” A - ε« Ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι δίκαιος οὐδὲ εἷς: II. οὐκ έστιν 6 συνιῶν,
Ill,
1 > ” ουκ εστιν
ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν Θεόν. 12. πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρειώθησαν ”' οὐκ
19 συνιων; om. o ABG vulg.; ins. ΝΡΚΙ.. The ο before εκζητων is also omitted’ RG, and in both places, in text though not in marg., by W. and H. (marg., ο
trtwv). This ζητων is the reading in Β.
Σηχρεωθησαν ΦΑΒΙΡΙ. ουκ εστιν ποιων, so ABG; but RD have ο ποιωγ. W. and H. put the former in text, the latter in marg. The second ουκ εστιν is om.
in B 672 and in the marg. of W. and H.
κατ᾽ οὐδὲν προεχοµένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός: “who are in nothing surpassed by Ζευς”. The word would thus express the surprise of the Jew at seeing his pre- rogatives disappear ; ‘if this line of ar- gument be carried further,” he may be supposed to say, ‘‘ the relative positions of Jew and Gentile will turn out to be the very reverse of what we have be- lieved”. This is the idea which is ne- gatived in οὐ πάντως. Strictly speaking, the ov should modify πάντως, and the meaning be ‘not in every respect’: in some respects (for instance, the one re- ferred to in ver. 2), a certain superiority would still belong to the Jew. But to allude to this seems irrelevant, and there is no difficulty in taking the words to mean, ‘No: not in any way”. See Winer, p. 693 f. ‘‘ We are not sur- passed at all, we who are Jews, for we have already brought against Jews and Greeks alike the charge of being all under sin.” ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, cf. vil. 14, Gal. iii. 22. The idea is that of being under the power of sin, as well as simply sinful: men are both guilty and unable to escape from that condition. Ver. 10. The long series of quota- tions, beginning with this verse, has many points of interest. The xaos γέγραπται with which it is introduced, shows that the assertion of indiscrim- inate sinfulness which the Apostle has just made, corresponds with Scripture testimony. It is as if he had said, I can express my opinion in inspired words, and therefore it has God upon its side. The quotations themselves are taken from various parts of the O.T. without dis- tinction ; no indication is given when the writer passes from one book to another. Thus vv. 10-12 are from Ps. xiv. I-3; ver. 13 gives the LXX of Ps. v. 9; ver. 14 corresponds best to Ps. x. 7; in wv. 15-17 there is a condensation of Is. lix. 7 f.; and in ver. 18 we have part of the first verse of Ps. xxxvi. No attention whatever is paid to the context. The value of the quotations for the Apostle’s purpose has been disputed. It has been
pointed out that in Ps. xiv., for instance, there is mention of a people of God, ‘“‘a generation of the righteous,”’ as well as of the godless world; and that in other passages only the contemporaries of the writer, or some of them, and not all men in all times, are described. Perhaps if we admit that there is no possibility of an empirical proof of the universality of sin, it covers the truth there is in such com- ments. Paul does not rest his case on these words of Scripture, interpreted as modern exegetical science would inter- pret them. He has brought the charge of sin against all men in chap. 1. 17, in announcing righteousness as the gift of the Gospel] ; in chap. i. 18-32 he has referred to the facts which bring the charge home to Gentile consciences ; in chap. ii. he has come to close quarters with evasions which would naturally suggest themselves to Jews: and in both cases he has counted upon finding in conscience a sure ally. Hence we do not need to lay too heavy a burden of proof on these quotations: it is enough if they show that Scripture points with unmistakable emphasis in the direction in which the Apostle is leading his readers. And there can be no doubt that it does so. As Gifford well says on ver. 18: ‘‘In the deep inner sense which St. Paul gives to the passage, ‘the generation of the righteous’ would be the first to acknowledge that they form no exception to the universal sinfulness asserted in the opening verses of the Psalm’”’.