Ver. I. παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ ὁ δέσµιος ἐν Κυρίῳ: I therefore, the pris- oner in the Lord, beseech (or, exhort) you. In more exact accordance with the order of the words—* I beseech you, therefore, I the prisoner in the Lord”. The οὖν connects the practical charge with the preceding statement of doctrine and privi- lege, and establishes the one upon the other. The connection is taken by some to be with the statement just made in ili. 21 regarding the Church (Mey.). A reference of a larger scope, however, seems more in harmony with the contents of the paragraph. It is best, therefore, to understand the οὖν as basing the ex- hortations which follow on the whole preceding statement of the great things done for the readers by God’s grace— from chap. iii. 6 onwards. The verb παρακαλῶ is rendered “beseech” by Wicl., Cov. (Test.), Rhem., AV, RV, while the Genevan gives ‘ pray”. But in Tynd., Cov., Cran., Bish., it is “exhort,” and this is the more pro- bable shade of meaning here in view of the context (Alf., Ell.). In classical Greek the dominant idea of the verb, except when it is used with reference to the gods, is that of admonishing or ex- horting. In later Greek and in the NT the idea of entreating has its place along
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with the other. For the force of the article in ὁ δέσμιος and the anarthrous ἐν Κυρίῳ, see under iii. 1 above. The ἐν Κυρίῳ belongs not to the παρακαλῶ (Semler), but to the δέσμιος. It expresses the sphere within which his captivity sub- sisted or the ground of that captivity. He was a prisoner because of his con- nection with Christ, the Lord, and for no other reason. As in chapter iii., so here the idea of the dignity of his office seems to lie behind the mention of his imprisonment. He designates himself “the prisoner in the Lord’’ not with a view to stir the sympathy of the readers and enforce his exhortation by an appeal to feeling, but as one who could rejoice in his sufferings and speak of his tribu- lations as their “ glory” (iii. 13 ; Gal. vi. 17).— ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε: to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called. As the phrase καλεῖν κλήσει occurs (cf, 2 Tim. i. 9, and, with ἐν, 1 Cor. vii. 20), the ἧς may be by attraction for 9. As that, however, is a doubtful application of the law of attrac- tion, and as the formula κλῆσιν καλεῖν is found in Arrian, Efpict., p. 122, it is to be explained rather as = ἦν (cf. i. 6; 2 Cor. i. 4; and Win.-Moult., p. 202). With the ἀξίως τῆς κλήσεως cf. πολιτεύεσθαι ἀξίως τοῦ evayyeAlov, Phil. i. 27; περι- πατεῖν ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ καλοῦντος (καλέσαντος), : Thess. ii. 12; περιπα- τῆσαι ἀξίως τοῦ Κυρίου, Col. i. το.
Ver. 2. μετὰ π' ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πρᾳότητος : with all lowliness and meckness. Statement of moral disposi- tions which should attend their walk; pera conveying the idea of accompani- ment, relation, association, while σύν suggests closer conjunction, fellowship, especially a fellowship which helps. Kri- ger (Sprachl., § 68, 13, 1) puts the dis- tinction thus—“ σύν τινι denotes rather coherence, μετά τινος rather coexistence" (cf. Win.-Moult., pp. 470, 488). As in the case of πᾶσα σοφία (i. 8), πᾶσα τα- πεινοφροσύνη can mean only ‘all lowli- ness,” ‘‘ all possible lowliness,” or * every kind of lowliness,"’ not summa humilitas. The word ταπεινοφροσύνη is of very rare occurrence in non-biblical Greek, and when it does occur it has the sense of pusillanimity (Epictet., Diss., 3, 24, 56; Joseph., fewish Wars, iv., 9, 2). It is not used in the OT; but in the NT it denotes one of the passive graces, un- recognised or repudiated in Greco-Roman ethics, which Christianity has glorified— the lowliness of mind which springs from a true estimate of ourselves—a deep sense of our own moral smallness and demerit