717
7 Aye oa / So Fis Saas η lax Tim. iii. νι τα, sae τομής» δὲ ὑμῖν φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν, οὖσαν Mes "διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς: 2. ἵνα αὐτὴν ᾿προσδέξησθε” b Phil. ii 20.
ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀξίως τῶν ἁγίων, καὶ παραστῆτε αὐτῇ ἐν ᾧ ἂν ὑμῶν χρήἴῃ
πράγματι: καὶ γὰρ αὕτη “προστάτις πολλῶν ἐγενήθη, καὶ αὐτοῦ
1 After ονσαν ins. και N®BC!; so Weiss.
c Here only in N.T.
W. and H. bracket.
2 autyv προσδεξησθε SBALP; αντην after προσδ. BCDF. For αυτου εµου read
εµου αυτου with ABCL.
the love wrought in Christian hearts by the Spirit of God (Gal. v. 22) is another motive of the same kind. συναγωγίσασθαί μοι, ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς. συναγωνίζοµαι 1s found here only in the N.T., but ἀγὼν and ἀγωνίζομαι in a spiritual sense are found in each of the groups into which the Pauline epistles are usually divided. What Paul asks is that they should join him in striving with all their might—in wrestling as it were—against the hostile forces which would frustrate his apostolic work. Cf. Just. Mart., Afol., ii., 13: καὶ εὐχόμενος Kal παµµάχως ἀγωνιζόμενος. ἀγωνία in Lc. xxil. 44 seems to denote awful fear rather than intense striving. πρὸς τὸν θεόν is not otiose: Paul felt how much it was worth to have God appealed to on his behalf.
Ver. 31 f. ἵνα ῥυσθῶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπειθούν- των: from the disobedient, 1.ε., from the Jews who had not received the Gos- pel, 2 Thess. i. 8, chap. xi. 30. καὶ ἡ διακονία µου κ.τ.λ. It was not the un- believing Jews only who hated Paul. To them he was an apostate, who had dis- appointed all their hopes; but even Christian Jews in many cases regarded him as false to the nation’s prerogative, and especially to the law. There was a real danger that the contribution he brought from the Gentile Churches might not be graciously accepted, even accepted at all; it might be regarded as a bribe, in return for which Paul’s opposition to the law was to be condoned, and the equal standing of his upstart churches in the Kingdom of God acknowledged. It was by no means certain that it would be taken as what it was—a pledge of brotherly love; and God alone could dis- pose ‘‘the saints”’ to take it as simply as it was offered. Paul’s state of mind as seen here is exactly that which is re- vealed in Acts xx. 17-38, xxi. 13, etc. ἵνα ἐν χαρᾷ ἐλθών .. . συναναπαύσωµαι ἡμῖν. σνυναναπ. here only in Ν.Τ, but cf. συνπαρακληθῆναι, i. 12, and συναγω- γίσασθαι ver. 30. ‘Rest after the per- sonal danger and after the ecclesiastical crisis of which the personal danger formed
a part” (Hort). The tva here seems to be subordinate to, not co-ordinate with the preceding one. Paul looks forward to a time of joy and rest beyond these anxieties and dangers, as the ultimate end to be secured by their prayers. διὰ θελήµατος θεοῦ: it depends on this whether Paul is to return or how. He did reach Rome, by the will of God (i. το), but hardly in the conditions antici- pated here. ’
Ver. 33. 6 δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης: there is an appropriateness in this designation after νετ. 31, but “peace” is one of the ruling ideas in Paul’s mind always, and needs no special explanation in a benediction: 2 Cor. xiii. 11, Phil. iv. 9, 1 Thess. ν. 23.
CHAPTER XVI. On this chapter see introduction. It consists of five distinct parts: (1) The recommendation of Phcebe to the Church, vers. r and 2; (2) a series of greetings from Paul himself, vers. 3-16; (3) a warning against false teachers, vers. 17-20; (4) a series of greetings from companions of Paul, vers. 21-23: (5) a doxology.
Ver. 1 f. Luviornpr δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην. συνίστηµι is the technical word for this kind of recommendation, which was equivalent to a certificate of church membership. Paul uses it with especial frequency in 2 Cor., both in this technical sense (iii. 1, v. 12), and ina kindred but wider one (iv. 2, vi. 4, vil. 11, x. 12, 18). τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν: Our (Christian) sister, I Cor. vii. 15, ix. 5. The spiritual kin- ship thus asserted was a recommendation of itself, but in Phcebe’s case Paul can add another. οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς: who is also a servant of the Church in Cenchrez. It is not easy to translate διάκονος, for ‘‘servant’’ is too vague, and ‘‘ deaconess”’ is more technical than the original. Διακονία was really a function of mem- bership in the Church, and Phebe might naturally be described as she is here if like the house of Stephanas at Corinth (x Cor. xvi. 15) she had given herself eis διακονίαν τοῖς ἁγίοις. That