* Schmidt, Synon., says it is best represented by the German néhlen to dawdle.
Cu. V.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 439
course or narrative. Papias and Irenaeus have ta xupiaxd Aoyia dominical oracles.* -The meaning here is the O. 7. sayings, especially those pointing to Christ.
And are become (kai yeyovate). As in ver. 11, implying degeneracy. The time was when you needed the strong meat of the word.
Milk (ydXaxros). Comp. 1 Cor. iii. 2. Answering to rudiments.
Strong meat (ctepeds tpodjs). Lit. solid meat. See on steadfast, 1 Pet. v. 9. More advanced doctrinal teaching. The explanation of the Melchisedec priesthood to which the writer was about to pass involved the exhibition for the first time of the opposition of the N. T. economy of salvation to that of the old, and of the imperfection and abrogation of the O. T. priesthood. To apprehend this consequence of N. T. revelation required alert and matured minds. This is why he pauses to dwell on the sluggish mental and spiritual con- dition of his readers.
13. Useth (weréyov). Rend. partakes of. See on ch. i. 9; ii. 14; iii. 1, 14.
Unskilful (dzrepos). N. T.°. Rend. unskilled or in- experienced.
In the word of righteousness (Adyou dixatocvvys). The phrase N. T.°. The genitive dicaroovyns of righteousness is combined in N. T. with way, God, gift, instruments, servants, law, ministration, fruit and fruits, ministers, hope, breastplate, crown, king, preacher. It is a mistake to attempt to give the phrase here a concrete meaning. It signifies simply a word of normally right character. It is not=the Christian revelation, which would require the article. Probably, however, in the
* An interesting discussion of the word may be found in Lightfoot’s Essays on Supernatural Religion, p. 172 ff.
440 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. VL
foreground of the writer’s thought was the word spoken by the Son (ch. i. 2); the salvation which at first was spoken by the Lord (ch. ii. 3).*
A babe (vymios). See on Rom. ii. 20; 1 Cor. iii. 1; Eph. iv. 14.
14. Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age (rerelov Oé éotw 4 oTeped Tpodn). This rendering is clumsy. Rend. solid food is for full-grown men. For terelwv full-grown, see on 1 Cor. ii. 6. Often by Paul, as here, in contrast with vymeoe immature Christians. See 1 Cor. ii. 6; ti. 1; xiii. 11; Eph. iv. 4. Paul has the verb vnmidfew to be a child in 1 Cor. xiv. 20.
By reason of use (dvd ry é&v). For use rend. habitude. N. T.°. It is the condition produced by past exercise. Not the process, as A. V., but the result.
Their senses (7a aic@nrnpia). N.T.°. Organs of per- ception; perceptive faculties of the mind. In LXX see Jer. iv. 19; 4 Mace. ii. 22.
Exercised (yeyupvacueéva). See on 2 Pet. ii. 14, and 1 Timiveet
Good and evil. Not moral good and evil, but wholesome and corrupt doctrine. The implication is that the readers’ condition is such as to prevent them from making this distinction.