dition is here adverted to as affording a reason why they needed instruction on this subject. It was one on which their previous experience gave them no information.
Ye know that * ye were Gentiles. This is the comprehen- sive statement of their former condition. Under it are includ- ed the two particulars which follow. First, they were addict- ed to the worship of dumh idols, i. e. voiceless, comp. Hab. 2, 18. 19, "Woe unto him that saith unto the wood, Awake; unto the dumb stone. Arise, it shall teach," and Ps. 115, 5. 135, 16. To worship dumb idols, gods who could neither hear nor save, expresses in the strongest terms at once their folly and their misery. Secondly, they were carried away to this worship just as they were led, i. e. they were controlled by an influence which they could not understand or resist. Compare, as to the force of the word here used. Gal. 2, 13. 2 Pet. 3, 17. It is often spoken of those who are led away to judgment, to prison, or to execution. Mark 14, 53. John 18, 13. Matt. 27, 21. Paul means to contrast this (dTrayco-.^ai) be- ing carried away, as it were, by force, with the (ayco-^ai irvev- /AttTt), being led by the Spirit. The one was an irrational influ- ence controlling the understanding and will ; the other is an influence from God, congruous to our nature, and leading to good.
3. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus ac- cursed : and (that) no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Wherefore, i. e. because I would not have you ignorant on this subject. The first thing which he teaches is the criterion or test of true divine influence. This criterion he states first negatively and then positively. The negative statement is, that 710 man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus ac- cursed. To speak by (or in) the Spirit, is to speak under the influence of the Spirit, as the ancient prophets did. Matt. 22, 43. Mark 12, 36. iVb one speaki7ig (XaXwi/, using his voice), calleth {Xiy€i pronounces) Jesus to be accursed. Or, according to another reading, utters the words, "Jesus is accursed."
* The common text is on, the MSS. A. C. D. E. F. I., and many of the versions and Fathers have on ore (that when), which reading is adopted by Lachmann, Scholz, and Tischendorf. The construction is then irregular.