cerning Paul, that he would be faithful, is infallible. God sees and knows all things. Therefore, in the active sense, -r/Vr/g does not properly apply to Him. Faith and vision are things antithetic. I wished to convey all this idea by the expression, Metonymy, which I used above.
13. BAatf£>7j/Aov, a blasphemer) against God. — di^xr^v, a perse cutor) against holy men, lest others should be converted. — vjSpiffTTiv, despiser) [Engl. Yers., injurious], in rejecting my own salvation. This threefold relation to God, his neighbour, and himself, is frequent in this epistle especially, and in that to Titus; see presently at ver. 14, which forms an antithesis to this verse : likewise ver. 5, 9. Tit. ii. 12, where the word suffifiug, godly, is opposed to aasfSsfa, ungodliness, and yet the two words, soberly, and righteously, are opposed to worldly lusts. So here love (ver. 14) alone has a threefold relation : it is love towards God, of which the opposite is a blasphemer ; it is love towards the Church, of which the opposite is a persecutor ; it is love towards himself, of which the opposite is a despiser. — jjXe^jjv, / obtained mercy) This word is resumed, as if after a parenthesis, in ver. 16. This sense of mercy was perpetual in the mind of the apostle, ver. 2, note. — on, because) Ignorance does not de serve pardon in itself; but in classifying the reasons which might impel a man to reject salvation, it is opposed to pride and every higher degree of wickedness.
14. 'Ymps-Tr/.sovafft 8s, and was exceeding abundant) He explains how he obtained mercy, namely, with faith, etc. The epistles to Timothy, in a peculiar degree, breathe this ' abundance.' — v] x&pis, grace) by which / obtained mercy, ver. 13. — Kvpiou, of the Lord) Jesus. — fj,sr& xiarsuc, with faith) Its opposite is, in un belief, ver. 13. — xai a/acr/jc, and love) Its opposite, as we have said, are the three, a blasphemer, a persecutor, a despiser. The words, mercy and grace (in ver. 13, 14), correspond to each other. Unbelief and faith are opposed.
15. n/orog, faithful) A very solemn form of preface. Paul knows what he says, and whereof he affirms (ver. 7), and refutes the false teachers by the very simplicity of his language, treat ing, but with great beauty, of common topics, so much the
about to do. Therefore trust in a mn^s faithfulness only applies to God by