in the great apologetic passage, chap. xi. 22-33. Other writers, 6.ς., Jowett, ex- plain the latter clause of this verse by supposing that the Apostle is contrasting his more mature preaching with his preaching at an earlier stage of his Christian ministry when he had not yet emancipated himself from Jewish pre- judices. But of his consciousness of such a “development” in his views, subsequently to his conversion, there is no trace in the Epistles. The contrast is really between Saul the Pharisee and Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles.
Vv. 17-19. IN CHRIST ALL IS NEW, AS FROM GOD WHO RECONCILED THE WORLD TO HIMSELF IN ΟΗΕΙΡΤ.--- Ψετ. 17. ὥστε εἴ τις κ.τ.λ.: 5ο that (a con- sequence of the higher view of Christ explained in the last verse) if any man (note the universality of the doctrine which he expounds) be in Christ, there is a new creation. To be ἐν Χριστῷ is a very different thing from claiming to Ρε Χριστοῦ “' of Christ,” sc., of the Christ- party (1 Cor. i. 12, chap. x. 7); this in- deed is exactly the distinction which St. Paul has had in mind in the last verse. The expression ‘‘a new creation” was a common Rabbinical description of a con- verted proselyte (see Wetstein in loc.); but its meaning was enriched in the religion of the Incarnation (cf. John iii. 3, Rom. vi. 4, Eph. ii. το, iv. 23, Col. iii. το, etc.). The Vulgate “si qua ergo in Christo nova creatura,’”’ which takes τις with κτίσις, is plainly a mistake.—7a ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν κ.τ.λ.: the old things have passed away; behold, they are be- come new, sc., not only the ancient customs of Jewish ritual observance, but the old ways of conceiving of the Messiah who was to come; more generally, the old thoughts of God and of sin and salva- tion have received fresh colouring—they are ‘‘become πεν/ (cf. Heb. viii. 13). The words of Isa. xliii. 18, το offer a close verbal parallel: τὰ ἀρχαῖα μὴ συλλογίζεσθε- ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ποιῶ καινὰ (cf. Isa. Ixv. 17, Rev. xxi. 4, 5), but the parallel is rather in words than in sense.
----
72 ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ B ν.
* Rom. εἰ. 18. τὰ δὲ "πάντα "ἐκ tod! "Θεοῦ, τοῦ " καταλλάξαντος ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ
1Cor
vill 6, xi διὰ Ἰησοῦ 2 Χριστοῦ, καὶ δόντος ἡμῖν τὴν διακονίαν τῆς "καταλλαγῆς"
t Rom. v. 10; 1 Cor. Vii. 11, and vv.
19, 20
only; Jer. xxxi. 39 (LXX); 2 Macc. i. 5, vii. 33, viii. 29; of. Ko ii. 16; Col. i. 20, 21.
v. 11, xi. 15, 19 only; Isa. ix. 5; 4 Macc. ν. 20. vi. 14; Rom. iv. 25, etc.
1 D*G om. του.
19. Yds "ὅτι Θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ, μὴ ᾿λογιζόμενος αὐτοῖς τὰ “παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν
u Rom. v Chap. a1; 2 Thess. ii. 2 only. w Matt.
2 DcEKL support "Ino. Χρ.; NBCD*GP and the vss. om. Ἴησου.
The thought of the new interpretation of life offered in the Incarnation carries us a step beyond the prophets of the Old Covenant. St. Paul’s words show how completely he regarded “the Death of Christ as a new epoch in the history of the human race. Had he foreseen dis- tinctly that a new era would be dated from that time; that a new society, philosophy, literature, moral code, would grow up from it over continents of which he knew not the existence; he could not have more strongly expressed his sense of the greatness of the event than in what is here said” (Stanley).
Ver. 18. τὰ δὲ πάντα κ.τ.λ.; but all things, sc., all these new things, are of God. See reff. St. Paul is especially anxious in this Epistle to trace up spir- itual blessings to their true source; see chap. i. 21, iv. 6, v. 5, and cf. 1 Cor. iii. 23, ὑμεῖς δὲ Χ ῦ, Χριστὸς δὲ Θεοῦ. --τοῦ καταλλάξαντος κ.τ.λ.; who recon- ciled (note the aorist) us, sc., all mankind, to Himself through Christ. The words καταλλ καταλλαγή should be studied (see reff.) in all the contexts where they occur. The verb signifies (i.) to exchange and (ii.) to reconcile, i.¢., to re- establish friendly relations between two parties who are estranged, no matter on which side the antagonism exists. Thus in Matt. v. 24 it is the brother who has given offence (not he who has received it) that is spoken of as “ being reconciled "’ to the other (cf. also 1 Sam. xxix. 4). And so too St. Paul’s usage is to speak of man being reconciled to God, not of God being reconciled to man; but far too much has been made of this distinction. In fact, in 2 Macc. (see reff.) the usage is the other way, for God is there always spoken of as ‘‘ being reconciled” to His servants. It is, no ιν, more reverent in such a matter to keep as close to the language of the N.T. as we can, and to speak nakedly of God “ being reconciled”’ to man might readily suggest false and un-