Section 164
49A special interest on Peter’s part in the Christians of Asia and the neighboring provinces may be inferred from 1 Pet. 1:1, and Mark’s greetings are sent to them in 1 Pet. 5:13.
50Another Jewish believer with the additional name Justus is mentioned in Acts 1:23. Cf. J. Munck, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind, E.T. (London, 1959), p. 116, n. 2.
51For the construction οἱ ὄντες ἐϰ πεϱɩτομῆς οὗτοɩ μóνοɩ . . . see C. F. D. Moule, IBNTG, p. 31; on its meaning see J. Munck, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind, pp. 106 with n. 3, 107 with n. 1. What Paul says here is taken by J. B. Lightfoot (ad loc.) as pointing to the “antagonism of the converts from the Circumcision in the metropolis”; he compares the reference in Phil. 1:17 to those who “proclaim Christ out of partisanship.” But the statement is not necessarily to be taken as a “péssimistic remark,” as Deissmann says, “thrown off in a mood comparable with that of the peevish lines in Phil. 2:20-21, which also need not be weighed too nicely” (Light from the Ancient East, p. 438). This judgment is quite unwarranted (with regard to Phil. 2:20-21 as well as to the present passage). Nor is there much to be said in favor of Deissmann’s further note that “it is not certain whether Paul is describing all three men as Jews; Aristarchus might be a pagan convert to Christianity” (ibid., n. 3). Even if Aristarchus belonged to a mainly Gentile church, his being ἐϰ πεϱɩτομῆς was no bar to his being a member of it, and even a delegate on a suitable occasion. In the light of Acts 16:3, Timothy would also be included among οἱ ἐϰ πεϱɩτομῆς who were with Paul at this time, but his inclusion as co-author of the letter (Col. 1:1) would render it less appropriate for him to be mentioned here.