488
e1Cor. vii. ta! " πεπυρωμένα ᾿ σβέσαι.
9; 2 Cor.
ΧΙ. 29; 2 Pet. iii.
Vi.
17. καὶ τὴν " περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ
ἢ σωτηρίου ᾿ δέξασθε,2 καὶ τὴν " μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστιν
12; Rev. ῥῆμα θεοῦ, 18. ''διὰ πάσης " προσευχῆς καὶ " δεήσεως προσευχό-
i. τς, iii.
18; Prov. x. 20. h Luke ii. 30 reff.; Acts xxviii. 28. 1 Ch. v. 26 reff.; Acts xv. 27, 32.
1, v. 5; 2 Chron. vi. 19 al.
i=Lu
f Matt. xii. 2oal.; 1 Thess. ΤῸ Heb. xi. i ke ii. 28,
m 2 Cor. ix. 12 al. fr.
gi Thess. v. 8 only; Isa. κ. 17. 17 only. k Heb. iv. 12 al. fr. n Acts. i. 14; Phil. iv. 6; 1 Tim. ii.
xvi. 6, xx
linsert τα NAD*EKLP, etc., Clem., Orig., etc.; om. τα BD*FG. 20m, δεξασθε DFG, d, ε, g, m, Cypr., Luc., Victorin.; δεξασθαι AD'EKLP, 17,
etc.
Ver. 17. καὶ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου δέξασθε: and receive the helmet of salvation. The construction changes here, as is often the case with Paul, and passes from -the participial form to the direct imperative. There is no necessity, however, for marking this by a full stop at the close of the preceding sentence (with Lach., Tisch., and RV). δέξασθε is omitted by D*FG, ΟΥΡ., etc., and becomes δέξασθαι in AD°EKLP, 17, etc. The verb has its proper sense here, not merely ‘“‘take,”’ but “ receive,” i.¢., as a gift from the Lord, a thing provided and offered by Him. The /elmet required for the defence of the head is introduced both in Isa. lix. 17 and 1 Thess. v. 8. It is noticed before the sword; for, the left hand holding the shield, when the sword is grasped by the right, there remains no hand free to put on any other part (Mey.). τοῦ σωτηρίον is again an afpos. gen, = “the helmet which ἐς salvation”. In 1 Thess. v. 8 the helmet is not the salva- tion itself, as here and in Isa. lix. 17, but the hope of it. Paul's usual term is σωτηρία. In Tit. ii. 11 he uses the adj. σωτήριος in the sense of “ bringing salva- tion”. This is the only instance of his use of the abstr. neuter for σωτηρία. It occurs, however, in Luke’s writings (Luke ii. 30, iii. 6; Acts xxviii. 28, and in the LXX).—xal τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος: and the sword of the Spirit. The gen. here cannot be that of appos. (although it is so taken by Harl., Olsh., etc.), for the following explanation renders that inept. It must be the gen. of origin, =“ the sword supplied by the Spirit”.—8 ἐστι ῥῆμα Θεοῦ: which is the word of God. Some strangely make the 6 refer to the πνεύ- ματος, = ‘the Spirit who is the Word of God” (Olsh., Von Sod., etc.); but no- where else is the Spirit identified with the Word. The 6 is explanatory of the μάχαιρα, the neut. form being due to the usual attraction. In Heb. iv. 2 we have the λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ compared in respect of superior sharpness or penetrating power
to a two-edged sword. Here we have the phrase ῥῆμα Θεοῦ, which is to be understood, in accordance with the proper sense of ῥῆμα, as the — Word, the preached Gospel, and this in its length and breadth—not in the commandments of God only (Flatt), nor in His threaten- ings alone (Koppe), nor even yet in the sense of the written Word, the Scriptures (Moule). The sword is the only offensive weapon in the panoply. But it is indis- pensable. For, while the Christian soldier is exhibited here mainly in the attitude of defence, as one who stands, in order to take his position and keep his ground, thrust and cut will be required. The preached Gospel, “τῆς power of God” (Rom. i. 16; 1 Cor. i. 18), is the weapon — by the Spirit for meeting the unge of the assailant and beating him back. With this the description of the ΕΝ ly comes ἴο an end. It has ποῖ fol- owed the usual way, but has left out cer- tain parts (spear or lance, and greaves, to wit), and has introduced others (the girdle and the sandals) which are not enumerated in Polybius's list of the accoutrements of the man-at-arms. It has kept only in part by the Isaianic description (Isa. lix. 17), including the breastplate and the helmet, but passing over the “ garments ”’ and the ‘*cloke”. Nor has it much more in com- mon with the fuller description in Wisd. v. 18, 20, which may also have been more or less in the writer’s mind—Arpperat πανο- πλίαν τὸν ζῆλον αὐτοῦ . . . ἐνδύσεται θώρακα δικαιοσύνης, καὶ περιθήσεται κόρυθα κρίσιν ἀνυπόκριτον. λήψεται ἀσπίδα ἀκαταμάχητον ὁσιότητα, ὀξυνεῖ δὲ ἀπότομον ὀργὴν εἰς ῥομφαίαν. It differs also in the application of the figures of the breastplate and the helmet from the briefer Pauline description in 1 Thess. ν. 8. But the capacity of bearing a variety of applications, each as just in its place as the other, is the quality of all figura- tive language that is apt and true to nature,