Νεος σε ἀποκριθείς, answering, not necessarily to anything said, but to some environment provocative of such thoughts.—éEopodoyotpai σοι (=
b mn, PS,) lexy: 2 jjetcs)s) init, 6 : τ this compound means to make full con-
12
178
z Lk. κ. ατ." συνετῶν, καὶ " ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ "νηπίοις.
1 Cor.i.19. οὕτως ἐγένετο az Cor. u 10.
εὐδοκία] ἔμπροσθέν σου. u. CREE. a Phil. ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός pour καὶ οὖδεὶς
xi.
26. val 6 wathp, ὅτι 27. Πάντα por παρεδόθη
3 Σἐπιγινώσκει τὸν υἱόν, εἰ μὴ ὁἆ
iii. 15. > b LE. x, 2x. πατήρ οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει, εἰ μὴ 6 υἱός, καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν
Rom. ii. 20.
1 Cor. iii. 1. Heb. v. 13.
c Eph. i. 5,9. Phil. ii. 13.
dt Cor. xiii. 12.
1 ευδοκια eyevero in 38 33, making ενδοκια more emphatic.
fession (of sin). Here it=to make frank acknowledgment of a situation in a spirit partly of resignation, partly of thanksgiving.—éxpuipas. The fact stated is referred to the causality of God, the religious point of view; but it happens according to laws which can be ascer- tained.—ratra: the exact reference un- known, but the statement holds with reference to Christ’s whole teaching and healing ministry, and the revelation of the kingdom they contained.—cogoév καὶ συνετῶν: the reference here doubt- less is to the Rabbis and scribes, the accepted custodians of the wisdom of Israel. Cf. σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων in Deut. iv. 6 applied to Israel. The ren- dering ‘“‘ wise and prudent” in A. V. is misleading ; “‘ wise and understanding ” in R. V. is Ῥεΐετ.- νηπίοις (ff. νη and ἔπος, non-speaking) means those who were as ignorant of scribe-lore as babes (cf. John vii. 49 and Heb. v. 13). Their ignorance was their salvation, as thereby they escaped the mental preoccupation with preconceived ideas on moral and religious subjects, which made the scribes inaccessible to Christ’s influence (vide my Parabolic Teaching, pp. 333, 334). Jesus gives thanks with all His heart for the receptivity of the babes, not in the same sense or to the same extent for the non- receptive attitude of the wise (with De Wette and Bleek against Meyer and Weiss). No distinction indeed is ex- pressed, but it goes without saying, and the next clause implies it.—Ver. 26. vat reaffirms with solemn emphasis what might appear doubtful, viz., that Jesus was content with the state of matters (vide Klotz, Devar., i. 140). Cf. νετ. 9.— πατήρ: nominative for vocative.—ét, because, introducing the reason for this contentment.—otrws, as the actual facts stand, emphatic (“ sic maxime non aliter,” Fritzsche).—evSoxfa, a pleasure, an occasion of pleasure; hence a purpose, a state of matters embodying the Divine Will, a Hellenistic word, as is also the verb εὐδοκέω (cf. 1 Cor. i. 21, where the whole thought is similar), Christ re- signs Himself to God’s will. But His
tranquillity is due likewise to insight into the law by which new Divine movements find support among the νήπιοι rather than among the σοφοί.--- Ver. 27. πάντα, all things necessary for the realisation of the kingdom (Holtz., H.C.). The πάντα need not be restricted to the hiding and revealing functions (Weiss, Nosgen). Hiding, indeed, was no function of Christ’s. He was always and only a revealer. For the present Jesus has only a few babes, but the future is His: Christianity the coming religion.—arape8d6y, aorist, were given. We might have expected the future. It may be another instance of the aorist used for the Hebrew prophetic future (vide ad ver. το). In Mt. xxviii. 18 ἐδόθη again to express the same thought. The reference probably is to the eternal purpose of God: on the use of the aorist in N. T., vide note on this pas- sage in Camb. G. Τ.--ἐπιγινώσκει, thoroughly knows.—rov υἱὸν .. . πατήρ. Christ’s comfort amid the widespread unbelief and misunderstanding in re- ference to Himself is that His Father knows Him perfectly. No one else does, not even John. He is utterly alone in the world. Son here has a Godward reference, naturally arising out of the situation. The Son of Man is called an evil liver, He lifts up His heart to heaven and says: God my Father knows me, His Son. The thought in the first clause is connected with this one thus: the future is mine, and for the present my comfort is in the Father’s know- ledge of me.—ov8é τὸν πατέρα . . . 6 vids: a reflection naturally suggested by the foregoing statement. It is igno- rance of the Father that creates mis- conception of the Son. Conventional, moral and religious ideals lead to mis- judgment of one who by all He says and does is revealing God as He truly is and wills. The men who know least about God are those supposed to know most, and who have been most ready to judge Him, the “wise and understanding”’. Hence the additional. reflection, καὶ ¢ ἐὰν Βούληται o ν. ἀποκαλύψαι. Jesus