Ver. 18. Again we have a verse with- out any connection between what pre- cedes or follows; the words tore, ἀδελ- got pov ἀγαπητοί of ver. 19 seem to belong to ver. 18. As we have seen, ver. 17 most probably contains a quota- tion; the possibility of ver. 18 being alsoa loose quotation, from some other author, should not be lost sight of; it would ex-
18---21.
431
19. 1 Ἴστε," ἀδελφοί µου ἀγαπητοί.! Ἔστω 883 πᾶς ἄνθρωπος d Sir. v. ττ
ταχὺς εἰς τὸ “ ἀκοῦσαι, βραδὺς εἰς τὸ "λαλῆσαι, βραδὺς εἰς ᾿ ὀργήν. τ 20. “ὀργὴ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς δικαιοσύνην Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐργάζεται." 4 815° ἢ ἀποθέμενοι πᾶσαν ' ῥυπαρίαν καὶ περισσείαν ὃ " κακίας ἐνῖ
29, iv. 20, ν. 13.
f Prov. xiv. 29; cf. Eccles. vii. iv. 22; Col. iii. 8; 1 Pet. ii. 1; cf. Acts xv. 9; Heb.
Eccles. v.
e Cf. iii. 2; Prov. x. το, Xvii. 27; Eccles. v. Ακ αν
g—g Col. Πἱ.δ, ᾽ΑΕΡΗ,
k Tit, τι, 3.
21.
9; Eph. iv. 26. xii. 1. i Rev. xxii. 11.
1—! και νυν αδελφοι ημων ActhP; εστε αδελφοι ηµων και Aethr.
2? wore KLaP, Syrhk, Thl., Oec., etc.; ιστω NY! rec. pPNIN Pesh.; add δε A. ὅ καὶ εστω A, 13; om. δὲ KLP2, Syrhk, Pesh., Arm., Thl., Oec., etc, rec. ‘ou κατεργ. C*KaLP, Thl., Oec., etc., rec. ; Εν
5 Pr. εἰ 7.
plain, asin the case of ver. 17, the abrupt way in which it is introduced; the tore, taken as an indicative, might well imply that the writer is referring his readers to some well-known writing, much in the same way as St. Paul does in Acts xvii. 28, ἐν αὐτῷ yap ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν, ὡς καί τινες τῶν Kad” ὑμᾶς ποιη- τῶν εἰρήκασιν" “τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν”. For the general thought of the verse cf. 1 John iii. ο.--βουληθεὶς ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ἀλη- θείας: this is strongly suggestive of an advanced belief in the doctrine of Grace, cf. John xv. 16. οὐχ ὑμεῖς pe ἐξελέξασθε, GAN’ ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην ὑμᾶς. The rare word ἀπεκύησεν is, strictly speaking, only used of the mother. “It seems clear that the phrase has particular refer- ence to the creation of man, κατ᾽ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν. This was the truth about man which God’s will realised in the creation by an act, a Adyos, which was the expression at once of God’s will and man’s nature” (Parry). --ὠἀπαρχήν τινα τῶν αὐτοῦ
κτισμάτων: ἀπαρχή ΠΡ Ω used in reference to the Torah in She-
moth Rabba, chap. 33; see further below ; the picture would be very familiar to Jews; just as the new fruits which ripen first herald the new season, so those men who are begotten λόγῳ ἀληθείας proclaim a new order of things in the world of spiritual growth; they are in advance of other men, in the same way that the first- fruits are in advance of the other fruits of the season. Rendel Harris illustrates this very pointedly from actual life of the present day in the East: “ When one’s soul desires the vintage or the fruitage of the returning summer, chronological advantage is everything. The trees that are a fortnight to the fore are the talk and delight of the town” (Present Day
ὄπερισσευμα A, 13, 68.
Ten SS.
Papers, May, 1go1, “ΤΗΕ Elements of a Progressive Church”),
Vv. 19-20. Another isolated saying, Strongly reminiscent of the Wisdom litera- ture; the frequent recurrence (see below) of words of this import suggests that here again the writer is recalling to the minds of his hearers familiar sayings.
Ver. το. ταχὺς εἰς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι βραδὺς εἰς τὸ λαλῆσαι: Cf. Sir. V. II, γίνου ταχὺς ἐν ἀκροάσει σου, καὶ ἐν μακροθυμίᾳ φθέγγου ἀπόκρισιν; see iv. 29, xx. 7. A similar precept is quoted in Qoheleth Rabba, v. 5 (Wiinsche) : “ Speech for a shekel, silence for two; it it is like a precious stone”; cf. Taylor’s ed. of Pirge Aboth, p. 25.—BpaSvs εἰς ὀργήν: Cf. Eccles. vii. το (ΚΟ. ο), μὴ σπεύσῃς ἐν πνεύματί cov τοῦ θυμοῦ- σθαι, ὅτι θυμὸς ἐν κόλπῳ ἀφρόνων ἀνα- παύσεται: see, too, Prov. xvi. 32. Mar- goliouth (Expos. Times, Dec. 1893) quotes a saying which, according to Moham- medan writers, was spoken by Christ: ‘Asked by some how to win Paradise,