ἕἐμὰ τέκνα év! ἀληθείᾳ περιπατοῦντα.
12 Peter i. το. n I Thess. ii. 12 ; Col. i. 10.
5—
5 , ‘ a 5. ᾿Αγαπητέ, πιστὸν ποιεις
ὃ ἐὰν " ἐργάσῃ ” εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ εἰς τοὺς ὃ | ξένους, 6. ot ἐμαρ- τύρησάν σου τῇ ἀγάπῃ * ἐνώπιον ἐκκλησίας ' οὓς | καλῶς ποιήσεις προπέμψας " ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ.
7. ὑπὲρ γὰρ ° Tod ὀνόματος ἐξῆλθον *
m Acts xv. 3, xx. 38, xxi. 5; Rom. xv. 24; o Acts v. 40, 41; 1 Peter iv. 14, 16.
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* epyaon SBCKLP, edd.; εργαζη A, Vg. (quidquid operaris). % ets τους KLP; τουτο SABC, Υρ., Syrbo ph, Vg., Cop., Sah., Aeth., Arm., edd.
4 e&nOav ΝΕ, edd.
Suam judicet: quid evenire credis his qui Ingenia educaverunt, et que tenera for- maverunt adulta subito vident?” Ev. sec. Heb. (quoted by Jerome on Eph. v. 4): “Et numquam, inquit (Dominus), lzti sitis nisi cum fratrem vestrum vide- πες in caritate”. µειζοτέραν, a double compar.; cf, ἐλαχιστοτέρῳφ (Eph. iii. 8) ; our ‘“‘lesser”; Germ. mehrere. τούτων: this use of the plur. (ταῦτα) rather than the sing. (τοῦτο) iscommon. See Moul- ton’s Winer, Ῥ. 201. ἵνα, epexegetic of τούτων. Cf. Luke i. 43 and see note on 1 John iii. 11. τέκνα implies that Gaius was aconvertofSt. John. Cf. marg. note.
Vv. 5-8. The Duty of Entertaining Itinerant Preachers. ‘Beloved, it is a work of faith that thou art doing in thy treatment of the brethren, strangers withal. They testified to thy love before the Church; and thou wilt do well in speeding them on their way worthily of God. For it was for the sake of the Name that they went forth, taking no- thing from the Gentiles. We therefore are bound to undertake for such, that we may prove fellow-workers with the Truth.”
A company of reisende Briider had returned to Ephesus, and in reporting of their mission at a meeting of the Church had made special mention of the hospitality of Gaius. The Apostle commends him and bids him continue his good offices.
Ver. 5. The adjective πιστός is either act., “believing” (cf. John xx. 27), or passive, ‘‘ worthy to be believed,” “ trust- worthy ” (cf. 2 Tim. ii. 2). It is passive here, and it is well explained by Cécu- menius as equivalent to ἄξιον πιστοῦ ἀνδρός. The peculiarity is that, by a sort of hypallage, the adjective is transferred irom the subjective to the objective. Transitive: ‘‘ Thou makest whatever thou workest on the brethren a believing act, a work of faith”. It was not mere hos- pitality but a religious service. West- cott’s rendering: ‘thou makest sure
whatsoever thou doest ” gives πιστόν an unexampled and indeed impossible mean- ing. ποιεῖς, aor. of habitual and con- stant hospitality; ἐργάσῃ, aor. of each particular act. καὶ τοῦτο, ‘and that to”; more commonly καὶ ταῦτα (cf. Heb. xi, 12).
ver. 6. On the anarthrous ἐκκλησίας, see note on 2 John το. καλώς ποιήσεις has the sense of ‘‘ please” in the Oxy- thynchus Papyri; ¢.g., 300, 3-6: ἔπεμψά σοι διὰ τοῦ καμηλείτου Ταυρείνου τὸ. πανάριον, περὶ οὗ καλώς ποιήσεις ὧν- τιφωνήσασά por ὅτι ἐκομίσου, “I sent you the bread-basket by the cameleer Taurinus ; please let me have word again that you got it”. προπέµψας: when a Rabbi visited a town, it was customary on his departure to escort him on his way (Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., on Matt. v. 41). The gracious usage was observed in the primitive Church, and it appears to have included the furnishing of p:o- vision for the journey (cf. Tit. iii 13). Cf. Hom. Od. xv.,74: χρὴ ξεῖνον παρεόντα. Φιλεῖν, ἐθέλοντα δὲ πέµπειν. “ welcome the coming, speed the parting guest ”. ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ, “ in a manner wortny of God,” t.e. (1) ‘Since they are God’s representatives (John xiii. 20), weil thr ' vangelistenwerk Gottes Werk ist (Holtzm.), treat them as you would treat God”; (2) ‘‘Since you are God’s re- presentatives, treat them as God would treat them”.
Ver. 7. τοῦ ᾿Ὀνόματος, sc. of Jesus. (cf. Acts v. 40, 41). There is perhaps a reference to this verse in Ignat. ad Eph. vii. 1: εἰώθασι γάρ τινες δόλῳ πονηρῷ τὸ ὄνομα περιφέρειν, ἄλλα τινὰ πράσσοντες ἀνάξια Θεοῦ. Cf. iii. 1: δέδεµαι ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι. ἐξῆλθαν, sc. from Ephesus, the seat of the Apostle and therefore the headquarters of the Church in Asia Minor. Cf. Introd. p. 155. μηδέν, see note on 1 John ii. 4. Winer (Moulton’s. Winer, p. 463, note 1) draws a distinction, perhaps too fine, between λαμβάνειν παρά τινος and λαμβάνειν ἀπό τινος.