,ii. 5, note.
6. Ka/ KapavsGovrag, and who have fallen away) A word of weighty import, suddenly occurring, strikes us with just terror. It is thus the LXX. translate the Hebrew i>y». He does not merely speak of those relapsing into their former condition, but of those falling away (prgsterlapsos, lapsing aside) from that en tire state of highest glory, and at the same time from faith, hope, and love, into a new species of ruin, ver. 10, etc. ; and that, too, of their own accord ; ch. x. 26. A fall such as this may be separated from the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, but yet the bitter state of their soul is nearly the same ; comp. ch. x. 29, note. The apostle does not say, that they to whom he is writing are such as these, but he hints that they may become so. The egg which held and lost the stamina of the chicken is not even fit to be eaten : the man who has lost his faith is in a more deplorable condition than he who ncA'er believed. —
iv, to form anew [rmew] again) A renewal (a form ing anew) had been already made; therefore vdXtv, again, is added, and it corresponds to the «<raj, once, ver. 4. But we must particularly observe, that avuxaivtfyiv, to make anew or re new, is used in the active voice ; it is impossible for men, not for GOD. Therefore the apostle undertook the doing of this which he is doing, on this very condition, if GOD permit ; ver. 3, note ; Matt. xix. 26. \There is a similar admonition, x. 26. — V. g.] Men, ministers, have already done for such persons what they could; Tit. iii. 11. Ministers have a certain measure, and those obstinate persons have gone beyond it in their opposition : it remains for ministers to leave them to GOD, and (whether they in the meantime admonish them more or less, and enter tain hopes concerning them) to wait wrhat GOD will give, 2 Tim. ii. 25, by means of special afflictions and operations. The Grseco-Latin copy, Claromontanus, has in this place ddvvarov, 1 difficile.71 — s/£ ptravofav, unto repentance} He appropriately men tions that, which is first in the foundation, ver. 1. But the other things are left to be supplied, considered either by them selves or in their effect. — dvagravpovvrae, since they crucify afresh) He has described the subject by former participles : he now sub joins the reason (^Etiology, Append.) of that impossibility. The preposition in dvaffravpovvras signifies upwards in Herodian, but in this passage again, for it is the echo of ava in dvaxawifyiv. 'Eavro?$, to themselves, which is added, makes an antithesis to ^otfadsi'/fAari^ovratf making an open showing, viz. to others : see oraupou with the same case, Gal. vi. 14. From which it is manifest, that he is speaking of those who scoff at Christ from hatred and bitterness of spirit, for the sake of indulging their humour (deliberately and intentionally) : truly, if these men had it in their power, they would do to Christ what the Jews did under Pontius Pilate. Those who deny the efficacy of the cross of Christ, which has been already endured, or think that He was justly crucified by the Jews, do the same as if they were to say, that He must still be crucified ; Rom. x. 6, 7.
7. T'/j, the earth) This is figurative. — «svoD<ra, drinking) not merely on the surface. — IK aurSfe, upon it) This is more signi-
Vulg. has " impoesibile." — ED.