21---23.
τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν καὶ ' παρακαλέσῃ τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν.
393
al. fr.
23. Εἰρήνη τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς καὶ "' ἀγάπη Ἰ μετὰ πίστεως ἀπὸ θεοῦ m 3 Cor,
xili. 13; 1 Thess. iii. 6; Jude 2.
1 For αγαπη, ελεος A.
journey (Acts xx. 4); and again at the time when the Epistle to the Colossians was written; and yet again at the end of the Apostle’s career (Tit. iii. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 12). It is probable that he went to Jerusalem, as Trophimus did (Acts xxi. 29), in all likelihood as a delegate of his Church, the words ἄχρις τῆς ᾿Ασίας not belonging to the true text of Acts xx. 4. We find him here charged with the de- livery of the circular letter known as the Epistle to the Ephesians, probably at the chief centres, Laodicea, Colosse, etc., where Christian communities had been formed in Asia. He is mentioned also in connection with missions to Crete and to Ephesus (Tit. iii, 12; 2 Tim. iv. 12).—6 ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς καὶ πιστὸς διάκονος ἐν Κυρίῳ : the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord. In the sister Epistle he is described in the same terms, but with the addition of καὶ σύνδουλος. πιστός = faithful, in the sense of trusty, as in Matt. xxiv. 45 and often elsewhere. The ἐν Κυρίῳ defines the διάκονος, and does not refer to the whole clause. The service to Paul was service rendered in the Lord, in Christ’s fellowship and Spirit. The term διάκονος does not carry here the idea of ecclesiasti- cal office, such as the deaconship proper, but refers to ministrations rendered to Paul himself, and so is ‘‘servant”’ or “ὁ minister’ in the general sense. So in Col. iv. 7 he is called not only πιστὸς διάκονος, but Paul’s fellow-servant (σύνδουλος) in the Lord. This is Paul’s commendation of him to the Churches which he was to visit.
Ver. 22: ὃν ἔπεμψα πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο: whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose. ἔπεμψα, in idiomatic English = ‘‘ I have written,” but literally = Κ1 did write”. Ifit were certain that the Epistle to the Colossians preceded that to the Ephesians, that the special mission on which Tychicus was sent with Onesimus to Colossz took place before Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, and that he found some opportunity of forwarding the latter Epistle also in the course of Tychicus’s journey, the ἔπεμψα would have its usual aorist sense, refer- ring to a past act. Failing this, it must
be taken as an instance of the epistolary aor., the mission being coincident with the writing of the letter, but contemplated from the view-point of the recipients of the letter, to whom it was a thing of the past. The epistolary aor. certainly occurs in Latin, in the use of scripsi, etc. (cf. Madvig, Gr., ὃ 345). How far its use extends in the NT is still a moot question, some finding many cases, ¢.g., ἔγραψα in Gal. vi. 11; Philem. το, 21; 1 Pet. v. 12; I John ii, 14, 21, 26, v. 13; ἐπέστειλα, Heb. xiii. 22; ἔπεμψα, συνέπεμψα in 2 Cor. viii. 18, 22; Eph. vi. 22; Col. iv. 8; Phil. ii. 28; Philem. 11, etc. ; while others (e.g., Blass) restrict it to ἔπεμψα in Acts xxlii, 30; Phil. ii. 28; Col. iv.8; Philem. 11, etc. (cf. Win.-Moult., p. 347; Blass, Gram. of Ν. T. Greek, p. 194; Lightf. on Gal. iv. 11; Col. iv. 8; Ell. on Gal. iv. 11. —iva γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν: that ye may know our state. τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν will natur- ally have the same sense as the τὰ κατ᾽ *pé, the ἡμῶν including Paul’s com- panions with himself. It is well rendered “our state” by the RV; “our affairs” by the AV. The information regarding Paul and his friends would not be confined to the letter, but would be given no doubt also by Tychicus by word of mouth.—kat παρακαλέσῃ Tas καρδίας ὑμῶν : and that he may comfort your hearts. παρακαλεῖν means most frequently either to exhort or (in later Greek as well as in the NT) to beseech. Rarely in non-biblical Greek has it the sense of comforting or encouraging ;