534
ὁ Only here 21. Μὴ ἅψῃ μηδὲ γεύσῃ μηδὲ *
Il.
θίγῃς, 22. (& ἐστιν πάντα εἰς φθορὰν τῇ
xi. 28, κἩ, ν ἀποχρήσει), κατὰ τὰ “ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ;
20 (quot.)
in N.T.
b Only here in Bib. Gk.
διδ.) in N.T. “being supplied and united”. Often the supply is thought to be of nourishment, but perhaps we should interpret more generally of life. ἀφ. κ. συν. are thus the media through which life is com- municated and the unity of the organism secured.—atfea τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ Θεοῦ: ““increaseth with the increase of God”’. Generally αὔξ. τ. ©. is explained to mean the growth which God gives (cf. 1 Cor. iii. 6). Against this is the fact that Christ is referred to as the source of growth. We may better take it ‘‘a growth such as God requires” (Ol., Haupt).
Ver. 20. The Apostle, recalling them to the time of their conversion, points out how inconsistent with a death to the elemental spirits any submission to ordi- nances belonging to their sphere would be. The death of the believer with Christ is a death to his old relations, to sin, law,
ilt, the world. It is a death which
hrist has Himseif undergone (Rom, vi. 10). Here it is specially their death to the angels, who had ruled their old life, and under whose charge the Law and its ceremonies especially stood. They had died with Christ to legalism, how absurd then for ordinances to be imposed upon them.—«l ἀπεθάνετε σὺν Χριστῷ : “if, as is the case, you died in union with Christ”. The aorist points to the defi- nite fact, which took place once for all. It was in union with Christ, for thus they were able to repeat Christ’s own experi- εηςε.---ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμον. The use of ἀπὸ with ἀποθν. expresses more strongly than the dative (as in Rom. vi. 2) the completeness of the sever- ance, and adds the idea of escape from the dominion of the personal powers. On στ. τ. κ. See note on ver. ὃ.--ὡς ζῶντες ἐν κόσμῳ. For the death ot the Christian with Christ includes his crucifixion to the world (Gal. vi. 14). The world is ruled by these angels; but Christians belong to the world to come (cf. τ. ντων, νετ. 17), which, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us, has not been made subject to the angels. Since they were still living in the physical world κόσ. has evidently an ethical sense.— δογματίζεσθε may be middle, ‘‘ subject yourselves to ordinances,’’ or passive. Since Paul nowhere says that the readers had accepted the false teaching, the latter
c Not class., only here and Matt. xv. 9 = Mark vii. 7 (quot. also with
is better: ‘‘ Why are ye prescribed to?” (Mey., Winer, Hofm., Findl., any μα Alford also takes it as a passive, but thinks it implies a keener rebuke than the middle. The middle asserts rather that they had submitted, the passive need only imply, not their submission, but that their resistance might have been more energetic. If there is blame it seems to be slighter. The verb δογµατ. is chosen with reference to τοῖς in νετ. 14.
Ver. 21. The precepts here quoted are those of the false teachers, and are, of course, quoted to be condemned, though their meaning is frequently misunder- stood. It is not said what things are thus prohibited, but the context supports the reference to meats and drinks, and is confirmed by μηδὲ γεύσῃ. There is no reason whatever to suppose that there is any reference to a prohibition of sexual relations.—ph ἅψῃ μηδὲ γεύσῃ μηδὲ θίγῃς. “Handle not, nor taste, nor even touch.” There is perhaps a gradation in the order from coarser to more refined contact.
Ver. 22. ἅ ἐστιν πάντα els φθορὰν τῇ ἀποχρήσει. Augustine and Calvin too & as meaning the ordinances referred to in ver, 20, and explained the words as Paul's refutation, “all which ordinances lead in their use to spiritual destruction”. But ἀποχ. means much more than use, it means abuse or using up; and ἅ refers more naturally to the prohibited things than to the prohibitions ; while the sense would be complete if τῇ ἀποχ. were omitted. A much more attractive inter- pretation is that of De Wette (followed by Grimm, Ol. and others), He regards the words as a continuation of the injunc- tions of the false teachers, “all which things tend to spiritual destruction in the abuse’. The sense will then be that certain meats and drinks are forbidden, because the abuse of them leads to spiri- tual destruction. Lightfoot says “ this interpretation, however, has nothing to recommend it”. This is perhaps too strong, for on the usual view κατὰ... ἀνθρώπων comes in awkwardly, as its place is at the end of the prohibitions. But it must be rejected. The.translation is a little strained, and it would have been much simpler to say “the use of these things is destructive”. It is there-