657
µεγάλη, καὶ &biddermros” ὀδύνη τῇ KapSia µου, 3. ηὐχόμην γὰρ >? Timi.3.
οι Tim. vi.
αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἀνάθεμα εἶναι] ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν pov, , 2%. η
τῶν συγγενῶν µου κατὰ σάρκα" 4. οἵτινές εἰσιν Ἰσραηλῖται, ὧν ἡ | Eph.ii. 12.
υἱοθεσία, καὶ ἡ δόξα, καὶ αἱ διαθῆκαι," 2
Νε θ Aine ee λ αι Heb. και νψοµοσεσια, και ατ- il. IT, uN ( 4 viii. 6.
αυτος εγω αναθεµα ειναι, soCKL; but in $ABDF αναθεµα ειναι αντος εγω.
2 av διαθηκαι ΝΟΚ and versions; η διαθηκη BDF; see note? (on πρῶτον), page
580. between two singulars. instead of αι επαγγελιαι.
God, in which all the functions of the Christian life are carried on: so that assurance is made dgubly and trebly sure.
Ver. 2. The fact of Paul’s sorrow is stated here; the cause of it is revealed in ver. 3. Weiss remarks on the triple climax: λύπη being intensified in ὀδύνη, µεγάλη in ἀδιάλειπτος, and µοι in τῇ καρδίᾳ pov. Paul cannot find words strong enough to convey his feeling.
Ver. 3. nixdpnv yap ἀνάθεμα εἶναι κ.τ.λ. For I could wish that I myself were anathema, etc. For the omission of ἂν see Acts xxv. 22, Gal.iv. 20. Paul could wish this if it were a wish that could be realised for the good of Israel. The form of expression implies that the wish had actually been conceived, but in such sentences “‘ the context aloneimplies what the present state of mind is ” (Bur- ton, Moods and Tenses, § 33). ἀνάθεμα is to becenstrued with ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ: the idea of separation from Christ, final and fatal separation, is conveyed. For the construction cf. Gal. v. 4 (κατηρ- γήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ). ἀνάθεμα Gal. i. 8 f., 1 Cor. xii. 3, xvi. 22 is the equivalent of the Hebrew Eq, Deut. vii. 26,
Josh. vii. 12—that which is put under the ban, and irrevocably devoted to destruc- tion. It is beside the mark to speak of such an utterance as this as unethical. Rather might we call it with Dorner ‘‘a spark from the fire of Christ’s substitu- tionary love’’. There is a passion in it more profound even than that of Moses’ prayer in Ex. xxxii. 32. Moses identifies himself with his people, and if they cannot be saved would perish with them ; Paul could find it in his heart, were it possible, to perish for them. τῶν συγ- γενῶν pov κατὰ σάρκα distinguishes these from his Christian brethren.
Ver. 4f. The intensity of Paul’s dis- tress, and of his longing for the salvation of his countrymen, is partly explained in this verse. It is the greatness of his
VOL. η. 4
The plural is no doubt right here, and was mechanically changed as standing At the end of the verse DEFG also read η επαγγελια
people, their unique place of privilege in God’s providence, the splendour of the inheritance and of the hopes which they forfeit by unbelief, that make their un- belief at once so painful, and so perplex- ing. οἵτινές εἶσιν ᾿Ισραηλεῖται: being, as they are, Israelites. Israelites is not the national but the theocratic name; it expresses the spiritual prerogative of the nation, cf. 2 Cor. xi. 22, Gal. vi. 16. ὧν fH υἱοθεσία: this is not the Christian sonship, but that which is referred to in such passages as Ex. iv. 22,. Hos. xi. 1. Yet it may be wrong to speak of it as if it were merely national ; it seems to be distributed and applied to the individual members of the nation in Deut. xiv. 1, Hos. i. 10 (ii. 1 Heb.). ἢ δόξα: the glory must refer to something detinite, like the pillar of cloud and
fire, the FV" 725 of the O.T., the
FID DW of later Jewish theology; there
is probably reference to it in Acts vii. 2, Heb. ix. 5. at διαθῆκαι : in other places Paul speaks of the O.T. religion as one covenant, one (legal) administration of the relations between God and man (e.g. in 2 Cor. iii.) : here, where at διαθῆ- και is expressly distinguished from ἡ νοµοθεσία (the great Sinaitic legislation: 2 Macc. vi. 23), the various covenants God made with the patriarchs must be meant. Cf. Wisd. xviii. 22, Sir. xliv. 11, 2 Macc. viii. 15. 7 λατρεία is the cultus of the tabernacle and the temple, the only legitimate cultus in the world. ai ἐπαγγελίαι are the Messianic promises : in the Israelitish religion “ the best was yet to be,” as all the highest minds knew. Ver. 5. ὧν οἱ πατέρες: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The greatness of its ancestry ennobled Israel, and made its position in Paul’s time harder to understand and to endure. Who could think without the keenest pain of the sons of such fathers forfeiting everything for which the fathers had been called ?