ἐκ καθαρᾶς καρδίας is emphatic. See πας απο τοι Ver. 23. ἀπαιδεύτους: ignorant. An
ignorant question is one that arises from a misunderstanding of the matter in dis- pute. Misunderstandings are a fruitful source of strife. Cf. τ Tim. vi. 4.
παραιτοῦ : refuse, 1.e., Such questions will be brought before you: refuse to discuss them. The A.V., avoid might mean merely, Evade the necessity of meeting them.
γεννῶσι: There is no other instance of the metaphorical use of this word in the N.T.
μάχας: in the weaker sense of conten- tion, quarrel, as in 2 Cor. vii. 5, Tit. iii. 9; but not Jas. iv. I.
169
*pdxas. 24. δοῦλον δὲ Κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ 7 ἤπιον εἶναι x 2 Cor. vii.
πρὸς πάντας, " διδακτικόν, " ἀνεξίκακον, 25. ἐν " πραὔτητι “ παιδεύοντα
τοὺς ἢ
{εἰς ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἵ ἀληθείας, 26. καὶ " ἀνανήψωσιν ἐκ τῆς ἢ τοῦ ἢ δια-
βόλου " παγίδος, ᾿ ἐζωγρημένοι ὕπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ ἐκείνου θέλημα.
5, Lit. iii. 9, Jas. iv.
ys ἀντιδιατιθεμένους, μή ποτε δώῃ 1 αὐτοῖς ὃ Θεὸς " μετάνοιαν γ 1 Thess.
ii. 7, not οἱ
PADS πα 111: 2, not |, ©,
ΤΙΙ - Ν , ee Se ses s a.c , Ὁ 5 , . I. Τοῦτο δὲ γίνωσκε " ὅτι ἐν "ἐσχάταις "ἡμέραις ’ ἐνστήσονται a Here only,
ii. 19. b x Cor. iv. 21, 2 ili, 13, 1 Pet. iii. 15. vii. 9, 10 (Paul). v. 10 only, N.T.
cSee 1 Tim. i. 20. f See x Tim. ii. 4.
g Here only, not LXX. a Acts ii. 17 (Joe! iii. 1), Jas. v. 3, 2 Pet. iii. 3. viii. 38, 1 Cor. iii. 22, vii. 26, Gal. i. 4, Heb. ix. 9.
18 ONcDcKLP, 17, many others.
not LXX, cf. Wisd.
Cor. x. 1, Gal. v. 23, vi. 1, Eph. iv. 2, Col. iii. 12, Tit. iii. 2, Jas. i. 21,
d Here only, not LXX. e Rom. ii. 4, 2 Cor. ht Tim. iii. 7. i Luke
b 2 Thess. ii. 2, cf. Rom.
΄
5 γινώσκετε A [FerG, τ7, one other γινώσκεται], 238, two others, g.
Ver. 24. δοῦλον δὲ Κυρίου: here is used in its special application to the ministers of the Church. On the general ‘teaching, see 1 Thess. ii. 7, 1 Tim. iii. 3, Tit. iii. 2.
ἥπιος, as Ell. notes, implies gentleness in demeanour, πραὔτης meekness of dis- position. ‘Gentle unto all men, so he will be aft to teach; forbearing towards opponents, so he will be able to correct” (Bengel).
Ver. 25. τοὺς ἀντιδιατιθεμένους: They who err from right thinking are to be dealt with as tenderly and considerately as they who err from right living. Cf. Gal. vi. 1, καταρτίζετε τὸν τοιοῦτόν ἐν πνεύματι πραὔτητος. See also chap. iv. 2, andreff. Field takes ἀντιδιατίθεσθαι as equivalent to ἐναντίως διατίθεσθαι, “to be contrariwise or adversely af- fected”. Similarly Ambrosiaster, eos qui diversa sentiunt. Field notes that “‘the only other example of the compound verb is to be found in Longinus περὶ ὕψους, xvii. τ᾽. The A.V. and ΚΝ. take the word here as middle, them that oppose themselves, eos qui resistunt [veritati] (Vulg.). von Soden finds in this word the key to the meaning of ἀντιθέσεις, 1 Tim. vi. 20.
μήποτε εἴποτε.
δώῃ: The subjunctive seems ἃ syn- tactical necessity. See J. H. Moulton, Grammar, vol. i. pp. 55, 193, 194, Blass, Grammar, p. 213. On the other hand, W. H. text, and Winer-Moulton, Grammar, p.
374, read δῴη; optative.
᾿ς μετάνοιαν: It is certainly implied that false theories in religion are not un- connected with moral obliquity and faulty practice. See Tit. 1. 15, 16, ili. rz.
Ver. 26. ἀνανήψωσιν is to be con- ‘nected with εἰς τὸ ἐκείνου θέλημα. Com-
(not elsewhere in Paul) =
pare ἐκνήψατε δικαίως, τ Cor. xv, 34. ἐκείνου then refers to 6 θεός, and θέλημα will have its usual force as the Will of God (see 1 Pet. iv. 2): That they who had been taken captive by the devil may recover themselves (respiscant, Vulg.) out of his snare, so as to serve the will of God. This is Beza’s explanation and that of von Soden (nearly), who com- pares αἰχμαλωτίζοντες, 2 Cor. x. 5. It has the advantage of giving a natural reference to αὐτοῦ and ἐκείνου respec- tively, which are employed accurately in ili. 9. The paradoxical use of ζωγρέω in Luke ν. το must not be taken as deter- mining the use of the word elsewhere. Of the other explanations, that of the A.V. and Vulg., which supposes an in- elegant but not impossible reference of both αὐτοῦ and ἐκείνου to τοῦ διαβόλου, is preferable to the R.V., following Wet- stein and Bengel, which refers αὐτοῦ back to δοῦλον Κυρίου, and dissociates ἐζωγρημένοι from παγίδος, with which it is naturally connected. The reference of αὐτοῦ and ἐκείνου {ο the same subject, as given in the A.V., is paralleled by Wisd. i. 16, συνθήκην ἔθεντο πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν τῆς ἐκείνου μερίδος εἶναι. CHAPTER III.—Vv. 1-9. Evil times are upon us; we have indeed amongst us specimens of the perennial impostor, worthy successors of Jannes and Jam- bres. The shortlived nature of their success, will be, however, patent to all. Ver.I. ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐνστήσον- ται: Although St. Paul had abandoned his once confident expectation that the Lord would come again during his own lifetime, it is plain that here, as in 1 Tim. iv. 1, he regards the time now pre- sent as part of the last days. See ἀπο- τρέπου . .. εἰσιν ot ἐνδύνοντες, VV. 5, 6. The prophetical form of the sentence isa