A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

Vincent, Marvin R., 1834-1922 • SECTION 288

Chapter Iti.

← Word Studies in the New Testament — Volume 3

Is renewed (avaxawovtuevor). Rev., better, giving the force of the present participle, is being renewed : in process of con- tinuous renewal. The word xawds new, which enters into the composition of the verb, gives the idea of guality. Compare 2 Cor. iv. 16, and the contrast in Eph. iv. 22.

In knowledge (eis éréyvwowv). Rev., correctly, wnto know- ledge, the end to which the renewal tended. Compare Eph. iv. 13.

After the image. Construe with renewed. Compare Eph. iv. 24, and see Gen. i. 26, 27.

Where there is (d7rov éw). Where, in the renewed condi- tion ; there 2s, better, as Rev., can be: éw strengthened from év an signifies not merely the fact but the impossibility : there is no room for.

Greek, Jew, etc. Compare Gal. iii. 28. National, ritual, intellectual, and social diversities are specified. The reference is probably shaped by the conditions of the Colossian church, where the form of error was partly Judaistic and ceremonial,

504 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IIL

insisting on circumcision ; where the pretence of superior know- ledge affected contempt for the rude barbarian, and where the distinction of master and slave had place as elsewhere.

Circumcision. For the circumcised. So Rom. iv. 12; Ephs ii: Philips iiss.

Barbarian, Scythian. See on 1 Cor. xiv. 11. The dis- tinction is from the Greek and Roman point of view, where the line is drawn by culture, as between the Jew and the Greek it was drawn by religious privilege. From the former stand-point the Jew ranked as a barbarian. Scythian. “More barbarous than the barbarians” (Bengel). Hippocrates describes them as widely different from the rest of mankind, and like to nothing but themselves, and gives an absurd description of their physic- al peculiarities. Herodotus describes them as living in wagons, offering human sacrifices, scalping and sometimes flaying slain enemies, drinking their blood, and using their skulls for drink- ing-cups. When a king dies, one of his concubines is strangled and buried with him, and, at the close of a year, fifty of his attendants are strangled, disembowelled, mounted on dead horses, and left in a circle round his tomb.* The Scythians passed through Palestine on their road to Egypt, n.c. 600, and a trace of their invasion is supposed to have existed in the name Scythopolis, by which Beth Shean+ was known in Christ’s time. Ezekiel apparently refers to them (xxxviii., xxxix.) under the name Gog, which reappears in the Apocalypse. See on Apoc. DO (sea

Bowels of mercies (omddyyva oiktipuod). See on 1 Pet. iii. 8; 2 Cor.i. 3. Rey., a heart of compassion.

Kindness (ypyorornta). See on Rom. iii. 12.

Meekness (mpaitnra). See on Matt. v. 5.

* See Book iv., and Rawlinson’s interesting notes. .

+ In the Jordan valley, about twelve miles south of the Sea of Galilee, and four miles west of the Jordan. See 1 Chron. vii. 29 ; Judg. i. 27; 1 Sam. xxxi. 10, 12.

¢ See Rawlinson’s ‘‘ Herodotus,’’ vol. i., Essay ITI.

Cu. IIL] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 505

Long-suffering (waxpoSvpiav). See on Jas. v. 7.

13. One another—one another (@\AjAwv—EavTois). Lit., one another—yourselves. For a similar variation of the pro- noun see Eph. iv. 32; 1 Pet. iv. 8-10. The latter pronoun emphasizes the fact that they are add members of Christ’s body —everyone members one of another—so that, in forgiving each other they forgive themselves.

Quarrel (woudyv). Only here in the New Testament. Cause of blame. Rev., complaint. The A. V. uses quarrel in its earlier sense of cause of complaint. So Shakspeare :

“The lady Beatrice hath a quarrel to you.” “Much Ado,” ii., 1.

‘* Against whom comest thou, and what's thy quarrel?” “Richard II.,” i., 3, 33.

Holinshed: “He thought he had a good quarrel to attack him.” It was used of a plaintiff's action at law, like the Latin querela.

14. Above all (é7i wa@ow). According to the metaphor of the garment. Over all, like an upper garment, put on, ete.

Public domain historical edition (1887); scan/OCR from Internet Archive.

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