224
ihereandin σοι, GAN’ 6 πατήρ pou 6 ἐν Tots! οὐρανοῖς.
xviii. 17 in
XXxiii. 23.
k Lk. xi. νο. σοὶ τὰς ἅ κλεῖς ® τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν :
Rev.i.18; .
iii. 7; ix. τῆς γῆς, ἔσται δεδεµένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς: καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ὅ ὶλύσῃς
αν αχ.Ἱ. 1 Ch. xviii. 18.
1 B omits τοις, which W.H. bracket. Ύκλειδας in NBL (W.H.).
Jesus.—Ver. 17. µακάριος: weighty word chosen to express a rare and high condition, virtue, or experience (‘‘ hoc vocabulo non solum beata, sed etiam rara simul conditio significatur,” Βεπρ.). It implies satisfaction with the quality of Peter’s faith. Jesus was not easily satis- fied as to that. He wanted no man to call Him Christ under a misappre- hension ; hence the prohibition in ver. 20. Hecongratulated Peter not merely on believing Him to be the Messiah, but on having an essentially right con-
ception of what the title meant.—z%._
Βαριωνᾶ: full designation, name, and patronymic, suiting the emotional state of the speaker and the solemn character of the utterance, echo of an Aramaic source, or of the Aramaic dialect used then, if not always, by Jesus.—oap§ καὶ αἷμα: synonym in current Jewish speech for ‘‘man”’. ‘‘Infinita frequentia hanc formulam loquendi adhibent Scriptores Judaici, eaque homines Deo opponunt.” Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. Vide ver. 23. There is a tacit contrast between Peter’s faith and the opinions of the people just recited, asto source. Flesh and blood was the source of these opinions, and the fact is a clue to the meaning of the phrase. The contrast between the two sources Of inspiration is not the very general abstract one between creaturely weakness and Divine power (Wendt, Die Begriffe Fleisch und Geist, p. 60). “ Flesh and blood” covers all that can contribute to the formation of religious opinion of little intrinsic value—tradition, custom, fashion, education, authority, regard to outward appearance. Hilary, and after him Lutteroth, takes the re- ference to be to Christ’s flesh and blood, and finds in the words the idea: if you had looked to my flesh you would have called me Christ, the Son of David, but higher guidance has taught you to call me Son of God.—é πατήρ µου: this is to be taken not in a merely ontological sense, but ethically, so as to account for