342
w=John 2 gre
* ἐδιδάχθητε καθώς ἐστιν " ἀλήθεια] "ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ, 22. * ἀποθέσθαι
Rom. ix. ὑμᾶς *xatd τὴν προτέραν " ἀναστροφὴν ὃ τὸν " παλαιὸν " ἄνθρωπον
1.
x See 1 Thess. iv. 14; 1 Cor. iv. rz. ames i. 21; 1 Pet. ii. 1. z=Rom. ix ames iii. 13; 1 Pet. i. 15.
1 Insert η before αληθεια FG. 3 Omit τὴν προτεραν αναστροφην L.
also to recognise that Messiah in the historical Jesus, and that in Him they would see the life which signified for them a putting off ofthe oldman. There is no indication, however, in the context or in any word of Paul's belonging to this
eriod of a form of false Christian teach- ing which distinguished between Christ and Fesus, or of Gentiles professing to believe in a Messiah but not in Jesus as that Messiah. It only remains, therefore, to fall back on the interpretation “‘if ye were instructed according to that which is truth in Jesus”. The clause will then describe the mature or manner of the instruction, as the following clause expresses its substance. In form or char- acter the instruction was in accordance with what was true, with what was true in Fesus, that is to say, with truth as seen embodied in Him (cf. Alf., ΕΙ.). And instruction of that kind meant that they should put off the old man.
Ver. 22. ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν τὸν παλαιὸν ἄν- θρωπον: that ye put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, This is best connected with the ἐδιδάχθητε. It gives the purport or contents of the instruction. The inf., therefore, is the objective inf. (cf. in μηκέτι περιπατεῖν, ver. 17 above, and Donald., Greek Gram., § 584). It has something of the force of an imperative, but is not to be taken as the same as an imperative, that use of the inf. being very rare in the NT, and found ο Ιπάεεάοπ]γ ἵπ the caseof oracles, aws and the like (cf. Win.-Moult., p. 397). In such constructions as the present the inf, does not require the pronoun; but ὑμᾶς is introduced here with a view to lucidity, after the reference to Fesus in ver. 21 (so ΕἸ]., Alf., etc.). The figure in the ἀποθέσθαι is taken from the putting off of garments, and is parallel to the ἐνδύσασ- θαι of ver. 24. The κατὰ clause defines that in respect of which this putting off is to take effect, the prep. having here the general sense of “in reference to,” not that of “in conformity with". τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, contrasted with the καινὸς ἄνθρωπος (ver. 24), the νέος ἄνθρωπος
8, 5. b Rom. vi. 6; Col. iii. 9.
y Acts vii. 58; =Rom. xiii. 12; Col. iii. 8; Heb. xii. 1;
a Gal. i. 13; τ Tim, iv. 12; Heb. xiii. 7;
ἔαποθεσθε Eth., Victorin., Pelag., Dam.
(Col. iii. το), the καινὴ κτίσις (Gal. vi. 15), is the former unregenerate self in its entirety (cf. Rom. vi. 6; Col. iii. ϱ).----τὸν φθειρόμενον : which waxeth corrupt. The pres. part. marks the corruption as a pro- cess that on, a condition that pro- gresses. The point is missed by the “is corrupt " of the AV, but is well put by “waxeth corrupt " (Ell., RV); ¢f. also Gal. vi. 8. The “ corruption,” however, is to be understood as “ destruction ”. The “old man" is in a condition of advancing destruction or ruin, and, there- fore, should all the more be “ put off”. Some (¢.g., Meyer) take eternal destruc- tion to be in view, the pres. part. express- ing what is to issue in destruction or indicating the certainty of the future.— κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης : accord- ing to the lusts of deceit. ἀπάτης is the gen. subj., not = * the deceitful lusts” (AV), but = the lusts which deceit uses or which are its instruments. The ἀπάτη is in contrast with ἀλήθεια, the article giving it the abstract force approaching a personification. κατά here = in aceor- dance with. The process of corruption or ruin goes on in precise conformity with the nature of the lusts which the deceitful power of sin ha» in its service. Ver. 23. ἀνανεοῦσθαι δέ: and that ye be renewed. For ἀνανεοῦσθαι a few MSS. (D? 17, 47, etc.) and some Versions (Syr., Copt., the read ἀνανεοῦσθε, while δέ is omitted by F. In such con- nections δέ expresses both addition and contrast. It introduces a statement connected with the foregoing but giving the other side of that. Here it is the positive change which must follow the πον off. As the middle of this verb as the active sense, ἀνανεοῦσθαι must be taken as passive here, = “* be renewed,”