47. BatfiXftav ro\j Oeou, the kingdom of God) Previously He had twice said instead, life : but the mention of the kingdom of God, and of life, is especially appropriate in connection with the eyes. John iii. 3 [see the kingdom of God~\, 36 [everlasting life — not see life] : comp. the parallel, Matt, xviii. 9 [enter life with one eye}.
49. TLag, every, all) Every [all] is here put without the noun being added. Some have supplied aproj, bread ; others, avSputos, man. They seem to have felt, that it is hardly in accordance with usage, that T&;, all or every, should be put thus absolutely in the masculine. For where it seems to be put absolutely, the determining of the subject is left to be sought [gathered] from the predicate. Matt. xiii. 19, ncivros dbcoi/oi/roj rbv wyov, when any
1 Ch. Ixvi. 24, which furnishes the reference of the O.VTUV here in Mark : "the men that have transgressed against me." — ED and TRANSL.
2 Tischend. omits this whole ver. 44, with BCLA Memph. Lachm. retains it, with AD abed Vulg. Iren. 165 [abed Iren., however, read the future for the present, n^wr*, <rpivvvTai].—ED. and TRANSL.
(hearer) heareth the ivord, etc. ; Luke vi. 40, •/..r.X., every (disciple) if he shall be perfected, shall be as his teacher; [Luke] xvi. 16, -/raj tig aJr^v /3/a£Wa/, every one, who employs violence, by the employment of violence enters into the kingdom of heaven : John ii. 10, Every man (who hath a mar riage-feast, and sets forth wine) sets forth first the good wine. Phrases of this kind are to be met everywhere. So in this passage, Every one, who shall be salted at all, shall surely be salted with fire. But we will explain the idea of the passage a little more fully. It stands in position midway between the words concerning the fire which is not quenched, and the words concerning salt and its goodness. There are therefore three degrees : to be salted with salt ; to be salted with fire ; to be cast into the fire that never shall be quenched. The first degree is the most desirable : the third is the most bitter of the three : the second is intermediate, corresponding with the third in the mention of the fire (which in this passage is more often spoken of by Ifomonymy, i.e., the calling of things that differ in nature by the same name by analogy [Append.], as in Matt. iii. 10, 11, 12), whilst it has a closer correspondence with the first in the men tion of the salting. Salting, which is a process most natural and suitable, is effected by means of salt : this salt implies the Divine discipline, gently training us to the denial of self, and to the cul tivation of peace and harmony wuth others. They who are thus salted become thereby a sacrifice pleasing to God, the type of which [spiritual sacrifice] existed in the Levitical sacrifices ; Lev. ii. 13. They who shrink from and evade the salting by salt, are salted by fire (for even salt has in it the power of burning, Deut. xxix. 23 ; and again, in turn, that there is in natural fire the power also of salting, is shown even by flesh that is roasted ; and in Plutarch, fire is said to be r£>v ^us^druv aptarov xai r,diSTov, the best and sweetest of modes of sweetening or seasoning); i.e. according to what approaches most closely in analogy, they are salted by a Divine discipline of a severer kind, lest through the stumblingblock, occasioned by the hand, the foot, or the eye waxing stronger, they should go on to the fire that cannot be quenched. Therefore the connection and the idea of the passage stand thus : Without a moment's delay, and casting aside all self-indulgence, meet and counteract the stumbling-