440
μᾶλλον 4 λαμβάνειν”.
9 XX. 36—38.
A ~ > - 36. καὶ ταῦτα εἰπών, θεὶς τὰ γόνατα αὐτοῦ, σὺν πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς προσηύξατο.
37+ Ἱκανὸς δὲ ἐγένετο κλαυθμὸς
πάντων: καὶ ἐπιπεσόντες ἐπὶ τὸν τράχηλον τοῦ Παύλου κατεφίλουν
αὐτόν: 38. ὀδυνώμενοι µάλιστα ἐπὶ τῷ λόγω ᾧ εἰρήκει, ὅτι οὐκέτι
µέλλουσι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ θεωρεῖν. προέπεµπον δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ
πλοῖον.
of Solomon, Ryle and James edit., p. 73 ; on ἀντίληψις, H. and R.,sub.v. Inclassical Greek used in middle voice with genitive as Πείε.-- τῶν ἀσθενούν., cf. 1 Thess. v. 14, for a similar precept. The adjective need not be limited to those who sought relief owing to physical weakness or poverty, but may include all those who could claim the presbyters’ support and care, bodily or spiritual, cf. Rom. xii. 13. The usage of the gospels points to those who are weak through disease and there- fore needing help, cf, ¢.g., Matt. x. 8, Mark vi. 56, Luke ix. 2, John v. 3, so also by St. Paul, Phil. ii. 26, 27, 2 Tim. iv. 20, although there are instances in LXX where the word is used of moral rather than of physical weakness. When the word is used of moral or spiritual weakness in the N.T., such a meaning is for the most part either determined by the context, or by some addition, ¢.g., τῇ πίστει, Rom. xiv. τ.---μνημονεύειν τε: the verb is used seven times by St. Paul in his Epistles, once by St. Luke in his Gospel, Luke xvii. 32, and twice in Acts in the words of St. Paul, cf. ver. 31. Twice in the Epistle of St. Clement of Rome we find a similar exhortation in similar words, chap. xiii. 1 and xlvi. 7, and in each case the word may refer to a free combination of our Lord’s words (cf. Luke vi. 30, xiv. 14), So too in St. Polycarp, Efist., ii., 3. From what source St. Paul obtained this, the only saying of our Lord, definitely so described, out- side the four Gospels which the N.T. contains, we cannot tell, but the com- mand to ‘“tremember” shows that the words must have been familiar words, like those from St. Clement and St. Polycarp, which are very similar to the utterances of the Sermon on the Mount. From whatever source they were derived the references given by Resch, Agrapha, pp. 100, 150, show how deep an im- pression they made upon the mind of the Church, Clem. Rom., Cor., ii., 1, Did., i., 5, Const. Ap., iv., 3, 1; cf. also Ropes, Die Spriiche Fesus, p. 136. In thus appealing to the words of the Lord Jesus, St. Paul’s manner in his address is very similar to that employed in his
Epistles, where he 1s apparently able to quote the words of the Lord in support of his judgment on some religious and moral question, cf. 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11, 12, 25, and the distinction between his own Opinion, γνώμη, and the command of Christ, ἐπιταγή (Witness of the Epistles, Ρ. 319). τε: Weiss (so Bethge) holds that the word closely connects the two clauses, and that the meaning is that only thus could the weak be rightly maintained, vis., by remembering, etc., ὅτι being causal. But however this may be, in this reference, ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπεν, ‘‘how he himself said,” R.V. (thus im- plying that the fact. was beyond all doubt), we may note one distinctive feature in Christian philanthropy, that it is based upon allegiance to a divine Person, and upon a reference to His commands. The emphatic personal pro- noun seems to forbid the view that the Apostle is simply giving the sense of some of our Lord’s sayings (see above). Similar sayings may be quoted from pagan and Jewish sources, but in Aris- totle, Eth. Nicom., iv., 1, it is the part τοῦ ἐλενθερίονυ to give when and where and as much as he pleases, but only because it is beautiful to give; even in friendship, generosity and benevolence spring from the reflection that such conduct is decorous and worthy of a noble man, Eth. Nicom., ix., 8. In Plato’s Republic there would have been no place for the ἀσθενεῖς. Even in Seneca who sometimes approaches very nearly to the Christian precept, when he declares, e.g., that even if we lose we must still give, we cannot forget that pity is regarded as something unworthy of a wise man; the wise man will help him in tears, but he will not weep with him; he helps the poor not with com- passion, but with an impassive calm. --μακάριον: emphatic in position, see critical note. Bengel quotes from an old poet, cf. Athenzus, viii., 5, µακάριος, εἴπερ µεταδίδωσι µηδενί . . . avdnros 6 διδούς, εὐτυχὴς δ᾽ 5 λαμβάνων. The lines are by no means to be regarded as the best expression of pagan ethics, but the µακάρ., which occurs more than thirty