26---32.
349
A a ἢ τρισὶ μάρτυσιν ἀποθνήσκει " 29. P πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρονος ἀξιωθή- τ Cor. xi. σεται τιμωρίας ὁ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπατήσας, καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῆς :
διαθήκης κοινὸν ἡγησάμενος ἐν ᾧ ἡγιάσθη, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος δες
ἐνυβρίσας ; 30. α οἴδαμεν γὰρ τὸν εἰπόντα, “Ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω, λέγει Κύριος ᾿᾿" καὶ πάλιν, “Κύριος κρινεῖ τὸν λαὸν
ο αὐτου.
law and the inevitable character of the doom. Cf. Josephus, ο. Apion, ii. 30, 6 νόμος ἀπαραίτητος and Ignatius, ad Eph. ο. 16.
Ver. 29. πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρο- vos. ..~ “Of how much sorer punish: ment, think ye, will he be counted worthy, who, etc.” The argument of ii. 1-4 and xii. 25. By the parenthetically interjected δοκεῖτε he appeals to their own sense of proportion and fitness ; although the judg-
‘ment alluded to in ἀξιωθήσεται is not theirs but God’s. 6... καταπατ- ήσας.. . The guilt of the apostate which justifies this sorer punishment 15 detailed in three particulars. He has trampled on the Son of God. The high- est of Beings who has deserved best at his hands is spurned with outrageous scorn. καὶ τὸ αἷμα. .. ἡγιάσθη ‘and has reckoned the blood of the cov- enant with which he was sanctified, a common thing”. ‘The blood of the covenant” is the blood of Christ (cf. ix. 15 ff., xili. 20); here it is thus desig- nated because repudiation of the coven- ant is in question. This blood is the purifying agent by which men are fitted for the fellowship and service of God, and so brought within the covenant. Cf. ἡγιάσθη with ἁγιάζει of ix. 13 and καθ- αριεῖ of ix. 14. This sole means of puri- fication, the sanctifying virtue of which the supposed apostate has experienced, he now counts κοινὸν, common or unclean. [The Vulg. has “ pollutum,” the Old Latin “communem”. Chry- sostom ἀκάθαρτον ἢ τὸ μηδὲν πλέον ἔχον τῶν λοιπῶν; and so Kiibel, ‘ which has no more worth than the blood of other men”. All these meanings lie close to one another. Cf. Mark vii. 2, Acts x. 14. What is “common” is unsanctified, ceremonially unclean.) The third point in the heinousness of the sin of apostasy is TO πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἐνυ- βρίσας, “and has insulted the spirit of grace”, This seems the direct an- tithesis to “ Moses’ law” of ver. 28. The spirit of grace is the distinctive gift of Christian times, and is not only the
31. Φοβερὸν τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ ζῶντος. 32. ταναμιμνήσκεσθε δὲ τὰς πρότερον ἡμέρας, ἐν αἷς φωτισθέντες πολλὴν
ΧΧΧΙΪ. 35, 36; Rom. xii. 19.
τ Gal. iil. 43 Phil. i.
Cor fi. 1.
Pauline but the universal antithesis to the law. To have blasphemed this gracious Spirit, who brings the assurance of God’s presence and pardon, and gifts suited to each believer, is to renounce all part in things spiritual. Cf. vi. 4, li. 45 Eph. iv. 7.
Ver. 30. οἴδαμεν yap τὸν εἰπόντα. . .. “For we know Him who said, ven- geance is mine, I will repay.” The certainty of the punishment spoken of is based upon the righteousness of God. “ We know whoit is that said’; it is the living God (v. 31). The quotation is from Deut. xxxii. 35 not as in the LXX but as given in Rom. xii. 19 where it 15 used as an argument for the surrender of private vengeance. In Deut. LXX the words are Ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐκδικήσεως ἀντ- αποδώσω. The second quotation, κρινεῖ κύριος . - - is from the following verse where the words intimate God’s pro- tecting care of His people, using κρινεῖ in the sense common in Ο.Τ. Delitzsch thinks that sense may be retained here, but this is less relevant and consistent with the passage. Cf. Ecclus. xxvii. 28 ἣ ἐκδίκησις ὡς λέων. and xxviii, I. φοβερὸν τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν. - - « © It is dreadful to fall into the hands of the living God”. Where David (2 Sam. xxiv. 14) prefers to do so [ἐμπεσοῦμαι δὴ εἰς χεῖρας κυρίου] it is because he knows his chastisement will be measured and that no unjust advantage will be taken. The dreadfulness of the impenitent’s doom arises from the same certainty that absolute justice will be done. As Judge, God is “the living God,” who sees and has power to execute just judgment, cf. iii. 12, xii. 22, cf. ΧΙ. 29.