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flight the devil. — dy vicars, purify) that ye may be able to approach God, having laid aside adultery of soul. — d/^v%oi, ye double-minded) who give yourselves both to God and to the world, ver. 4. The form of address varies in this Epistle ; and at one time they are addressed as holy brethren, at another time as sinners, at another time as waverers. The double-minded man is at fault in heart; the sinner, in his hands likewise.
9. TaXaigrupijcars, be afflicted) that ye may be weaned and estranged from the world. This is a blessed affliction. He does not here add, howl , as ch. v. I.1
11. Mj? %araXa\e?re, speak not evil) He now notices other excesses of a restless soul ; having in ch. iii. spoken of rest, and in the begin- ning of ch. iv. of confusion. — rbv adsXpbv, his brother) The article is here used, though not with adsXpov. The equality of brothers is violated by evil-speaking, but more so by judging. — xpivu vofiov, judges the law) For he acts, just as though the law itself could not perform that office, which a man of this kind pounces (flies) upon. — si bs, but if) If you judge, you are a judge. The figure Ploce.2 — vo>ou, of the law) After this passage, the Law is not expressly mentioned in the volume of the New Testament, since it does not occur in the Epistles of Peter, John, and Jude, or in the Apocalypse.
12. 'o vofxoOsTris) There is one , namely, the Lawgiver , God , who is able , etc. The Alex, and Lat. add xai xpirrig, and many and weighty authorities confirm this reading ; but I formerly preferred the re- ceived reading to this fuller one.3 Baumgarten often asserts, that I am not consistent with myself. But it is commendable to change one’s opinion for the better ; though at the same time he has never proved that I am at variance with myself. Consult App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. — 6 buvd[Asvog, who is able) It is not ours to judge, especially when we are not able to carry into execution. — cZxsai) Ps. Ixii. 1 : reap avrov yap r'o ffwrripiov g,ov, u for from Him is my salvation and the same psalm, ver. 3, 7, 8. The Lat. [“ perdere et liberare”], inverts the order of the words, as the Scripture often does : to kill and to make alive , to wound and to heal , to cause sadness and to com-
1 tig xctTVjCpeioiv, into heaviness [falling] of countenance) The same phrase as the German Kopflidngen. Comp. I Kings xxi. 29 ; Is. lviii. 5 ; Mic. vi. 8. They who carp at others on this ground, are generally themselves such as have need above other men to let fall the countenance. — V. g.
2 The figure Ploce is, when a word is used twice, so that in one place the word itself is meant, and in the other its property or attribute. See Append.
3 AB Vulg. add xotl xpnvig. Rec. Text, without any very old authority, omits these words. — E.