11. Narcissus. This name was borne by a distinguished freedman, who was secretary of letters to Claudius. Juvenal alludes to his wealth and his influence over Claudius, and says that Messalina, the wife of Claudius, was put to death by his order (“Satire,” xiv., 330). His household slaves, passing int the hands of the emperor or of some other master, would con- tinue to bear his name.
12. Tryphaena and Tryphosa. From tpuddw to live lum- uriously. See on riot, 2 Pet. ii. 18. Perhaps sisters. Farray says they are slave-names.
13. Rufus. Meaning red. Possibly the son of Ginon of Cyrene, Mark xv. 21. Mark probably wrote in Rome.
Cu. XVI.J THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 181
And mine. Delicately intimating her maternal care for him. 14. Hermes. Or Hermas. A common slave-name, a con-
traction of several different names, as Zermagoras, Hermogenes, etc.*
16. Kiss. Compare 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26; 1 Pet. v. 14.
17. Divisions—offences (tas Suvyootacias—ta oxdvdana). The article with each noun points to some well-known disturb- ances. The former noun occurs only in Paul.
Avoid (éxxdtvare). Better, as Rev., twrn aside. Not only keep out of their way, but remove from it if you fall in with them.
18. Belly. Compare Philip. ii. 19.
Good words (ypycTtoAoylas). Only here in the New Testa- ment. Lit., good speaking. The compounded adjective ypno- és is used rather in its secondary sense of mild, pleasant. So Rev., smooth speech.
Deceive (éEarataow). Better, as Rev., beguale. It is not merely making a false impression, but practically leading astray.
*The student should read Bishop Lightfoot’s note on Caesar’s household, in his ‘‘ Commentary on Philippians,” p. 169. He claims that the Philippian epistle is the earliest of the Hpistles of the Captivity ; that the members of Caesar’s household who sent greetings to the Philippian Church (iv. 22) were converts before Paul's arrival in Rome, and were known to the Philippian Christians, and that therefore these persons are to be looked for in the list at the close of the Roman Epistle. In the inscriptions in the columbaria, or dove-cot tombs, one of which, exhumed in 1764, was especially devoted to freedmen or slaves of the imperial household, and which is assigned to about the time of Nero, are found most of the names recorded in this list. The names, indeed, do not, in any case perhaps, represent the actual persons al- luded to in the epistle, but they establish the presumption that members of the imperial household are included in these salutations, and go to show that the names and allusions in the Roman epistle are in keeping with the circum- stances of the metropolis in Paul’s day. Thus they furnish an answer to the attacks on the genuineness of the last two chapters, and to the view which detaches the salutations from the main epistle.
182 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Cu. XVI
Simple (axdeov). Only here and Heb. vii. 26. Lit., not evil. Rev., innocent. Bengel says: “An indifferent word. They are called so who are merely without positive wickedness, when they ought to abound also in prudence, and to guard against other men’s wickedness.”
19. Simple (dxepaiovs). See on harmless, Matt. x. 16.
20. Shall bruise (cuvtpiper). See on Mark v. 4; Luke ix. 39.
21. Lucius and Jason—Sosipater. For Lucius, see on Acts xiii. 1. Jason, possibly the Jason of Acts xvii. 5. Sos- pater, possibly the Sopater of Acts xx.4. Both names were common.
92. | Tertius. Paul’s amanuensis. See on Gal. vi. 11.
Wrote (ypdyas). Better Rev., write. The epistolary aorist. See on 1 John ii. 13. Godet remarks upon Paul’s exquisite courtesy in leaving Tertius to salute in his own name. To dictate to him his own salutation would be to treat him as a machine.
23. Gaius. See Acts xix. 29; xx. 4; 1 Cor.i.14. Possibly the same in all three references.