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They had this feeling,1 as if the idol were something ; or at least as if the thing offered to the idol were polluted thereby. — eug a pn, until this hour ) when by this time they should have knowledge. — ug) as: on this depends the distinction. — poXvvsroii, is defiled) a suitable expression, by a metaphor derived from flesh. — fipufia, food) used indefinitely, ver. 13. — s foas, us) hav- ing or not having knowledge. — ou Kaplcr^t) neither as regards pleasing Him in the judgment, nor as regards displeasing Him, rrphg ro v<rreps7<rQai [so as to be accounted the worse for it] ; <rumr- I commend ; but the word nap'usTr^i occupies a middle place between a good and a bad sense, as is evident from the Ep. of Athanasius, Tpog ’a/aouv, where he makes this periphrasis, puatxij rig txxpnug Yig,ag ou km pa, ary; 66/ npog rijnup/av.2 So ver. 10, oixobopq- dfaerai is used as a word in a middle sense. This is the founda- tion of lawful power [ liberty , ver. 9], s^oue/ag ; comp, ds in the next verse. — ours — <7rspi66suogj6v ours — u6rspovgs6a,, neither are we the better : nor — are we the worse) because in both cases thanksgiv- ing is retained, Rom. xiv. 6.
9. 'H igoutf/a, lawful power [liberty]) a word frequently used for power and liberty in this discussion, ix. 1, 4, etc. : comp. vi. 12. — u/mu v, of yours) which you so eagerly uphold, ver. 11.
10. E/<5wXs ioj) A word fitted to deter. It is found in 1 Macc. i. (47), 50, x. 83 ; 3 Esdr. ii. 10. — o)xdhoiLr\br\6srcu, shall be built up in [ emboldened to]) An antiphrasis.3 You ought to have built up your brother in doing good ; but you by your example impel him to do evil. [The force of example is great. — V. g.] — ru sidojXoQvra, s6di6tv , to eat things offered to idols) By these very words
1 Ernesti says, Bibl. tli. noviss. T. i., p. 511, that Bengel, along with Heumann, prefers the reading ovvn&sioc, in this verse to the common reading cvvsihvioit, and approves of it, but without foundation. Certainly Bengel’s older margin has marked cmy/Osioc. with y, the later with b ; and the Germ. Vers, has expressly printed owsiiviosi. — E. B.
Tisch. prefers aws/b^asi with D (A) G Vulg. both Syr. Versions, and fg. Lachm. reads ovvnOsici with AB Memph. — Ed.
2 Any natural ejection in the animal functions will not bring us to punish- ment.
3 See Appendix : When words are used to signify the contrary of what is ex- pressed, as here, shall be built up (usually applied to what is good), meaning, shall be impelled to what is bad. — Ed.