sinks us much deeper than our original starting point.
Ver. 13. To avoid this, παρακαλεῖ Te ἑαυτοὺς Kal ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, “ Exhort one another daily”. ἑαυτούς is equivalent to ἀλλήλους, see Eph. iv. 32; Col. iii. 13. ἄχρις οὗ τὸ Σήμερον καλεῖται, “as long as that period endures which can be called ‘to-day’”. ἄχρις denotes a point up to which something is done; hence, the term during which something is done as here. τὸ σήμερον =the word ‘to-day’. Bengel says, ‘‘Dum Psalmus iste auditur et legitur”; but this is less likely. The meaning is, So long as opportunity is given to hear God’s call. ἵνα py... ἁμαρτίας, “lest any of you be rendered rebellious through sin’s deceit”; perhaps the mean- ing would bebetter brought out by trans- lating ‘lest any of you be rendered re- bellious by sin’s deceit’. [On sin’s deceit cf. ‘* Nemo repente pessimus evasit ”’ ; and the striking motto to the 35th chap. of The Fortunes of Nigel.] Sin in heart or life blinds a man to the significance and attractiveness of God’s offer.
Ver. 14. μέτοχοι γὰρ.. .. Inver. 6 the writer had adduced as the reason of his warning (βλέπετε) that participation
το---16.
277
ἄχρις οὗ τὸ σήμερον καλεῖται, ἵνα μὴ σκληρυνθῇ τις ἐξ ὑμῶν ἀπάτῃ
τῆς ἁμαρτίας: 14. " μέτοχοι γὰρ γεγόναμεν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐάνπερ |. Rom. viii
τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως µέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν κατάσχωμεν, 15.
ο
|ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι, ““ Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, μὴ σκλη- ! νετ. 7.
ρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν, ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ "᾿ς τό. Τινὲς 1 γὰρ
ἀκούσαντες παρεπίκραναν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πάντες οἱ ἐξελθόντες ἐξ Αἰγύπτου
1T.R. with LMP, 37; τίνες in agreement with τίσι of vv. 17,18; and with the
sense. See Bengel in loc.
in the salvation of Christ depended on continuance in the confident expectation that their heavenly calling would be fulfilled; and so impressed is he with the difficulty of thus continuing that he now returns to the same thought, and once again assigns the same reason for his warning: ‘‘ For we are become par- takers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end”. Delitzsch, Rendall, Bruce and others understand by μέτοχοι, “partners” or ‘fellows’? of Christ, as if the faithful were not only the house of Christ (ver. 6) but shared His joy in the house. It may be objected that μέτοχοι in this Epistle (ii. 14, iii. 1, v. 13, vi. 4, vii. 13, χι. 8) is regularly used of participators in something, not of participators with ‘someone. In i. 9, however, it is not so used. The idea of participating with Christ finds frequent expression in Scrip- ture. See Matt. xxv. 21; Rev. iii. 21. τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the article may link this mention of Christ’s name with that inver. 6; and, if so, péroxor will naturally refer to companionship with Christ in His house. This companionship we have entered into and continue to enjoy [γεγόναμ εν] on the same condition as above (ver. 6) ἐάνπερ τὴν APXHV-+e “if at least we maintain the beginning of our confidence firm to the επά . ὑπο- στάσεως is used by LXX twenty times and represents twelve different Hebrew words [Hatch in Essays in Bibl. Greek says eighteen times representing fifteen different words, but cf. Concordance). In Ruth i. 12, Ps. xxxix. 8, Ezek. xix. 5 it means “ground of hope” [its primary meaning being that on which anything is based], hence it takes the sense, ‘‘ hope” or ‘‘confidence’’. Bleek gives examples of its use in later Greek, Polyb., iv. 50, ot δὲ Ῥόδιοι θεωροῦντες τὴν τῶν Βυζαν- τίων ὑπόστασιν, so vi. 55 οἵ Horatius guarding the bridge. It also occurs in she sense of “fortitude,” bearing up against pain, v. Diod. Sic., De Virt.,
Ρ. 557, and Josephus, Avdt., xviii. I. Con- fidence the Hebrews already possessed [ἀρ χὴν]; their test was its main enance to the end [τέλους], ἐ.ε., till it was beyond trial, finally triumphant, in Christ’s presence.