S' ollywv, cf. Heb. xiii. 22. Even in so long and systematic an Epistle as Hebrews the writer feels that the vastness of his subject is but slightly represented by his letter. So here St Peter may be apologizing for the brevity of his letter and contrasting it in thought with the fuller teaching which Silvanus will be able to give by word of mouth.

ypaya is the epistolary aorist, "I am writing."

παρακαλῶν καὶ ἐπιμαρτυρῶν. St Peter here sums up his object in writing. His purpose is to encourage his readers and to give (or add em...) his testimony to the truth of God's favour to them.

ἐπιμαρτυρεῖν occurs nowhere else in Biblical Greek but συνεπιμαρTupei is used in Heb. ii. 4 of God attesting the message of the Gospel by signs and wonders.

Taúrηy. It is not quite clear what special aspect of God's favour is here intended. The reading of the T.R., eis ηv éotýkate (KLP etc.), wherein ye stand, would seem to mean the position which you occupy is the true view of God's free favour. So some critics regard it as a testimony to the truth of Pauline Christianity as taught and accepted in Asia Minor.

But in this case St Peter would surely have expressed himself more clearly. The best MSS. (NB and many cursives) read eis ηv σTÊTE, wherein (or to secure which, eis) stand fast. This leaves Taúτŋ undefined and we have consequently to discover what is intended from the Epistle itself. In the concluding chapter St Peter has urged humility as the condition for receiving God's favour (xápiv) v. 5, and such humility must be exercised not merely towards fellowChristians but towards God by patient endurance of sufferings as a prelude to final glory. The God of all favour (xápiros) called them to share His glory by passing through a discipline of sufferings. Such sufferings are not inconsistent with God's favour but rather are signs of it, even though they are made use of by Satan to tempt them to apostasy. In i. 10 St Peter had spoken of the extension of God's favour to the Gentiles (τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος), as predicted by the prophets and watched by angels, and in i. 13 he urged his readers to set their hope upon the favour (xápiv) which is being borne to them in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Probably therefore St Peter means that the object of his letter is (a) to encourage his readers in their trial by fire, exhorting them to lead lives consistent with their faith and hope, and (b) to assure them that their position as the new Israel of God is no accident but the fulfilment of God's eternal

purpose of loving favour. Their very sufferings are part of that same loving favour. Therefore he urges them to stand fast to secure (eis) its final consummation in eternal glory.

13. ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλεκτή. She that is elect together with you. Some commentators explain this as referring to St Peter's wife. The arguments in favour of this view are

(a) that we know from 1 Cor. ix. 5 that she accompanied
St Peter in his missionary work.

(b) Clement of Alexandria (Strom. vii. 11) tells a story that
she suffered martyrdom before her husband, and was en-
couraged by him to "remember the Lord" as she was
led away for execution. Therefore, it is urged, she must
have been a well-known personage in the early Church.
(c) that the accompanying salutation from Mark, “my son,”
makes it more probable that ǹ σuvekλektý also refers to an
individual, whereas such a metaphorical description of a
church would be hardly intelligible in a letter, though it
might be used in Apocalyptic literature.

In answer to the last objection, it may be urged, that Babylon is most probably used in a metaphorical sense and this would suggest that ǹ σuvekλEKTỶ is also metaphorical, especially as other words in the Epistle, e.g. diaσropά in the opening salutation, seem also to be metaphorical.

It is therefore better to explain ǹ σuvekλekTη as referring to a church. This is the interpretation of N, in which èккλŋoía is added, as also in the Vulgate, Peshito and Armenian Versions and in Theophylact and Oecumenius.

In support of this view it may be urged that "the elect lady Kupla èxλeктý in 2 John and "the children of thy elect sister" almost certainly refer to churches. Clement of Alexandria describes 2 John as addressed "ad quandam Babyloniam Electam nomine, significat autem electionem Ecclesiae Sanctae."

The Rev. J. Chapman O.S.B. (Journal of Theological Studies, July 1904) suggests that 2 John was addressed to the Church in Rome, in which case it is a plausible conjecture that Clement identified the Κυρία ἐκλεκτή of 2 John with ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλEKTη in 1 Pet. Clement in his Hypotyposes makes no comment on these words of St Peter, but in commenting on the next words "Mark my son " he says that the Romans persuaded Mark to commit to writing what Peter preached. Therefore there is little doubt that he regarded 1 Peter as being written from Rome.

In the Book of Henoch ò éκλektós (xl. 5, xlv. 3, 4, etc.) is used as a title of the Messiah. It is therefore just possible that n συνεκλεκτή might denote the Bride of ὁ ἐκλεκτός. In Ephesians, from which St Peter so frequently borrows, St Paul describes the Church as the Bride of Christ (Eph. v. 23-32). In the Apocalypse

the New Jerusalem is described as the Bride, the Lamb's wife, and in the Shepherd of Hermas the Church is represented as a

woman.

Baßulavi. For the three interpretations of this name cf. Introd. pp. xxix ff., where arguments were given to shew that Rome is almost certainly intended.

Μάρκος ὁ υἱός μου. viós does not necessarily imply that St Mark was a convert of St Peter, though this is possible, as it was to the house of St Mark's mother that St Peter went on his release from prison. The more usual word for a convert would be TéKVOV. ViÓS may merely mean that he has been like a son to St Peter. In early tradition Mark is constantly described as the companion of St Peter.

The attitude of St Mark towards Gentile Christians has been discussed in the Introduction (p. xlix f.).

St Mark was certainly in Rome when Colossians was written, towards the close of St Paul's first imprisonment, and may have remained there as St Peter's companion until just before the outbreak of the Neronian persecution. But he was again in the East when 2 Tim. was written, as St Paul asks Timothy to bring him with him to Rome. This visit in company with St Peter must therefore be placed either soon after St Paul's release or after St Paul's death.

14. φιλήματι ἀγάπης. "A holy kiss" is ordered as a Christian greeting by St Paul in Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26. At first it was used as a personal greeting, but in the second century it became part of the Eucharistic service and is referred to by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, the Apostolic Constitutions, Cyril of Jerusalem and Chrysostom. Afterwards it was used as a greeting in the services for Baptism, Marriage and Ordination.

eipnun was the regular Hebrew greeting. Our Lord instructed His disciples to use it on arriving at a house, and Himself employed it when He appeared to them after the Resurrection. As a farewell greeting however the usual form was depart in peace," cf. Acts xvi. 36. St Paul uses it together with xápis in the opening salutations of all his epistles, but his farewell greeting is usually xápis. He does however use cipývn in Eph. vi. 23 and cipývn oo occurs in 3 Jn 15.

ev Xplor is a very favourite phrase of St Paul to denote the position of Christians as members of Christ, and the same idea has already been expressed by St Peter in iii. 16 and v. 10. Such language evidently implies a full belief in the divinity of Christ.

UN 2 2 1917