Ver. 2. χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη: Grace to you and peace. Supply εἴη, on the analogy of other optatives, e.g., in 1 Pet. I, 2; 2 Pet. 1. 2; Jude 2, ‘This: isthe Christian rendering of the greeting with which letters began. It combines the Greek form with the Hebrew, but trans- lates the χαίρειν of the former into the
ν᾽
αν
~
fLukei.68 8, τΕὐλογητὴς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ] τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν 3 Ἰησοῦ ix. 26 ay χριστοῦ, ὁ " εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ὃ " ἐν πάσῃ ' εὐλογίᾳ " πνευματικῇ ἐν 5τοῆ g=Acts iii. 26; Gal. iii. 9; Heb. vi. 14 al. ἢ constr., here only. See James ΠΠ.
i= Rom. xv. 29; Heb. vi. 71; Gen. xxxiii. τα. k=Rom. i. 11; 1 Cor. ix. 11; Col.i.g; 1 πε σὴν
1 και πατὴρ omit B, Hil.'; ο θεος και omit Victorin., ΗΠ].339, (τ
Στ. κυρ. και σωτῆρος ηµων ΑΝ’.
evangelical χάρις. What Paul desires for his readers is the enjoyment of the free, loving favour of God and the peace which results from it. This is the usual form which the opening salutation takes in the Epistles of the NT. So it is in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessa- lonians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Peter; as also in Revelation i. 4. It is not, however, the only form. In James, but only in him, we have the old formula χαίρειν (i. 1). In 1 and 2 Timothy and 2 John (but not in Titus according to the best reading) it is χάρις, ἔλεος, εἰρήνη; and in Jude we find ἔλεος ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ ἀγάπη πληθυνθείη.-- ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πα- τρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ Κυρίου ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ: from God our Father and the Lord Fesus Christ. The grace and peace desired for the readers by the writer are blessings which come only from God the Father and from Christ. The “Lord Jesus Christ”? is named along with ‘‘God our Father” as the giver of the grace and peace—a collocation impossible except on the supposition that the writer held Christ to be of the same rank with God or in a unique relation to Him. There is a distinction indicated here between God and Jesus Christ. But it is not in what they are able to give; for the gifts of grace and peace come from both. Nor is any distinction suggested here in re- spectofnature. But there isa distinction in respect of relation to believers. To the receivers of grace and peace God is in the relation of Father ; to the same subjects Christ is in the relation of Lord. God is Father, having made them His children by adoption. Christ is Lord, being con- stituted Head of the Church and having won the right to their loving obedience and honour; cf. MacP., in loco.
Vv. 3-8. DoxoLocy, ΟΚ ASCRIPTION oF ΡΕΑΙΣΕ το GOD FOR THE BLESSINGS or His Love and Grace. This extends over six verses, in one magnificent sen- tence intricately yet skilfully constructed, throbbing in each clause with the adoring sense of the majesty of that Divine Coun- sel and the riches of that Divine Grace which had made it possible to write in
SOmit npas δ".
such terms to Gentiles in a distant pro- vince of the heathen Roman Empire. It is Paul’s way to begin with a doxology ora zen Aes) A reno . The latter, expressed by ιστῶ, αριστοῦμεν, εἴς., is the δεν. abe and is found in one form or another in Romans, 1 Corin- thians, Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy (i. 12), 2 Timothy. The former is seen in 2 Corinthians and (in a different form) in Galatians as well as here. The only Epistle that lacks both is that to Titus.
Ver. 3. εὐλογητός: Blessed. The
LXX equivalent for the Hebrew 3.
Vulg. Benedictus. In the NT the idea of being blessed is expressed both by εὐλογητός (Luke i. 68; Rom. i. 25, ix. 5; 2 Cor. i. 3, xi, 31; 1 Pet. i, 3), and by εὐλογημένος (Matt. xxi. 9, xxiii. 39; Mark xi. 9; Luke xiii. 35, xix. 38; John xii. 13, etc.), On the analogy of similar verbs εὐλογητός means “ to be praised,” ‘* worthy of praise,” and it is sometimes said to differ from εὐλογημένος in that the latter denctes one on whom blessing is pronounced. But that distinction is a fine one and uncertain. Philo puts the difference thus: εὐλογητός, κ᾽ εὐλογημένος . τὸ μὲν