; g Acts xxi. 14 only; elsw. τοῦ θεοῦ. i Tit. i. 6; 1 Pet. iv. 4 only; Prov. xxviii. 7; 2 Macc. iv. 6.
v. τί τὸ "θέλημα τοῦ " κυρίου."
h Luke xii. 45; k= Acts a
1 σνννεντες D°EKL, mss., nearly, Syr., Arm., Eth., al., Chr., Thdrt., Dam., etc. ;
συνιετε ABP 67?, 73, 118, Chr.-ms., Jer.
all, Lucif., all).
; συνιοντες DFG (It., Vulg., Goth., Syr.,
* After κυρ. insert ημων B; for κυρ.» θεον A 14, 55, 66%, 109-15-78, ἃ, e, f, Syr.,
Thl., Jer., Aug.-Pel. ἕαλλα μαλλον 1ο, 37, 71, 116, Arm.
xlvii. 9, their difficulties and troubles (Beza, etc.). The fact that the times in which they lived were morally so corrupt was a strong reason for making every opportunity for good, which such times might offer, their own.
Ver. 17. διὰ τοῦτο μὴ γίνεσθε ἄφρονες: for this cause become not ye foolish. The διὰ τοῦτο may refer to the immediately preceding clause (Riick., De Wette, etc.), the evil of the days being a reason for avoiding folly. It is better, however, to refer it to the main idea, that of the walk, than to the subordinate. The manner of walk which they were called to pursue required the cultivation of wisdom, not of folly. The γίνεσθε, again, is not to be reduced to the sense of ἐστε. Contem- plating them as in the Christian position Paul charges them not to suffer them- selves to slip back again into folly—a thing inconsistent with the walk required of the Christian. ἄφρονες is a strong term=without reason, senseless, lacking moral intelligence.—éAAa συνιέντες [συ- νίετε] τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Κυρίου: but under- standing [understand] what the will of the Lordis, The reading varies here between συνιέντες, as in TR, with Ὀ Ε ΚΙ, and the mass of MSS., Vulg., Syr.-P., etc. ; συνι- όντες, with D*G, etc. ; and συνίετε, with ΕΝΑΡ 17, etc., which is adopted by LT Tr WHRYV. For Κυρίον Lachmann gives θεοῦ in the margin, but on slight author- ity. The Κύριος, as in Acts xxi. 14; 1 Cor. iv. 19, is Christ. As distinguished from γινώσκειν, συνιέναι expresses intel- ligent, comprehending knowledge, more than acquaintance with a thing or mere matter of fact knowledge.
Ver. 18. καὶ μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ : and be not made drunk with wine. A particular case of the ἀφροσύνη to be avoided is now mentioned. The καί is used here, as, ¢.g., also in Mark i. 5, to add a special designation to a general, inclusive statement ; Win.-Moult., p. 546. The case is the abuse of wine. But there
is nothing to suggest any reference to excess at the Agapae (1 Cor. xi. 21) in especial. ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία : wherein is dissoluteness. Or, with the RV, “ wherein is riot”. The AV, Tynd., Cov., Cran., Gen., Bish., all give “excess”; Wicl. has lechery, and the Rhem. riotousness. ἀσωτία (cf. Prov. xxviii. 7) expresses the idea of an abandoned, debauched life; literally, the condition of one who is past salvation. The ἐν @ refers not to the οἶνος alone (which might infer a Gnostic view of matter or Montanistic, ascetic ideas of life), but to the whole phrase μεθύσκεσθε olvw—the becoming drunk with wine.—éAAa πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύ- ματι: but be filled with the Spirit. The verb πληροῦν is construed with the gen. of the thing that fills (e.g., Acts ii, 28, ν. 28, xiii. 52, pass., etc.); or with the Hebraistic acc. (Col. i. 9); or with the dat. (Rom, i. 29; 2 Cor. vii. 4, etc.). The construction with ἐν here is exceptional. Hence some prefer to understand πνεύ- ματι of man’s spirit, and render it (as RV margin) “be filled in spirit”. The contrast would then be between being filled in one’s physical or carnal nature and filled in one’s spiritual nature Bs Braune, and in effect Abb.). In NT Greek, however, verbs that are followed by the simple dat. sometimes vary it by a prepositional form, ¢.g., βαπτίζεσθαι ὕδατι (Luke iii. 16) and ἐν ὕδατι (Matt. iii. 11), παντὶ τρόπῳ (Phil i. 18) and ἐν παντὶ τρόπῳ (2 Thess. ii. 16), etc.; and the formula πληροῦν or πληροῦσθαι ἐν is not wholly without analogy; cf. rot τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου, i, 23 above; and Col. iv. 12, πεπλη ρη-