348
vi. 4; Num. xv.
30; Matt. μᾶλλον Gow βλέπετε ἐγγίζουσαν τὴν ἡμέραν.
ΧΙ 31; 2 Peter ii. ΣΟΎ -Ὁ
- 8 αγωγὴν ἑαυτῶν, καθὼς ἔθος τισὶν, ἀλλὰ παρακαλοῦντες: καὶ τοσούτῳ
26. " Ἑκουσίως γὰρ
ς ’ ε - Ν x a ‘ 2 a > Η ἁμαρτανόντων ἡμῶν μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας,
Joanv.16, οὐκ ἔτι περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν ἀπολείπεται θυσία: 27. " φοβερὰ δέ τις ἐκ-
Ezech. , a
xxxvi.5; θοχὴ κρίσεως, καὶ πυρὸς ζῆλος ἐσθίειν μέλλοντος τοὺς ὕπεναν- Sophoni. » ous , ῃ , \ > een, ‘ 18, et iii, Tlous. 28. “ ἀθετήσας τις νόμον Μωσέως, χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν ἐπὶ δυσὶν 8
ο Num. xxxv. 30; Deut. xvii. 6, et xix. 15; Matt. xviii. 16; Joan. viii. 17; 2 Cor. xiii. 1.
the Romans which heralded the great war.
Vv. 26-39. Dreadful result of falling from faith. Ver. 26. Ἑκουσίως yap apap-
τανόντων hpav.... “For if we go on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no more remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful waiting for judgment and a fury of fire which is to devour the adver- saries.”” yap, introducing an additional treason for the preceding exhortation. The emphasis is on ἑκουσίως ; and the present tense of ἁμαρτ. must not be over- looked. Cf. τῶν ἀκουσίων ἁμαρτημάτων καταφυγὴν εἶναι τοὺς βωµους, Πο. iv. 95. Wilful sin, continued in, means apostasy, repudiation of the covenant. Cf. vi. 6, καὶ παραπεσόντας, and v. 2, τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσιν, and iii. 12. Apostasy can only occur μετὰ τὸ AaPetv... a condition which is explained in detail in chap. 6. Without this preceding know- ledge of the covenant its wilful repudia- tion is impossible. Those spoken of in ver. 25, as having abandoned meeting with their fellow Christians, and possibly as having neglected, if not renounced, the confession of their hope, were perhaps alluded to here, as on their way to apos- tasy. They are warned that they are drifting into an irredeemable condition, for to those who have repudiated and keep repudiating the one sacrifice of Christ, οὐκέτι περὶ ἁμαρτίων ἀπολείπεται θυσία. The only sacrifice has been rejected, and there is no other sacrifice which can atone for the rejection of this sacrifice. ‘The meaning is not merely that the Jewish sacrifices to which the apostate has returned have in themselves no sin-destroying power, nor even that there is no second sacrifice additional to that of Christ, but further that for a sinner of this kind the very sacrifice of Christ itself has no more aton- ing or reconciling power”? (Delitzsch). That this is the meaning is shown by the positive assertion of what the future does contain, a terrifying prospect of waiting
for inevitable judgment. The expression is not equivalent to φοβερᾶς ἐκδοχὴ κρί- σεως, which, as Bleek remarks, would not be so impressive. φοβερός means either “ causing fear’’ or ‘‘ feeling fear’’; ‘ scar- ing” or ‘‘affrighted”. Here it is used in the former sense. ἐκδοχὴ occurs else- where only in the sense of receiving something or of the acceptation or inter- pretation of a word; but ver. 13 and ix. 28 guide to the meaning given by the Vulg. expectatis. The τις by leaving the expectation indefinite heightens the terror of it. The imagination is allowed scope. κρίσεως is general, but immediately sug- gests πυρὸς ζῆλος μέλλοντος, the destined fire; for which see 2 Thess. i. 8- to. ‘Fiery indignation” very well ren- ders πυρὸς ζῆλος, an anger which ex- presses itself in fire. The expression is
‘derived from such O.T. phrases as Ps,
Ixxix. 5 ἐκκαυθήσεται ὡς mip ὁ ζῆλός gov. Cf. Zeph. i. 18 and Deut. iv. 21. This fierv anger is destined to devour the adversaries , as in Isa. xxvi. 11 ζῆλος λήψ- εται λαὸν ἀπαίδευτον, καὶ viv πῦρ τοὺς ὑπεναντίους ἔδεται, and Ixiv. 2 κατα- καύσει πῦρ τοὺς ὑπεναντίους. Cf. also Isa. xxx. 27 ἣ ὀργὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ ὡς πῦρ ἔδεται, a natural figure used by Homer and others. ὑπεναντίους, see Lightfoot on Col. ii. 14, who shows that it means “direct, close, persistent opposition ”’. Ver. 28. ἀθετήσας TLS νόμον. - . . ‘‘Any one who has set aside Moses’ law dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses,’”” in accordance with the law laid down in Deut. xvii. 6 regarding apostasy; although capital punishment was not restricted to this sin. For ἀθετεῖν cf. τ Thess. iv. 8; and Isa. xxiv. 16, ovat τοῖς ἀθετοῦσιν, ot ἀθε- τοῦντες τὸν νόμον, also Ezek. xxii. 26. ἀθέτησις is used absolutely in 1 Sam. xxiv. £2, ἐπὶ... µάρτνσιν, 5]. ix. 17; ἀποθνήσκει, perhaps the tense does not carry with it the inference that the law was still being enforced. It may only mean “he dies’’ according to the law as it stands. χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν, to emphasise the inexorableness of the