16—18.
5ο7
νῦν σε ἀποστέλλω, 18. ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν. τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι ἀπὸ
σκότους εἰς φῶς καὶ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ Σατανᾶ ἐπὶ τὸν Θεόν, τοῦ
λαβεῖν αὐτοὺς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, καὶ κλῆρον ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις,
doubtful. Rendall urges that the word cannot mean “ delivering ” without some phrase such as ἐκ χειρός, as common in the LXX, but We on the other hand LXX, Judg. x. 15, xviii. 28 A, PS. απ ασια. απο, rosea, ν. τα, εἰς, But how could Paul be said to be chosen ἐξ ἐθνῶν2 The phrase would certainly sound strange to him as a description of his own position. Rendall also objects that in 1 Chron. xvi. 35 the word means to gather the scattered exiles from among the heathen as the context shows, but
the Hebrew verb SS¥5 means to deliver,
τ
and is so rendered, J. c., in A. and R. V. It is also urged that Aads is always the name of honour, and that else- where the enemies of the Apostle were named ᾿Ιουδαῖοι; but not only is the collocation ‘the people and the Gen- tiles” a common one, ¢f. ver. 23, Rom. xv. 1Ο, but λαός is used of the un- believing Jews in describing hostility to the Gospel, cf. iv. 27, xii. 4. Agrippa would understand the distinction be- tween λαός and ἔθνη. ἐγὼ “denotat auctoritatem mittentis,’”? Βεηρε].-- ἄπο- στέλλω: Paul receives his Apostolic com- mission direct from Christ as much as the Twelve; Gal. i. 1, 16, 17, Rom. i. 5 (Matt. x. 16, John xx. 21-23); cf. Acts ας.
Ver. 18, ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθ. αὐτῶν, cf. Acts ix. 8, 40, and also Matt. ix. 30; so too Isai. xxxv. 5, ΧΙΙ. 7. Both Jews and Gentiles were blinded (ots above, re- ferring to both), the former because seeing they saw not, Matt. xiii. 13, Rom. xi. 8; the latter in that knowing God in His creation they glorified Him not as God, and their senseless heart was darkened, Rom. i, 21; and to both St. Paul pro- claimed the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 6, Ephes. i. 18. The infinitive of purpose depending on ἀποστέλλω, Burton, p. 157; Viteau, Le Grec du Ν.Τ., p. 169 (1803).----ἐπιστρέψαι : “ that they may turn,” Κ.Υ. (‘to turn them,” margin, so A.V.); in St. Luke, who uses the verb more frequently than any other N.T. writer, it is nearly always intransi- tive, except in Luke i. 16, 17, Moulton and Geden, while Grimm adds ver. 20 below; so here all E.V. before the authorised, cf. Vulgate, ‘‘ ut convertan-
tur” (Humphry). If we thus take ἔπισ. as intransitive, it is subordinate to the previous infinitive of purpose, ἀνοῖξαι, and τοῦ λαβεῖν again subordinate to ἔπιστ., expressing the final result aimed at (Page, and see also Wendt’s note, in loco (1899)).--ἀπὸ σκότους els as: throughout St. Paul’s Epistles the imagery was frequent with reference not only to Gentiles but also to Jews, cf. Rom. ii. 10, xiii. 12, 1 Thess. v. 5, Ephes. v. 18, Col. i. 12. The words gain in in- terest here if we think of them as corre- sponding with the Apostle’s own recover- ing from blindness, spiritual and physical (Plumptre).—rot Σατανᾶ, Blass, Gram., ΡΡ. 32, 144; no less than ten times by St. Paul in his Epistles; ¢f. 2 Cor. iv. 4, Ephes. ii. 2, vi. 12 (Col. i. 13. ἐξονσία σκότους, Luke xxii. 53). Thereisnoreason to suppose with Bengel that St. Paul is here referring to Gentiles rather than to Jews, for whilst the Jews no doubt would regard the Gentiles as loving σκότος and in the power of Satan, cf. also Luke xiii. 16, xxii. 31, Acts v. 3. For current ideas with regard to Satan and the teaching of the N.T. cf. Edersheim, $esus the Messiah, ii., p. 775; Charles, Book of Enoch, Introd., p. 52, and Assumption of Moses, x., 1, where Satan is apparently represented as the head of the kingdom of evil; cf. in the N.T. Ephes. i. 21, vi. 12, Col. ii. 15, for the whole hierarchy of evil spirits at the disposal of Satan, and 2 Thess. ii. 9; cf. 2 Cor. xi. 14 for his supernatural powers of deceiving or pre- venting men; see especially Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 145.—rod λαβεῖν : expressing the ultimate object of ἀνοῖξαι (see above, and Weiss, in loco).—ageoww Gpap., iii. 16, the language here is quite Pauline, cf. Col. i. 12-14, where also de- liverance out of the power of darkness and forgiveness of sins in the Son of God’s love are connected as here.— τῇ πίστει els ἐμέ: may be connected with λαβεῖν, faith in Christ as the condition of forgiveness placed emphatically at the end ; cf. x. 43, A. and R.V. connect the words with ἡγιασμένοις, so Vulgate.— κλῆρον ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασ., cf. xx. 32, Col. tere