παραιτοῦ : reject. This verb is used of ‘‘ profane and old wives’ fables’ (iv. 7), of ‘foolish and ignorant question- ings”’ (2 Tim. ii. 23), of ‘‘a man that is heretical’’ (Tit. iii. το): so that, at first sight, it seems a harsh term to use in reference to ‘‘young widows”’. But the harshness is explained when we remem- ber that St. Paul is speaking, not of the widows in themselves, but as applicants for admission to the roll of specially privileged Church widows. Ina Church still immature as to its organisation and morale the authorities would be only courting disaster were they to assume the control of young widows, a class whose condition gave them independ- ence in the heathen society around them.
καταστρηνιάσωσιν: Cum enim luxuriatae fuerint [in delécits egerint, m0] in Christo (Vulg.).
The word denotes the particular char- acter of their restiveness. It was under- stood with this sexual reference in Pseud. Ignat. ad Antioch. τι, at χῆραι μὴ σπαταλάτωσαν, ἵνα μὴ καταστρηνιάσωσι τοῦ λόγον. στρῆνος (over-strength), wantonness or luxury occurs Rey. xviii. 3; στρηνιάω, Rev. xviii. 7, 9, to wax wanton, live wantonly, or luxuriously, The preposition κατά, with the genitive, has the sense against, of opposition, as in καταβραβεύω, καταγελάω, καταδικάζω, κατακαυχάομαι, κατακρίνω, etc,
Vv.
g, Luke Vii. 30, Gal. ii. 21, 111, 15, Heb.x. 28.
k Acts xxiv. 26, Col. iv. 3, Philem. 22. xix. 13, Heb. xi. 37.
> ,
For ὅταν with the subjunctive or in- dicative, see Winer-Moulton, Grammar, p. 388. The subjunctive, as in the text, is the normally correct way of expressing a contemplated contingency.
τοῦ Χριστοῦ: Here only in the Pas- torals.
γαμεῖν θέλουσι: θέλειν has here an emphatic sense, as in John vii. 17; and its association here supports the view that it ‘‘ designates the will which pro- deeds from inclination,” as contrasted with βούλομαι, ‘the will which follows deliberation” (Thayer’s Grimm, s.v.). γαμεῖν is used of the woman also, ver. 14, Mark x. 12; I Cor. vii. 28, 34.
Ver. 12. ἔχουσαι κρίμα: deserving censure. There is no special force in ἔχουσαι, as Ell. explains, ‘‘ bearing about with them a judgment, v7z., that they broke their first faith’. This seems forced and unnatural. ἔχειν κρίμα is correlative to λαμβάνεσθαι κρίμα (Mark xii. 40; Luke xx. 47; Rom. xiii. 2; Jas. 11. 1). They have condemnation be- cause, etc., habentes damnationem quia (Vulg. m). κρίμα of course by itself means judgment ; but where the context, as here, implies that the judgment is a sentence of guiltiness, it is reasonable so to translate it.
Thy πρώτην πίστιν: This has been already explained. Onthe use of πρῶτος for πρότερος see Blass, Gram. p. 34.
ἠθέτησαν: annulled, irritam fecerunt (Vulg. m).
Ver. 13. reff.
It is best to assume an omission of εἶναι, not necessarily through corruption of the text, as Blass supposes (Gram. p. 247). On the example cited by Winer- Moulton, Gram. p. 437 from Plato, Euthyd. p. 276 ὃ, ot ἀμαθεῖς ἄρα σοφοὶ μανθάνουσιν, and Dio. Chrys. lv. 558, Field notes, ‘Although the reading in Plato may be doubtful, there is no doubt of the agreement of St. Paul’s construc- tion with later usage”’. Field adds two from St. Chrysostom T. vil. p. 699 a: τί οὖν; ἂν παλαιστὴς µανθάνῃς; T. ix. p. 259 ὃ: εἰ ἰατρὸς μέλλοις μανθάνειν. He notes that the correlative phraseology, Ββιδάξαι (or διδάξασθαι) τινὰ τεκτόνα,
ἅμα δὲ καί is Pauline. See
1 Matt. xii. 36, xx. 3, 6, Tit. i. 12, Jas. ii. 20, 2 Pet. i. 8. n Here only, N.T.; see note.
13. " ἅμα " δὲ " καὶ | ἀργαὶ μανθάνουσιν, ™ περιερχόμεναι τὰς οἰκίας, οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀργαὶ ἀλλὰ καὶ " φλύαροι καὶ ° περίεργοι, λαλοῦσαι ” τὰ
m Acts
ο Not LXX;; see note. p Tit. τας
χαλκέα, ἱππέα, ῥήτορα, is to be found in the best writers.
It is impossible to connect pavé. περιερχ. as Vulg., discunt circuire domos ; for, as Alf. says, “μανθάνω with a parti- ciple always means to be aware of, take notice of, the act implied in the verb ”’. Here, e.g., the meaning would be ‘“‘ they learn that they are going about,” which is absurd. Bengel’s view, that μανθάνουσι is to be taken absolutely, is equally im- possible: ‘ being idle, they are learners,” the nature of the things they learn to be inferred from the way they spend their time. Von Soden connects µανθ. with τὰ μὴ δέοντα ; suggesting that they learnt in the houses referred to in 2 Tim. iii. 6 what was taught there (ἃ μὴ δεῖ, Tit. i. 11).