Ver. δ. ᾿Αμπλιᾶτον: ‘a common Roman slave name’’. Sanday and Head-
720
ε ~ > Χ - ‘ Σ , 9 > ,
ἡμῶν ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ Στάχυν τὸν ἀγαπητόν µου.
᾽Απελλῆν τὸν δόκιµον ἐν Χριστῷ. t
βούλου.
a > ~ , ‘ »” 3 , τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Napktogou, τοὺς οντας ἐν Κυρίῳ.
, . ~ 9 , > , Τρύφαιναν και Τρυφῶσαν TAS κοπιώσας ἐν Κυριω.
σίδα τὴν ἀγαπητὴν, ἥτις πολλὰ ἐκοπίασεν ἐν Κυρίῳ.
II. ἀσπάσασθε Ἡρωδίωνα τὸν συγγενῆ µου.
1Ο. ἀσπάσασθε > , a 3 ~ 3
ἀσπάσασθε τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ᾿Αριστο- ἀσπάσασθε 12. ἀσπάσασθε ἀσπάσασθε Περ-
13. ἀσπάσασθε
ε an “ a , A ‘4 - Ροῦφον τὸν ἐκλεκτὸν ἐν Kupiw, καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμοῦ.
lam give inscriptions from the cemetery of Domitilla, which make it probable that a person of this name was conspicu- ous in the earliest Roman Church, and may have been the means of introducing Christianity to a great Roman house. τὸν ἀγαπητόν µου ἐν Kupiw: Paul has none but Christian relations to this man.
Ver. 9. Οὐρβανὸν: also a common slave name, ‘‘ found, as here, in juxta- position with Ampliatus, in a list of imperial freedmen, on an inscription A.D. 115” (Gifford). τὸν συνεργὸν ἡμῶν : the ἡμῶν (as opposed to pov, ver. 3) seems to suggest that all Christian workers had a common helper in Ur- banus. Of Stachys nothing is known but that he wasdear to Paul. Thename is Greek; but, like the others, has been found in inscriptions connected with the Imperial household.
Ver. 10. Απελλῆν τὸν δόκιµον ἐν Χριστῷ: Apelles, that approved Chris- tian. In some conspicuous way the Christian character of Apelles had been tried and found proof: see Jas. i. 12, 2 Tim. ii. 15. The name is a familiar one, and sometimes Jewish: Credat Fudaeus Apella, Hor., Sat., 1., v., 100. By τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ᾿Αριστοβούλου are meant Christians belonging to the house- hold of Aristobulus. Lightfoot, in his essay on Cesar’s Household (Philip- pians, 171 ff.), makes Aristobulus the erandson of Herod the Great. He was educated in Rome, and probably died there. ‘‘Now it seems not improbable, considering the intimate relations be- tween Claudius and Aristobulus, that at the death of the latter his servants, wholly or in part, should be transferred to the palace. In this case they would be designated Aristobuliani, for which I suppose St. Paul’s οἱ ἐκ τῶν ᾿Αριστο- βούλου to be an equivalent. It is at least not an obvious phrase, and demands explanation ”’ (Philippians, 175).
Ver. 11. "Ἠρωδίωνα τὸν συγγενῆ pov. This agrees very well with the interpre- tation just given to τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ᾿Αριστο- βούλου. In the household of Herod’s
grandson there might naturally be a Jew with a name of this type, whom Paul, for some cause or other, could single out for a special greeting. τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ναρκίσσου τοὺς ὄντας ἐν Kupiw: the last words may suggest that, though only the Christians in this household have a greeting sent to them, there were other members of it with whom the Church had relations. The Narcissus meant is probably the notorious freedman of Claudius, who was put to death shortly after the accession of Nero (Tac., Ann., xiii, 1), and therefore two or three years before this epistle was written. His slaves would probably pass into the emperor’s hands, and increase ‘‘ Czsar’s househould”’ as Narcissiani (Lightfoot, loc. ctt.).
Ver. 12. Τρύφαιναν καὶ Τρυφῶσαν: “It was usual to designate members of the same family by derivatives of the same root’? (Lightfoot): hence these two women were probably sisters. The names, which might be rendered “Dainty” and '' Disdain” (see Jas. v. 5, Is. Ixvi. 12) are characteristically pagan, and unlike the description τὰς κοπιώσας, “who toil in the Lord”’. They are still at work, but the ‘‘much toil” of Persis, the beloved, belongs to some occasion in the past. τὴν ἀγαπητήν: Paul does not here add pov as with the men’s namesin vv. 8andg. Persis was dear to the whole Church.
Ver. 13. ‘“Povdov tov ἐκλεκτὸν ἐν Κυρίῳ: for the name see Mark xv. 21. If Mark wrote his gospel at Rome, as there is ground to believe, this may be the person to whom he refers. In the gospel he is assumed to be well known, and here he is described as ‘“‘that choice Christian”. ἐκλεκτὸν cannot refer simply to the fact of his election to be a Chris- tian, since in whatever sense this is true, it is true of all Christians alike; whereas here it evidently expresses some distinc- tion of Rufus. He was a noble specimen of a Christian. καὶ τὴν µητέρα αὐτοῦ κ. ἐμοῦ: where she had ‘‘ mothered ” Paul we do not know. For the idea cf. Mark x. 30.