Ver. 4. The negative clauses, οὐδὲν yap... add οὐκ, together explain, parenthetically, Paul’s meaning in ver. 3: “For I am conscious of nothing against myself” (in my conduct as Christ’s minister to you: ¢f. το, 18; 2 Cor. i. 12-
798
t Mt. vill.29 only. Sir. XXX. 24, xlvi. 28, li. 38.
In this use,2Tim.* ἀπὸ τοῦ ” Θεοῦ. ποιο.
Jo. i. 9;
Eph. i. 18; Heb. vi. 4, x. 32.
c
Κύριος, ὃς 1 καὶ " φωτίσει τὰ *
Κύριός ἐστιν. 5. ὥστε μὴ "πρὸ "καιροῦ τι κρίνετε, ἕως ἂν Eby ὁ
κρυπτὰ τοῦ σκότους καὶ * φανερώσει
τὰς ° βουλὰς τῶν ” καρδιῶν : καὶ τότε ὁ ἔπαινος γενήσεται ἑκάστῳ
v xiv. 25; 2 Cor. iv.2; Rom. ii. 16, 29; 1 Pet. ΠΠ. 4; Mt. x. 26.
w Rom. xiii. 12; eight times besides in P. in the ethical sense; 1 Pet. ii. 9; 1 Jo. i.6; Mt. vi. 23;
ο. iti. 19; Acts xxvi. 18. lii. 18; Mk. iv. 22; Jo. iii. 21. 12,42. Inpl., N.T. hb
x In this connexion, 2 Cor. v. 10 f.; Eph. v. 13; 1 Jo. ii. 19, iii. 2; Rev y ΟΕ human βουλη, Lk. xxiii. 51; Acts xix. 1 (some texts), xxvil βουλην καρδιας, Sir. xxxvii. 13.
z Rom. ii. 29; επαινος (with man for
obj.) generally, 2 Cor. viii. 18; Rom. xiii. 3; Ph. iv. 8; 1 Pet. i. 7, ii. 14.
1 DG, Aug., om. ος: a Western variant.
17)—nothing that calls for judicial in- quiry on your part or misgiving on my own—“ but not on this ground (οὐκ ἐν τούτῳ) have I been justified”. Σύνοιδα with reflexive pron. (A. J. in N.T.) has this connotation, of a guilty conscience, occasionally in cl. Gr. (see Lidd.); cf. the Horatian ‘ Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa” (Al.). “By” signifies “against” in Bible Eng. (see New Eng. Dict 5. οι 200d sicfe Deut. σαν σ6, Ezek. xxii. 7); “I know no harm by him” is current in the Midland counties (Al.).—For δικαιόω ἐν, see parls. The pf. pass. διδικαίωµαι defines an act of God complete in the past and deter- mining the writer’s present state. P. has been and continues justified—not on the sentence of his conscience as a man self-acquitted (‘‘ not of works of righteous- ness, which we had done,” Tit. iii. 5 ff.), but as an ill-deserving sinner counted righteous for Christ’s sake (i. 30, vi. 11, xv. 173; 2 Cor. v. 17-21, Rom. iii. 23 ff., iv. 25, Vil. 24-vili. 1, etc.). This past ‘justification’? is the ground of his whole standing before God (Rom. v. 1 ff.); it forbids presuming on the wit- ness of his own conscience now. A good conscience is worth much; but, after. P.’s experience, he cannot rely on its verdict apart from Christ’s. Paul looks for his appraisement at the end (5), to the source from which he received his justification at the beginning. Accordingly for the present, he refers to Christ the testing of his daily course: 6 δὲ ἀνακρίνων µε Κύριός ἐστιν, “but he that does try (examine) me is the Lord”—not you, nor my own conscience; I am searched by a purer and a loftier eye. ‘‘The Lord is alone qualified for this office” (cf. v. 3 ff., and notes; Rev. ii., iii, John v. 22, etc.). The Lord’s present ἀγνάκρισις prepares for his final κρίσις (5). The above inter- pretation, which maintains the Pauline use of δικαιόω, is that of Calovius,
Rickert, Mr., Hn., Bt.,and others. Cm., ϐν., Est., Bg., All, Ev:, Κα. αάν πα», etc., insist on taking the term “in a meaning entirely diff. from its ordinary dogmatic sense” (Gd.), referring it iu spite of the tense, on account of ver. 5, to the future judgment; but this brings confusion into Paul’s settled language, and abandons the rock of his personal standing before God and men (cf. Gal. ii. 15 ff.). Since P. accepted justification by faith in Christ, not his innocence, but his Saviour’s merit has become his fixed ground of assurance.