12--13.
427
δόκιμος " γενόμενος λήμψεται τὸν στέφανον τῆς ! ζωῆς, ὃν * ἐπηγγεί- Ἡ Rom. xvi- 1Ο.
1
λατο 1 τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.
13. '' Μηδεὶς πειραζόμενος λεγέτω ὅτι ἀπὸ 2 Θεοῦ πειράζοµαι 5: 6 γὰρ Θεὸς ἀπείραστός ἐστιν κακῶν, πειράζει δὲ αὐτὸς οὐδένα."
X. 22, xix. 28, 29.
i Rev. ii.10; cf. Wisd. iv. 2, V. Ἰοὺ Gor; ΙΧ. 25.
k See ii. 5 cf.; Matt.
11 Cor.ii. 9. m—m Cf. Sir. xv. 11, 12, 20.
1 Add ο κυριος ΚΙ.Ρ, Syrhk., Thl., Oec., etc., rec. + κυριος C, 4, 13(vid), 117, +
ο θεος Syrlec, Pesh., Vulg., Copt., Aeth. Άνπο $Y 6ο. 9 Tentatur 7, Vulg.
constantly speculated upon. The words with which this section concludes—* Be not deceived, my beloved brethren ”— show that there was a danger of those to whom the Epistle was addressed being led astray by a false teaching, which was as incompatible with the true Jewish doctrine of God as it was with the Christian; indeed, on this point, Jewish and Christian teaching were identical. The subject referred to in this section, vv. 12-16, is dealt with more fully in the Introduction IV., § 1, which see.
Ver. 12, Μακάριος ἀνήρ: this pleonastic use of ἀνήρ is Hebraic; cf. Ps.
i. 1, where the expression {PINT IWAN (“O, the blessedness of the man. . .”)
is rendered μακάριος ἀνήρ by the Sep- tuagint—tmwopeévet: carries on the thought of ὑπομονή in ver. 4; the absence of all reference to divine grace entirely accords with the Jewish doctrine of works, and is one of the many indications in this Epistle that the writer (or writers) had as yet only imperfectly assimilated Christian doctrine, see further Introduc- tion IV., 82.- πειρασµόν: see note on i. 2.--δόκιμος γενόμενος : for Sox. see note on i. 2; cf. Luther’s ren- dering: ‘‘nachdem er bewdahret ist,” which contains the idea of something being preserved, i.¢., the genuine part, after the dross (as it were) has been purged away.—rdv στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς: Wisdom and the Law (Torah) are said to be an ornament of grace to the head (Prov. i. 9), and Wisdom ‘shall deliver unto thee a crown of glory” (Prov. iv. 9); in Pirge Aboth vi. 7 this is said of the Torah, of which it is also said in the same section, ‘‘She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her”’ (Prov. iii. 15); in Sir. xv. 6 it is said that a wise man shall “inherit joy, and a crown of gladness (there is no mention of a crown in the Hebrew), and an ever- lasting name,” cf. xxxii. (xxxv.) 2. In the Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Lev. iv. I, we read’ ' Be followers of his com-
passion, therefore, with a good mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory”, cf. Asc. of Isatah, vii. 22, viii. 26, ix. 10-13. The Hebrew Fy Oy is used both in a literal and figurative sense (for the latter see, ¢.g., Job xix. 9) it is pro- bably in a figurative sense that the word is here used.—_8v ἐπηγγ. τοῖς ayan. αὐτόν: the insertion of 6 Θεός or ὁ Κύριος is found only in authorities of secondary value. The words λήμψεται τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς bv... ., in- troduced by ὅτι (cf. in next verse ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ . . . refer perhaps to a saying of our Lord’s which has not been preserved elsewhere; the thought seems to be present in such passages as 2 ΠῚ αὐ δαν os Ἐ ΡΘΕ va aries i LOVING LV A 2}. 07 τίοος: κος, which makes it all the more probable that the words were based ultimately on some actual “Logion” of Christ (cf. Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30; cf. too, the following words which occur in the Acta Philippi: ... μακάριός ἐστιν 6 ἔχων τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἔνδυμα λαμπρόν: αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ λαμβάνων τὸν στέφανον τῆς χαρᾶς ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, see Resch, Agrapha(2), p. 280). Against this it might be urged that mention would pro- bably have been made of the fact if the words were actually those of our Lord, in the same way in which this is done in Acts xx. 35, where St. Paul directly specifies his authority in quoting a saying of Christ. There is an interesting pas- sage in the History of Barlaam and Fosaphat, quoted by James in ‘‘ The Revelation of Peter,” p. 59, which runs: “ And as he was entering into the gate, others met him, all radiant with light, having crowns in their hands which shone with unspeakable beauty, and such as mortal eyes never beheld; and when Josaphat asked: ‘ Whose are the exceed- ing bright crowns of glory which I see ?’ ‘One,’ they said, ‘is thine’”.