23—24.
24.1 Νῦν χαίρω ἐν τοῖς παθήμασιν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, καὶ " ἀνταναπληρῶ
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ὃ Σ τ «ορ τὶ = τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν ° θλίψεων τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ὑπὲρ τοῦ οπὶν here.
1 So edd. with non-Western authorities, perhaps by homceoteleuton. ος: inserted before νυν by Haupt with DEFG, perhaps by dittography. See note.
do with a change of feeling in God or man, but of the relation of God to men. It is synonymous with justifica- tion. This παραστ. is a continuous pro- cess dependent on continuance in faith and love. He urges that Paul regards the judgment as depending on moral conditions, not on the holding fast of faith and love. But a distinction of this kind should not be pressed in the case of Paul; for him faith was the root of morality, and love the fulfilment of the Law.—katevétiov αὐτοῦ. Generally this is taken to be before God. But since Paul elsewhere teaches that we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, it seems best (with Meyer) to take αὐτοῦ in the same way.—aytous καὶ ἀμώμοῦς καὶ ἀνεγκλήτους. Soden and Haupt insist that these are not ethical but religious terms. This is probably correct; since the reference is to the judgment, they have a forensic sense. ἀμώμους probably means blame- less rather than undefiled, and this is supported by the addition of ἀνεγκλ. Ver. 23. εἴ ye with the indicative ex- presses the Apostle’s confidence that the condition will be fulfilled. — ἐπιμένετε. This abiding in faith is the only, as it is the sure way, to this presentation of them- selves kat. αὖτ. This is directed against the false teachers’ assurance that the gospel they had heard needed to be supple- mented if they wished to attain salvation. It needs no supplementing, and it is at the peril of salvation that they lose hold of Τέ,---τεθεμ.ελιωμµένοι refers to the firm foundation, ἑδραῖοι to the stability of the building.—py μετακινούμενοι. The perfect participle here gives way to the present, expressing a continuous process. It may be passive or middle, probably the former. --ὠΟοπὸ τ. ἐλπίδος τοῦ εὐαγγελίου : to be taken with µετακιν. alone, not, assuming a zeugma, with the three co-ordinate expressions (Sod.), for it is not at all clear that the last of these keeps up the meta- phor of a building. The hope of the Gospel is the hope given by or proclaimed in the Gospel.—ot ἠκούσατε. Paul again sets his seal on the form of the Gospel which they had received, and again insists on the universality of its proclamation, its catholicity as guaranteeing its truth
VOR. tii,
(see on vv. 5-7).—év πασῇ κτίσει: “in presence of every creature”; π. κτ., as in ver. 15, with the limitation τ. ὑ. τ. ovp. —od ἐγενόμην ἐγὼ Παῦλος διάκονος: cf. Eph. 11.7. This phrase contains ἃ certain stately self-assertion ; the Apostle urges the fact that he is a minister of this Gospel as a reason why they should remain faithful to it. His apostolic authority, so far from being impugned by the false teachers, was more probably in- voked; so Paul throws it in the balance against them. It is also true that the Gentile mission was so bound up in his own mind with his apostleship that a reference to the one naturally suggested a reference to the other. By this clause Paul effects the transition to ver. 24.
Vv. 24-29. PAUL REJOICES THAT HIS SUFFERINGS ARE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHURCH, IN WHOSE SERVICE HE FULFILS HIS DIVINELY APPOINTED TASK, OF FULLY PREACHING THE LONG HIDDEN BUT NOW REVEALED MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL, WHICH IS UNIVERSAL IN ITS SCOPE, A TASK IN WHICH HE USES ALL THE MIGHTY STRENGTH WITH WHICH GoD HAS ENDOWED HIM. — Ver. 24. It is usually assumed that ὃς read by the Western text is due to dittography ; but it may quite as easily have fallen out through homeeoteleuton as have been inserted. It is, h6Wever, omitted by such an overwhelming combination of MSS. that it would not perhaps be justifiable to place it in the text. On grounds of in- ternal evidence a strong case can be made out for the insertion. Lightfoot omits, and thinks the abruptness charac- teristic of Paul. He quotes as parallels 2 Cor. vii. 9, 1 Tim. i. 12. But the con- nexion in the former case is uncertain; Westcott and Hort do not begin a new sentence with viv χαίρω ; if correctly, it is not a true parallel. But if otherwise there is not the abrupt change of subjéct we find here, for Paul has been speaking of his previous regret, and viv χαίρω follows naturally on this. In the latter case, apart from the dubious authenticity of the Epistle, ver. 12 naturally continues ver. 11. On the other hand, it is very characteristic of our Epistle for transi- tions to be effected by the relative. Without it we have no preparation for