212
i Rom. i. 18) 1Cor.i.4? . Phil. i. 3, ἢ 1 Thess. i.
pav! καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
So
οἶκόν σου ἐκκλησίᾳ ἢ" 3. χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πατρὸς
i 3 - - nm i 4. ᾿Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ Θεῷ μου
Ν lal “- γ 2,2Thess, πάντοτε “ μνείαν σου ποιούμενος ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου," 5. ἀκούων
tse 4 : κ Rom.i.10, σου τὴν | ἀγάπην καὶ “thy πίστιν ἣν ἔχεις ἢ " πρὸς” τὸν κύριον
Eph. i. 16, 1 Thess.
1.2. 1 Phil. i. 9. m 1 Tim. i. 19.
10m. Ν..
natural to regard him as the head of the local Church, who lived in the house where the members met for worship (67. Theodoret’s words, quoted by Lightfoot: ὁ δὲ Αρχιππος τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτῶν ἐπεπίστευτο). -- συνστρατιώτῃ: only elsewhere in N.T., Phil. ii. 25, but for the metaphor cf. 2 Cor. x. 3, 4.1 Tim. i. 18, 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4,—Kal τῇ κατ᾽ οἶκον εν ο ACtS xii. το, στα πα: 5 τ Cor. xvi. 19, Col. iv. 15. Up to the third century we have no certain evi- dence of the existence of church buildings for the purposes of wor-
. ship; all references point to private houses for this. In Rome several of the oldest churches appear to have been built on the sites of houses used for Christian worship ; see Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 421, who quote this interesting passage from the Acta Fustint Martyris, § 2 (Ruinart) : “ Quae- sivit Praefectus, quem in locum Christiani convenirent. Cui respondit Justinus, eo unumquemque convenire quo vellet ac posset. An, inquit, existimas omnes nos in eundem locum convenire solitos ? Minime res ita se habet . . . Tunc Praefectus: Age, inquit, dicas, quem in locum conveniatis, et discipulos tuos congreges. Respondit Justinus: Ego prope domum Martini cuiusdam, ad bal- neum cognomento Timiotinum, hactenus mansi.”
Ver. 3. χάρις... -εἰρήνη: Cf. Rom. i. 7, the usual Pauline greeting (exc. I. 2 Tim.) ; it is a combination of the Greek salutation, χαίρειν, and the
Hebrew one, aby. In the N.T. the word εἰρήνη expresses the spiritual state, which is the result of a right relationship between God and man. According to Jewish belief, the establish- ment of peace, in this sense, was one “of the main functions of the Messiah (cf. Luke ii. 14), it was herein that His mediatorial work was to be accomplished. --πατρὸς: seenoteon Jas. iii. 9. The phrase ἀπὸ Θεοῦ . . . Χριστοῦ expresses the essence of Judaism and Christianity.
n Cf. 1 Thess. i. 8.
Ξεις ACD*, WH.
Ver. 4. πάντοτε: belongs to εὖχα- ριστῶ, cf. Eph. i. 16, Phil. i. 3, Col. i. 3, 4.
Ver.5. ἀκούων: probably from Epa phras, see Col. i. 7, 8, iv. 12 (Lightfoot). --τὴν ἀγάπην . « ο te. the faith which thou hast towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love which thou showest to all the saints. ‘The logical order,”’ says Lightfoot, “is violated, and the clauses are inverted in the second part of the sentence, thus producing an ex- ample of the figure called chiasm; see Gal. iv. 4,5. This results here from the apostle’s setting down the thoughts in the sequence in which they occur to him, without paying regard to symmetrical arrangement. The first and prominent thought is Philemon’s love. This sug- gests the mention of his faith, as the source from which it springs. This again requires a reference to the object of faith. And then, at length, comes the deferred sequel to the first thought—the range and comprehensiveness of his Ιονε." --πίστιν: not “ faithfulness,” but “faith” (belief), cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 13, Gal. v. 6,1 Thess. i. 3.—mpos...ets: the difference in these propositions is note- worthy, πρὸς refers to the “faith’’ to Christ-ward (cf. 1 Thess. i. 8), εἰς to the love to thesaints; both are developed in wv. 6, γ.--τοὺς ἁγίους: St. Paul intends Onesimus to be thought of here. The original significance of the title ἅγιος, as applied to men, may be seen in such a phraseas, “Ye shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy”’ (Lev. xix. 2). To the Jew, like St. Paul, the corresponding root in Hebrew connoted the idea of something set apart, {.6., consecrated to the service of God (cf. ε.ρ., Exod. xxii. 31 [29]). The ἁγίοι constituted originally the ἐκκλησία; and just as, according to the meaning underlying the Hebrew equiva- lent of the word ἅγιος, separation for God’s service was the main conception, so, according to the root-meaning of ἐκκλησία, it connoted the idea of the body of those “called out,” and thug separated from the world.