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21. Ttva ouv xapnov s 7%ere rort, gp oTg vDv WanSyjmcbi) This
whole period has the force of a negative interrogation. He says, that the righteous have their fruit unto holiness ; but he does not consider those things which are c unfruitful’ [axapcra] worthy of the name of fruit. — Epli. v. 11. He says, therefore, those things which now cause you to feel ashamed, were, indeed, formerly not fruits. Others put the mark of interrogation after roVs, then , so that if olg may be the answer to the interrogation ; but then the apostle should have said iff, sc. nupnCj [Sanctifica- tion is the reverse of this shame , ver. 22, evidently just as in 1 Cor. i. 28, 30, that which is base (“ base things”) and sanctification, are in antithesis ; hut the multitude of Christians are now ashamed of sanctification, which is esteemed as something base. What a fearful death hangs over such persons ! 0 the degeneracy of the
times and the manners (principles of men)! — Y. g.] — vvv, now ) when you have been brought to repentance. — yap, for) instead of moreover [autem] ; but it has a greater power of separation, comp. ver. 22 at the end, di, and moreover [autem] ; so yap , for, ch. v. 7. — 'ixsfvuv, of those things) He does not say, of these things ; he looks on those things as the remote past. — Oavarog, death) The epithet eternal (a/wi nog) ver. 23, is never added to this noun, not only in relation to those, in the case of whom, death yields to life, but not even in relation to those who shall go away into everlasting fire, torment, and destruction. If any one can think, that it is by mere chance, and not design, that Scripture, when eternal life is expressly mentioned, never names its opposite, eternal death , but everywhere speaks of it in a different manner, and that, too, in so many places, I, for my part, leave to him the equivalence of the phrases, eternal destruction, etc.1 The reason of the difference, however, is this : Scripture often describes death, by personification, as an enemy, and an enemy, too, to be destroyed ; but it does not so describe torment.
22. N wl ds, hut now) Paul has used vuvi very often, and always with ds, hut. — fibers, you have ; or, have ye, with, which comp, ver. 19. — iig dyiac^hv, unto sanctification \lioliness\, an antithesis to ; if o7g iKunsylmtsbi, of which you are ashamed, ver. 21. Ye are a holy priesthood of God. The reference seems to be to
1 1 leave him to his own foolish notion, that the phrases eternal destruc- tion, etc., are equivalent to eternal death.— Ed.
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