Ψετ.ο. πιστὸς--ἄξιος: This is paren- thetical and retrospective. The teaching of ver. 8 is the λόγος. So Chrys.
Ver. 10. ‘yap, as in the parallel 2
8—12.
125
‘dyovitspeba,! ὅτι " ἠλπίκαμεν 5 ἐπὶ Θεῷ ζῶντι, ὅς ἐστιν ᾿ σωτὴρ ἱ τ Cor. ix.
πάντων ἀνθρώπων, μάλιστα πιστῶν.
δίδασκε.
10,1 Tim. v. 5, vi. 17. 1 See 1 Tim. i. 1.
1 Thess. i. 7, 2 Thess. iii. 9, Tit. ii. 7, 1 Pet. v. 3.
11. ''Παράγγελλε ταῦτα καὶ 12. μηδείς σου τῆς νεότητος καταφρονείτω, ἀλλὰ " τύπος
25, Col. i. 29,1 Tim. vi. 12, 2 Timmy. 7.
k John v. 45, 2 Cor. i.
m See 1 Tim. i. 3. n x Cor. x. 6, Phil. iii. 17,
1So sg*ACFerGerK, 17, 31, 47, five others; ὀνειδιζόμεθα SQcDLP, d, f, 6, vg., go.,
sy1r., boh., arm. 3ἠλπίσαμεν D*, 17.
Tim. ii. 11, introduces a statement in support of the judgment, πιστὸς ὁ λόγος.
εἰς τοῦτο: 1.6., with a view to the ob- taining the promised blessings of life. The best commentary on this is what St. Paul said in an earlier epistle, ‘‘ As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having no- thing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. vi. το).
κοπιῶμεν καὶ ἀγωνιζόμεθα express Si. Paul’s personal experience of what the profession of Christianity involved. It was then an almost universal experience, see Acts xiv. 22; but is not of necessity a concomitant of the exercising of one- self to godliness. The two words are similarly combined Col. i. 29, eis ὃ καὶ κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος. κοπιᾶν is ustally used by St. Paul of ministerial labours: his own, 1 Cor. xv. το, Gal. iv. 11, and those of others, Rom. xvi. 12, 1 Cor. Vien Ow 1 ΕΒ: ντο 2 μη. ve) ἘΝ: but this restriction is not necessary, nor would it be suitable here. See reff.
For ὀνειδιζόμεθα (var. lect.) cf. Matt. 1 ἘΞ τε Θυ vie 22 "ele et. νι ταν
ὅτι ἠλπίκαμεν, κ.τ.λ.: This was at once an incentive to exertion, and thus correlative to ἐπαγγελία ζωῆς, and in
itself a part of the thing promised, the
ἐπαγγελία. A consciousness that we
are in an harmonious personal relation
with the living God lifts us into a sphere in which labour and striving have no power to distress us.
ἠλπίκαμεν: we have our hope set on (R.V.). The same use of the perfect of this verb, ‘‘ expressing the continu- ance and permanence of the éAmis”’ (Ell.), is found in the reff. In addition, ἐλπίζω is also followed by ἐπί with the dat. in Rom. xv. 12 (Isa. xi. 10) and 1 Tim. vi. 17; by ἐπί with the acc. in 1 Tim. v. 5, 1 Pet. i. 13; by ets with an acc. in John v. 45, 2 Cor. i. το, 1 Pet. iii. 5; and by.év followed by the dat. in I Cor. xv. το.
θεῷ ζῶντι : As indicated above, this is said in relation to ἐπαγγελίαν ζωῆς. To
know the living God is life eternal (John
xvii. 3). ὅς ἐστιν σωτὴρ πάντων, «K.T.A.:
Saviour of all (τὸν πάντων σωτῆρα) occurs in Wisd. xvi. 7. Cf. Saviour of the world, John iv. 42.
The prima facie force of μάλιστα cer- tainly is that all men share in some degree in that salvation which the πιστοί enjoy in the highest degree. Compare the force of μάλιστα in Acts xxv. 26, (αὶ πο Επ τν. 22; "πα. π.δ, τη, ο παν. το πει, πο,
The statement is more unreservedly universalist in tone than chap. ii. 4 and Tit. ii. rz; and perhaps must be qualified by saying that while God is potentially Saviour of all, He is actually Saviour of the πιστοί. It is an argument ὦ minort ad majus (as Bengel says) ; and the un- qualified assertion is suitable. If all men can be saved, surely the πιστοί are saved, in whose number we are included. It is better to qualify the statement thus than, with Chrys. and Bengel, to give to σωτήρ a material sense of God’s relation to all men, as the God of nature; but a spiritual sense of His relation to them that believe, as the God of grace. See notes on ch. i, 1; il. 4.