Colossians 4:11

And Jesus The Grecized form of Jehoshua(later, Jêshua), "Jehovah's Help"; a very common Jewish proper name. In the N.T., besides the countless places where it is the name of our Blessed Lord, and this place, it occurs Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8; (of Joshua); and (according to well-supported readings) Luke 3:29, where A. V. has "Jose"; and (perhaps) Matthew 27:16; "JesusBarabbas."

Legend gives Jesus Justus a bishopric, that of Eleutheropolis, in Judea.

called Justus A Latin name, like Marcus and Paulus; see note on Colossians 4:10.

Lightfoot (see his note in full) shews that this name, "Righteous," was in common use among Jews and proselytes, as "denoting obedience to the law." We find it Acts 1:23; Acts 18:7. The third bishop of Jerusalem, according to Eusebius (History, 111. 35) was "a Jew, named Justus"; and the eleventh (ibid. iv. 5) bore the same name. The name occurs, slightly modified (Youstî, Youstâ), in the Rabbinical writings. The feminine, Justa, is the name of the Syrophenician in the Clementine Homilies, a Judaizing book of cent. 3, where she appears as a proselytess.

" Called" :implies that Jesus Justus was better known by his Latin than by his Hebrew name.

who Aristarchus, Marcus, Jesus.

are of the circumcision For the phrase cp. Acts 10:45; Acts 11:2; Romans 4:12; Galatians 2:12; Titus 1:10. It appears to mean converts to Christianity of Jewish birth (or proselytism). In Acts 11, Gal., Tit., cited above, "the men of circumcision," shew a more or less partizan-like spirit towards the freedom of the Gospel. But this does not prove that the phrase bore necessarily a party colour, only that exclusives, Judaizers, would naturally appear, if anywhere, among the Hebrew Christians.

These only Probably he means, these only of all "the men of the circumcision" at Rome, while the large majority were acting as in Philippians 1:15-16. Alford takes the whole passage to be practicallyone statement, in loose grammatical connexion, as if it ran "Of the men of the circumcision these alone are &c." We must not press the word "only" too far; he probably speaks here of leaders, not of the mass. Cp. Philippians 2:20; 2 Timothy 4:16.

my fellowworkers Cp. for the word in similar connexion, Romans 16:3; Romans 16:9; Romans 16:21; 2 Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25; Philippians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:2 (perhaps); Philemon 1:24. He loves the thought of partnership in his work for his Lord, see e.g. Philippians 1:7. The word "my" is not in the Greek, but it is evidently implied.

unto the kingdom of God See above Colossians 1:13, and note; and our notes on Ephesians 5:5. The phrase here means, in effect, "so as to promote the reign of God, in Christ, over man and in him, here and hereafter."

which have been The Greek might almost be paraphrased, "proving," or "as they have proved." He means that their cooperation largely consisted intheir proving "a comfort," instead of acting in opposition. "Have been" :more exactly, "were," or "did prove." But the English perfect well represents the Greek aorist here. See note on Colossians 4:8.

a comfort The Greek noun, parêgoria, occurs here only in the Greek Bible; the cognate verb occurs Job 16:2, in the Greek version of Symmachus. The English word, in its common use, exactly renders it. The Latin Versions have solatium;Wyclif, "solace." His heart, often wounded by Judaistic opposition, was specially consoledby the loving loyalty of these Jewish Christian friends.