[1698] At Rome also there were, as in so many other places, those who, either within or in contact with the church, made divisions and perverted the true Christian teaching. The Epistle to the Romans deals but to a small extent directly with these persons. It is, in the main, constructive. Galatians is a letter on similar lines of teaching but more polemic in character. In the case of how few of the churches to which the apostle wrote could he spare himself the unpleasant task of warning them against heretics or immoral tendencies of life. In Corinth the abuses were chiefly of a moral and practical character. In Colossæ and perhaps in Ephesus, there was a Judeo-Gnostic theosophy which threatened the Christian faith of the people. The Roman church was, probably, predominantly Gentile and was a Pauline church, in the sense, that, though not founded by Paul, it had been trained in the Pauline "gospel," the type of doctrine more or less peculiar to that apostle. The extended refutation of Jewish claims to special divine favor in chaps. ii. and iii. as well as the consideration of the problem offered by the lapse of the Jews in chaps. ix., x., and xi., shows that there was an reportant Jewish element in the church, while these concluding warnings (17, 18) intimate the presence of Judaizing heretics who sought to conceal their real wickedness by smooth and plausible language and thus to lead innocent and unsuspecting Christians astray.--G.B.S.
[1699] huperbainein, see p. 441.
[1700] The mss. authorities and vss. strongly favor the omission of v. 24 (as, A, B, C, ', Copt., Eth., Vulg.) It appears to be a repetition of the benediction in v. 20 and is omitted by most critics.--G.B.S.
[1701] Field thinks he points to the Bishop and clergy present.
[1702] The following passage strongly illustrates what St. Chrysostom says, in the first page of the Introduction, of his affectionate intimacy with the Apostle, through meditation on his writings.
[1703] The Martyrs were thought to be admitted to the Beatific Vision at once. See Tertullian de Anima, 55, but this is a subject on which the Fathers speak with caution.
[1704] koruphaion, not of the Apostles, but of the Saints in general. The manner in which St. Paul is coupled with St. Peter, is remarkable, as in the Roman Breviary, Vesp. et Laud. Commem. Com. de Apost. "Peter the Apostle, and Paul the Teacher of the Gentiles, these taught us Thy Law, O Lord. R. Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth." In the York Breviary, F. SS. App. Petr. et Paul, ad Vesp. Hymn, St. 2. "These are the two olive trees before the Lord (Zech. iv. 3), and the candlesticks beaming with light, the two bright luminaries of Heaven." And again, non impar Paulus huic. St. Augustin observes, ad Bonif. cont. du. Ep. Pelag. 1, 3, c. 3, Ben. t. 10. "When one says, The Apostle,' without saying what Apostle, no one understands any but Paul, because he is best known from the number of his Epistles, and because he labored most." St. Maximus, Hom. 5, de Nat. Petr. et Paul, "Therefore the blessed Peter and Paul are eminent among all, and have a kind of peculiar precedency, but between themselves, which is to be preferred to the other, is uncertain. For I think they are equal in merits because they are equal in suffering." He also says in the same Homily, "To Peter, as to a good Steward, He gave the key of the Kingdom of Heaven. On Paul, as on an able Teacher, He enjoined the mastership in the teaching of the Church; that is, that whom the one has instructed unto salvation, the other may receive into rest; that whose hearts Paul hath opened by the teaching of his words, to their souls Peter may open the Kingdom of Heaven. For Paul too did also in a manner receive the key of knowledge from Christ." And St. Gregory, 1, 1 Dial. c. 12. "The Apostle Paul is brother in Apostolical preëminence (principatu) to Peter, the first of the Apostles." See also St. Chrys. on Gal. i. 18, p. 25 O.T. where he says, "equal in dignity with him, for at present I will say no more," and Gal. ii. 8, p. 34 O.T.; Tertull. adv. Marcion. 1, 5, and others, consider him especially intended in Jacob's blessing of Benjamin. St. Cyr. Hier. Cat. vi. p. 68, O.T. speaks of "That goodly pair, Peter and Paul, the Rulers of the Church." Many more passages might be cited, but these may suffice to show in what esteem St. Paul was held among the Fathers, and at the same time that this did not interfere with their view of the prerogatives of St. Peter.
[1705] Some mss. add, "and they still possess his sacred body."
[1706] See Macarius, Hom. 1. and 7, also Schaare Orah. ap. Knorrium, Kabbala Denudata, t. l. p. 507, where this interpretation is carried farther.
[1707] Alluding to John xiv. 12; xvi. 12.
[1708] St. Augustin de Gen. ad Lit. xii. 35. He has many passages on "seeing God."
[1709] Acts xx. 19; 2 Cor. ii. 4 cf. Luke xviii. 7, Ps. cxxxiv. 2.
[1710] So all mss. Sav. ton ophthalmionton, and so Ben. translating it "as the envious," which must be the meaning if it is the true reading.