41
m. iv.
ἵνα ἐκ πολλῶν "προσώπων τὸ εἰς ἡμᾶς χάρισμα διὰ πολλῶν 2 Here only.
a Prov. viii. 30andreff. below.
12. Ἡ γὰρ “καύχησις ἡμῶν αὕτη ἐστὶ, τὸ μαρτύριον τῆς “ συνειδή- > Chaps. iv.
το, 1x. 12.
~ , - σεως ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἐν ἁπλότητι ὃ καὶ " εἰλικρινείᾳ Θεοῦ,7 οὐκ ὃ ἐν σοφίᾳ ct Cor. xv.
a 9 Ss , af , 3 - / σαρκικῆ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν χάριτι Θεοῦ ἡ ἀνεστράφημεν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, περισσο-
10, 17. only; cf. Phil. i. το.
1 A has μων for vpev. 3 AG have υμων for μων.
ἃ Eccl. x. 20; Wisd. xvii. 11 only in LXX; cf. Rom. ii. 15. f Ezek. xix. 6; Eph. ii. 3; 1 Tim. iii. 15.
31; chaps. vii. 4, 14,
Vili. 24, xi. e 1 Cor. v. 8; chap. il. 17
3 D*G have περι for υπερ. 4 GM, d, ε, g, give εν πολλῳ προσωπῳ.
5 evx. υπερ ηµων is read by RACD*GM 17 and the vss.; BDcEFKLP have υμων.
ὃ απλοτητι SCDEGL, the Latin and Syriac vss. ; but the better supported reading is αγιοτητι of Ν ΑΒΟΚΜΡ 17, 37, 73, and the Bohairic (see note).
7 SABCDEM have tov Θεου; GKLP omit του. 8 BM 37, 73, f, vg. and the Harclean read και ουκ ev; W.H. place και in brackets.
tence of death” (Ecclus. xli. 3). The tense of ἐσχήκαμεν is noteworthy; it seems to be a kind of historical perfect, used like an aorist (cf. chap. ii. 13, xi. 25, Rev. v. 7, viii. 5, for a similar usage).— ἵνα μὴ πεποιθότες κ.τ.λ.: 1,6., “the gravity of the danger was such as to im- press upon me the vanity of putting my trust anywhere save in God, who has the power of life and death”. God can “raise the dead” (see chap. iv. 14); much more can He bring back the dying from the gates of death.
Ver. το. ὅς ἐκ τηλικ. K.T.A.: who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver (reading ῥύσεται). The form of words recalls Rom. xv. 31 and 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18, which would give some sup- port to the theory that the great peril in ‘question was persecution at the hands of opponents ; but (as we have said on ver. 8) it seems more probable that the Apostle’s deliverance was from a danger- ous illness. It is possible, indeed, that we have here a reminiscence of Job XXXill. 30, ἐρύσατο τὴν ψυχήν µου ἐκ θανάτου, which would confirm this inter- pretation. Note that the preposition is ἐκ, not ἀπό; ἀπό would only indicate deliverance from the neighbourhood of a danger; é« indicates emergence froma danger to which one has actually been exposed (see Chase, Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church, pp. 71 ff.). Cf. with the whole phrase 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18, ἐρύσθην ἐκ στόματος λέοντος, ῥύσεταί με ὁ κύριος κ.τ.λ.---εἷς ὃν ἠλπίκαμεν : towards whom we have set our hope. εἰς with the acc. (see reff.) expresses the direction towards which hope looks; ἐπί with the dat. after
ἐλπίζειν (1 Tim. iv. το, vi. 17) rather indi- cates that 7m which hope rests. Cf. Ps. iv. 6, ἐλπίσατε ἐπὶ κύριον. The perfect ἠλπίκαμεν here has its full force, viz., “towards whom we have set our hope, and continue to do so”; cf. 1 Cor. xv. το, 1 Tim. v. 5, vi. 17.—Kal ἔτι ῥύσεται: the force of ἔτι (if indeed it be part of the true text: see crit. note) is to carry the mind on to the perils of the future, as distinguished from those of the present : He will continue to deliver us.
Ver. II. συνυπουργούντων καὶ ὑμῶν Κ.τ.λ.: ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication ; i.e., appar- ently, ‘‘helping me”. St. Paul claims that the sympathy of his converts with him shall be exhibited by their prayers forhim. δέησις is prayer for a particular object, as contrasted with the more general προσευχή (Eph. vi. 18).—tva ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων κ.τ.λ.: that from many faces (sc., as if upturned in thanksgiving) thanks be given on our behalf through many for the gift bestowed on us. πρόσωπον came to mean “person” in later Greek, but it never can be thus translated in the Ν.Τ., save in the phrase λαμβάνειν πρόσωπον (Luke xx. 21, Gal. ii. 6) or θαυμάζειν πρόσωπα (Jude 16), “to respect the per- son’’ of anyone. Even in these passages λαμβάνειν πρόσωπον is a Hebraism which originally meant “raise the face’’ (see Plummer on Luke xx. 21). πρόσωπον is used ten times elsewhere in this Epistle in its ordinary sense of “face”’ (chap. ii. τοι η, το, ταν. 6, Va το νι, 24: Xe I, η, χι, 200], also τ Cor. ΟΣ τὸ, xiv. 25, Gal. i. 22). Hence we cannot follow the English versions in translating ἐκ