Eph. i. 11. g Rev. ix.20 h 2 Cor. iv.
1 Χριστοῦ a few cursives. 7.
1 Tim. vi. 19 that in the two places in which θεμέλιος, occurs in the Pastorals, there is a condensation of expression resulting in a confusion of metaphor. Here the apostle passes rapidly from the notion of the Church collectively as a foundation, or a building well founded, to that of the men and women of whom it is composed, and who have been sealed by God (see reff. and also Ezek. ix. 4; Ίσπα να 27: 2, Cor. 15 22: “Eph. ο τα, iv. 30; Rev. vii. 3, 4, 5-8). They are marked by God so as to be recognised by Him as His; and this mark also serves as a perpetual reminder to them that “they are not their own,” and of their consequent obligation to holiness of life (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20). There is no allusion to the practice of carving inscriptions over doors and on pillars and foundation stones (Deut. vi. 9, xi. 20; Rev. xxi. 14). The one seal bears two inscriptions, two mutually complementary parts or aspects: (a) The objective fact of God’s superin- tending knowledge of His chosen; (6) the recognition by the consciousness of each individual of the relation in which he stands to God, with its imperative call to holiness.
Ἔγνω Κύριος κ.τ.λ.: The words are taken from Num. xvi. 5, ἐπέσκεπται καὶ ἔγνω ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ, “In the morning the Lord will shew who are His’. The intensive use of know is lilustrated by Gen. xviii. το, Ex. xxxiii. 12, 17, Nah. i. 7, John x. τή, 27, 1 Cor. Vili. 3, xili. 12, xiv. 38, R.V.m., Gal. iv. 9.
᾽Αποστήτω κιτιλ.: The language is perhaps another echo of the story of Korah: ᾿Αποσχίσθητε ἀπὸ τῶν σκηνῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν σκληρῶν τούτων... μὴ συναπόλησθε ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ αὐτῶν. καὶ ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς Κόρε (Num. xvi. 26, 27). But Isa. [1]. ττ is nearer in sentiment, ἀπόστητε ἀπόσ- τητε, ἐξέλθατε ἐκεῖθεν καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅψησθε, . . . of φέροντες τὰ σκεύη Κυρίου, cf. Luke xiii. 27. Also Isa. xxvi. 13, Κύριε, ἐκτὸς σοῦ ἄλλον dvK οἴδαμεν, τὸ ὄνομά σου ὀνομάζομεν. The spiritual logic of the appeal is the same as that of Gal. v. 25, “‘ If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk”. Bengel thinks that ἀπὸ ἀδικίας is equivalent to ἀπὸ
ἀδίκων, the abstract for the concrete; cf ver. 21, “‘ purge himself from these’. Ver. 20. Although the notional Church, the corpus Christt verum, is unaffected by the vacillation and disloyalty of its members, nevertheless (δὲ) the Church as we experience it contains many un- worthy persons, the recognition of whom as members of the Church is a trial to faith. The notional Church is best figured as a foundation, which is out of sight. But the idea of the superstructure must be added in order to shadow forth the Church as it meets the eye. It is a house, a Great House too, the House of God (τ Tim. iii. 15), and therefore con- taining a great variety of kinds and qual- ity of furniture and utensils. On οἰκία, a whole house, as distinguished from οἶκος, which might mean a set of rooms only, a dwelling, see Moulton in Ex- posttor, vi., vii. 117. There are two thoughts in the apostle’s mind, thoughts which logically are conflicting, but which balance each other in practice. These are: (1) the reality of the ideal Church, and (2) the providential ordering of the actual Church. Until the drag-net is full, and drawn up on the beach, the bad fish in it cannot be cast away (Matt. xiii. 47, 48). This is the view of the passage taken by the Latin expositors, ε.σ., Cy- prian, Ep. lv. 25. The explanation of the Greek commentators, that by the ‘‘ great house’’ is meant the world at large, is out of harmony with the context. It is to be observed that St. Paul expresses here a milder and more hopeful view of the unworthy elements in the Church than he does in the parallel passage in Rom. ix. 21, 22. There ‘the vessels un- to dishonour” are ‘vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction”’. Here they are all at least in the Great House, and all for some use, even if for less honourable purposes than those served by the vessels of gold and silver; and the next verse suggests that it is perhaps possible for that which had been a “ vessel unto dis- honour” to become fit for honourable use in the Master’s personal service. We are reminded of the various qualities of superstructure mentioned in 1 Cor. iii. 12, ‘gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay,