iene
10--21,
“ ἀκαθαρσίας πάσης ἐν " πλεονεξίᾳ.
Prov. vi. 16. r= Here only; see Col. iii. 5. 1 Cor. xiv. 35; Phil. iv.9; Rev. xiv. 3. constr. here only.
ἐμάθετε τὸν "χριστὸν, 21. ‘elye αὐτὸν " ἠκούσατε καὶ “ἐν αὐτῷ
341
20. ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως q Rom. i.24;
Paul only, exc. Matt. XXiii. 27; s Constr., Matt. xxiv. 32, Mark; Rom. xvi. 17; t Ch. iii. 2 reff. u Ch. i. 15 reff. v=Ch.i.15;
1 For €. epy. ak. π.,--ε . . . θαρσιαν πασης A. * For ev πλ.,--και πλεονεξιας DEFG 309, d, 6, f, 6, m, Slav. (not rec.), Clem.,
Ambrst., Aug., Sedul., Pel.-comm.
Χριστόν; Gal. i. 16; 1 Cor. i. 23; 2 Cor. i. 19; Phil. i. 15), the γνῶναι αὐτόν in Phil. iii. το, and the παρελάβετε τὸν Χριστὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν τὸν Κύριον in Col. ii. 6. It cannot = “ye learned the doctrine of Christ” ; nor can it be taken as = “‘ye learned to know Christ”; for there are no relevant examples of such usages. Χριστόν must be taken as the object of the learning, and the form τὸν Χριστόν, especially looking to the following Ἰησοῦ (ver. 21), probably indicates that the official sense is in view here. The aor. further points to the definite time of their conversion. The Christ, the Messiah, He personally—that was the contents of the preaching which they heard, the sim of the instruction they received and the knowledge they gained then.
Ver. 21. εἴγε αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε: if in- deed ye heard Him. On etye,=‘‘if so be that,’”’ ‘“‘if as I assume it to be the case,” see in iii. 2 above. In the form of a deli- cate supposition it takes it as certain that they did hear. The αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε is to be understood as the ἐμάθετε τὸν Χριστόν. The pronoun is placed for emphasis be- fore its verb. The point, therefore, is this—‘‘if, as I take it to be the fact, it was He, the Christ, that was the subject and the sum of the preaching which you heard then’”.—kat ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδι- δάχθητε: and in Him were instructed. ἐν αὐτῷ is not to be reduced to “ὃν Him” (Arm.; also AV ‘taught by Him”), or ‘about Him,” or “in His name” (Beng.), but has its proper sense of ‘tin Him”. The underlying idea is that of union with Christ. The ἐδιδάχ- θητε, therefore, refers probably to instruc- tions subsequent to those which were given them at their first hearing (ἠκού- gate). It was in fellowship with Christ that they received these instructions.— καθώς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ: even as truth is in Fesus. WH give καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθείᾳ, ev τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ as a marginal reading. ‘The meaning of the clause is much disputed. That it expresses in some way the manner or standard of the instructions (ἐδιδάχθητε) is clear from the
καθώς. But what the point and connec- tion of the clause are it is by no means easy to determine. Wicl. gives ‘‘as is truth in Jesus”? ; AV and other old English Versions, ‘fas the truth is in Jesus,” as if it were ἣ ἀλήθεια. Some dispose of it as a parenthesis (Bez., Riick., etc.), as if =‘‘if ye were so instructed about Christ, that would be false” (as in Him there is only truth, moral and religious truth). Others (Grot., etc.) make it = “as it really is,” 1.6., ‘‘ if ye were instructed in the Gospel as it really is in Jesus’ ; or (Jer., Erasm., Est., etc.) they supply a οὕτως to the ἀποθέσθαι and understand the καθὼς clause to refer to Jesus as the Pattern of moral truth or holiness. Jer- ome’s explanation, ¢.g., is this—quomodo est veritas in Fesu sic evit et in vobis qui didicistis Christum. Somewhat similarly others, connecting it with ἀποθέσθαι, take it to mean that as moral truth is in Jesus, so they on their part are to lay aside the old man (Harl., Olsh., etc.). Or, connect- ing it with ἐδιδάχθητε, they understand the point to be that they were instructed in a way implying a moral change, as in Jesus there is truth and, therefore, holi- ness (so de Wette substantially). Meyer makes the ἀποθέσθαι dependent on the καθὼς clause, so that the sense becomes this—“ truth it is in Jesus that ye put off the old man ” ; and Abbott appealing to the use of ἀλήθεια in ver. 24 and in John iii, 21, makes it = ‘‘as it is true teaching in Jesus that ye should put off,’ etc. All these interpretations involve dubious con- structions or impose unjustifiable senses on the ἀλήθεια. Feeling this others have adopted the bolder expedient of making Χριστός the subject of ἐστιν, the sense then becoming “845 He (Christ) is truth in Jesus’’ (Cred., Von Soden). A better turn is given to this by WH, who would read ἀληθείᾳ and so get the sense ‘‘as He (Christ) is in Jesus in truth”. In support of this it is urged that the αὐτόν, ἐν αὐτῷ show that Christ, the Messiah, is the leading subject. But this construc- tion means that it was not enough to be instructed in a Messiah; that they had