Ver. 5. On what does ἐπί depend? Surely it follows χαρᾶς of preceding clause (so Chr., Th. Mps.) rather than εὐχαριστῶ of ver. 3. It is, at least, awk- ward to take ἐπί twice with the same verb. μ. χαρᾶς has an emphatic position. Now he gives the reason for his joy.— τῇ κοινων At the first glance κ. seems to refer to their mutual fellowship and harmony as Christians. A closer exam- ination reveals that this whole passage is concerned with Paul’s personal rela- tion to them. And so κ. anticipates συγκοινωνούς (ver. 7), and will mean their common participation with Paul in spreading the Gospel. This really in- cludes the idea of united action on the one hand, and the concrete expression of their helpfulness, their gift to the Apostle,
Ὄπ 7.
419
A , “- a Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ 1; 7. καθώς ἐστι” δίκαιον ἐμοὶ τοῦτο φρονεῖν ὑπὲρ 4 Charac-
, Cm. αγ. 3 a τ ἘΣ ἜΣ μ᾿ τἌ - this Ep.,
πάντων ὑμῶν, διὰ τὸ ἔχειν με ἐν TH "καρδίᾳ ὑμᾶς, ἔν τε τοῖς δεσμοῖς of Ro A a3a2 , A Wes 5 , a > , u
pou καὶ τῇ “ " ἀπολογίᾳ καὶ ᾿ βεβαιώσει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, συγκοινω- ,
8, s 2 Tim. iv. 16 al. cf. 1 Cor. xv. 1Ο,
19ο Lft., Hpt., W.H.
t In N.T. only here and Heb. vi. 16; Wisd. vi. 18.
(τῇ. with ΝΑΕΟΚΕ,
teristic of
om. xii. 16 al. Rom. x. 1; 2 Cor. vii. ur Cor, ix. 23;
sytr. cop. arm., Chr.,
Euth.cod., Thdrt. Ti., Ws., Alf. X. 1. with BDEL 1, 72, al., ἆ, e, f, g, vg., Aug.,
Ambrst. 2 All edd. εστιν with MSS.
Ws. (TK., p. 134) holds that |. X. was suggested by ver. 2.
δεν before τη απολ. inserted by all edd. (Lachm. brackets) with BDbet cEKLP, Chr., Euth.cod., Thdrt., ἆ, 6, f, g. See Ws. (TK., p. 105), who thinks that εν was passed over because wanting before βεβαι., the copyists overlooking the fact that BeB. was included with απολ. under one article.
on the other. Hort (Christian Ecclesia, Ρ. 44) points out that there is something concrete in the κοινωνία of Acts ii. 42. The same is true of Rom. xv. 26, 2 Cor, its Περ. χε τὸ. ΤΗ ‘concrete notion in κ. (almost equiv. to “ contribu- tion”) is supported by the use of εἰς, which is employed technically in con- texts like this to denote the destination of money-payments, collections, etc. So 1 Cor. xvi. I, τῆς λογίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ; Acts xxiv. 17, ἐλεημοσύνας ποι- ήσων εἰς τὸ ἔθνος pov. Important exx. from Papyri in Dsm., BS., pp. 113-114, NBS., p. 23. Cf. on the whole idea the most apt comment of Chr. ad loc.: ὅταν yap ἐκεῖνος μὲν κηρύττῃ; σὺ δὲ θεραπεύῃς τὸν κηρύττοντα, κοινωνεῖς αὐτῷ τῶν στεφάνων. ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἀγῶσιν οὐ τοῦ ἀγωνιζομένου μόνον ἐστὶν ὁ στέφανος ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ παιδο- τρίβου καὶ τοῦ θεραπεύοντος καὶ πάντων ἁπλῶς τῶν ἀσκούντων τὸν ἀθλητήν.---τὸ εὐαγγ. It 15 unnecessary to narrow this down to the preaching of the Gospel. Used comprehensively. — ἀπὸ πρώτης. Cf. the account of their generosity in chap. iv. τὸ Π,---ἄχρι τοῦ viv. The same phrase in Rom. viii. 22. Cf. Papyr. of Faijim péxp[t] τί οὔ] νῦν in Dsm., NBS., agile . Ver. 6. αὐτὸ τοῦτο. Accus. of the “inner object,’’ where the neuter pro- noun takes the place of a cognate sub- Stantive; cf. 2 Cor. xiii. 1, τρίτον τοῦτο ἔρχομαι (see Blass, Gram., p. 89). αὐτὸ τοῦτο is characteristic of Paul, ‘the firm touch of an intent mind’ (Moule, CT. ad loc.). ‘‘Having this firm per- suasion.’’ Curiously enough, the same confident assurance, although based on very different grounds, is characteristic also of the later Jewish theology, e.g., Apocal. of Baruch (ed. Charles), xiii., 3.
**Thou shalt be assuredly preserved to the consummation of the times.’’ Also xxv., 1; Ixxvi., 2. ‘Christianity, by its completely rounded view of the world, guarantees to believers that they shall be preserved unto eternal life in the kingdom of God, which is God’s revealed end in the world” (Ritschl, ¥ustification, E. Tr., p. 200).---ἐναρξάμενος. This verb, although a word of ritual in classical Greek, is found in LXX (Pentat.) appar- ently in the simple sense “ begin’. In its only other occurrence in N.T., Gal. iii. 3, it is combined with ἐπιτελέω as here.—€pyov ἀγαθόν. De W., Lft. and others refer this to κοινωνία of ver. 5. Is it not far more natural to regard it as “the work of God” par excellence, the production of spiritual life, the imparting of the χάρις of ver. 7? Cf. chap. ii. 13 and esp. Rom. xiv. 20, μὴ ἕνεκεν βρώματος κατάλνε τὸ ἔργον τοῦ Θεοῦ.- ἡμέρας Ἰ. X. On the order *I. X., see ver. 1 supy. ἡμ. lacks the article on the analogy of ἡμέρα Κυρίου (LXX). This favourite conception of O.T. prophecy refers to “ the time when the Lord reveals Himself in His fulness to the world, when He judges evil and fulfils His great pur- poses of redemption among men.... But the judgment has not its end in itself, it is but the means of making Jehovah known to the world, and this knowledge of Him is salvation”? (Davidson, Nahum, etc., p. 105). It is easy to see how the N.T. idea grows out of this. Paul prob- ably assumes that the day is not far off, but indulges in no dogmatising. This name is given to the day because Christ as Κύριος is to be judge. Belief in the Parousia of Christ has a most prominent place in Paul’s religious thought. He never attempts to specify the time. But it cheers him, esp. in crises of his history (as