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Php_1:14. τοὺς πλείονας ] the majority, 1Co_10:5; 1Co_15:6, et al. It is not to be more precisely specified or limited.
ἐν κυρίῳ ] belongs not to ἀδελφῶν (Luther, Castalio, Grotius, Cornelius a Lapide, Heinrichs, van Hengel, de Wette, Ewald, Weiss, and others)—in which case it would not indeed have needed a connecting article (Col_1:2; Col_4:7), yet would have been entirely superfluous—but to πεποιθότας , along with which, however, it is not to be rendered: relying upon the Lord with respect to my bonds (Rheinwald, Flatt, Rilliet, comp. Schneckenburger, p. 301). It means rather: in the Lord trusting my bonds, so that ἐν κυρίῳ is the specific modal definition of πεποιθ . τοῖς δ . μ ., which trust is based and depends on Christ. Comp. Php_2:24; Gal_5:10; Rom_14:14; 2Th_3:4. On the dative, comp. 2Co_10:7; Phm_1:21, and the ordinary usage in the classics; in the New Testament mostly with ἐπί or ἐν . Ἐν κυρίῳ is placed first as the correlative of the ἐν Χριστ ., Php_1:13. As the apostle’s bonds had become generally known as in Christ, so also in Christ (who will not abandon the work of His prisoner that had thus become so manifest) may be found the just ground of the confidence which encourages the brethren, Paul’s fellow-Christians in Rome, ἀφόβως τ . λ . λαλεῖν . They trust the bonds of the apostle, inasmuch as these bonds exhibit to them not only an encouraging example of patience (Grotius), but also (comp. Php_3:8; Col_1:24 f.; 2Ti_2:8 f.; Mat_5:11 f., and many other passages) a practical guarantee, highly honourable to Christ and His gospel, of the complete truth and justice, power and glory of the word,[64] for the sake of which Paul is in bonds; thereby, instead of losing their courage, they are only made all the bolder in virtue of the elevating influence of moral sympathy with this situation of the apostle in bonds. Weiss explains as if the passage ran τῇ φανερώσει τῶν δεσμῶν μου (which would tend to the recommendation of the gospel); while Hofmann thinks that, to guard themselves against the danger of being criminally prosecuted on account of their preaching, they relied on the apostle’s imprisonment, in so far as the latter had now shown itself, in the judicial process that had at length been commenced, to be solely on account of Christ, and not for anything culpable. The essential elements, forsooth, are thus introduced in consequence of the way in which Hofmann has construed for himself the situation (see on Php_1:13).
περισσοτ .] i.e. in a higher degree than they had formerly ventured upon, before I lay here in bonds. Their ἀφοβία in preaching had increased. This, however, is explained by Hofmann, in accordance with the above hypothesis, by the fact that the political guiltlessness of preaching Christ had now been established,—thus referring, in fact, the increase of their fearless boldness to a sense of legal security. But the reason of the increased ἀφοβία lay deeper, in the sphere of the moral idea, which manifested itself in the apostle’s bonds, and in accordance with which they trusted those bonds in the Lord, seeing them borne for the Lord’s sake. They animated the brethren to boldness through that holy confidence, rooted in Christ, with which they imbued them.
τὸν λόγου λαλεῖν ] i.e. to let the gospel become known, to preach, Act_11:19, and frequently. On ἀφόβως , comp. Act_4:31.
[64] Oecumenius well says: εἰ γὰρ μὴ θεῖον ἧν , φησὶ , τὸ κήρυγμα , οὐκ ἂν ὁ Παῦλος ἠνείχετο ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ δεδέσθαι Comp. ver. 16.