3 ®eov, of God) See App., p. 11, on this passage, where the great variety renders it probable that 0goD was inserted from Rom. viii. 17. — Not. Grit. Yet the margin of the 2d Ed. gives less countenance to the omission, and the Germ. Vers. expresses the words of God, as if they were not doubtful. — E. B.
ABC corrected later, g Vulg. Memph., read dia (dtciv. G reads §/# &eov. Ilec. Text reads ©£o£, W XJCWTCV, with D(A)f.
worship not true. You had not been accustomed to the Mosaic worship ; and therefore it is more a matter of wonder, that you now desire [affect] it. You attained to the truth without those elements, and now at length [for the first time] you follow them. — roTg jtATj <pvff£J ouffi Czo?g) So the LXX., rui ^ ovn $«£, 2 Chron. xiii. 9.
9. Tvovres &ebv, knowing God) The true God, who is a Spirit. When you know Him, and yet follow eagerly after those elements, it is the same thing as if a master should wish to return to learn the alphabet [his A B c D child's book]. — /^aXXov, rather) it is the gift of God. He acknowledged and declared you to be His sons; comp. Ex. xxxiii. 12, 17. What belongs to God, is of the chief consequence as concerns our salvation, rather than what belongs to ourselves ; comp. Phil. iii. 12. — </rw£, how ?) An interrogation expressing much wonder ; i. 6, / marvel. — again) as we have formerly been in bondage. — affQevq xai
iceak and beggarly) Weakness opposed to filial boldness, beggar- liness, to the abundance connected with the inheritance. — o%, to which) to elements, not to God. — -/raX/v avudev (back) again afresh) You wish to be in bondage again : now to elements, as formerly to idols ; and afresh, you are in bondage to the same elements anew, by which Israel had been formerly enslaved ; comp. the word again, Rom. viii. 15, note. — dov^eveiv, to be in bondage) in a manner unworthy of freemen. — DsXsrs, you wish) See ver. 21, and Mark xii. 38, note. [It is not every kind of readiness in wishing or desiring, that is good, Col. ii. 18, 23. —
v.g.](
10. 'Hftepag) days : Rom. xiv. 5, i.e. Sabbaths, Col. ii. 16, note. The time of the Sabbath was held the most sacred of all. Therefore the order of gradation is to be observed, comp. 1 Chron. xxiii. 31 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 3 : <ra/3/3ara, vnwvtac, toprac, Sabbaths, new moons, feast days, in an affirmative sentence ; but in a prohibition, the order is inverted, as in the passage quoted from Colossians above. — vatparriptfafa) you observe, as if there were anything beside1 faith. — xa< xaipovg, and times) longer
1 The votpoc, in the compound verb is evidently understood by Beng. in this sense, as often nape* is used elsewhere, sc. of something added inciden tally, besides what is really essential. So d *&>oc irapeifffafav, the law entered stealthily, and as something superadded incidentally, Rom. v. 20.— ED.