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[ή γίνου πιστὸς © Gen. xxiv. ε 55, Num. ττ. ο. χτο, Dan. 1.12, 14.
d xii. 11, Acts xxii. 4, Phil. ii. 8, Sib. Or ii.47, Ign., Polyk. ii.
ποῦ κατοικεῖς, ὅπου 6 θρόνος τοῦ Σατανᾶ, καὶ κρατεῖς ‘Td ὄνομά µου, «; Pet. v.
i. 12. f Gen, epexeg. = Sir. xxi. 3. The spiritual jus gladii.
self and which she had urged as her plea to Tiberius (Tacit. Ann. iv. 56). On the honours subsequently paid to martyrs in Smyrna, cf. Mart. Polyk. xvii. τοῦτον μὲν yap ὑιὸν ὄντα τοῦ θεοῦ προσκυνοῦμεν, ποὺς δὲ μάρτυρας ὡς μαθητὰς καὶ μιμητὰς τοῦ κυρίου ἀγαπῶμεν (also Euseb. Η. Ε. iv. 15. 46, 47), with the contemporary cry of 4 Esd. viii. 27: ‘“‘Look not at the deeds of the impious but at those who have kept Thy covenants amid affliction” (z.e., the martyrs), also the subsequent Christian honour paid by Hermas (Vis. iii. 1, 2), who reserves the right hand of God for the martyrs who have ‘suffered for the sake of the Name,” enduring “stripes, imprisonments, great afflictions, crosses, wild beasts”. For καὶ with fut. after imperative, see Eph. v. 14, James iv. 7.---στέφ. ἵ. Life, the reward assigned in ver. 7 to the triumph of faith is here bestowed upon the loyalty of faith. To hold one’s ground is, under certain cir- cumstances, as trying and creditable as it is under others to win positive successes. The metaphor of στέφ. with its royal, sacerdotal, and festal (Cant. iii. τι, Isa. xxviii. 1, Herm. Sim. viii. 2) associations, would call up civic and athletic honours to the local Christians, the latter owing to the famous games at Smyrna, the former from the fact that στ. frequently -occurs also in inscriptions as = public hon- our for distinguished service (paid, e.g., to Demosthenes and Zeno), whilst the yearly appointment of a priest at Eumeneia to the temple of Zeno was termed παράληψις τοῦ στέφανου (C. B. P. ii. 358). Com- pare, with the ἄξιοι of iii. 4, the sentence in Ep. Lugd. upon the martyrs: ἐχρῆν γοῦν τοὺς yevvatous ἀθλητὰς, ποικίλον ὑπομείναντας ἀγῶνα καὶ µεγάλως νικήσαν- τας, ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν µέγαν τῆς ἀφθ- αρσίας στέφανον, and the Greek phrase for noble deeds, afta στεφάνων (Plut. Pericl. 28).
Ver. 11. οὐ μὴ (emphatic): no true Christian, much less one who dies a
g See on xx. 6, 14. i Cf. on ver. 10, and iii. 8.
4, 2 Tim. ; 5 iv. 8, Jas. h xix. 15, Heb. iv. 12, En. Ixii. 2; its stroke
martyr’s death, need fear anything beyond the pang of the first death. The second death of condemnation in the lake of fire leaves the faithful scatheless, no matter how others may suffer from the terrors (cf. on ili. 12) which haunted the ancient outlook (especially the Egyptian) upon the dark interval between death and heaven. Cf. the sketch of Ani, seated on his throne and robed in white, holding sceptre and staff, and crying: ‘‘I am not held to be a person of no account, and violence shall not bedone me. Iam thy son, O Great One, and I have seen the hidden things that belong tothee. I am crowned king of the gods, and shall not die a second time in the underworld” (E. B. D. 9ο). Ifa Christian keep him- self loyal till death, the prophet here guarantees that Christ will keep him safe after death. After the promise of ver. 10 however, this sounds like an anticlimax. The general tenor of the message indi- cates that John was rather more cordial and sympathetic to the Smyrniote church than to the Ephesian.