Receiveth not (ov déyetas). Not, does not understand, but does not admit them into his heart ; thus, according to New- Testament usage, when the word is used in connection with teaching. See Luke viii. 13; Acts viii. 14; xi. 1; 1 Thess. i. 6; Jas. 1, 21.
Are foolishness. Not merely seem. To him they are.
Neither can he know (kal ov dvvarat yvavat). Rev., more strictly, and he cannot know. “It is an utter perversion of such statements to maintain that there is in the natural man any organic, constitutional incapacity of spiritual perception re- quiring to be created in them by the Holy Spirit. . . . The uniform teaching of Scripture is that the change effected in re- generation is a purely moral and spiritual one” (Brown).
*See the able article by John Massie, “‘ A New Testament Antithesis,” ‘‘Fixpositor,” first series, vol. xii. {See Trench, ‘‘Synonyms,” p. 262.
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Discerned (avaxpiveras). Rev., judged. Used only by Luke and Paul, and by the latter in this epistle only. By Luke, mostly of judicial examination: Luke xxiii. 14; Acts iv. 9; xii. 19; xxiv. 8; xxviii. 18. Of examining the Scriptures, Acts xvii. 11, but with the sense of proving or coming to a judgment on. The fundamental idea of the word is examina- tron, scrutiny, following wp (avd) a series of objects or particu- lars in order to distinguish (kp). This is its almost universal meaning in classical Greek. At Athens it was used technically in two senses: to examine magistrates with a view to proving their qualifications; and to examine persons concerned in a suit, so as to prepare the matter for trial, asa grand jury. The meaning judged is, at best, inferential, and the Rev. inserts ex- amined in the margin. Bishop Lightfoot says: “’ Avaxpivew is neither to judge nor to discern ; but to examine, investigate, in- quire into, question, as it is rightly translated, 1 Cor. ix. 3; x. 25,27. The apostle condemns all these impatient human prae- judicia which anticipate the final judgment, reserving his case for the great tribunal, where at length all the evidence will be forthcoming and a satisfactory verdict can be given. Mean- while the process of gathering evidence has begun ; an avdaxptows investigation is indeed being held, not, however, by these self-ap- pointed magistrates, but by one who alone has the authority to institute the inquiry, and the ability to sift the facts” (‘On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament”). See, further, on ch. iv. 3, 4.
16. Mind (vodv). See on Rom. vii. 23. The understanding of the Lord. The divine counsels or purposes which are the results of the divine thought. See on Rom. xi. 34.
Instruct (cupBi8dcer). See on proving, Acts ix. 22.
200 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 'Cu. IIL