45.1 Mqxtn, no longer) Christ therefore was ready to teach rather in the cities, than in the place to which the men were going out.
1. IlaX/v, again) Comp. ch. i. 21, 29. — 8t fipepuv) After some days had intervened. [It is one and the same return into the city of Capernaum, of which Mark makes mention in this place after the healing of the leper; Matthew, after the return from the region of the Gergesenes, in his ch. ix. 1 : it is also the same man sick of the palsy, whom Mark and Luke, after Matthew, treat of. —Harm., p. 276].
2. MJJ&, not even) Not only the house within, but not even the hall, could contain them.
3. 'Tcro ncoapuv, by four) He was then full grown, though not far advanced in years : comp. ver. 5, Son [implying he was not old].
4. ' Avsffrsyaaav, they took off the roof} out of love, without doing injury. \_So faith penetrates through all obstacles (ver. 5) to reach Christ. — V. g.] It is probable that it was a cottage [tugurium, hut], not a large house. — ^opv^avTig, digging out) the ceiling, beneath the tiles of the roof, so as to make a large aperture. The people crowding in numbers, had caused great delay in reaching Christ.
5. Hienv, their faith) So painstaking.
8. T£ vvivpari Auroii, in His Spirit) The prophets became cog nisant of things through the Spirit of God, but not with their own spirit : Christ, with His own Spirit, which is omniscient and Divine ; comp ch. viii. 12. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is not called the Spirit of Christ before that great Pentecost re corded in Acts ii. The conclusion therefore remains, that we
v, to publish) This public and spontaneous proclaiming of facts served to give speedy publicity to facts worthy of remembrance : see ch. v. 20. Yet, in this place, it would have been better for the man to have obeyed Christ's inhibition. — V. g.