IV. 13]
[← ] καὶ πεπληροφορημένοι ἐν παντὶ θελήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ. 13μαρτυρῶ γὰρ αὐτῷ ὅτι ἔχει πολὺν πόνον ὑπὲρ [ →]
πεπληροφορημένοι] ‘fully persuaded’. The verb πληροφορεῖν has several senses. (1) ‘To fulfil, accomplish’; 2 Tim. iv. 5 τὴν διακονίαν σου πληροφόρησον, ib. ver. 17 τὸ κήρυγμα πληροφορηθῇ, Clem. Hom. xix. 24 πεπληροφορημένον νῦν ἤδη τριῶν ἡμερῶν. So perhaps Hermas Sim. 2 πληροφοροῦσι τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν ... πληροφοροῦσι τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν, though it is a little difficult to carry the same sense into the latter clause, where the word seems to signify rather ‘to satisfy’. (2)‘To persuade fully, to convince’; Rom. iv. 21 πληροφορηθὲις ὅτι ὃ ἐπήγγελται δυνατός ἐστιν καὶ ποιῆσαι, xiv. 5 ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ νοὶ πληροφορέισθω, Clem. Rom. 42 πληροφορηθέυτες διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως κ.τ.λ., Ign. Magn. 8 εἰς τὸ πληροφορηθῆναι τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας, ib. 11 πεπληροφορῆσθαι ἐν τῇ γεννὴσει κ.τ.λ., Philad. inscr. ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει αὐτοῦ πεπληροφορημένη ἐν παντὶ ἐλέει, Smyrn. 1 πεπληροφορημένους εἰς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν, Mart. Ign. 7 πληροφορῆσαι τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τοῖς προγεγονόσιν, Clem. Hom. Ep. ad Iac. 10 πεπληροφορημένος ὅτι ἐκ Θεοῦ δικαίου, ib. xix. 24 συνετιθέμην ὡς πληροφορούμενος. So too LXX Eccles. viii. 11 ἐπληροφορήθη καρδία τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ πονηρόν. (3) ‘To fill’; Rom. xv. 13 πληροφορήσαι ὑμᾶς πάσης χαρᾶς (a doubtful v. l.), Clem. Rom. 54 τίς πεπληροφορημένος ἀγάπης; Test. xii Patr. Dan 2 τῇ πλεονεξίᾳ ἐπληροφορήθην τῆς ἀναιρέσεως αὐτοῦ, where it means ‘I was filled with’, i.e. ‘I was fully bent on’, a sense closely allied to the last. From this account it will be seen that there is in the usage of the word no justification for translating it ‘most surely believed’ in Luke i. 1 τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων, and it should therefore be rendered ‘fulfilled, accomplished’. The word is almost exclusively biblical and ecclesiastical; and it seems clear that the passage from Ctesias in Photius (Bibl. 72) πολλοῖς λόγοις καὶ ὅρκοις πληροφορήσαντες Μεγάβυζον is not quoted with verbal exactness. In Isocr. Trapez. § 8 the word is now expunged from the text on the authority of the MSS. For the substantive πληροφορία see the note on ii. 2 above. The reading of the received text here, πεπληρωμένοι, must be rejected as of inferior authority.
ἐν παντὶ κ.τ.λ.] ‘in every thing willed by God’; comp. 1 Kings ix. 11. So the plural τὰ θελήματα in Acts xiii. 22, Ephes. ii. 3, and several times in the LXX. The words are best connected directly with πεπληροφορημένοι. The passages quoted in the last note amply illustrate this construction. The preposition may denote (1) The abode of the conviction, as Rom. xiv. 5 ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ νοΐ; or (2) The object of the conviction, as Ign. Magn. II ἐν τῇ γεννήσει, Philad. inscr. ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει; or (3) The atmosphere, the surroundings, of the conviction, as Philad. inscr. ἐν παντὶ )ελέει. This last seems to be its sense here. The connexion σταθῆτε ... ἐν, though legitimate in itself (Rom. v. 2, 1 Cor. xv. 1), is not favoured by the order of the words here.
13. πολὺν πόνον] ‘much toil’, both inward and outward, though from the connexion the former notion seems to predominate, as in ἀγῶνα ii. 1; comp. Plat. Phædr. p. 247 B πόνος τε καὶ ἀγὼν ἔσχατος ψυχῇ πρόκειται. Of the two variations which transcribers have substituted for the correct reading, ζῆλον emphasizes the former idea and κόπον the latter. The true reading is more expressive than either. The word πόνος however is very rare in the New Testament (occurring only Rev. xvi. 10, 11, xxi. 4, besides this passage), and was therefore liable to be changed.
καὶ τῶν κ.τ.λ.] The neighbouring cities are taken in their geographical order, commencing from Colossæ; see above, p. 2. Epaphras, though a Colossian, may have been the evangelist of the two larger cities also.
IV. 14]
[← ] ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν Λαοδικίᾳ καὶ τῶν ἐν Ἱεραπόλει. 14ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Λουκᾶς ὁ ἰατρὸς ὁ ἀγαπητός, καὶ Δημᾶς. [ →]