means which the apostle employed in the defence and propa- gation of the truth. Those means, he says, were mighty through God. The words are hwara tw ^eaJ, which are vari- ously explained. Some, as Beza, Grotius and others, give the dative the force of the ablative — mighty by God — afflatu Dei^ as Erasmus expresses it. Others regard the expression as a Hebraic superlative. Others say the meaning is, mighty /or God, i. e. for his use, weapons which are powerful in his hand. The common explanation is, ' mighty to God,' i. e. such means as even God himself regards as mighty ; mighty in his estima- tion. Of Nineveh it is said it was, 7r6A.ts jxeydXyj tS ^€o3, a city great to God, a version which strictly answers to the Hebrew. Reference is also made to Acts 7, 20, where Moses is said to have been aarelos toJ -^ew, beautiful to Gocl^ i. e. in his sight ; and 2 Peter 3, 14. These weapons Avere divinely powerful to the ptdling down of strwig holds, Trpos Ka^atpecnv oxupw/xaTwv. The last word is most apj^ropriately rendered strong holds, as it is from ox^^pos (from ex'*^), haltbar, what may be held, what is secure from assault. The opposers of the gospel felt that they were so entrenched, so protected by the fortresses Avhich they occupied, that they despised the ministers of Christ and derided their efforts. What these strong-holds were the apostle tells us in what follows. This verse is properly marked as a parenthesis, not only in our version, but in al- most all the critical editions of the Greek Testament, because the grammatical construction of v. 5 connects it immediately with v. 3.
5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
As just intimated, the participle Ka^acpovvres {ptdling doicn) depends on the verb a-TparevoixeSa at the end of v. 3. ' We war — puHing down, &c.' According to this view v. 3 is parenthetical. Riickert, De Wette and others, however, on the ground that v. 4 contains the main idea, whicli is carried out in V. 8, prefer considering the construction of the passage as irregular, the participle being used here as in 9, 11. 13. They therefore connect this verse" with what immediately pre- cedes. * Our weapons are mighty — ^in that we pull down, &c.'