compulsory power, which restrains, enjoins, urges, prohibits, threatens. — avefyezv, revived) just as [even as] it had been alive, when it had entered into the world by Adam.
10. An'eQavov, I died ) I lost that life, which I [fancied that I] had. — evpsdt j, was found) So zvfnsxoi, I find , ver. 21. — zig fyriv, to life) on the ground of the original intention of God, and in another point of view, on the ground of my own opinion, which I held, when I was living without the law . Life pointedly indi- cates both joy and activity ; while death implies the opposite. — avrri, itself) the same [the very same commandment]. It is commonly written avrri, but Baumgarten has avrri, which is cor- rect.1 Comp. Acts viii. 26, note.
11. ’Ei'rjtfdrrio’s, deceived) led me into by-paths, as the robbei leads the traveller ; and while I supposed that I was going onward to life, I fell into [upon] death. — amursivev, slew me) This is the termination of the economy of sin, and is on the confines of that of grace.
12. " Ay iog, holy) supply from, what follows, and just and good; although it was necessary to accumulate these synonymous terms chiefly in defence of the commandment, with its stinging powder [rather than of the law\ : holy, just, good, in relation respectively to its efficient cause, its form, and its end ; (as we find in the MS . notes of JDorscheus) or holy in respect of my duties to God ; just, in respect of my neighbour ; good in respect of my own nature ;2 with which whatever is commanded is in harmony, for life is promised, ver. 10. The third of these three epithets is taken up with very great propriety in the following verse.
13. To) therefore what is good. — The power of the article is to be noticed. — Odvarog, death) the greatest evil, and the cause of
1 Lachmann and Tischendorf, the two ablest exponents of modern textual criticism, prefer uvrn. — Ed.
2 AIkxio; Th. IUyi, is that which is precisely what it should be, without regard to the question whether good or evil flow from it. just , right. But ayxdog, what is profitable and of benefit to men. The commandment is
for it teaches nothing but what is just; dyxQy, for it regards the happiness of those, to whom it is given. It is also oiytet, not because it makes holy, but because it is holy in itself, sacred to God, and therefore to be held inviolate. — See Tittmann Syn. Gr. Text. — Ed.