2. Looking (adop@vtes). Only here and Philip. ii. 23. In LXX see 4 Mace. xvii. 10. Looking away from every-
538 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XIL
thing which may distract. Comp. Philip. iii. 18, 14, and aéBrerev he had respect, lit. looked away, Heb. xi. 26. Wet- stein cites Arrian, Hpictet. ii. 19, 29: eis rov Oeov apopartes év rravtl pixp@ Kab peydrw looking away unto God in every- thing small and great.
Jesus. Having presented a long catalogue of witnesses under the old covenant, he now presents Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and the supreme witness. See Apoc. 1.53 it. 14;°1 Tim. vi. 13:
The author and finisher of our faith (tov ris rictews apynyov Kal teAewrnv). The A. V. is misleading, and nar- rows the scope of the passage. For author, rend. leader or captain, and see on ch. ii. 10. For finisher, rend. perfecter. For our faith, rend. faith or the faith. Not our Christian faith, but faith absolutely, as exhibited in the whole range of believers from Abel to Christ. Christ cannot be called the author or originator of faith, since the faith here treated existed and worked before Christ. Christ is the leader or captain of faith, in that he is the perfecter of faith. In him- self he furnished the perfect development, the supreme exam- ple of faith, and in virtue of this he is the leader of the whole believing host in all time. Notice the recurrence of the favorite idea of perfecting. Comp. ch. ii. 10; v. 9; vi. 1; vii. 11, 19, 28; ix. 9; x. 1,14; xi. 40. Tereworns perfecter, N. T.°, °LXX, °Class.
For the joy that was set before him (av7) ris mpoxe- Hevns avT@ xapas). *Avrt in its usual sense, in exchange for. TIpoxespevns lying before, present. The joy was the full, divine beatitude of his preincarnate life in the bosom of the Father; the glory which he had with God before the world was. In exchange for this he accepted the cross and the shame. ‘The contrast is designed between the struggle which, for the present, is alone set before the readers (ver. 1), and the joy which was already present to Christ. The heroic character of his faith appears in his renouncing a joy already
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in possession in exchange for shame and death. The passage thus falls in with Philip. ii. 6-8.*
The cross (oravpov). Comp. Philip. ii. 8. °LXX. Orig- inally an upright stake or pale. ravpodv to drive down a stake; to crucify. Comp. the use of £vXov wood or tree for the cross, Acts v. 30; x. 89; 1 Pet. ii. 24. See on L. xxiii. 31.
The shame (aioytrvns). Attendant upon a malefactor’s death.
Is set down, etc. See ch.i. 3,18; viii. 1; x.12. Notice the tenses: endured, aorist, completed: hath sat down, per- fect, he remains seated and reigning.
3. For consider (avadoyicacbe yap). Tap for introduces the reason for the exhortation to look unto Jesus. Look unto him, for a comparison with him will show you how much more he had to endure than you have. ’AvadoyiferOa N. T.°. Comp. 3 Mace. vii. 7. It means to reckon up; to consider in the way of comparison.
Contradiction of sinners (iid trav duaptwrar avtidoyiav). Contradiction or gainsaying. See on ch. vi. 16, and comp. ch. vii. 7. See on gainsaying, Jude 11. Of sinners, iro by, at the hands of.
Against himself (eis éavrovs). According to this text we should render “against themselves.” Comp. Num. xvi. 38.
* The interpretation of the passage has been dominated by the assumption that the joy set before him must refer to a future prize which Christ was to receive in return for his sufferings, ‘‘ without which,’’ says Weiss, ‘‘ he would not have been able to endure them.’’ Accordingly, dvri is explained for the sake of or to obtain the joy, and the joy is defined as the heavenly reward, or the joy of being the redeemer of his brethren. This sense of dy7i is legitimate, although it enfolds the meaning of exchange (see, for instance, Matt. xvii. 27; xx. 28, and the formula dv@’ dy because). At any rate, its use here in that sense creates a feeling of awkwardness. We should rather expect évexa, or brép or did with the accusative. Moreover, Christ did not endure cross and shame for the sake of heavenly reward, and the redemption of his brethren can hardly be called something to which he looked forward with faith.