340
Iv.
k Mark itt. ἐν αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὴν " πώρωσιν τῆς "καρδίας αὐτῶν, 19. | οἵτινες
only; τ
om xi. ™ ἀπηλγηκότες 1 ἑαυτοὺς " παρέδωκαν τῇ " ἀσελγείᾳ εἰς " ἐργασίαν
25. jemand ii. 4 al. m Here only. ο Mark vii. 22; Rom. xiii. 13 al.
Jonah i. 8.
n=Rom. i. 24 etc. ; 1 Cor. v. 5 p=Here only ; Luke xii. 58; Acts xvi. 16, 19, xix. 24, 25 only;
; 1 Tim. i. 20; 2 Pet. ii. 4.
1 απηλγηκοτες Syr.-P., Clem., Orig., etc. ; αφηλπικοτες FG ; απηλπικοτες DE.
pable ignorance in their own nature or heart (cf. the ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος αὐτῶν καρδία in Rom. i. 21).---διὰ τὴν πώρωσιν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν : because of the hard- ening of their heart. This clause, intro- duced by διά, as the former also is, is taken by most (Harl., Olsh., de Wette, Ell., Alf., etc.) to be an independent statement, coordinate with the διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν, and giving a further explanation of the alienation. Such coordination of clauses is somewhat frequent with Paul (cf. Gal. iv. 4, etc.). Others (Mey., Abb., etc.) attach it to the former clause, and take it to be a statement of the cause of the ἄγνοια. Thus their alienation would be due to their ignorance, and this ignor- ance would be caused by the hardening of their hearts. The τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐ- τοῖς thus loses its κ Ppa and we should have to regard it as adopted in- stead of the simple αὐτῶν merely with a view to clearness of connection between the ἄγνοιαν and the διὰ τὴν πώρωσιν. The noun πώρωσις means hardness, not blindness. Formed from πῶρος = hard skin or induration, it means literally the covering with a callus, and in its three occurrences in the NT (here and Mark iii. 5; Rom. xi. 25) it is used of mental or moral hardening ; as is also the verb πωρόω (Mark vi. 52, viii. 17; John xii. 40; Rom. xi. 7; 2 Cor. iii. 4).
Ver. 19. οἵτινες ἀπηλγηκότες: who having become past feeling. οἵτινες has its usual qualitative or explanatory force, =“ who as men past feeling”. The ἀπηλγηκότες is naturally suggested by the πώρωσιν. It expresses the condition, not of despair merely (Syr., Vulg., Arm., etc.), but of moral insensibility, ‘ the deadness that supervenes when the heart has ceased to be sensible of the ‘ stimuli’ of the conscience”’ (Ell.). A few MSS. (DFG, etc.) mistakenly read ἀπηλπικό- τες Or ἀφηλπικότες, = desperantes (Latt., Syr., Arm., εἲς,).---ἑαντοὺς παρέδωκαν τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ: gave themselves up to lasci- viousness. In Rom. i, 26 Paul gives us the other side of the same unhappy fact - ππάρεδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεός. It isat once a guilty choice of men and a judicial act oiGod, ἀσέλγεια is wantonness, shame-
less, outrageous sensuality (cf. 2 Cor, xii. 21; Gal. vi. 19; 2 Pet. ii. 7, etc.).—els ἐργασίαν ἀκαθαρσίας πάσης ἐν πλεο- νεξίᾳ: to the working of all uncleanness with greediness, The noun ἐργασία is used sometimes of work or business (Acts xix. 25); sometimes of the gain got by work (Acts xvi. 19; perhaps also Acts xvi. 16, xix. 24); sometimes of the pains or endeavour (Luke xii. 58). Hence some give it the sense of trade here (Xoppe, RV marg. = “τὸ make a trade of”). It might perhaps be rendered here “so as to make a business of every kind of un- cleanness". But it seems rather to be simply -- τὸ ἐργάζεσθαι. The εἰς denotes the object, the conscious object (EIl.) of the self-surrender. π' = every kind of; ἀκαθαρσία is moral uncleanness in the widest sense; ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ describes the condition or frame of mind in which they wrought the ἀκαθαρσία, viz., that of covetousness or greediness. πλεονεξία is taken by some to mean ἀμετρία, inor- dinate desire or insatiableness (Chrys., Oec., Calv., Trench, etc.). It is repeat- edly coupled indeed with sins of the flesh in the NT (1 Cor. v. 11; Eph v. 3; Col. iii. 5) and is akin to them as they all in- volve self-secking. But its own proper meaning is greed, covetousness, and that sense is quite applicable here. See further on ν. 3, 5. These two things ἀκαθαρσία and πλεονεξία ranked as the two great heathen vices. So the Gentiles, darkened and alienated from the life of God, had become men of such a char- acter that they gave themselves wilfully over to wanton sensuality, in order that they might practise every kind of unclean- ness and do that with unbridled greedy desire. 2 Ver. 20. ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐμάθετε τὸν Χριστόν ye ye did not thus learn the Christ. ὑμεῖς, in emphatic contrast with the ἔθνη yet unconverted. The οὐχ οὕτως is an obvious litotes, suggesting more than is expressed. Meyer compares Deut. xviii. 14. The phrase ἐμάθετε τὸν Χριστόν has no precise parallel except the following αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε. The nearest analogies to it are the phrases which speak of preaching Christ (κηρύσσειν τὸν