The original passage refers to criminals executed under the Jewish Law, and commands the speedy burial of their dead bodies before sunset in opposition to the vindictive practices prevailing in Palestine among the surrounding nations.
170
ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος λάβωμεν διὰ
τῆς πίστεως.
of nailing up unburied bodies in public places (cf. 1 Sam. xxxi. 10, 2 Sam. xxi. 10). It made, of course, no refer- ence to crucifixion, which was a Roman mode of execution, not a Jewish.
Ver. 14. ἵνα . ἵνα .. . Two gracious purposes of the Redeemer are here coupled together: (1) the extension of the blessing to Gentiles as well as Jews; (2) the outpouring of the Spirit upon those that embraced the faith of Christ.
Vv. 15-18. Gop’s WORD WAS PLIGHTED TO ABRAHAM THAT HE WOULD BESTOW THE INHERITANCE ON HIS SEED (NOT ON ALL HIS DESCENDANTS, BUT ON ONE PARTICULAR SEED), AND COULD NOT THEREFORE BE SET ASIDE BY SUBSE- QUENT STIPULATIONS IN THE Law.— Ver. 15. κ. ἄνθρωπον λέγω. This preface indicates that the argument which it in- troduces is founded on the principles of human law and συδίοπι.---διαθήκην. The meaning testament affixed to this word in classical Greek belongs to the Greek practice of testamentary disposition, other covenants being designated by κη, etc. But no such law or custom existed among the ancient Hebrews, so the LXX employed the word to express the Hebrew conception of a covenant between God and His people. As this was the outcome of God's sovereign grace and bounty, and not a matter of mutual arrangement, it could hardly be described by any of the Greek terms for covenant; it was, on the other hand, analogous to a disposition of property by testament, and was accor- dingly designated by the term διαθήκη. Thence it was extended also to covenants between man and maninthe LXX. The same sense of covenant is attached to the word apparently throughout the N.T. Here, at all events, the distinct refer- ence to the covenant with Abraham leaves no doubt of its m@aning.—dpws ἀνθρώπον. This phrase (= καίπερ ἀν- θρώπον οὖσαν ὅμως) intimates that even men are bound by a contract duly rati- fied: a fortiori, God is bound by His plighted word. Two distinct methods of superseding a contract are suggested by ἀθετεῖ and ἐπιδιατάσσεται: it might be expressly annulled, or it might be over- laid by new stipulations.
15. ᾿Αδελφοὶ, κατὰ ἄνθρωπον λέγω, ὅμως ἀνθρώπου κεκυρωμένην διαθήκην οὐδεὶς ἀθετεῖ ἢ ἐπιδιατάσσεται. ᾿Αβραὰμ ἐῤῥέθησαν αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, λέγει, ‘Kal τοῖς σπέρµασιν, ὡς ἐπὶ
16. τῷ δὲ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ: οὐ
πολλῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐφ᾽ ἑνὸς, Καὶ
Ver. 16. The clause καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ is quoted from God’s promises to Abraham in Gen. xiii. 15 and xvii. 8 with only the necessary change of the second person gov into αὐτοῦ. The original promise was limited to the possession of the promised land, but was coupled with a perpetual covenant between God and the seed of Abraham: I will be their God, Thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. Hence Hebrew prophecy imported into it the idea of a spiritual inheritance, and the Epistle adopts this interpretation with- out hesitation.—ot λέγει, sc. ὁ Θεός. As the clause in question was quoted from an utterance of God, it was not necessary to specify the subject of λέγει.---καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασιν: And to his seeds, i.e., families. This contrast between the many families and the one chosen family is more than mere verbal criticism: it contains the germ of that doctrine of continuous divine election within the stock of Abra- ham which is developed in the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. For Abraham had many children after the flesh; and the exclusion of Ishmael, Dedan, Midian, Esau in triarchal times in favour of Isaac Ae iy of Jacob established the principle which culmin- ated in the rejection of the Jewish nation in favour of Christ. This conception of a continuous holy family linking Christ with Abraham runs through the next section of the Epistle; just as πολλῶν and ἑνός here mean π. σπερμάτων and é. σπέρματος, so ἑνός in ver. 20 means ἑνὸς σπέρματος and τὰ πάντα in ver. 22 τὰ πάντα σπέρματα. In like manner Christ is contemplated, not by Himself alone as constituting in the unity of His person the chosen seed, but as a new centre out of whom the family of God branched forth afresh. He became in a far higher sense than Isaac or Jacob a new head of the chosen family: for all Abraham’s children after the flesh that received Him not were shut out from the blessing, while all who believed in Him became by faith sons of Abraham and members of the true family of God. The whole Church of Christ are in short regarded as one with Christ—one in life