numerous Roman Christians. her in the Lord, as the saints should receive one another, and aid her in any business' wherein she needs your help; for she has herself aided many, and me also among the rest. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow-laborers in the work of Christ 3 Jesus, who, to save my life, laid down their own necks; who are thanked, 4 not by me alone, but by all the Churches of the Gentiles. Greet likewise the Church which assembles at their house. Salute Epænetus my dearly-beloved, who is the first-fruits of Asia' unto Christ. Salute Mary, who labored much for me. 6 Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, who 7 are well known among the Apostles, and who were also in Christ before 8 me. Salute Amplias, my dearly-beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbanus, my fellow-workman in Christ's service, and Stachys 9 my dearly-beloved. 1 From the use of legal terms here, it would seem that the business on which Phoebe was visiting Rome was connected with some trial at law. 2 The most ancient MSS. read Prisca for Priscilla here; the names being the same. Concerning these distinguished Christians, see p. 336. When and where they risked their lives for St. Paul, we know not, but may conjecture at Ephesus. We see here that they had returned to Rome (whence they had been driven by the edict of Claudius) from Ephesus, where we left them last. It is curious to observe the wife mentioned first, contrary to ancient usage. Throughout this chapter we observe instances of courtesy towards women sufficient to refute the calumnies of a recent infidel writer, who accuses St. Paul of speaking and feeling coarsely in reference to women; we cannot but add our astonishment that the same writer should complain that the standard of St. Paul's ethics, in reference to the sexual relations, is not sufficiently elevated, while at the same time he considers the instincts of the German race to have first introduced into the world the true morality of these relations. One is inclined to ask whether the present facility of divorce in Germany is a legitimate development of the Teutonic instinct; and if so, whether the law of Germany, or the law of our Saviour (Mark x. 12), enforced by St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 10), expresses the higher tone of morality, and tends the more to elevate the female sex. Asia, not Achaia, is the reading of the best MSS. Compare p. 349, note 2. The province of proconsular Asia is of course meant. 4 When were they St. Paul's fellow-prisoners? Probably in some of those imprisonments not recorded in the Acts, to which he alludes 2 Cor. xi. 23. It is doubtful whether in calling them his "kinsmen" St. Paul means that they were really related to him, or only that they were Jews. (Compare Rom. ix. 3.) The latter supposition seems improbable, because Aquila and Priscilla, and others in this chapter, mentioned without the epithet of kinsmen, were certainly Jews; yet, on the other hand, it seems unlikely that so many of St. Paul's relations as are here called "kinsmen" (verses 7, 11, 21) should be mentioned in a single chapter. Perhaps we may take a middle course, and suppose the epithet to denote that the persons mentioned were of the tribe of Benjamin. xvi. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Salute Apelles, who has been tried and found trustworthy in Christ's work. Salute those who are of the household of Aristobulus.1 Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Salute those of the household of Narcissus' who are in the Lord's fellowship. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, the faithful laborers in the Lord's service. Salute Persis the dearly-beloved, who has labored much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, the chosen in the Lord and his mother, who is also mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Salute one another with the kiss of holiness." The Churches of Christ [in Achaia] salute you. against selfpartisans. I exhort you, brethren, to keep your eyes upon those who warning cause divisions, and cast stumbling-blocks in the way of interested others, contrary to the teaching which you have learned. 18 Shun them that are such; for the master whom they serve is not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly and by their fair speaking and 19 flattery they deceive the hearts of the guileless. I say this, because the 1 This Aristobulus was probably the greatgrandson of Herod the Great, mentioned by Josephus and Tacitus, to whom Nero in A. D. 55 gave the government of Lesser Armenia. He had very likely lived previously at Rome, and may still have kept up an establishment there, or perhaps had not yet gone to his government. See Tac. Ann. xiii. 7, and Joseph. Ant. xx. 5. 2 There were two eminent persons of the name of Narcissus at Rome about this time; one the well-known favorite of Claudius (Suet. Claud. 28, Tac. Ann. xii. 57, 65, xiii. 1), who was put to death by Nero, A. D. 54, soon after the death of Claudius, and therefore before this Epistle was written: the other was a favorite of Nero's, and is probably the person here named. Some of his slaves or freedmen had become Christians. This Narcissus was put to death by Galba (Dio. Ixiv. 3). 8 St. Mark (xv. 21) mentions Simon of Cyrene as "the father of Alexander and Rufus;" the latter, therefore, was a Christian well known to those for whom St. Mark wrote, and probably is the same here mentioned. It is gratifying to think that she whom St. Paul mentions here with such respectful affection was the wife of that Simon who bore our Saviour's cross. 4 See note on 1 Thess. v. 26. xvi. tidings of your obedience have been told throughout the world. On your own behalf, therefore, I rejoice: but I wish you not only to be simple in respect of evil, but to be wise for good. And the God of peace shall 20 bruise Satan under your feet speedily. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Salutations from Christians at Corinth to those.at Rome. Lord. Timotheus, my fellow-laborer, and Lucius, and Jason,' and 21 Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you. I, Tertius, who have written this letter, salute you in the 22 Gaius, who is the host, not of me alone, but also of the whole Church, 23 salutes you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, and the brother Quartus, salute you. Autograph conclusion. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. 5 24 Now I commend you unto Him who is able to keep you steadfast, 25 according to my Glad-tidings, and the preaching of Jesus Christ whereby is unveiled the mystery which was kept secret in eternal times' of old, but has now been brought to light, and made known to all the 26 Gentiles by the Scriptures of the Prophets, by command of the eternal God; that the Gentiles might be led to the obedience of faith 1 Jason is mentioned as a Thessalonian, Acts xvii. 5; he had probably accompanied St. Paul from Thessalonica to Corinth. 2 Sosipater is mentioned as leaving Corinth with St. Paul, soon after this epistle was written (Acts xx. 4). 3 This Gaius (or Caius) is no doubt the same mentioned (1 Cor. i. 14) as baptized at Corinth by St. Paul with his own hands. In Acts xx. 4 we find "Gaius of Derbe " leaving Corinth with St. Paul, soon after the writing of this Epistle, but this may perhaps have been a different person; although this is not certain, considering how the Jews migrated from one place to another, of which Aquila and Priscilla are an obvious example. Erastus is again mentioned (as stopping at Corinth) in 2 Tim. iv. 20. Probably the same Erastus who went with Timotheus from Ephesus to Macedonia, on the way towards Corinth (Acts xix. 22). 6 If we retain the "to whom " in verse 27 (with the great majority of MSS.) we must supply "I commend " or something equivalent here, or else leave the whole passage anacoluthical. Examples of a similar commendation to God at the conclusion of a letter or speech are frequent in St. Paul. Compare 1 Thess. v. 23, 2 Thess. ii. 16, and especially the con clusion of the speech (so nearly contempora neous with this Epistle) at Miletus, Acts xx. 32. The complicated and involved construction reminds us of the Salutation commencing this Epistle, and of Eph. i. • Literally, proclamation. xvi. 27 unto Him, the only wise God,' I commend you through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever. Amen.' 1 If we were (on the authority of the Codex Vaticanus) to omit the "to whom" in this passage, the last three verses would become a continuous doxology. The translators of the A. V. have tacitly omitted this "to whom," although professing to follow the Textus Receptus. 2 Some MSS. insert the verses 25, 26, 27, after xiv. 23, instead of in this place; but the greater weight of MS. authority is in favor of their present position. A good refutation of the objections which have been made against the authenticity of the last two chapters is given by De Wette and Neander; but, above all, by Paley's Hora Paulina, inasmuch as these very chapters furnish four or five of the most striking undesigned coincidences there mentioned. Little has been said as yet concerning Cenchrea, and some interest is given to the place both by the mention of its Church in the preceding Epistle (Rom. xvi. 1), and by the departure of St. Paul from that port at the close of his first visit to Achaia (Acts xviii. 18). We have seen (p. 360) that it was seventy stadia, or nearly nine miles distant from Corinth, and (p. 367) that its position is still pointed out by the modern Kikries, where some remains of the ancient town are visible. The road is described by Pausanias as leading from Corinth through an avenue of pine-trees, and past many tombs, among which two of the most conspicuous were those of the cynic Diogenes and the profligate Thais. The coin here engraved is that to which allusion was made p. 367, n. 5. It is a colonial coin of Antoninus Pius, and represents the harbor of Cenchres exactly as it is described by Pausanias. CHAPTER XX Isthmian Games. — Route through Macedonia. — Voyage from Philippi. — Sunday at Troas - Assos.— Voyage by Mitylene and Trogyllium to Miletus. - Speech to the Ephesian Presbyters.-Voyage by Cos and Rhodes to Patara.-Thence to Phoenicia. Christians at Tyre.-Ptolemais. - Events at Cæsarea. Arrival at Jerusalem. N the Epistles which have been already set before the reader in the course of this biography, and again in some of those which are to succeed, St. Paul makes frequent allusion to a topic which engrossed the interest, and called forth the utmost energies, of the Greeks. The periodical games were to them rather a passion than an amusement: and the Apostle often uses language drawn from these celebrations, when he wishes to enforce the zeal and the patience with which a Christian ought to strain after his heavenly reward. The imagery he employs is sometimes varied. In one instance, when he describes the struggle of the spirit with the flesh, he seeks his illustration in the violent contest of the boxers (1 Cor. ix. 26). In another, when he would give a strong representation of the perils he had encountered at Ephesus, he speaks as one who had contended in that ferocious sport which the Romans had introduced among the Greeks, the fighting of gladiators with wild beasts (ib. xv. 32). But, usually, his reference is to the foot-race in the stadium, which, as it was the most ancient, continued to be the most esteemed, among the purely Greek athletic contests. If we compare the various passages where this language is used, we find the whole scene in the stadium brought vividly before us, the herald who summons the contending runners, -the course, which rapidly diminishes in front of them as their footsteps advance to the goal, the judge who holds out the prize at the end of the course, 1 The victory in the stadium at Olympia was used in the formula for reckoning Olympiads. The stadium was the Greek unit for the measurement of distance. With St. Paul's frequent reference to it in the epistles, 1 Cor. ix. 24, Rom. ix, 16, Gal. ii. 2, v. 7, Phil. ii. 16, 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, should be compared two passages in the Acts, xx. 24, where he speaks of himself, and xiii. 25, where he speaks of John the Baptist. 2 "Having heralded." 1 Cor. ix. 27. Plato says that the herald summoned the candidates for the foot-race first into the stadium. 8 6 Forgetting the things that are behind, and striving after the things that are before." Phil. iii. 14. For the Course, see Phil. ii. 16, and 2 Tim. iv. 7, besides Acts xx. 24, which is particularly noticed below, p. 602, n. 3. 42 Tim. iv. 8. 585 |