effect when Jewish unbelief diverted the ,
Gospel to the Gentiles. 4 πρόσληµψις: the assumption of the Jews into God’s favour. ζωὴ ἐκ vexp@v. Modern ex- positors almost all find in these words a reference to the resurrection; the restora- tion of the Jews at once brings on the end; the dead are raised, and the Messiah’s kingdom is set up, glorious and incorruptible. It is quite true that in Jewish apocalyptic literature the re- surrection introduces the new era, and that Paul shared in the apocalyptic ideas current in his time; but it does not follow that he was thinking of the re- surrection here. ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν would certainly be a singular way to describe it, and it is not enough to say with Weiss that Paul used this expression instead of ἀνάστασις in order to carry the mind beyond the fact of resurrection to the state which it introduced. It seems better to leave it undefined (cf. ἄπειρα ἀγαθά Theophyl.), and to regard it as an ordinary English reader regards ‘life from the ἀεαά,' as a description of un- imaginable blessing. This is more im- pressive than to bind the original and daring speculation of a passage like this by reference to apocalyptic ideas, with which Paul was no doubt familiar, but which are not suggested here, and could least of all control his thoughts when they were working on a line so entirely his own. ‘‘ Words fail him, and he employs the strongest he can find, think- ing rather of their general force than of their precise signification” (Jowett). εἰ δὲ ἡ ἀπάρχὴ ayia, καὶ τὸ Φύραμα. This explains Paul’s assurance that Israel has a future. For ἀπ. and dup. see Num. xv. 19-21. By the offering of the first fruits the whole mass, and the whole produce of the land, were consecrated. Both this figure, and that of the root and the branches, signify the same thing. As the application in ver. 28 proves, what is presented in both is the relation of the
ας
ἁγία, καὶ οἱ κλάδοι.