He hopes to bring Timothy with him, unless his friend tarries long. In that case he will come alone, so great is his anxiety to see them.
He sends his greetings to all the saints, but mentions the leaders. Brethren who have come from Italy are with him. They may have been exiles or fugitives who had sought safety during the first great persecution of the Church in the days of Nero. They too send greetings.
He closes with the Apostolic benediction. For, whoever he was, he was truly an Apostolic man.
[385] Chap. vi. 10.
[386] Chap. x. 34.
[387] Chap. xiii. 1.
[388] 1 Tim. v. 10.
[389] 1 Tim. iii. 2.
[390] _Christian Charity in the Ancient Church_, English Trans., p. 92.
[391] Chap. i. 7.
[392] Gen. xviii. 2; xix. 1.
[393] The legend of Christopher is beautifully told by Oosterzee at the beginning of his book on _The Person and Work of the Redeemer_, English Trans. (Ed. 1886).
[394] Josh. i. 5.
[395] Acts xi. 28.
[396] =mê parapheresthe= (xiii. 9).
[397] Rom. ix. 13.
[398] Rendall: _The Epistle to the Hebrews_, pp. xxv. and 139.
[399] Rom. xiv. 15.
[400] Rom. xiv. 6-8.
[401] =kalon= (xiii. 9).
[402] =chariti=. The author has chosen a more classical word than that which St. Paul uses.
[403] =peripatountes=.
[404] Chap. xiii. 10.
[405] John vi. 51-55.
[406] 1 Cor. x. 16.
[407] Exod. xii.
[408] =dia=.
[409] Lev. xvi. 27.
[410] So Rendall, _loc. cit._
[411] 2 Cor. vi. 15 sqq.
[412] Chap. xiii. 15.
[413] =koinônias=.
[414] =stenazontes= (xiii. 17).
[415] =alysiteles=. Comp. ver. 9.
[416] =apokatastathô= (xiii. 19).
[417] Chap. x. 10.