, 5 , 9 A A A σμένα ἐχόντων πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ.
293
με τ Διὸ
ἀφέντες τὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγον, ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα φερώ- τῆς ἀρχῆ ρ γ ὴ ητα dep
γεγυμνασμένον ἱκανῶς οὗτος ἄριστος ἂν εἴη γνώμων.] The child must eat what is given to it; the boy is warned what to eat and what to avoid; as he grows, his senses are exercised by a various experi- ence, so that when he reaches manhood he does not need a nurse or a priest to teach him what is nutritious and what is poisonous. The first evidence of maturity which the writer cites is ability to teach; the second, trained discern- ment of what is wholesome in doctrine. The one implies the other. Cf. Isa. vii. 16, πρὶν γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν, and Deut. i. 39. Chrysostom says οὐ περὶ βίου 6 λόγος .. + ἀλλὰ περὶ δογμάτων ὑγιῶν καὶ ὑψηλῶν διεφθαρμένων τε καὶ ταπεινῶν ; the whole passage should be consulted. CuHapTerR VI.—Ver. 1. Διὸ ‘‘ where- fore,” 1.6., because beginnings belong to a stage which ought long since to have been left behind (v. 12), ἀφέντες . . » let us abandon [give up] the elementary teaching about Christ and press on to maturity. [Of the use of ἀφιέναι in similar connections Bleek gives many instances of which Eurip., Androm., 393 may be cited: ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφεὶς πρὸς THY τελευτὴν ὑστέραν οὖσαν φέρῃ. ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα φερώμεθα is an expression which was in vogue in the Pythagorean schools. [Westcott and Weiss press the passive. ««ΤΠε thought is not primarily of per- sonal effort... but of personal sur- render to an active influence.” But φέρομαι is used where it is difficult to discover a passive sense.] It is ques- tioned whether the words are merely the expression of the teacher’s resolution to advance to a higher stage of instruction, or are meant as an exhortation to the readers to advance to perfectness. David- son advocates the former view, Peake the latter. It would seem that the author primarily refers to his own teaching. The context and the use of λόγον favour this view. He has been chiding them for remaining so long “ babes,” able to receive only “milk”; let us, he says, leave this rudimentary teaching and pro- ceed to what is more nutritious. But with his advance in teaching, their ad- vance in knowledge and growth in char- acter is closely bound up. What the writer definitely means by τὸν τ. ἀρχῆς «. Χριστοῦ λόγον, he explains in his
detailed description of the “ foundation,” which is not again to be laid. It consists of the teaching that must first be given to those who seek some knowledge of Christ. Westcott explains the expression thus: ‘‘the word, the exposition, of the beginning, the elementary view of the Christ” ; although he probably too nar- rowly restricts the meaning of ‘the be- ginning of Christ ” when he explains it as ‘“‘ the fundamental explanation of the ful- filment of the Messianic promises in Jesus of Nazareth”. Weiss thinks the writer urges abandonment of the topics with which he and his readers had been occu- pied in the Epistle [‘‘ also des bisherigen Inhalts des Briefes”.] But this is not necessarily implied, and indeed is excluded by the advanced character of much of the preceding teaching. What was taught the Hebrews at their first acquaintance with the Christ must be abandoned, not as if it had been misleading, but as one leaves behind school books or founda- tions : ‘non quod eorum oblivisci unquam debeant fideles, sed quia in illis minime est haerendum”’. Calvin : as Paul says, τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος, Phil. iii. 13. μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι “not again and again laying a founda- tion”. θεμέλιον possibly a neuter (see Deissmann, Bibelstudien, 110) as in Acts xvi. 16; certainly masculine in 2 Tim. ii. 19; Heb. xi. 10; Rev. xxi. 14, Ig twice. καταβαλλ. the usual word for expressing the idea of ‘‘ laying” foundations, as in Dionys. Hal., iii. 69; Josephus Ant., xv. II, 3; metaphorically in Eurip., Helena, 164; hence καταβολὴ κόσμου, the founda- tion of the world. Then follow six par- ticulars in which this foundation consists. Various arrangements and interpretations have been offered. Dr. Bruce says: ‘‘ We are tempted to adopt another hypothesis, namely, that the last four are to be re- garded as the foundation of the first two, conceived not as belonging to the founda- tion, but rather as the superstructure. On this view we should have to render ‘Not laying again a foundation for re- pentance and faith, consisting in instruc- tions concerning baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, and judgment.’ In favour of this construction is the reading διδαχήν found in B, and adopted by Westcott and Hort, which being in op- position with θεμέλιον suggests that the four things following form the foundation