or perform, joined with the same verb diddffxw : from which the relative force of the words appears ; those are said of the whole law, these of the separate precepts. •/.ara.Xvsiv, to unloose, and \\jnv, to loose, both signify to render void.1 — riv vopov % rou$ cr^op?;- rag, the law or the prophets) Many of the Jews esteemed the prophets less than the law. They are joined also in ch. vii. 12.
— <7r\rlpusai, to fulfil) By My deeds and words, to effect that all things should be fulfilled which the law requires. See the con clusion of the next verse.2 The Rabbins acknowledge that it is a sign of the Messiah to fulfil the whole law.
18. 'A^JJV, Amen, verily) Jesus alone employed this word at the commencement of His addresses, to give them greater force and solemnity. No apostle did so. Wagenseil,3 in his Sota, p. 379, says, that this word had sometimes with the Jews the force of an oath. And wherever ''JK Ti (/, living) occurs in the Hebrew, the Chaldee Paraphrast has D^P fcOX, /, constant : and D^P, to confirm, etc., is found there passim for JOBO, to swear. See Louis le Dieu on this passage ; and Kimchi interprets JOK, amen, itself by DVp, stability*
In the New Testament, however, it is not, strictly speaking, an oath : for it corresponds with vai, yea, and «X»jdws, truly ; cf. Luke xi. 51, xxi. 3, with Matt, xxiii. 36, and Mark xii. 43. It is, however, a most grave asseveration, exclusively suitable to Him who asseverates by Himself and His own truth, and from the dignity of the Speaker, is equivalent to an oath, especially when it is uttered twice, sc. " verily, verily :" see note to John i.
1 The Latin verb soho, which is used in this passage, represents the Greek >.vu far more fully and accurately than any English word can. x.ara.'^vu is also more adequately rendered by dissolvo than by any English word. — (I. B.)
2 He was not the founder of a new law ; but, by His own obedience, Him self fulfilled the law, and showed how it should be fulfilled by His disciples.
— Vers. Germ.
3 John Christopher Wagenseil was born at Nuremberg in 1633, and educated at the University of Altdorf, where he was appointed Professor of History in 1667, and of Oriental Languages about 1675. He died in 1705. The full title of the work referred to in the text is, Sota, hoc est liber Mix- lenicus de uxore adulterii suspecta, una cum libri ex Jacob excerptis Gemarse, versione Latina et commentario perpetuo, in quo multa sacrarum literarum ac Hebrseorum Scriptorum loca explicantur. — (I. B.)
* firmitas, stabilitas, duratio. — BUXTORF. — (I. B.)