4—6.
eis* 5. καὶ γὰρ εἴπερ εἰσὶ "λεγόμενοι Θεοί, εἴτε ἐν οὐράνῳ εἴτε EPS ἐπὶ τῆς ] γῆς, ὥσπερ εἶσὶ θεοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ } κύριοι πολλοί, P Cf. Acts 6. GAN’? ἡμῖν εἲς Θεὺς ὁ πατήρ, 3 ἐξ 200 τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς ! εἰς κ ον ‘ a , 3 to) / . > αὐτὸν ΄ και εἷς Κύριος Ingots Χριστός, δι
ἡμεῖς "δι " αὐτοῦ."
36; Eph. i. 5; cf. Col. i. 16.
841 ii. 11; - ii. 4,
‘ou ὃ τὰ πάντα καὶ
14. q See i. 30. r Rom. xi.
8 Rom. xi. 36; Col. i. 16; Heb. i. 2; Jo. i. 3, etc. Cf. xv. 57; 1 Tim.
aul. 5; Rom.i. 5, v.1 f., 17,21; Gal.i.1; Eph. i. 5, ii. 18; 1 Th. v. 9; Tit. iii. 6; 1 Jo. iv. 9.
2 Om. της all uncc. and many minn.
2 Om. αλλ’ (2) B, basm., Irint.. Eus.; Lachm. and W.H. bracket.
Ἅμιν δε, 17, cop., Cyrhier., Epiph. 3 ov (?) B, eth., Epiph.; W.H. marg.
‘The minn. 55, 72**, 109, 178, supported by Gregory of Nazianzus orat. 39, 12, Basil in several passages, Cyr., Dam., make the addition και εν πνευμα αγιον ev @
τα παντα--α Trinitarian gloss.
—esp. ‘elilim, nothings, and hebhel, empti-
ness; the term was applied first to the
images, then to the (supposed) godships they represent, branding them as shams and shows: see 1 Thess. i. 9, Acts xiv. 15, Ps. xcvi. 5. The κόσμος reveals the being and power of the One God (Rom. .. 20); idolaters Ἠανε πο living God, but are ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ (Eph. ii. 12).
Ver. 5: a comment of the Cor. on their ‘confession of faith, showing their “‘ know- ledge” of its bearing.—kat γὰρ εἴπερ εἰσίν κ.τ.λ.:. ‘For indeed, granting the existence of so-called gods, whether in heaven or upon earth, as indeed there are many (such) gods and lords, yet to us,” etc. The -περ of εἴπερ and ὥσπερ enhances the supposition (see El., ad loc.), allowing its utmost possibility.— εἴπερ κ.τ.λ. admits their existence (in some sense) as reputed deities; ὥσπερ κ.τ.λ. points to their astonishing mul- titude, while distinguishing them, in a manner parl. to the distinction between 6 Θεὸς and 6 Κύριος, as “gods” in their assumed deity and “lords” in their assumed dominion. The repeated εἰσὶν asserts an actual being of some sort be- hind the εἴδωλον (see x. 19-22), but the θεότης Or κυριότης is merely λεγομένη; for the force of this ptp., cf. 2 Thess. ii. 4, Eph. ii. 11. With πολλοὶ cf. κατεί- δωλον πόλιν, Acts xvii. 16, and the Gr. saying, Γιάντα θεῶν πλέα.- Κύριος is a title often given to gods in Gr. inscrip- tions; a ἡ.]. for Bib. Gr.: cf., however, ’adonim in Isa. xxvi. 13 ; also Deut. x. 17; Ps. cxxxvi. 2 f.—In heaven, on earth: the two great domains of God’s kingdom (Matt. vi. 10), usurped by the false gods.
Ver. 6 affirms in positive Christian
Chrysostom *” expressly controverts this reading.
terms, as ver. 45 stated negatively and retrospectively, the creed of the Cor. be- lievers, The ‘one God” of Ο.Τ. mono- theism is ‘to us one God the Father”. ΟΕ whom are all things, and we for Him:” the universe issues from God, and “νε, His sons in Christ, are destined therein for His use and glory— He would reap in “us” His glory, as a father in the children of his house; see, on this latter purpose, Eph. i. 5, 1ο ff., 188, iii. g ff.; also x Peter ii. ο, Jas. i. 18, John xvii. 9 f., etc. ; cf. Aug., “‘ Fecisti nos ad Te”. In the emphatic ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτὸν there speaks the joyful conscious- ness of Gentiles called to know and serve the true God; ¢f. xii. 2 f., Eph. ii. 11 ff.—The “‘one Lord Jesus Christ”’ is Mediator, as in 1 Tim. ii. 5—‘ through whom are all things, and we through Him”; again ἡμεῖς stands out with high distinction from the dim background of τὰ πάντα. The contrasted ἐξ οὗ, els αὐτὸν of the previous clause is replaced by the doubled διὰ of this: God is the source of all nature, but the end specifically of redeemed humanity ; Christ is equally the Mediator—and in this capacity the Lord (xv. 24-28)—of nature and of men. The universe is of God through Christ (Heb. i. 2, John i. 3): we are for God through Christ (2 Cor. v. 18, Eph. i. 5, etc.). Col. i. 15 ff. unfolds this doctrine of the double Lordship of Christ, basing His redemptional upon His creational headship.—It is an exegeti- cal violence to limit the second τὰ πάντα, as Grotius and Baur have done, to “the ethical new creation’’; in 2 Cor. v. 18 the context gives this limitation, which in our passage it excludes. The inferior