οἴκῳ . . . ἥτις: “ The noun which forms the predicate in a relative sen- tence, annexed for the purpose of expla- nation (és . . . ἐστίν), sometimes gives its own gender and number to the rela- tive, by a kind of attraction’’ (Winer- Moulton, Grammar, p. 206).
θεοῦ ζῶντος : A constant phrase, oc- curring again iv. Το.
στύλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα κ.τ.λ.: The view of Gregory Nyssen and Greg. Naz. that στύλος here refers to Timothy does not need refutation, although an early refer- ence to this passage in the Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne (Eus.
ΠΡΟΣ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΟΝ A Ill.
118
16. καὶ ἢ ὁμολογουμένως μέγα ἐστὶν τὸ τῆς ᾿ εὐσεβείας * μυστήριον "
πμ Μ᾽ , > 5 5» ace. (3). ὃς 1 ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, " ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, " ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις, i Seer
Tim. ii. 2. k See note. 4 le xi. 19 = Luke vii. 35, Luke vii. 29. 6, 7, 8, Heb. ix. 28.
h Hereonly,
1 John i. 31. Heb. ix. 26, 1 Pet. i. 20, 1 John i. 2, iii. 5, 8. m Ps, Ἱ. (li.) 6, Matt. n Luke xxiv. 34, Acts ix. 17, xiii. 31, xxvi. 16, 1 Cor. xv. 5,
1So po*cA*C*FerGer, 17, 73, 181, sah., boh., syrhcl-mg, go., Or.int, Epiph., Theod. Mops., Cyr. Al. Liberatus Diaconus (circ. 560 A.D.), Breviarium causae Nest. et Eutych., το, says, “ Hoc tempore Macedonius Constantinopolitanus episcopus, ab imperatore Anastasio dicitur expulsus, tanquam evangelia falsasset, & maxime illud apostoli dictum: gui apparuit in carne, justificatus est in spivitu. Hunc enim immutasse, ubi habet ὅς, id est, gui, monosyllabum graecum, littera mutata O in © vertisse, & fecisse, OC, id est deus, ut esset Deus apparuit per carnem”’; a relative is found in syrpesh, syrhcl-txt, arm., all Latin Fathers; 6 D*, quod, d, f, g, vg.; θεὸς pye(xii/)CcDcKLP, Chrys., Thdrt., Euthalius, Damasc., Thphl., Oec.,
Didymus, Greg. Nyss.
Η. E. ν. 1) applies στύλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα to the martyr Attalus. στύλος has of course a personal reference in Gal. ii. 9; cf. also Rev. iii. 12; but it is childish to suppose that metaphors have a constant value in the Bible. Holtzmann’s sug- gestion that στύλος is in apposition to θεοῦ is rightly rejected by von Soden. The clause is, of course, in apposition to ἐκκλησία which is by a kindred meta- phor called in 2 Tim. ii. 19 ὃ στερεὸς θεμέλιος τοῦ θεοῦ. This latter passage suggests that we should here render ἑδραίωμα ground or basis rather than stay (Ι.Ν. m.). ἑδραῖος is rendered steadfast elsewhere. See reff. and es- pecially Col. i. 23 (τεθεμελιωμένοι καὶ ἑδραῖοι), cty. Hort, Christian Ecclesia,
τή. ᾿ The truth, ἣ ἀλήθεια, has, as has been already stated, a technical Christian con- notation in the Pastorals, and has not a wider reference than the Christian reve- lation, which is the truth in so far as it has been revealed. The Church, of the old covenant or of the new, is the divinely constituted human Society by which the support and maintenance in the world of revealed truth is conditioned. Truth if revealed to isolated individuals, no matter how numerous, would be dis- sipated in the world. But the Divine Society, in which it is given an objective existence, at once compels the world to take knowledge of it, and assures those who receive the revelation that it is in- dependent of, and external to, themselves, and not a mere fancy of their own. Bengel puts a full stop at ζῶντος and removes it after ἀληθείας, making τὸ... μυστήριον the subject of the sentence, and στύλος. . . μέγα the predicate, The mystery, etc., is the pillar, etc., and confessedly great,’’ μέγα being used
as in I Cor. ix. 11, 2 Cor. xi. 15, the whole expression being equivalent to πιστὸς & λόγος Kal πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος. He quotes from Rabbi Levi Barcelonita and Maimonides parallel expressions con- cerning precepts of the Law, ‘“ funda- mentum magnum et columna valida legis,” and a striking phrase from Iren- zeus, Haer. iii. τι, 8, Columna autem et firmamentum ecclesiae est evangelium, στύλος δὲ καὶ στήριγμα ἐκκλησίας τὸ εὐαγγέλιον.