καὶ πεπληροφορημένοι ἐν παντὶ θελήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ. ^{13}μαρτυρῶ 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.
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