clause. It would not do to say, ' I speak to shame you that I was weak ; ' or, if on be made causal, ' I speak to shame you because I was weak,' still the sense is not good. The former interpretation of this difficult passage is therefore to be pre- ferred.
22. Are they Hebrews? so (am) I. Are they Is- raehtes ? so (am) I. Are they the seed of Abraham ? so (am) I.
In this verse the apostle begins his boasting by showing that in no point did he come behind his opponents. The three designations here used belonged to the chosen people. The Hebrews were Israelites, and the Israelites were the seed of Abraham. The first, as Meyer remarks, is the national designation of the people of God ; the second their theocratic appellation; and the third marked them as the heirs of Abra- ham and expectants of the Messianic kingdom. Or, as Ben- gel remarks with no less justice, the first refers to their nation- al, and the two others to their religious or spiritual relation. A Hebrew was not a Jew of Palestine as distinguished from the Hellenists, or Jews born out of Palestine and speaking the Greek language. For Paul himself was born in Tarsus, and yet was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, that is, a man of pure Hebrew descent. In Acts 6, 1 the word is used for the Jews of Palestine in distinction from other Jews, but it is obvious- ly not so either here or in Phil. 3, 5.
23. Are they mmisters of Clirist? (I speak as a fool) I (am) more ; in labom's more abmidant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
In all that related to the privileges of birth, as belonging to the chosen seed, Paul stood on a level with the chief of his opposers ; in all that related to Christ and his service he stood fiir above them. Are they the ministers of Christ ? Such they were by profession, and such for the moment he admits them to be, although in truth they were the ministers of Satan, as he had said in v. 15. 1 7nore (v-rrlp eyw, where virip is used as an adverb). This may mean either, I am more than a (StaKovos) minister of Christ ; or, I am a minister or servant of 12*