Greek New Testament) will perceive that this statement has not been made without reason, and will, I trust, derive thence very great advantage. I should be unwilling, however, that any one should estimate my edition of the Greek New Testament from that which has been printed in imitation of it beyond the limits of AVirtemburg :l for the verses are very differently disjoined and conjoined in that edition from what they are in mine. We scarcely ever give a different punctua tion in the present work from, that which we have given before : sometimes, however, we have done so, and drawn attention to the fact, as in the remarkable passage, Rom. viii. 31.
The first requisite for making a Commentary is a knowledge, and appreciation of the style, employed by the writers of the New Testament. On this subject there has long existed a great diversity of opinion, and John Lamius2 has collected and digested much information regarding it, in his book on the Learning of the Apostles. We shall say what is necessary. The wisdom of GOD employs a style undoubtedly worthy of GOD3 even when
1 The edition here alluded to is that brought out in 1737, at Leipsic, by Andreas Buttigius. See p. 10, f.n. 3. — (I. B.)
2 Giovanne Lami, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Florence, and keeper of the Recordi Library, born in 1697, died 1770, was a scholar of great research, and author of many learned works. — (I. B.)
3 " Some appear to disparage the style of Scripture, as barbarous. Some apologize for it, as the work of illiterate and unlearned men. Surely these notions are false and dangerous. The diction of Scripture, it is true, is not the language of any other composition in the world. The Greek of the New Testament is not the Greek of Xenophon, Plato, or Demosthenes. It is a language of its own. And we need not scruple to affirm, that in precision of expression, in pure and native simplicity, in delicacy of handling, in the grouping of words and phrases, in dignified and majestic sublimity, it has no rival in the world. The more carefully it is studied, the more clearly will this appear, ' Nihil otiosum in sacra Scriptura' (Origen). Every sentence — we might almost say, every phrase — is fraught with meaning. As it is in the Book of Nature, so is it in the pages of Holy Writ. Both are from the same Divine Hand. And if we apply to the language of Holy Scripture, the same microscopic process, which we use in scrutinizing the beauties of the