33
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σώματος αὐτοῦ, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ ἐκκλησία, 25. ἧς ἐγενόμην ἐγὼ διάκονος, κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι εἰς ὑμᾶς πληρῶσαι
ver. 24, for νῦν is not transitional. And with it the appeal to their loyalty in οὗ ἐγεν. ἐγὼ Π. διάκ. is greatly strengthened. —viv χαίρω: “I now rejoice,” not “ now, in contrast to times of repining,” or ‘now as I contemplate the greatness of redemption,”’ but simply “in my pre- sent condition as a prisoner’. Joy in suffering is a familiar Pauline idea.—éy τοῖς μα ἤκρδεαῖα, not, as Meyerand Haupt, “over my sufferings," for which ἐπὶ would have been expected (though ¢f, Phil. i. 18, Luke x. 20), but “in my sufferings,” ἐν denoting the sphere in which, not (as Ell.) bot sphere in and subject over which.—twép ὑμῶν : {.ε., for your benefit. Oltramare compares Phil. i. 29, Eph. iii. 1, 13,1 Pet. iti. 18, and interprets ‘“‘for love of you”—a fine thought; but oo that is not in Paul’s mind.—4évravawAnpo. The mean- ing of this verb is much disputed. ἀνα- πληροῦν is “to fillup’’. ἀντι- in com- position has, according to Grimm, the following senses: opposite, over against ; the mutual efficiency of two; requital ; hostile opposition ; official substitution ; but some of these do not occur with verbs. He explains it in this way: “What is wanting of the affliction of Christ to be borne by me, that I supply in order to repay the benefits which Christ conferred on me by filling up the measure of the afflictions laid upon Him”. ἀντι- on this view means “in return for”. Another view proposed is that Paul makes up by present suffering for his former persecution. Winer noms by Lightf., Findl., Moule) says ἄναπλ. is used of him who “ὑστέρημα a se relic- tum ipfse explet,” and ἀνταναπλ. of him who “alterius ὑστέρημα de suo εχρ]ει ”' spe in Meyer). The parallels Light- oot quotes are intended to show that “the supply comes from an opposite quarter to the defect’. He takes the sense to be that Paul suffers instead of Christ, and translates “I fill up on my part,” “I supplement’’. Abbott per- tinently points out that in the two in- stances in which ἀναπληροῦν is used with ὑστέρημα (1 Cor. xvi. 17, Phil. ii. 30) the supply comes from an opposite quarter to the defect, and therefore we have no more reason for including this idea in ἀνταναπλ. than in ἀναπλ. The simplest explanation is that of Wetstein, “ἀντὶ ὑστερήματος succeedit ἀναπλή-
pwopa”. (So Mey., Ell., ΑΙ, Haupt, Abb.) We thus get the idea that over against or corresponding to the previous defect comes the filling up. To Light- foot’s criticism that this deprives of its force, Ellicott replies that there is no such clear correspondence of personal agents as would be needed to substantiate the assertion. It is impossible to feel sure which of these views is right, but this is of negative importance, since it excludes arguments (such as Lightfoot’s) as to the meaning of the rest of the verse, based on the sense of this verb.— τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Leaving out of account such interpreta- tions as “afflictions for the sake of Christ,” or ‘afflictions imposed by Christ,” the following are the chief views that have been taken: (1) Many Roman- ist commentators explain the sufferings of Christ to be His mediatorial sufferin
left incomplete by Him and ροκ ι -- His saints, Paul taking his share in this. (2) Lightfoot, Oltramare, Findlay, amp τ and others agree with (1) in taking τ.
τ. X. as the sufferings which Christ endured on earth. But they deny that these are mediatorial sufferings ; they had ‘a ministerial utility". Christ suffered for the kingdom of God, and His fol- lowers must continue this. Hofmann’s view is a special form of this. Christ was sent only to Israel, and endured sufferings in His ministry to it. Paul fills up what is left of these sufferings, as Apostle to the Gentiles. (3) Meyer, followed by Abbott, thinks the afflictions are Paul’s own, and are called the afflictions of Christ, because they are of the same essential character. Since his sufferings are still incomplete, he speaks of filling up the measure of them. (4) The sufferings are those of the Church, which are still incomplete.. They are called the afflictions of Christ because they are those of His body. Thus Ben- gel: “Εἶχα est mensura passionum, quas tota exantlare debet ecclesia. Quo plus igitur Paulus exhausit, eo minus et i