gx Tim. iv. λόγος καὶ πάσης " ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος, ὅτι Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς Ἡ ἦλθεν ἢ εἰς
9 only, hee
not LXX.” Tov h John i. ο,
lii. το, Vi.
14, ix. 39, Xi. 27, Xii.[46, Xvi. 28, xviii. 37.
h
perience is the same in kind, though not in degree, as that of all saved sinners. Christ’s longsuffering will never under- 5ο a more’ severe test than it did in my case, so that no sinner need ever despair. Let us giorify God therefor.
Ver. 15. πιστὸς ὁ λόγος: The com- plete phrase, πιστὸς . . . ἄξιος recurs in 1 Tim. iv. 9; and πιστὸς 6 λόγος in Deum πι το Lim: 11. τα, ΤΊΣ, πα. 6.
The only other places in the Ν.Τ. in which πιστὸς is applied to λόγος in the sense of that can be relied on are Tit. i. 9, ἀντεχόμενον TOU κατὰ τὴν διδαχὴν πιστοῦ λόγου; Rev. xxi. 5, xxii. 6, οὗτοι οἱ λόγοι πιστοὶ καὶ ἀληθινοί.
In Tit. i. 9 the πιστὸς λόγος cannot mean an isolated saying, but rather the totality of the revelation given in Christ. Of the other five places in which the phrase occurs there are not more than two in which it is possible to say with confidence that a definite saying is re- ferred to, i.e., here, and perhaps 2 Tim. ii. 11. In the other passages, the ex- pression seems to bea brief parenthetical formula, affirmative of the truth of the general doctrine with which the writer happens to be dealing. See notes in each place.
πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος : Field (Notes on Trans. N.T. p. 203) shows by many examples from Diodorus Siculus and Diog. Laert. that this phrase was a com- mon one in later Greek. He would render ἀποδοχή by approbation or admiration. See also Moulton and Milligan, Exposi- tor, vii., vi. 185. ἀπόδεκτος occurs I Tim. ii. 3, v. 4; ἀποδέχεσθαι in Luke and Acts.
Other examples in the Pastorals of the use of was (=summus) with abstract nouns (besides ch. iv. 9) are r Tim. ii. 2, τὸ πι ανν. σι 2 Mim ἵν. ο, ΠΕ. Π. το, τς. 1122.
Χρ. “Ino. ἦλθεν- -σῶσαι: This is quite evidently a saying in which the apos- tolic church summed up its practical be- lief in the Incarnation. ἔρχεσθαι εἰς τὸν κόσμον, as used of Christ, is an expres- sion of the Johannine theology ; see reff. It is the converse of another Johannine expression, ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς . . . (or 6 πατὴρ) εἰς τὸν κόσμον: John iii. 17, x. 36, xvii. 18, 1 John iv.g. εἰσερχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον is used in the same asso-
κόσμον ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι ὧν πρῶτός εἶμι ἐγώ.
16. ἀλλὰ
ciation, Heb. x. 5. εἰσέρχεσθαι εἰς τὸν κόσμον is used of sin, Rom. v. 12; ἐξέρχεσθαι eis τ. κ. of false prophets in I John iv. 1, 2 John 7.
When we say that this is a Johannine expression, we do not mean that the writer of this epistle was influenced by the Johannine literature. But until it has been proved that John the son of Zebedee did not write the Gospel which bears his name, and that the discourses contained in it are wholly unhistorical, we are entitled, indeed compelled, to assume that what we may for conveni- ence call Johannine theology, and the familiar expression of it, was known wherever John preached.
With ἦλθεν . . . σῶσαι cf. Luke xix. Io, ἦλθεν. . . σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός. For the notion expressed in ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι cf. Matt. i. 21, ix. 13; see also John xii. 47, ἦλθον ... ἵνα σώσω τὸν κόσμον; John i. 29, ὃ αἴρων THY ἅμαρ- τίαν τοῦ κόσμου ; and 1 John ii. 2.
The pre-existence of Christ, as well as His resistless power to save, is of course assumed in this noble summary of the gospel.
ὧν πρῶτός εἶμι ἐγώ: In the experi- ences of personal religion each indivi- dual man is alone with God. He sees nought but the Holy One and his own sinful self (cf. Luke xviii. 13, por τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ). And the more familiar a man becomes with the meeting of God face to face the less likely is he to be deceived as to the gulf which parts him, limited, finite, defective, from the Infinite and Perfect. It is not easy to think of anyone but St. Paul as penning these words; although his expressions of self- depreciation elsewhere (1 Cor. xv. 9, Eph. iii. 8) are quite differently worded. In each case the form in which they are couched arises naturally out of the con- text. The sincerity of St. Paul’s humility is proved by the fact that he had no mock modesty; when the occasion com- pelled it, he could appraise himself; e.g., Acts xxiii. I, xxiv. 16, 2 Cor. xi. 5, χα, ΤΣ Gal. 11. 6.