Vv. 7-11. DIGRESSION ON THE MINIS- TRY ΟΡ THE New 6 ΙΝΕΝΑΝΤ. It 18 (a) MORE GLORIOUS THAN THAT OF THE OLD. —Ver. 7. εἰ δὲ ἡ διακονία κ.τ.λ.; but if the Ministration of Death (see ver. 6), written, and engraven in stones, came into existence in glory, etc. The refer- ence is to the glory on the face of Moses (see reff.) when the Tables of the Law were brought down from Mount Sinai.
γ-τι.
55
αὐτοῦ τὴν καταργουμένην, 8. πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἡ διακονία δῦ ος vil.
only.
πνεύματος ἔσται ἐν δόξῃ ; 9. εἰ γὰρ 4! διακονία τῆς κατακρίσεως W Rom. ν. ο,
δόξα,” “ πολλῷ μᾶλλον περισσεύει ὃ ἡ διακονία τῆς διακαιοσύνης
év* δόξη.
τούτω τῷ µέρει, ἕνεκεν ὃ τῆς ” ὑπερβαλλούσης δόξης. τὸ καταργούµενον διὰ δόξης, "πολλῷ "μᾶλλον τὸ μένον ἐν δόξη. ii y
14; Eph. i. 19, ii. 7, 111, το only; 2 Macc. iv. 13.
1 BDbEKLP, f, g and the Bohairic support η διακ. ; The external evidence is thus evenly balanced, but the
d, e and the Syriac vss.
1Ο. καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ ὃ δεδόξασται τὸ δεδοξασμένον * ἐν
το τ Cor, χι, 22; Phil. i. 23, ii. 12 and νι νὰ 11, . εἰ yao x ap. ix. ὙῸΡ 3; cf. Col.
z Reff. ver. 9.
Ty διακονιᾳ NACD*G 17,
form of the sentence inclines us to the received text.
2 D*EG supply εστιν after Sofa.
ΡΕ, d, e, g and the Syriac vss. give περισσευσει. 4 S$cDEGKLP support ev δοξῃ; S*ABC omit εν. 5 Only a few cursives (and d, e, f, g) support ουδε; all uncials and the Bohairic
have ov.
6 For ενεκεν read εινεκεν with NABDEGP.
St. Paul argues that for two reasons the glory of the New Covenant is greater, (i.) the former διακονία was one of con- demnation, the latter of righteousness (ver. g), and (ii.) the glory of the former was only a transient gleam, while that of the latter abides for ever (ver. 11). Of the first Tables which Moses broke in anger it is said that the writing was γραφὴ Θεοῦ κεκολαμμένη ἐν τοῖς πλαξίν (Exod. xxxii. 16) ; it is merely said of the second Tables that Moses wrote upon them ‘‘the words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exod. xxxiv. 28). Nevertheless the tradition (see Philo, Vit. Mos., iii., 2) was that the second Tables, like the first, were not only “ written” but “engraven” (ἐντετυπωμένη), as the Apostle has it.—dorre μὴ δύνασθαι κ.τ.λ.: so that the Children of Israel could not (sc., through fear, Exod. xxxiv. 30) look steadfastly upon the face of Moses on account of the glory of his face, transient asit was. καταργεῖσθαι is nearly always, if not always (for 1 Cor. ii. 6 is doubtful), passive in St. Paul (Rom. vi. 6, vii. 2, 1 Cor. xiii. 8, xv. 26, Gal. ν. 4), and as it must be taken passively in ver. 14 below, there is a good deal to be said for re- garding it as passive here and in vv. 11, 13 (as the A.V. does; note, however, that the translation ‘‘ which was to be done away” in this verse is wrong). Yet the sense seems to require the middle voice ‘“‘which was passing away,” sc., even as he spoke to the people. The position of τὴν καταργουμένην gives it emphasis. Pfleiderer is guilty of the extravagant supposition that the whole story of the
Transfiguration (cf. Luke ix. 28 ff.) is built up on the basis of this passage (cf. μεταμορφούμεθα, ver. 18), the disappear- ance of Moses and Elijah, leaving Jesus alone with His disciples, indicating that the glory of the Old Covenant was pass- ing away (καταργουμένην) !
Vv. 8, 9. πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον κ.τ.λ.: how shall not rather the Ministration of the Spirit be with glory? For if the Ministration of Condemnation be glory (if we read τῇ διακονίᾳ we must render, with the American Revisers,‘‘has glory’), much vather doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in glory. Cf. Rom. v. 16, TO μὲν yap κρίμα ἐξ ἑνὸς εἰς κατάκριμα; τὸ δὲ χάρισμα ἐκ πολλῶν παραπτωμάτων εἰς δικαίωμα, and Rom. viii. 1, οὐδὲν γὰρ νῦν κατάκριμα τοῖς ἐν Χρ. “In. The phrase ϑιάκονοι δικαιοσύνης is used again at xi. 15, as descriptive of the ministers of the New Covenant; it is an essential point of Pauline theology that ‘righteousness ” is not of the “law” (Gal. ΠΠ. 21). The argument is a minori ad majus.