Difference between revisions of "Epaphras"

<p> (shortened probably from <i> [[Epaphroditus]] </i> , but not to be identified with the evangelist so named) </p> <p> [[Epaphras]] was a native or citizen of [[Colossae]] (Colossians 4:12), the founder, or at least an early and leading teacher of the [[Church]] there (Colossians 1:7, where καί, ‘also,’ is omitted in the oldest Manuscripts), who had special relations with the neighbouring churches of [[Laodicea]] and [[Hierapolis]] (Colossians 4:13). St. [[Paul]] had not yet visited this community when he wrote Col.; but if the reading ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν (‘on our behalf,’ ‘as our delegate’) be accepted in Colossians 1:7 (as by Revised Versionon the authority of the three oldest Manuscripts), the Apostle, during his long residence at Ephesus, when ‘all who dwelt in [[Asia]] heard the Word’ (Acts 19:10), must have specially commissioned Epaphras to evangelize Colossae in his (St. Paul’s) name (Colossians 4:12-13). Epaphras’ intimate association with St. Paul is shown by the designations ‘beloved fellow-bondsman’ (Colossians 1:2) and ‘fellow-captive’ (Philemon 1:23). The latter word (cf. Colossians 4:10, Romans 16:7), if it be not here used metaphorically, suggests either that Epaphras’ friendship with St. Paul created suspicion and thus led to his arrest, or that he voluntarily shared the Apostle’s captivity (Lightfoot, <i> Colossians </i> 3, 1879, p. 34f.).*[Note: [[Jerome]] (Com. on Philemon 1:23) mentions, without endorsing it, a tradition that St. Paul and Epaphras, in boyhood, were carried together as captives in war from [[Judaea]] to Tarsus.] </p> <p> When Col. was written, Epaphras had recently arrived in Rome, and had given St. Paul a report of the Church of Colossae. The [[Apostle]] assures the Colossian [[Christians]] of Epaphras’ great zeal as well as fervent prayers for them; and he conveys to them the friendly greeting of their townsman, who remained in [[Rome]] with St. Paul (Colossians 4:12-13). The report about the Church of Colossae was on the whole favourable. Epaphras testifies to the spiritual life and fruitfulness of its members; to their conspicuous faith, hope, and charity (Colossians 1:4-6). There was, however, a disquieting account of a peculiar heresy, which had broken out in the community-a combination of Judaistic formalism with Oriental theosophy (see Colossians). Epaphras, filled with anxiety, had wrestled (ἀγωνιζόμενος) in prayer for his converts ‘that they might stand fully assured in all the will of God’ (Colossians 4:12). [[Probably]] one reason of his visit to Rome was to consult St. Paul about this new peril. The solicitude of Epaphras was shared by the Apostle, who, amid thanksgiving for the spiritual progress of the Colossians, admonishes them (Colossians 1:23) to abide in the truth, ‘grounded and stedfast.’ Epaphras sends salutations to the household of Philemon, the letter to whom was dispatched along with the [[Epistle]] to the Colossians. [[Thenceforth]] Epaphras disappears from reliable history; later traditions represent him as ‘bishop’ of Colossae, as suffering martyrdom, and eventually having his bones interred under the Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore in Rome. </p> <p> Literature.-J. D. Strohbach, <i> de Epaphrä </i> , 1710; [[Commentaries]] of Lightfoot, Ellicott, Eadie, Abbott, Wohlenberg, Maclaren, Haupt, etc., on Colossians; F. Vigouroux, <i> Dict. de la [[Bible]] </i> , 1891-99; article‘Epaphras’ in <i> Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) </i> , <i> Hastings’ Single-vol. Dictionary of the Bible </i> , and <i> Encyclopaedia Biblica </i> . </p> <p> [[Henry]] Cowan. </p>

<p> (Ε᾿παφρᾶς, usually considered a contraction of Epaphroditus, but the last syllable in that case is hardly regular), an eminent teacher in the [[Church]] at Colossae, denominated by [[Paul]] "his dear fellow-servant," and "a faithful minister (διάκονος ) of Christ" (Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12). A.D. 57. It has been inferred from Colossians 1:7 that he was the founder of the Colossian Church; and Dr. Neander supposes that the apostle terms him ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν διάκονος Χριστοῦ (a servant of [[Christ]] in our stead) because he committed to him the office of proclaiming the [[Gospel]] in the three Phrygian cities Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea, which he could not visit himself (Hist. of Planting, 1:200, 373). This language, however, is by no means decisive; yet most probably [[Epaphras]] was one of the earliest and most zealous instructors of the Colossian Church (see Alford's prolegomena to that epistle, Gr. Test. 3:35 sq.). Lardner thinks that the expression respecting Epaphras in Coloss. 4:12, ὁ ἐξ ὑμῶν, is quite inconsistent with the supposition of his being the founder of the Church, since the same phrase is applied to Onesimus, a recent convert (Hist. of the [[Apostles]] and Evangelists, c. 14; Works, 6:153). But in both cases the words in question seem intended simply to identify these individuals as the fellow-townsmen of the Colossians, and to distinguish them from others of the same name in [[Rome]] (see Macknight on Colossians 4:2). He was at that time with Paul at Rome (Colossians 4:12ὁ συναιχμαλωτός μου, my fellow-prisoner; but some regard the word there as only a tender and delicate expression of Epaphras's attention to the apostle in his imprisonment (comp. Romans 16:13). The martyrologies make Epaphras to have been first bishop of Colossee, and to have suffered martyrdom there. (See [[Epaphroditus]]). </p>