Il.
16. Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει καὶ ἐν *wécer! ἢ ἐν μέρει ᾿ ἑορτῆς ἢ “νεομηνίας ἢ "σαββάτων, 17. ὅ 3 ἐστιν " σκιὰ τῶν μελ-
in - Nr. ἢ t Only here in Paul. u Only here and 1 Cor. xvi. 2 in Paul. v Heb. x. 1; only here ‘au
1So Tr. mg., W.H., Ws. with B cop., Or. η εν ποσει: Ln., T., W.H. mg. with NACDEFGKLP, through assimilation to following words.
2 So Ln., W.H. mg., Ws. with BFG. account of enumeration in ver. 16,
Christ was manifested as the final revela- tion of God.—®piapBevoas. This seems to express most definitely that the apy. κ. ἐξ. are hostile powers. Alford, refer- ring to 2 Cor. ii. “oo the true victory is our defeat by Him. Findlay thinks the reference in the verb (which is not earlier than Paul) is not to the Roman military triumph, but to the festal pro- cession (θρί ) of the worshippers of Dionysus. aa this case God is repre- sented as leading the angels in procession in His honour; in other words, bringing them to acknowledge His greatness an the revelation of Himself in Christ. It is perhaps safest to translate ‘‘ triumphing over’’, This is favoured by other pas- sages in Paul, which imply that the ἀρχ. κ. ἐξ. needed an experience of this kind.— ἐν αὐτῷ may refer to Χριστ. or στανρ. or χειρόγ. The second is best, for there has been no reference to Christ since ver. 13, and it is the cancelling of the bond, not the bond itself, that is the cause of the triumph. It is in the death of Christ that this triumph takes place. Zahn explains the passage to mean that G has stripped away the principalities and powers which concealed Him, not from the Jews, to whom He had revealed Himself, but from the heathen world. Thus He has revealed Himself and these apparent deities in their true character. He has triumphed over them in Christ, and led them vanquished in His train. But this was not accomplished on the cross, but through the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles, accompanied with such signs and wonders as in the story of the maid with the spirit of divina- tion and the exorcists at Ephesus. But this is not what is required by the argu- ment, which has the Jewish Law in view. Vv. 16-23. Since ΤΗΕ LAw HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND THE ANGELS DESPOILED, RITUAL OR ASCETIC ORDINANCES HAVE NO LONGER ANY MEANING FOR THOSE WHO IN CHRIST POSSESS THE SUBSTANCE, OF WHICH THESE ARE BUT THE SHADOW. THEY MUST NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY
a: Τ., W.H., R.V. with $ACDEKLP, on
ANGEL WORSHIPPERS, WHO ARE PUFFED UP BY FLESHLY CONCEIT, AND ONLY LOOSELY HOLD THE HEAD, FROM WHOM THE BODY DRAWS ALL ITS SUPPLY. SINCE THEY HAVE DIED TO THE ELEMENTAL SPIRITS, THEY MUST NOT SUBMIT TO THE PRECEPTS OF ASCETICISM, WHATEVER REPUTATION FOR WISDOM THEY MAY CON- FER.—Ver. 16. The connexion with the ΠΝ argument is this; Since the nd written in ordinances has been abolished, and the angelic powers spoiled and led in triumph, allow no one to criticise your action on the ground that it is not in harmony with the precepts of the Law, or cuts you off from communion with the angels. You have nothing to do with Law or angels. At best they were but the shadow, and in Christ you ess the substance.—x«pwwérw ἐν: “ judge you in,"’ ἐν meaning on the basis of. ether a man eats or drinks or not his conduct in this respect supplies no fit ground for a judgment of him. κρ. is not to “‘con- demn,” though the context shows that unfavourable judgment is in Paul’s mind. --βρώσει καὶ ἐν πόσει: “eating and in drinking,” not food and drink, for which Paul would have used βρῶμα and The question is not altogether between lawful and unlawful food, but between eating and drinking or abstinence. Asceticism rather than ritual cleanness is in his mind. The Law is not ascetic in its character, its prohibitions of meats rest on the view that they are unclean, and drinks are not forbidden, save in exceptional cases, and then not for ascetic reasons. But these injunctions stand along with ordinances of the Law itself, partly, because they may have been re- garded as extensions of its principles, partly, we may suppose, because, like the Law, they were attributed to the angels by the false teachers. In Heb. ix. τὸ regulations as to drinks seem to be re- ferred to as part of the Jewish Law. That the false teachers were ascetics is