gives to ἅπαξ is the belief that some ως Ὁ physical, material, quenchable fire. Ω
ΧΙ τς
XIII. 1. "Ἡ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΙΑ μενέτω.
λανθάνεσθε: 2. διὰ ταύτης γὰρ ἔλαθόν τινες ξενίσαντες ἀγγέλους: 3. “μιμνήσκεσϑε τῶν δεσμίων, ὡς συνδεδεμένοι τῶν κακουχουμένων, 4. τίμιος ὁ γάμος ἐν πᾶσι, καὶ ἡ
ς ΔΝ > Α΄ > ’ ὡς και QUTOL OVTES ἐν σώματι.
1; Rom. xii. 13; 1 Peter iv. 9. c Matt.
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a Rom. xii. 10; Eph. iv.2;,3¢ 1 Peter i. 22, et ii. 17, εἰ iii. 8, et iv. 8,
b Gen. xviii. I, et xix.
xxv. 36; Rom. xii. 15; Col. iv. 18; 1 Peter iii. 8.
Ὀτῆς φιλοξενίας μὴ ἐπι-
1 κακοχουμ. in DcKLMP.,
CHAPTER XIII. In this chapter we find exhortations apparently springing out of a desire to arrest symptoms of a tendency to hide their Christian profes- sion disowning their teachers and fellow Christians and resenting the shame and hardship incident to the following of Christ.
Vv. 1-6. Exhortations to social mani- festations of their Christianity. Ἢ φιλ- αδελφία μενέτω. “Let love of the brethren continue”; it existed (vi. 10) and so, as Chrys. says, he does not write Γίνεσθε φιλάδελφοι, ἀλλὰ, μενέτω ἡ pid. In the general decay of their faith ten- dencies to disown Christian fellowship had become apparent, x. 24, 25. This might also lead to a failure to recognise the wants of Christians coming froma distance, therefore hospitality is urged; not as a duty they did not already prac- tise, but, gently, as that which they might omit through forgetfulness and as that which might bring them a message from God: τῆς φιλοξενίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε, “Entertainment of strangers do not neglect; for thus some have entertained angels unawares,” as in Gen. xvili-19; Jud. vi. 11-24, xiii. 2-23 [For testimonies to the hospitality of Christians Bleek refers to Lucian, De Morte Peregrin., chap. 16 and to the 49th Epistle of Julian, On the hospit- ality of the East see Palgrave’s Essays, Ρ.246-7.] ἔλαθόν τινες ξενίσαντες though a common classical idiom, occurs no- where else in the N.T. Some of their fellow Christians might be in even more needy circumstances and therefore
Ver. 3. μιμνήσκεσθε (ii. 6) τῶν δεσμίων (x. 34), “ Be mindful of those in bonds” (Matt. xxv. 36). This also they had already done (x. 34). The motive now urged is contained in the words ὡς συνδεδεμένοι, “as having been bound with them,” as fellow- prisoners. The ὡς ἐν σώματι of the next clause might invite the interpretation, ‘‘for we also are bound as well as they,” and colour might be given to this by the Epistle to Diognetus, chap. 6. χριστια-
vol κατέχονται μὲν ὡς ἐν φρουρᾷ τῷ κόσμῳ; but more likely the expression is merely a strong way of saying that all the members of Christ’s body suffer with each, 1 Cor. xii. 26. τῶν kakovyov- μένων, “the maltreated,” cf. xi. 37; you must be mindful of these “as being yourselves also in the body,” ΐ.6., not emancipated spirits, and therefore liable to similar ill-usage and capable of sym- pathy. [A striking illustration of the manner in which the early Christians obeyed these admonitions may be found in the Apology of Aristides: ξένον ἐὰν ἴδωσιν, ὑπὸ στέγην εἰσάγουσι καὶ χαί- ρουσιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ ὡς ἐπὶ ἀδελφῷ ἀληθινῷ " οὐ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα ἀδελφοὺς ἑαυτοὺς καλοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ψυχήν. The Syriac Apology adds “1 they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs”. Ac- cordingly in the Martyrdom of Perpetua we read that two deacons were appointed to visit her and relieve the severity of her imprisonment.] It is interesting to find that Philo claims for Moses a φιλα- δελφία towards strangers, enjoining sym- pathy, ὡς ἐν διαιρετοῖς μέρεσιν ἕν ζῶον, as being all one living creature though in diverse parts; and in De Spec. Legg. 30 he has ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἑτέρων σώμασιν αὐτοὶ κακούμενοι. Westcott gives from early Christian documents a collection of in- teresting prayers for those suffering im- prisonment.