Ephesians 6:22

ὂν ἔπεμψα πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο : whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose. ἔπεμψα, in idiomatic English = “I have written,” but literally = “I did write”. If it were certain that the Epistle to the Colossians preceded that to the Ephesians, that the special mission on which Tychicus was sent with Onesimus to Colossæ took place before Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, and that he found some opportunity of forwarding the latter Epistle also in the course of Tychicus's journey, the ἔπεμψα would have its usual aorist sense, referring to a past act. Failing this, it must be taken as an instance of the epistolary aor., the mission being coincident with the writing of the letter, but contemplated from the view-point of the recipients of the letter, to whom it was a thing of the past. The epistolary aor. certainly occurs in Latin, in the use of scripsi, etc. (cf. Madvig, Gr., § 345). How far its use extends in the NT is still a moot question, some finding many cases, e.g., ἔγραψα in Galatians 6:11; Philemon 1:19; Philemon 1:21; 1 Peter 5:12; 1 John 2:14; 1Jn 2:21; 1 John 2:26; 1 John 5:13; ἐπέστειλα, Hebrews 13:22; ἔπεμψα, συνέπεμψα in 2 Corinthians 8:18; 2 Corinthians 8:22; Ephesians 6:22; Colossians 4:8; Philippians 2:28; Philemon 1:11, etc.; while others (e.g., Blass) restrict it to ἔπεμψα in Acts 23:30; Philippians 2:28; Colossians 4:8; Philemon 1:11, etc. (cf. Win.-Moult., p. 347; Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 194; Lightf. on Galatians 4:11; Colossians 4:8; Ell. on Galatians 4:11. ἵνα γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν : that ye may know our state. τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν will naturally have the same sense as the τὰ κατʼ ʼμέ, the ἡμῶν including Paul's companions with himself. It is well rendered “our state” by the RV; “our affairs” by the AV. The information regarding Paul and his friends would not be confined to the letter, but would be given no doubt also by Tychicus by word of mouth. καὶ παρακαλέσῃ τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν : and that he may comfort your hearts. παρακαλεῖν means most frequently either to exhort or (in later Greek as well as in the NT) to beseech. Rarely in non-biblical Greek has it the sense of comforting or encouraging; but in the LXX it represents בִחַם, and in the NT it has these senses, and also once that of instructing (Titus 1:9). Here it means to comfort, or to encourage; probably the former, with respect both to Paul's troubles already mentioned (Ephesians 3:13 above) and their own.