'of note among the
apostles.' There are other indications that the term 'apostle' was not
confined to the twelve. Not St. Paul only, but Barnabas also, and the
Lord's brother, were included in it. Later, in the _Didache_, we find
it used in a wide but somewhat dim sense, for the {196} chief teachers
of the Church who were not settled in particular churches[9].
Nevertheless, this passage describing two men of unknown names as
'conspicuous among the apostles' is surprising. Probably the real
requirement for sharing the title of apostle was to have received
commission from the Lord (as 'other seventy' did besides the Twelve),
and to have seen Him after His resurrection. These two--'early
disciples' as St. Paul tells us--may have fulfilled these requirements.
They were Jews like himself, who with him had laboured and suffered.
They would be centres of authority among the Christians at Rome[10]:
and possibly to the laying on of their hands other brethren at Rome who
'ruled' or 'taught' or 'ministered' owed their qualifying gift.

Chrysostom takes the second name to be a woman's--Junia; and expresses
his astonishment at finding a woman thought worthy of the title of an
apostle.

4. 'Them that are of the household of Aristobulus.' This Aristobulus
was very probably the {197} grandson of Herod the Great, who lived and
died at Rome in a private station, and whose 'household' would
naturally include many Jews and orientals. The following name of a Jew
suggests connexion with the Herods.

5. 'Rufus' may very likely be the son of Simon of Cyrene, whom St.
Mark, writing probably at Rome, refers to as well known[11].

6. 'A holy kiss.' 'It was from this and similar words,' says Origen,
'that it has been handed down as a custom in the Church that after the
prayer the brethren should welcome one another with a kiss.' He goes
on to urge that this ritual kiss should be neither unchaste nor without
real feeling.

7. 'All the churches of Christ salute you.' This unique phrase is
probably used, as Dr. Hort suggests, to express how 'the church of Rome
was an object of love and respect to Jewish and Gentile churches alike.'

[1] Or _Junia_ (a woman's name), as margin.

[2] See the readings of Rom. xvi. 3; 1 Cor. xvi. 19; 2 Tim. iv. 19 (in
R. V. which is probably right); and of Acts xviii. 2, 18, 26.

[3] 1 Cor. xvi. 19.

[4] 2 Tim. iv. 19.

[5] Twice out of three mentions in each case.

[6] Perhaps both freedm