5. ἀκούων] This information would probably come from Epaphras (Col. i. 7, 8, iv. 12) rather than from Onesimus. The participle is connected more directly with εὐχαριστῶ than with the intervening words, and explains the grounds of the Apostle’s thanksgiving.
τὴν ἀγάπην κ.τ.λ.] i.e. ‘the faith which thou hast towards the Lord Jesus Christ and the love which thou showest to all the saints.’ The logical order is violated, and the clauses are inverted in the second part of the sentence, thus producing an example of the figure called chiasm; see Gal. iv. 4, 5. This results here from the Apostle’s setting down the thoughts in the sequence in which they occur to him, without paying regard to symmetrical arrangement. The first and prominent thought is Philemon’s love. This suggests the mention of his faith, as the source from which it springs. This again requires a reference to the object of faith. And then at length comes the deferred sequel to the first thought—the range and comprehensiveness of his love. The transition from the object of faith to the object of love is more easy, because the love is represented as springing from the faith. Some copies transpose the order, reading τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην—an obvious emendation. Others would obviate the difficulty by giving to πίστιν the meaning ‘fidelity, stedfastness’: Winer § 1. p. 511 sq. Thus they are enabled to refer both words, πίστιν καὶ ἀγάπην, equally to both the clauses which follow. But, though this is a legitimate sense of πίστις in St Paul (see Galatians, p. 155), yet in immediate connexion with ἣν ἔχεις πρὸς τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν, it is hardly possible that the word can have any other than its proper theological meaning. See the opening of the contemporary epistle, Col. i. 4.
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[← ] καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἣν ἔχεις πρὸς τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, 6ὅπως ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστέως σου ἐνεργὴς γένηται ἐν ἐπιγνώσει παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τοῦ ἐν [ →]
πρὸς κ.τ.λ.] The change of prepositions, πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ‘towards the Lord’ and εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ‘unto the saints’, deserves attention. It seems to arise from the instinctive desire to separate the two clauses, as they refer to different words in the preceding part of the sentence. Of the two prepositions the former (προ-ς) signifies direction ‘forward to’, ‘towards’; the latter (ἐν-ς) arrival and so contact, ‘in-to’, ‘unto.’ Consequently either might be used in either connexion; and as a matter of fact εἰς is much more common with πίστις (πιστεύειν), as it is also with ἀγάπη, πρός being quite exceptional (1 Thess. i. 8 ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν; comp. 2 Cor. iii. 4). But where a distinction is necessary, there is a propriety in using πρός of the faith which aspires towards Christ, and εἰς of the love which is exerted upon men. Some good copies read εἰς here in both clauses.
6. ὅπως κ.τ.λ.] to be taken with μνείαν σου ποιούμενος κ.τ.λ., as giving the aim and purport of St Paul’s prayer. Others connect it with hὲν ἔχεις, as if it described the tendency of Philemon’s faith, ‘ita ut’; but, even if ὅπως could bear this meaning, such a connexion is altogether harsh and improbable.
ἡ κοινωνία κ.τ.λ.] Of many interpretations which have been, or might be, given of these words, two seem to deserve consideration. (1) ‘Your friendly offices and sympathies, your kindly deeds of charity, which spring from your faith’: comp. Phil. i. 5 ἐπὶ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, Heb. xiii. 16 τῆς εὐποι"ίας καὶ κοινωνίας, whence κοινωνία is used especially of ‘contributions, almsgiving’, Rom. xv. 26, 2 Cor. viii. 4, ix. 13. (2) ‘Your communion with God through faith’: comp. 1 Cor. i. 9, and see also 2 Cor. xiii. 13, 1 Joh. i. 3, 6, 7. The parallel passages strongly support the former sense. Other interpretations proposed are, ‘The participation of others in your faith, through your example’, or ‘your communion with me, springing out of your faith’. This last, which is widely received, is suggested by ver. 17; εἰ κοινωνὸς εἶ, φησί, κατὰ τὴν πίστιν, writes Chrysostom, καὶ κατὰ τὰ ἄλλα ὀφείλεις κοινωνεῖν (comp. Tit. i. 3 κατὰ κοινὴν πίστιν): but it seems quite out of place in this context.
ἐνεργής] ‘effective’. The Latin translators must have read ἐναργής, for they render the word evidens or manifesta. Jerome (ad loc.) speaks of evidens as the reading of the Latin, and efficax of the Greek text. The converse error appears in the MSS of Clem. Hom. xvii. 5, ἐνέργεια for ἐνάργεια.
ἐν ἐπιγνώσει κ.τ.λ.] ‘in the perfect knowledge of every good thing’. This ἐπίγνωσις, involving as it does the complete appropriation of all truth and the unreserved identification with God’s will, is the goal and crown of the believer’s course. The Apostle does not say ‘in the possession’ or ‘in the performance’ but ‘in the knowledge of every good thing’; for, in this higher sense of knowledge, to know is both to possess and to perform. In all the epistles of the Roman captivity St Paul’s prayer for his correspondents culminates in this word ἐπίγνωσις: see the note on Col. i. 9. This ἐπίγνωσις is the result and the reward of faith manifesting itself in deeds of love, ὅπως ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως κ.τ.λ. For the sequence comp. Ephes. iv. 13 εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως κ.τ.λ., Tit. i. 1 κατὰ πίστιν ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας τῆς κατ’ εὐσέβειαν. The ἐπίγνωσις therefore which the Apostle contemplates is Philemon’s own. There is no reference to the force of his example on others, as it is sometimes interpreted, ‘in their recognition of every good thing which is wrought in you’.