4 "The work of God" is much more naturally taken as designating the Christian himself-his personality, than as designating his salvation (Chrys.).-G. B. S.
5 Compare St. Ephrem. Serm. xx. vol. iii. adv. Scrutatores. pp. 172, 173, Oxf. Tr.
6 Krinwn should not be rendered "condemning" as if it were katakrinwn (as Chrys. and many mod. interpreters). The meaning is: Happy is he who does not pass judgment upon himself, i.e. who is so confident of the rightness of his course that he has no anxiety or scruple regarding the course of action in such disputed points which he approves and has resolved upon.-G. B. S.
7 Nullum Theatrum virtuti conscientia majus. Cicero, Tusc. ii. 26. Virtue has no field for display more ample than conscience.
8 So rendered, to keep up the play upon the words: it means, not framing himself to a false show.
9 Or, "the systems of the Gentiles been confuted," ta =Ellhnwn elhlegktai.
10 Philo, however, makes Abraham learned in all Chaldaean wisdom. De Nob. §5, also Joseph, Ant. i.c. 8, §2. It is now certain that the art of writing was older than his time, in Mesopotamia as well as Egypt.
11 So Field with most mss. Vulg. "for which thou art to be punished."
1 These three verses are placed here by Theodoret, St. Cyr. Alex., St. John Dam, and some 200 cursive mss. Of the few uncial mss. which have come down to us, the Codex Sinaiticus the Codex Vaticanus and the very ancient C. D. with the chief versions of the New Testament, including the two first made, the Old Latin and the Peschito-syriac. Origen put them where we do, at the end of the Epistle. The fifth century Alexandrian ms. in tire British Museum and two or three other mss. have the passage twice over. (For an elaborate defence both of the genuineness of this doxology and of the view that it belongs at the end of chap. xvi. see Meyer's criti-cat note prefixed to his comments on chap. xvi.-G. B. S.)
2 Mh aposthj, one ms. ou mh, which seems to determine the construction.
3 v. 27, in the Greek reads thus: "To God only wise through Jesus Christ, to Him (or to Whom) be glory," etc.
4 The grammatical form of the doxology presents a noticeable anacoluthon. The dative tw dunamenw is resumed in monw sofw qew and again in the relative w as if the proposition begun with the dative had been competed. Thus the previous datives are left without grammatical government. w, if read (many texts omit it) is to be understood as referring to qew.-G. B. S.
5 Chap. xv. contains conclusions and applications drawn from the principles laid down in regard to the treatment which should be accorded to the weak in chap. xiv. The crowning consideration is that Christ pleased not himself, but bore the burdens of the weak. This is presented as the type of all Christian duty. In v. 6 the construction usually preferred is (as in R. V.) "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. Eph. i. 3, Eph. i. 17).-G. B. S.
6 anw kai katw strefei, see Ast. ad Platon. Phoedr. 127.
7 See St. Chrys. ad loc. Hom. 32, on 1 Cor p. 446 O.T. in some places he seems to speak exclusively of love to one's neighbor in quoting this passage, but he always views this as the carrying out of love toward God, see p. 515.
8 mss. yucin ecebalej. Sav. yuxhn emalacaj, soften any soul.
9 So Field from mss.: old edd. "If my brother hates me, I do not even wish to see him." Perhaps the true reading is, "If my eye hates me, I do not even wish it to see," ean o ofqalmoj mou mish me, oude idein auton boulomai, which seems more proverbial, (if the aorist will bear this construction as Matt. xiii. 14), and agrees with p. 537.
10 So all mss. Sav. "more cruel."
1 See on Rom. viii. 4, supra p. 433.
2 proskekroukenai, not "stumbled," but "struck against" a person, same word as "alienation" just before.
3 The quotations in the passage on which this homily is based are all taken from the LXX. with a few trifling verbal changes. They are designed to show that the prophetic conception of the Messiah's work contemplated salvation for the Gentiles, so that Christ was not to be merely a "minister of the circumcision," but that he is to bring through the Jews salvation to the Gentiles so that they shall "glorify God for his mercy" (9). The passages in the O. T. relate primarily either to the Psalmist himself (v. 9. cf. Ps. xviii. 50) or to the King of Israel (v. 12. cf. Is. xi. 10), or to the relations of the people of Israel to the nations (vv. 10, 11, cf. Deut. xxxii. 43; Ps. cxvii. 1), but are applied to the relations of Christ to the nations in accordance with the prophetico-typical exegesis which regarded the prophets, kings and the history and people of Israel as having their chief significance in the fact that they embodied hopes and ideals which pointed forward to the Messiah and were realized only in the work and principles of His kingdom.-G. B. S.
4 So Field with two or three mss.: others, "and this ruleth:" Vulg. "and life ruleth."
5 2 Sam. xvi. 14, LXX. epnigen, A. V. troubled: see Matt. viii. 32.
6 Such was the case of Stagirius, vit. Chrys. Montf. p. 97. See St. Chrysostom's Exhortation to him, t. 1. Ben. t. vi. Sav. Bingham, art, Energumens ...St. Aug. de Civ. Dei. 19, 4. §2 and 21, 14. "A messenger of Satan" was given to St. Paul Himself, 2 Cor. xii. 7, and it was in hope of their salvation he delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan. 1 Tim. i. 20, and another, 1 Cor. v. 5.
7 Ps. civ. 6. Where Aquila and Theodotion have the feminine, which would be expected in speaking of the sea. See Theodoret on the Psalm.
8 2 mss. "Receive a cure for even this."
9 Orig. in Rom. v. 4. Tribulatio proprie sanctorum est. impiorum autem ...flagella appellantur. "Triulation properly elongs to the saints, the thing the wicked suffer are called scourges."
1 Besides the interpretation adopted by Chrys. which joins apo merouj closely with anamimnhskwn and understands it to mean, in a sort-gently, two other views deserve notice (1) that which joins it to tolmhroteron-in part, or somewhat more oldly (Hodge) and (2) that which joins it to egraya-I have written more oldly in parts of the epistle (De Wette, Meyer, Alford). Both our Eng. vss. seem to understand it as Chrys. viz.: as a conciliatory modification of "more boldly," and connecting with it the explanatory statement that the reason of his more bold writing was the kindly one of putting them in remembrance.-G. B. S.
2 Some mss. "all is spiritual with us" (pneumatika). Savile's marginal reading is unintelligible, but might suggest conjectures.
3 Verse 18 may yield three different meanings according to the word which receives the main emphasis. If it is placed on through me the meaning is: I shall not mention or lay claim to results wrought by others, but only to those secured by my own labors. The desire of the apostle (20) not to uild upon another man's foundation favors this view. (So Alford, Hodge). If the stress is placed on the word wrought the sense is: I shall not dare to mention any of those things which Christ did not actually work, i. e., I shall make no claim to success not actually achieved (Meyer). The emphasis may be placed on Christ. If so, it means: I will mention only what Christ the and he alone) wrought through me for the extension of his kingdom. Chrys. understands the passage thus and, we think, rightly. (So Tholuck, Olshausen, Boise).-G. B. S.
4 This is scarcely historical, except with reference to Arabia. Even St. Jerome on Amos v. 8, implies less.
5 2 mss. add wste deicai filotimiaj to katorqwma on. The filotimia, "zealous striving," is here opposed to mere necessity of duty, "the compulsion of his priesthood." The words thus are a gloss on those next cited, not a proper part of the text.