Jesus, which is called Justus. — The surname “Justus” is found in Acts 1:23; Acts 18:7; we learn from tradition that by it, or by its equivalent, St. James, “the Lord’s brother,” was known. In this case it is curious that one who bore our Lord’s name should also have been known by a surname which was His peculiar title, “the Just One.” (See Acts 22:14; and comp. Luke 23:47.) Of this Justus there is no other notice, not even in the Epistle to Philemon, in which all the other names recur.

Who are of the circumcision. These only... — The juxtaposition of the two notices seems to indicate — what is in itself likely — that the brethren who held aloof from St. Paul in “strife and envy,” and whose conduct produced that sense of isolation of which he speaks so pathetically in Philippians 2:20, were “of the circumcision.” Out of them, only Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus were true fellow-workers, and as such “a comfort” to the Apostolic labourer.

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