ready attained the full blessedness of the Messiah's reign; that they had already attained, and were already perfect. He therefore adds, I would ye did reign. 'I would that the con- summation of Christ's kingdom had reaUy come, for then I would share with you in its glories.' I would to God is a translation not authorized, or at least not demanded, by the original, o^cAov, which in the later Greek, and in the New Testament, is a particle of wishing or an interjection ; woidd that., 0 that. So the Greek phrase (/at) ycVotro) so often ren- dered in our version, " God forbid ! " is simply an expression of aversion, " Let it not be." The Scriptures do not counte- nance such appeals to God as seem to have been common when our version was made.
9. For I think that God hath set forth us the apos- tles last, as it were appointed to death : for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
For. ' I would that the consummation were really come, for we apostles are now very far from being treated as kings.' God hath set forth., i. e. publicly exhibited. He has made us conspicuous as the last, the lowest, the most afflicted of men. The original does not admit of the translation proposed by many, xis the last apostles., i. e. those last appointed — referring to himself, who was, as he says, born out of due time. The emphasis, from the collocation of the words, is thrown on apostles and not on last. What follows is explanatory. As appointed unto death. Tliis does not merely mean that they were exhibited as men daily exposed to death ; which indeed was true, 15, 30. 31. 2 Cor. 1, 8. 9. 11, 23 ; but also that they were treated as men condenmed to death, that is, as convicts, men to whom aU comforts were denied. ' We have become a spectacle (^iarpov^ literally, a theatre; here metonymically, a show exhibited in a theatre) to the universe (koct/ho)), as well to angels, as to men.' Such were the sufferings of the apostles that men and angels gazed on them with wonder, as people gaze on a spectacle in a theatre. The word angels when used without qualification always means good angels, and must be so understood here.
10. We (are) fools for Christ's sake, but ye (are) wise in Christ ; we (are) weak, but ye (are) strong ; ye (are) honourable, but we (are) despised.