Ver. 8. βρῶμα δέ κ.τ.λ.: “But food will not present us to God,” non exhibebit nos Deo (Mr.): that on the ground of
7---πο.
οὔτε ἐὰν ph! φάγωμεν Ἡ ὑστερούμεθα.ὶ
c + ee) , ς - CJ ε / η ἐξουσία υμων αυτη προσκομµα
10. ἐὰν γάρ τις t8y σειδ τὸν ἔχοντα * κείµενον, οὐχὶ ἡ 3 συνείδησις αὐτοῦ 7 ἀσθενοῦς * ὄντος * * οἰκοδομηθή-
25; Acts xiii. 4ο; Lk. xxi. 8. Cf. iii. το, and reff.
843
e / ας dSee i. 7; ο. βλέπετε δὲ μηπως also xvi. 4 τὰ σα os 2 17, - nua; γένηται τοῖς ο. πα a 2,» εἰδωλεί ii., -nows. WAEL® KaTA- 5 NSS γνῶσιν, ἐν “et η κατα πας ν.15; Col. ii. 8} Heb. iii. 12, xii. f See vii. 37; also vi. 12. g Rom. ix.
32 f. (Isa. viii. 14), xiv. 13, 20; 1 Pet. ii. 8; cf. -κοπτω, Rom. xiv. 21; εγκοπη, ix. 12 below.
hN.T.&.j.; 1 Esdr. ii. 9: 1 Macc. i. 47, x. 83. = ανακειμ. k See ver. 1; here only ironical.
leav
i In this sense, Mk. ii. 15, xiv. 3; Lk. vii. 37. See note below.
µη day. νστερουµεθα... εαν day. περισσενοµεν (in this
order): A*B 17*, 46, oldest vg. cop. basm.; so Tr., Al., W.H., Nestle, El., Κ.Υ.
The order of T.R. is that of Western and Syrian uncc., the minn., latt. and νττ.; Ν and A** read εαν µη pay. περισσευοµεν . . . εαν hay. νστερουµεθα: so Lachm. Tr. further follows B in reading περισσευοµεθα for -ομεν.
2aaGevecty, all uncc. but L.
3 BG, vg., Aug., Ambrst. om. σε; bracketed by Lachm. and W.H. 4 Many Latin interpp., including vg., read cum sit infirma, as if for ασθενης ονσα.
which the verdict turns may be said to. ‘‘present”’ one to the judge. To ‘‘com- mend” is evv-, not παρίστηµι (see parls.) ; for the fut. (see txtl. note), cf. Rom. xiv. 10, 2 Cor. iv. 14, Col. i. 28.—Bpépara do not enter into our permanent being (vi. 13; see note); they will not be the criteria of the approaching Judgment.— The alternative οὔτε clauses negative the two opposite ways in which “food” might have been supposed to “ present us to God”: “neither if we do not eat, are we the worse off (ὑστερούμεθα: see note on i. 7); nor if we eat, are we the better off (περισσεύοµεν: do we abound, ex- ceed others)’. The latter predicate is appropriate to the ‘“‘strong,’”’ who deemed themselves in a superior position, on a higher ground of faith.—Ver. 8, like wv. 4-6, represents the fro in the question περὶ βρώσεως, as vv. 7, 8-13 the contra. Chap. viii. is virtually a dialogue; the double (challenging and rebutting) δὲ of vv. 8 f., with the words “your right”’ of νετ. g, in accordance with Paul’s dialec- tical style (cf. Rom. iii. 1-8), compels us to read this ver., like vv. 1, 4-6, as from the mouth of the Cor., possibly from the Church Letter; ‘hic alter erat, vel esse poterat, Corinthiorum pretextus” (Ον.). At the word µολύνεται P. hears some of his readers interject: “The conscience of the weak brother is defiled, you say, by eating after my example. But (8é) how so? You have taught us that God will not judge us by these trifling ex- ternals; abstinence or use of ‘meats’ makes no difference to our intrinsic state.” This Paul admits, to set against it the caution βλέπετε δὲ μὴ κ.τ.λ., on which the rest of the paragraph hangs.
Ver. ο. ‘“ Beware, however, lest this right of yours ’’—sc. to eat the idolothyta, for which many of the Cor. are contend- ing, and probably in the Church Letter (x). For ἐξουσία in this use, cf. ix. 4 ff., 12, also ἔξεστιν in vi. 12, x. 23. The Jerus. Council (Acts xv. 29), to whose decree P. was a party, had not denied im principle the lawfulness of using idolo- thyta; it forbade such use to the mixed Judzo-Gentilg Churches within a certain area, in deference to Jewish feeling. Paul comes in effect to the same conclusion, though he advises instead of command- ing. The πρόσκοµµα is an obstacle thrown in the way of ‘‘ the weak,” over which they may stumble into a moral fall, not having the strength either to over- come their scruples or to disregard an example contrary to their conscience.