(21) Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say. (22) But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you. (23) Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth thee; (24) and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. 21 In the conclusion of the letter, Paul draws attention to the fact, that he had only imposed on Philemon a command he confidently knows would be obeyed. He knows that he will do what is asked of him, and will receive his slave in a friendly way, without punishing him for any wrong that he may have done. Indeed, he knows that Philemon will do more yet than he has directly asked of him. The expression intentionally leaves it undecided whether he is thinking of a full liberation of the slave or of leaving him to serve the Apostle. At all events, Paul has still a petition in reference to himself, concerning which he indeed knows that the expression of it will cause Philemon great 22 joy. For he can ask him to prepare a lodging place for him only if he hopes to be liberated in the near future. But we know that this was constantly held out to him by the Proconsul Felix in Cæsarea (cf. Acts xxiv. 20), and we learn from the Epistle to the Colossians what it was that suggested the wish to him of visiting the congregations in Phrygia, with which he was not yet acquainted, and which were surrounded with dangers. He hopes, however, that he will fulfil this request, for which he depends upon their intercession, as well as that of all the Gentile congregations. From the greeting of Epaphras we see, that the latter was now voluntarily 23 sharing the captivity of the Apostle, as, according to 24 Col. iv. 18, Aristarchus is doing. Here Demas and Luke, who, according to Col. iv., also were with him, are (25) The grace of 1our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. 2 Amen. 1 Some ancient authorities read the. mentioned as his co-laborers, as in the latter passage 25 Mark and Jesus Justus are, the latter of whom is not mentioned here at all. The final salutation, which reads exactly like that of Phil. iv. 23, as does the blessing in the beginning of the letter, includes the persons mentioned, together with Philemon. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS I God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, (2) hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in 'his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the 2 worlds; (3) who being the effulgence of his glory, and the 1 Gr. a Son. 2 Gr. ages. Comp. 1 Tim. i. 17. In the opening of the letter, the writer mentions 1 neither himself nor his readers. But he gives us to understand who they both were, by speaking of their common fathers, to whom in olden times God had spoken through the prophets. They accordingly both belong to that nation, for whom in the time of the preparatory revelation God had awakened the prophets, in order to give to them, again and again, doctrine and exhortation, promises and threats, in accordance with their needs, and through the mouths of the prophets. But they are both living in the last times, to which all the predictions of the prophets pointed, and which have begun in their age. To them God has spoken in One who was more than all their prophets, namely, in the Son, who is such in 2 the unique sense, since God has appointed Him heir over all things, i. e. has given to Him the dominion. over the whole world. But this only was in harmony with His relation to the world from the beginning. For through Him God has established all the processes of nature, as these processes had in all ages tended toward the goal at which the world was to be sub3 jected to Him. It was natural that He alone should very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (4) having become by so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited a more exalted name than they. attain to this dignity, who from the beginning had been of divine essence. All the glory of God had, as it were, been poured out upon Him as the Son of His love, and for this reason the divine essence has found its perfect expression in Him. The word of omnipotence was His, by means of which He carried all that was intended for His inheritance through all the changes of the world ages, to that goal where He was to enter upon His supremacy over it. This could only take place after He had completed His work upon earth. This latter consisted not only in the deliverance of God's message through Him, but in His atoning death, which brought about a cleansing from the contamination of guilt, by which the sins of the people separated them from their God and made them unworthy for the reception of the promised redemption. Afterward, through His exaltation to the right of the 4 majesty of God, He attained to the complete dominion over the world, which was intended for Him, and through which He became in dignity and in power greater than the highest creatures of God-the angels. But this is only in accordance with the fact that in the Old Testament there was bestowed upon the Messianic Ruler over the world, in a unique way, a name which is entirely different from that which they bear, namely, the name of Son, into the possession of which, by being appointed as Heir over all things, He now has entered for all time. Now comes in detail the Scripture proof for what (5) For unto which of the angels said he at any time, 8 2 I will be to him a Father, And he shall be to me a Son ? 6 4 (6) And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. (7) And of the angels he saith, "Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire: 1 Ps. ii. 7. 22 S. vii. 14. Or, shall have brought in. Dt. xxxii. 43 Sept.; comp. Or, And again, when he bringeth in. has been said concerning the greatness of the Mediator of redemption, such as a believer from Israel would have occasion to give to the believer from the same nation, only if their faith was in any way being attacked. This proof begins with what has been said concerning the name of Son. For the angels are in the 5 Old Testament also at times called the Sons of God. But God, who speaks everywhere in the Old Testament, never has said to a single one among the angels what He says in Ps. ii. 7, to the Messiah, addressing Him simply as His Son; or what He says in 2 Sam. vii. 14, 6 of the Descendant of David, in whom all the promises are to be fulfilled. But He is not only exalted over these, as under other circumstances the first-born is over his brethren; but the author interprets the words taken from Deut. xxxii. 43, which are now yet to be found only in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, to mean, that in the end, when God will introduce His first-born at His return for the second time, as He introduced Him for the first time in connection with His public ministry, He will command all the 7 angels to worship Him. But this is confirmed in another places. For while in Ps. civ. 4, God states in reference to the angels what makes them appear as |