ἐντολάς, Ἐὰν ἔλθῃ πρὸς ὑμᾶς, δέξασθε αὐτόν, ^{11}καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ λεγόμενος
Ἰοῦστος, οἱ ὄντες ἐκ περιτομῆς· οὗτοι μόνοι συνεργοὶ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν
τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἵτινες
11. καὶ Ἰησοῦς] He is not mentioned elsewhere. Even in the Epistle to
Philemon his name is omitted. Probably he was not a man of any
prominence in the Church, but his personal devotion to the Apostle
prompted this honourable mention. For the story which makes him bishop
of Eleutheropolis in Palestine, see Le Quien _Oriens Christ._ in III. p.
633.
Ἰοῦστος] A common name or surname of Jews and proselytes, denoting
obedience and devotion to the law. It is applied to two persons in the
New Testament, besides this Jesus; (1) Joseph Barsabbas, Acts i. 23; (2)
A proselyte at Corinth, Acts xviii. 7. It occurs twice in the list of
early Jewish Christian bishops of Jerusalem, in Euseb. _H.E._ iii. 35,
iv. 5. It was borne by a Jew of Tiberias who wrote the history of the
Jewish war (Joseph. _Vit._ §§ 9, 65), and by a son of the historian
Josephus himself (_ib._ § 1). It occurs in the rabbinical writings
(יוסטא or יוסטי, Schöttgen on Acts. i. 23, Zunz _Judennamen_ p. 20), and
in monumental inscriptions from Jewish cemeteries in various places
(Boeckh _C. I._ no. 9922, 9925; _Revue Archéologique_ 1860, II. p. 348;
Garrucci _Dissertazioni Archeologiche_ II. p. 182). So also the
corresponding female name Justa (Garrucci _l.c._ p. 180). In _Clem.
Hom._ ii. 19, iii. 73, iv. 1, xiii. 7, the Syrophœnician woman of the
Gospels is named Ἰοῦστα, doubtless because she is represented in this
Judaizing romance as a proselytess προσήλυτος xiii. 7) who strictly
observes the Mosaic ordinances ( τὴν νόμιμον ἀναδεξαμένη πολιτείαν ii.
20), and is contrasted with the heathen ‘dogs’ ( τὰ ἔθνη ἐοικότα κυσίν
ii. 19) who disregard them. In some cases Justus might be the only name
of the person, as a Latin rendering of the Hebrew Zadok; while in
others, as here and in Acts i. 23, it is a surname. Its Greek
equivalent, ὁ δίκαιος, is the recognised epithet of James the Lord’s
brother: see _Galatians_, p. 348.
οἱ ὄντες κ.τ.λ.] i.e. ‘converts from Judaism’ (see the note Gal. ii.
12), or perhaps ‘belonging to the Circumcision’; but in this latter case
περιτομῆς, though without the article, must be used in a concrete sense,
like τῆς περιτομῆς, for ‘the Jews’. Of Mark and of Jesus the fact is
plain from their name or their connexions. Of Aristarchus we could not
have inferred a Jewish origin, independently of this direct statement.
μόνοι] i.e. of the Jewish Christians in Rome. On this antagonism of the
converts from the Circumcision in the metropolis, see _Philippians_ p.
16 sq. The words however must not be closely pressed, as if absolutely
no Jewish Christian besides had remained friendly; they will only imply
that among the more prominent members of the body the Apostle can only
name these three as stedfast in their allegiance: comp. Phil. ii. 20
οὐδένα ἔχω ἰσόψυχον ... οἱ πάντες γὰρ κ.τ.λ. (with the note).
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