Philemon 1:5

τὴν� אACGKLP, etc. The order is changed by D, some cursives, Pesh. Arm. Ambrst. to avoid an exegetical difficulty (see Commentary).

εἰς τὸν κύρ. ACD*, appy Ambrst. τρὸς τ. κ. Text. Rec. with אDcGKLP, Syr.Harcl. Chr. appy Vulg.

5. ἀκούων, “hearing (as I do).” To be connected with εὐχαριστῶ; cf. Philemon 1:7, where again the love shown by Philemon is the cause of the apostle’s joy. The present points to the continued information that the apostle has received, presumably through Epaphras (Colossians 1:7-8). That which Onesimus brought was hardly recent, and could only have represented the impressions of an outsider. Contrast the aorist ἀκούσαντες in Colossians 1:4, where the reference is primarily to the good news of the conversion of the Colossians, and ἀκούσας in Ephesians 1:15.

P. Ewald (p. 272 note) thinks the whole verse may be a postscript by the apostle, added perhaps between the lines of the original, as sometimes in the papyri. A copyist could hardly do otherwise than insert it in the text in the usual way.

σου τὴν�. ἀγ. here before πίστις (contrast Colossians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:3), perhaps because St Paul is about to appeal to Philemon’s love.

καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἥν ἔχεις εἰς τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. See notes on Textual Criticism. This ambiguous sentence has been understood in various ways. It will be observed that the difficulty lies in the questions of the true antecedent of ην and of the meaning of πίστις.

(a) τὴν πίστιν may be still under the government of σοῦ (thus in effect placing a comma after πίστιν), and ἥν refers to both ἀγάπην and πίστιν, being in concord with the nearest substantive. In this case the two following clauses, by Chiasmus, refer cross-wise—faith towards the Lord Jesus, love towards all the saints. So Theodoret, Bengel, Lightfoot. The chief objection is that the ordinary reader would almost certainly have run on from πίστιν to ἥν (as in b and c) and only have discovered his mistake when near the end of the verse. If this interpretation is right, we may conjecture that its ambiguity became evident to either St Paul or the amanuensis of Colossians 1:4, and that it was altered on purpose to the clear expression there.

(b) τὴν πίστιν may be entirely separate from σοῦ, and ἥν refers to it alone. In this case faith is exerted towards both the Lord Jesus and all the saints. The force of the last clause would appear to lie in the value of trust on the part of Christian workers, particularly those who work among Jews or heathen, towards converts. The imperfections of these are often so manifest that it is only by faith, faith in Christ’s work upon them (i.e. faith in them as believers), that older Christians are led to show them such kindnesses as are here implied. The objection to this is that πίστις in the sense of “trust,” “confidence,” nowhere else has man for its object, except in the doubtful passage Ephesians 1:15, on which however see J. A. R. Eph. pp. 295 sq.

(c) With the same construction as in (b) to πίστιν may be given the meaning of faithfulness (e.g. Galatians 5:22). The very serious objection is that nowhere has πίστις this meaning when followed by a phrase like εἰς τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν.

(d) P. Ewald (see especially Eph. p. 94) would give to πίστις here and Ephesians 1:15 both its possible meanings, viz. faith on the Lord Jesus and faithfulness to all the saints (Glaube und Treue).

On the whole (a) is the most probable interpretation.

εἰς τὸν κύρ. See notes on Textual Criticism. πρὸς is found so much more rarely with πίστις, πιστεύω, apparently only in 1 Thessalonians 1:8 (cf. with πεποίθησις, 2 Corinthians 3:4), that if internal evidence alone be considered it is probably genuine here. “Of the two prepositions the former (προ—ς) signifies direction ‘forward to,’ ‘towards’; the latter (ἐν—ς) arrival and so contact ‘in-to,’ ‘unto.’ … 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” (Lightfoot). In any case the difference of prepositions would tend to give some indication of the fact (apparently) that the first clause refers to πίστις and the second to ἀγάπη.

πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, Colossians 1:2; Colossians 1:4, notes.