of metaphor by referring ' pillar ' and ' stay ' to Timothy himself. But, though there is no insuperable objection to this, it is not needful. ' iriiere is no intolerable mixture of metaphors in speaking of Christians first as a house and then as a pillar, any more than in speaking of any one as both a pillar and a basis. In 1 Ti 6" we have the covetous falling into a snare and hurtful lusts such as drown men' (A. Plummer, Expositor's Bible, 'The Pastoral Epistles,' London, 1888, p. 131 n.). _
3. Rev 3^'^. — 6 vlkCjv Trotijcw ainhv ffTuXof ey t<^ ray ToO 6eov 1J.0V, Kal l^oi oii /utj e^iXBri In, ' He that over- cometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple (sanctuary) of my God, and he shall go out thence no more.' The letter to the Church of Philadelphia 'gives the pledge of safety from the hour of trial, of steadiness like the pillar of a temple, of ever- lasting guarantee against disaster and eviction, of exaltation above the enemies Avho now contemn and insult. . . . It was always in dread of the last hour of trial, and was always kept from it. It stood like a pillar, the symbol of stability and strength' (Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 411 f.). The history of Phila- delphia does not belie the splendid promise made to its church. It stood like a jiillar against the troubles of the times, and a bulwark of civiliza- tion. The town is still largely Christian (cf. £Bi iii. 3692). ' Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy, or courage. . . . Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins : a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same' (E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, \'\\.- [1902] p. 27).
PIPE, FLUTE
PISIDIA
239
It has been said that among; the few ruins of Philadelphia there are four sironi; niarhlo pillars standinj; in one spot, and on the sides of tliese pillars inscriptions are found. W. M. Kanisay {op. cit.) traces in the promise to this church suggestive references, which, he thinks, a Phila- delphian could not fail to discover, e.g. to the disasters and earthquakes comnion to the district : ' he that overcometh shall never again require to go out and take refuge in the open country. 'I'lie city which had suffered so much and so long from instability was to be rewarded with the Divine firmness and steadfastness.'
Augustine (quoted by R. C. Trench, Commentarr/ on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in A.iia', London, 1867, p. ISS) says: 'Quis non desideret illam civitatgui, unde amicus non exit, quo inimicus non intrat ?'
The majority of commentators, followed by the KV, take the name as written upon the victor and not on the pillar (the metaphor being dropped), but De Wette adopts the latter rendering, so that <TTv\oi become also arifXai. As to the inscription itself, Ramsay [op. cit.) contends that there are not three names, but one ' whicli has all three char- acters, and is at once the name of God, the name of the Church, and the new name of Christ.'
Literature. — F. J. A. Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, London, 1897 ; W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Sewti Churehes of Asia, do., 1904 ; P. Brooks, The Candle of the Lvrd, do., 1881, p. 60 f. ; C. J. Ellicott, iVr Commentary, 1884, in toe.