694
m Matt. XXiv. 24; Gal. iv.15. ΤΟ.
XII. 18—ar.
A a - 18. ei ™Suvarov, τὸ ἐξ ὑμῶν, μετὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἰρηνεύοντες. Mi) ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικούντες, ἀγαπητοί, ἀλλὰ δότε τόπον τῇ ὀργῇ
a 3 Ν , γέγραπται γὰρ, “"Epoi ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω, λέγει Κύριος”.
20. ἐὰν οὖν }
πεινᾷ 6 ἐχθρός σου, ψώμιζε αὐτόν.
ἐὰν Supa, motile
. ess Pas Lp a ε.α Tim. ill αὐτόν ΄ τούτο yap ποιῶν, ἄνθρακας πυρὸς " σωρεύσεις ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν
= lel αυτου.
A x lal Lol > ~ ~ 21. μὴ νικῶ ὑπὸ τού κακοῦ, ἀλλὰ νίκα ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακόν.
1 εαν ουν D® gr. L, etc.; εαν alone D'FD® lat.; αλλα εαν SABP vulg. and all edd. For την κεφαλην Weiss would read with B alone της κεφαλης.
Ver. 17. From this point the subject treated is chiefly the Christian’s attitude to enemies. μηδενὶ κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἀποδ. μηδενὶ is emphatic: to no one, Christian or un-Christian. Nothing can ever justify revenge. Cf. 1 Pet. ili. 9, but especially Matt. v. 38-48. προνοού- µενοι καλὰ ἐνώπιον κ.τ.λ. Prov. iii. 4, LXX. 2 Cor. viii. 21. What the words mean in Prov. iii. 4 is not clear; they are not a translation of the Hebrew. In 2 Cor. viii. 21 the idea is that of taking precautions to obviate possible slanders ; here it is apparently that of living in such a way as not to provoke enmity, or give any occasion for breach of peace. ἐνώπιον: construed with καλά. πάντων has the same kind of emphasis as µηδενί: Requite evil to mo one; let your conduct be such as all must approve.
Ver. 18. et δυνατόν: cf. Matt. xxiv. 24. τὸ ἐξ ὑμῶν: for what depends on you. Cf. i. 15. Over others’ conduct we have no control; but the initiative in disturbing the peace is never to lie with the Christian.
Ver. 19. μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικοῦντες, ἄγα- πητοί. Even when the Christian has been wronged he is not to take the law into his own hand, and right or vindicate himself. For ἐκδικεῖν see Le. xviii. 3, 5. ἀγαπητοί is striking, and must have some reason; either the extreme diffi- culty, of which Paul was sensible, of living up to this rule; or possibly some condition of affairs in the Church at Rome, which made the exhortation peculiarly pertinent to the readers, and therefore craved this affectionate address to deprecate, as it were, the ‘‘ wild jus- tice” with which the natural man is always ready to plead his cause. ἀλλὰ δότε τόπον τῇ ὀργῇ: the wrath spoken of, as the following words show, is that of God; to give place to God’s wrath means to leave room for it, not to take God’s proper work out of His hands. For the expression cf. Le. xiv. g, Sir. xiii, 22, xix. 17, xxxviii. 12, Eph. iv. 27.
For ἡ ὀργὴ used thus absolutely of God’s wrath cf. v. 9, 1 Thess. ii. 16. The idea is not that instead of executing vengeance ourselves we are to abandon the offender to the more tremendous vengeance of God; but this—that God, not injured men or those who believe themselves such, is the maintainer of moral order in the world, and that the righting of wrong is to be committed to Him. Cf. especi- ally 1 Pet. ii. 23. Ὑέγραπται γάρ: Deut. Xxxii. 35. Paul gives the sense of the Hebrew, not at all that of the LXX, though his language is reminiscent of the latter (ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐκδικήσεως ἄνταπο- δώσω). It is singular that Heb. x. 30 has the quotation in exactly the same form as Paul. So has the Targum of Onkelos ; but whether there is any mutual dependence of these three, or whether, independent of all, the verse was current in this form, we cannot tell. The λέγει κύριος (cf. xiv. 11) is supplied by Paul.
Ver. 20. ἀλλὰ: On the contrary, as opposed to self-avenging, and even to the merely passive resignation of one’s case to God. ἐὰν πεινᾷ κ.τ.λ. Prov. xxv. 21 f. exactly as in LXX. The meaning of ‘‘heaping burning coals on his head” is hardly open to doubt. It must refer to the burning pain of shame and remorse which the man feels whose hostility is repaid by love. This is the only kind of vengeance the Christian is at liberty to contemplate. Many, how- ever, have referred to 4 Esdr. xvi. 54 (Non dicat peccatoy se non peccasse ; quoniam carbones ignis comburet super caput ejus, qui dicit: non peccavi coram Domino Deo et gloria ipsius), and argued that the coals of fire are the Divine judg- ments which the sinner will bring on himself unless he repents under the con- straint of such love. But (1) there is nothing said here about the essential condition, ‘‘unless he repents”; this is simply imported; and (2) the aim of the Christian’s love to his enemy is thus