Were blinded (érwpéIn). See on the kindred noun r@pe- ots hardening, Mark iii. 5. Rev., correctly, were hardened.
The same veil (70 av7o xddvppa). The expression theo minds were hardened is carried out figuratively. There is a veil over their minds when the law is read, as there was over Moses’ face. They cannot yet recognize the end of the Mosaic ministry.
Untaken away (47) dvaxaduTTopevov). Rev., admirably— giving the force of advé up—unlifted. But both A. V. and Rev construe wnlifted with veil: the same vei remaineth un- taken away (unlifted). This is objectionable, because catapyet- rat is done away is used throughout the chapter of the glory of the Mosaic ministry, while another word is employed in ver. 16 of the taking away of the veil. Further, the reading of the best texts is dru that or because, and not 6 tt which. Because is not true to the fact, since the veil remains unlifted, not because
308 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. ITI.
it is done away in Christ, but because of the hardness of their hearts. It is better, therefore, to take yu) dvaxaduTTopevov un- lifted, as a nominative absolute, and to render, 7¢ not being re- vealed that it (the veil) 2s being done away in Christ. This falls in naturally with the drift of the whole passage. The veil re- mains on their hearts, since it is not revealed to them that the Mosaic economy is done away in Christ.
16. It shall turn. The heart of Israel.
Shall be taken away (mepvacpeirar). Rev., correctly, s taken away. The verb occurs twice in Acts (xxvii. 20, 40) of the taking away of hope, and of the unfastening of the anchors in Paul’s shipwreck ; and in Heb. x. 11, of the taking away of sins. There is an allusion here to the removal of the veil from Moses’ face whenever he returned to commune with God. See Exod. xxxiv. 34.
17. Now the Lord is that Spirit. Kdpuos the Lord is used in Exod. xxxiv. 34 for Jehovah. The Lord Christ of ver. 16 is the Spirit who pervades and animates the new covenant of which we are ministers (ver. 6), and the ministration of which is with glory (ver. 8). Compare Rom. viii. 9-11; John xiv 16, 18.
Liberty. Compare Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 7.
18. All. Contrasted with Moses as the sole representative of the people.
Open (avaxexarvuppévg). Rev., correctly, wnveiled, as Moses when the veil was removed.
‘¢ Vainly they tried the deeps to sound H’en of their own prophetic thought, When of Christ crucified and crown’d His Spirit in them taught :
But He their aching gaze repress’d Which sought behind the veil to see, For not without us fully bless’d Or perfect might they be.
Cx. UL] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, 309
The rays of the Almighty’s face No sinner’s eye might then receive; Only the meekest man found grace To see His skirts and live.
But we as in a glass espy The glory of His countenance, Not in a whirlwind hurrying by The too presumptuous glance,
But with mild radiance every hour From our dear Savior’s face benign
Bent on us with transforming power, Till we, too, faintly shine.
Sprinkled with His atoning blood Safely before our God we stand, As on the rock the prophet stood, Beneath His shadowing hand.”
Keble, ‘‘ Christian Year,” Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
Beholding as in a glass (xatomtpifouevor). So American Rev. MRey., reflecting. Only here in the New Testament. The verb in the active voice means to show in a mirror ; to cause to be reflected. In the middle voice, to look at or behold one’s self in a mirror. Rev., reflecting seems to be preferred on internal grounds, as better suiting the comparison with the divine glory as mirrored in the unveiled face of Moses. But this is unwarranted by usage. Stanley, who adopts this render- ing, admits that there is no actual instance of the sense of re- jiecting This sense, however, is not sacrificed by the translation beholding, but is conveyed by the succeeding clause, changed into the same image, etc. As Heinrici observes, beholding ex- presses the fact from which the process of change into God’s image proceeds. When Moses beheld Jehovah’s glory, his own face reflected that glory. The mirror is the Gospel, which is called the Gospel of the glory of Christ, ch. iv. 4.