Is defiled (uoddveras). See on Apoc. xiv. 4.
8. Commendeth — not (od apactice). Lit., present. Rev., more correctly, will not commend. See on shewed him- self, Acts i. 3.
9. Stumbling-block (spockoupa). See on Rom. xiv. 13.
10. Idol’s temple (eiSmAeiw). Only here in the New Testa- ment. See on Apoc. ii. 14.
Be emboldened (oixodounInjcerar). Lit., be built up. The A. V. misses the irony of the expression. His apparent ad- vance is really detrimental. Calvin remarks: “a ruinous up- building.”
11. Shall the weak brother perish (aoddvTar 6 aa Ievov). Not a question, as A. V. The participle “he that ds being weak” indicates a continuance of the weakness, and the present
928 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. LX.
tense, 7s perishing, implies that the process of moral undermin- ing is in progress through the habitual indulgence of the better- informed Christian. Rev., he that is weak perisheth.
13. Make to offend (cxavdariter). See on Matt. v. 29. Rev., maketh to stumble.
Meat—flesh (8paua—xpéa). The former food in general, the latter the special food which causes stumbling. Dr. South draws the distinction between a tender and a weak conscience. ‘Tenderness, applied to the conscience, properly imports quick- ness and exactness of sense, which is the perfection of this faculty. . . . Though the eye is naturally the most tender and delicate part of the body, yet is it not therefore called weak, so long as the sight is quick and strong. . . - A weak conscience is opposed to a strong; which very strength, we shew, consisted in the tenderness or quickness of its discern- ing or perceptive power” (Sermon XXIX., “A True State and Account of the Plea of a Tender Conscience”).