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being known ; the objective knowledge of God] , not merely that He can be known. For, at ver. 21, lie says, yvovrsg, of the Gentiles [asserting thus, that they did know God]. — Plato b. 5. Polit. uses yvuffrov ill the same way; r'o fih ^avrsXug o'v, tfuvrs'kug yvaxrroV ^ oV bs /ArjSa/Aij, <7rdvrr) uyvcoffrov, whatsoever indeed has a positive existence, is positively known : but a thing, which has no existence at all, is utterly unknown. — Slav's puffs) Paul used this word with great propriety, as well as d^ozaXv^ru above.1
20. ’ A6 par a xadopoircti , the invisible things are seen) An in- comparable oxymoron 2 (a happy union of things opposite, as* here invisible , yet seen). The invisible things of God, if ever at any time, would certainly have become visible at the creation; but even then they began to be seen, not otherwise, save by the understanding. — dno xr/Vswc, from the creation) ’Aero here de- notes either a proof as aero, in Matt. xxiv. 32, so that the understanding [comp. ver. 20, u understood ”] of the fathers [respecting God, as He, whose being and attributes are proved] from the creation of the world, may refute the apostasy of the Gentiles ; or rather, aero' denotes time, so that it corresponds to the Hebrew preposition ft, and means, ever since the foundation . of the world , and beyond it, reckoning backward ; and thus the a tbiog, eternal , presently after, agrees with it. In the former mode of interpretation, d<rb is connected with xuOop&rai, are seen from; in the second mode, with doparu, unseen ever since. — ‘xoiqiLCLs) [the things made], the works that have been produced by 7tr/ffiv, creation. There are works ; therefore there is a crea- tion ; therefore there is a Creator. — voou/j,sv a) Those alone, who use their understanding, «£, xadopuffi, look closely into a subject. — xu&opurcu, are seen) for the works [which proceed from the in- visible attributes of God] are discerned. The antithesis is,. sgxorlffdr) [ver. 21], was darkened. — %rs — xai) These words stand in apposition with dopara. — dibiog x.r.A., eternal, etc.) The highest attribute of God, worthy of God — perfection in being and act- ing ; in one word kiorrig, "which signifies divinity [not u God- head,” as Engl. Vers.], as 6sorng , Godhead. — bbwfjjig, power) of all the attributes of God, this is the one, which was first revealed-
1 Implying it is by revelation and manifestation , not by man’s mere reasonings, the knowledge of God comes. — Ed.
2 See App. for the meaning of this figure.
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