35°
a 1 Cor. iv, 16, Xi. 1; ᾿ 1 Thess. 2. και i. 6, ii. 14; Heb. vi. 12 only.
b 1 Cor. iv. 14, 17; 2 Tim. i. 2; see Phil. ii. 15.
e=Acts xxi. 26, xxiv. 17; Rom. xv. 16; Heb. (5).
V. 1. Γίνεσθε οὖν "μιμηταὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς "τέκνα ” ἀγαπητά, μιμη yang
“ περιπατεῖτε “ἐν ἀγάπῃ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν
ἡμᾶς] καὶ ᾿ παρέδωκεν “ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν” “προσφορὰν καὶ ᾿θυσίαν
ς Ch. ii. 10 reff. d Gal. ii. 20; ver. 25 only. ef Heb. x. 5, from Ps. xxxix. 6.
1 npas W*DEFGKL, ἆ, e, f, g, Vulg., Syr., Cop., Arm., etc. ; υμας ΝΑΒΡ 32, 37, 71, 73, 116, Sah., Eth., Clem., Euth., Dam., εἴς.
2 vypwv B 37, 73, 116, Sah., Eth., Dam., ete.
forgiven” as in AV, etc.), the point being the forgiveness effected when Christ died. The reading ὑμῖν, supported by ΝΑΡ, 37, Sah., Boh., Vulg., Goth., Eth., etc. is to be preferred on the whole to ἡμῖν which appears in DKL, 17, 47, Syr., Arm., etc. L gives ἡμῖν in text; TrWHRY give it in margin.
ΟΗΑΡΤΕΕ V. Vv. 1-14. A paragraph ruled by the general idea of the imitation of God in the forgiving love which has been appealed to in the preceding verse. In the light of that Divine example Paul charges his readers to follow purity, un- selfishness, sobriety and other graces, and to avoid all heathen vices and in- dulgences ἜΣ to these.
Ver. 1. γίνεσθε οὖν μιμηταὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ: become ye therefore imitators of God. γίνεσθε, as in iv. 32, = “ become ye,” rather than “be ye”. This γίνεσθε also resumes the former γίνεσθε (iv. 32), and continues the general injunction expressed by it. The οὖν points to the same con- nection of ideas, while it introduces new exhortations based on the supreme fact of God's forgiving love in Christ. Of the duties inculcated on that basis the first and the one most immediately in view is that of the forgiveness of those who wrong us—a forgiveness which should be free, loving, ungrudging, complete as God's for- givenessis. The term μιμητής is used of the imitation of men (1 Cor. iv. 16, xi. 1; 1 Thess. i. 6; Heb. vi. 12), Churches (x Thess. ii. 14), things (1 Pet. iii. 13 with ζηλωταί as var. reading). Only here is it used of the imitation of God—the loftiest and most exalting endeavour that can possibly be set before man, proposed to us also by Christ Himself (Matt. v. 45, 48).---ὡἰς τέκνα ἀγαπητά: as children beloved. Not merely ‘‘dear children” (AV). The compar. part. ὡς points to the manner or character in which the imitation is to be made good, and indi- cates at the same time a reason for it (Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 270). They are children of God, experiencing His love. Children should be like the
ὅθυσιαν και προσφοραν Μ.
father, and love should meet love; cf. Matt. v. 45.
Ver. 2. καὶ περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ: and walk in love. Here, again, καί ex- plains in connecting and adding. The ‘imitation’? must take effect in the practical, unmistakable form of a loving course of life.—xa@ds καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς: even as Christ also loved us [you]. The reading ὑμᾶς (with BN 'A, Sah., Eth., etc.; TTrWHRV) is to be preferred to the ἡμᾶς of TR (with ΡΚΕΙ ΝΟ, etc.). The aor. should have its proper historical force, ‘* loved,” not ‘hath loved” (AV). Christ is now intro- duced as the great Example, instead of God, and the Divine love as openly seen in Christ is given as the motive and the pattern of the love that should mark our walk.—«al παρέδωκεν ἑαντὸν: and gave Himself up. Statement of the act in which Christ's love received its last and highest expression, viz., the surrender of Himself to death. The καί has some- thing of its ascensive force. The idea of death as that to which He gave Himself up is implied in the great Pauline declara- tions, ef-s Rom. iv. 25, viii. 32; Gal. ii. 20; Eph. ν. 25.—twép ἡμῶν: for us. The ἡμῶν of the TR, supported by NADFEKL, etc., is to be preferred on the whole to the ὑμῶν of B, m, 116, etc., which is regarded by WH as the primary reading and given in marg. by RV. The prep. ὑπέρ seldom goes beyond the idea of ‘on account οὗ," “for the benefit of”. In classical Greek, however, it does some- times become much the same as ἀντί (¢.g., Eurip., Alc., 700; Plato, Gorg., 515 C), and in the NT we find a clear instance in Philem. 13. In some of the more definite statements, therefore, on Christ's death as a sacrifice (2 Cor. v. 14, 15, 21; Gal. iii. 13, and here) it is thought that the more general sense is sharpened by the context into that of “in place of”. But even in these the idea of sub- stitution, which is properly expressed by ἀντί (Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45), is not in the ὑπέρ itself, although it may