Le
~ ‘ f For these εἰσί, καὶ ‘edpes αὐτοὺς eudeis, 3. καὶ ὑπομονὴν ἔχεις, καὶ
unedu- cated forms in -ες, Cf. Moulton,
g For phrase, cf. Matt. v. 23. Cf. Eph. iii. 17, v. 2, 1 Tim. i. 5.
ἐβάστασας διὰ τὸ ὄνομά µου, καὶ οὐ * κεκοπίακες.
4. “AN ἔχω
ἕκατὰ god ὅτι τὴν " ἀγάπην σου τὴν πρώτην ἀφῆκαςὶ 5. μνηµόνευε οὖν πόθεν πέπτωκες, καὶ µετανόησον καὶ τὰ πρῶτα.
ht Thess. iii. 12, iv.9, 2 Thess. 1.3; Clem. Rom. xxxiii. 1, xlix. 7. i See Acts xxvi. 20.
1 For the perfective flexion (Helbing, 103-104) αφηκας (SQccA PQ, etc., Al. Lachm., Bs., Ws.) [Matt. xxiii. 23] some (Ti., Tr., WH, Bj., Sw.) substitute αφηκες (ΝΟ).
2 For the εκπεπτωκας of P, 1, etc., S., Andpal, vg., Vict., read either πεπτωκες (N, Ti., WH, Bj., Sw.) or -as (ACQ, etc., Απάς, Areth., Cyp., Pr., Al. Lachm., Tr., Ws.),
period (x John, Didaché, etc.) is full of directions upon the moral and religious tests which a community should apply to these itinerant evangelists and teachers called “apostles”. The popularity and spread of Christianity rendered precau- tions necessary on the part of the faith- ful against unscrupulous members of this order, which had already attracted men of quite inferior character as well as of heretical beliefs. The evtl men here includes these pseudo-apostles as well as the Nikolaitan libertines of ver. 6 (cf. 15) with whom perhaps the “apostles” were in sympathy; ἐπείρ. and evp. denote some definite and recent crisis, while µισ. reflects the permanent obstacles of the local situation. This temper of the church is warmly com- mended by Ign. (ad Eph. ix.) at a later period; “I have learned that certain folk passed through you with wicked doctrine (κακὴν διδαχήν). but you would not allow them to sow seed in you”. With equal loftiness and severity of tone, John like Ignatius might have added: τὰ δὲ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, ὄντα ἄπιστα, οὐκ ἔδοξέν pou ἐγγράψαι (Smyrn. ν.).
Ver. 3. The tenses as in ver. 2 de- note a general attitude still existing, the outcome of some special stage of perse- cution for the sake of the Christian name. κεκοπίακες, cf. κόπον (ver. 2), a slight play on words; “ nouilaborem tuum, nec tamen laboras, i.e., labore non frangeris ” (Bengel). Tired in loyalty, not of it. The Ephesian church can bear anything except the presence of impostors in her membership.
Ver. 4. Brotherly love, an early and authentic proof of the faith; as in ver. 19, 2 John 5-6, 3 John 6, and the striking parallel of Matt. xxiv. 12 (see 10) where, as at Corinth (see also Did. xvi. 3) party- spirit and immorality threatened its ex- istence. Jealous regard for moral or doctrinal purity, and unwavering loyalty in trial, so far from necessarily sustain- ing the spirit of charity, may exist side by side, as here, with censoriousness, sus-
picion, and quarrelling. Hence the neg- lect of brotherly love, which formed a cardinal fault in contemporary gnosticism: (ει, 1 John, 1. ου τ το ο ο ο) may penetrate the very opposition to such error. During any prolonged strain put upon human nature, especially in a small society driven jealously to maintain its purity, temper is prone to make in- roads on atiection and forbearance; it was inevitable also that opportunities for this should be given in early Chris- tianity, where party-leaders tended to exaggerate either the liberal or the puri- tan element in the gospel. When Ap- ollonius of Tyana visited Ephesus, one of the first topics he raised was the duty of unselfish charity (Vit. Apoll. iv. 3). The historical reference here is probably to the temporary decline of the Ephesian church after Paul’s departure (see Acts xx. 29 f., etc.) Its revival took place under the ministry of the Johannine circle, who—carrying on the spirit of Paulinism with independent vigour— made it the most prominent centre of Christianity in the East. With wv. 2-4, compare Pliny, H. N. ti. 18: ‘deus est mortali iuuare mortalem, et haec ad aeter- nam gloriam uia ”; also Pirke Aboth, ii. 15, where R. Jehoshua, a contemporary Jewish sage, says: ‘‘an evil eye [1.6., envy, niggardliness], and the evil nature, and hatred of mankind put a man out of the world” (cf. 1 John iii. 15). This em- phasis upon brotherly love as the dominant characteristic of the church and the supreme test of genuine faith, is early Christian, however, rather tham specifically Johannine (see the account of the young aristocratic martyr Vettius Epa- gathus, Ep. Lugd.). The purity which is not peaceable cannot be adequate to the demands of Jesus, and nowhere did this. need reinforcement more than in the townships of Asia Minor, where factious- ness and division constantly spoiled their guilds and mutual relations.