Vv. 8-15. HE couNSELS (THOUGH HE WILL NOT COMMAND) THAT THEY FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF THE MACE- DONIAN CHURCHES, ACCORDING TO THEIR ABILITY.— Ver. 8. οὐ κατ᾽ ἐπιταγὴν λέγω κ.τ.λ.; I speak not by way of com- mandment, i.¢., I do not give you an authoritative and formal command (as I | might do), but as proving through the earnestness of others, sc., the example of the Macedonian Churches (ver. 3), the genuineness also of your love (ver. 7). For the constr. τὸ γνήσιον τῆς ἀγάπης see on iv. 17.
Ver. 9. γινώσκετε yap x.7.A.: for ye know the grace, i.e., the act of grace, ο our Lord Fesus Christ, that being rich, sc., in His pre-existent state before the Incarnation, yet for your sakes (cf. Rom. xv. 3) He became poor, sc., in that κένωσις
7. 13.
87
dy, ἵνα ὑμεῖς τῇ] ἐκείνου " πτωχείᾳ “ πλουτήσητε. το. καὶ "γνώμην Ὁ Reff. ver.
ἐν τούτῳ " δίδωμι - τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν ” συμφέρει, οἵτινες 2 οὐ μόνον τὸ ποιῆσαι ὃ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ θέλειν ΄ προενήρξασθε * "ἀπὸ "πέρυσι: 11.
νυνὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ ποιῆσαι ” ἐπιτελέσατε,
an ‘ A τοῦ ὃ θέλειν, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐπιτελέσαι ἐκ τοῦ ἔχειν.
Rom. x. 12; 1Cor.
iv. 8; τ
2 β ; Tim. vi. ὅπως καθάπερ ἡ “προθυμία 928. ο, 12. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ 25: oft yer. Cor. i. 10;
προθυμία “πρόκειται, καθὸ ἐὰν ὃ ἔχῃ τις, “εὐπρόσδεκτος, οὐ καθὸ οὐκ Philm.
ῳ >” > eon ‘ a > see . ἔχει. 13. οὐ γὰρ ἵνα ἄλλοις ' ἄνεσις, ὑμῖν δὲ ὃ " θλῖψις - ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ yz Cor. vi.
i i
πὴ Ὁ "νἀ ας A ἰσότητος, εν τῳ νυν
z Ver. 6 only. a Chap. ix. 22.
ἃ Here only in Ῥαὰ]. e Reff. vi. 2. 26, viii. 18, xi. 5 only; Gen. ΧΧΧ. 20,
1 DEG have αυτου.
lol a / καιρῷ τὸ ὑμῶν "περίσσευμα εἰς τὸ ἐκείνων
Ὁ Reff. vii. 1. f Reff. ii. 13. k Here only in Paul.
το, κ, 23; chap. xii.
ἘΣ c Ver. 19, chap. ix. 2; Acts xvii. 11 only. g Reff.i.4. hColiv.1only. i Rom. iii,
2 G, ἢ, g and the Peshitto give οτι for οιτιγεςν
8 The Peshitto (mistaking the sense) interchanges ποιησαι and θελειν.
4 D*G have ενηρξασθαι (cf. ver. 6).
> BCDcEKP read εαν; SD*GL have αγ. δ C?L and the Bohairic support τις, but $§™BC*DEGKP and the Latins omit it.
7 DEG, g add τις after εχειο
8 S$cDEGKLP, ἢ, g, vg. and the Harclean support υμιν δε; S*BC 17, ἆ, e om. δε.
which the Incarnation involved (Phil. ii. 5, 6), (the aor. marks a def. point of time, ‘He became poor,” not ‘ He was poor’’), in order that ye by His poverty, ῖ.6., His assumption of man’s nature, might be rich, 1.6., in the manifold graces of the Incarnation (cf. 1 Cor. 1.5). This verse is parenthetical, introduced to give the highest example of love and self- sacrifice for others; there is nowhere in St. Paul a more definite statement of his belief in the pre-existence of Christ before His Incarnation (cf. John xvii. 5). It has been thought that ἐπτώχευσε carries an allusion to the poverty of the Lord’s earthly life (Matt. viii. 20); but the primary reference cannot be to this, for the πτωχεία of Jesus Christ by which we are “made rich’’ is not the mere hardship and penury of His outward lot, but the state which He assumed in be- coming man.
Ver. 10. ᾿ καὶ γνώμην κ.τ.λ.: and here- in I give my opinion, for this (i.e., that he should offer them an opinion rather than give a command in this matter, cf. ix. 2) is better, 1.6., is morally profitable, for you, inasmuch as you (see Rom. i. 25, 32, etc., for οἵτινες = quippe qui) were the first to make a beginning last year, sc., they began to make the collection before the Macedonian Churches did (ef. 1 Cor. xvi. 1, chap. ix. 2), not only to do but also to will, sc., they were beforehand not only in act, but-in intention. ἀπὸ πέρυσι is for ἐκ πέρυσι or πρὸ πέρυσι of classical