bx Macc. εἰ δὲ νόμον κρίνεις, οὐκ et! " ποιητὴς νόμου ἀλλὰ κριτής. 12. εἷς li. 67; > ο f 2 νὰ Pino) ie , a 23 / Rom. ii, ἐστιν “ νομοθέτης “ καὶ “ κριτής," ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι * 13. 2 Ἷ
ς Is, xxxiii. σὺ δὲ ἆ τίς εἶ, 6 κρίνων ὅ τὸν ἦ πλησίον © ; 22. :
ἃ Matt. vii. 13. 5 Αγεῖ νῦν οἱ λέγοντες - ἢ σήμερον ἢ ὃ αὔριον πορευσόμεθα 9
Ι e Matt.x. εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν καὶ ὦ
28. f Rom. ii. 1,
Xiv. 4. gv.i.
louxett KP, curss. °Om. και κριτης KL, curss., rec. ° os κρινεις KL, curss., rec.
h Prov. xxvii. 1; Luke xii. 18-20.
ποιήσομεν "Ὁ ἐκεῖ 11 ἐνιαυτὸν 1 καὶ " ἐμπορευ-
i Matt. xx. 12. k 2 Pet. ii. 3.
2 Pr. ο NAKL, curss., Ti., Ττες., WH mg. 4Om. δε Sah., Arm., Oec., rec.
ϑέτερον KL, curss., rec.; add οτι ουκ εν ανθρωπω αλλ εν Θεω τα διαβηματα
ανθρωπου κατευθυνεται K, curss.
7 Jam ff. 9 πορευσωμεθα AKL, curss., Thl. Om, A, 13, Cyr.
as we know it to have been, of Rabbin- ism, it was the most natural thing in the world for Jewish-Christians to differ upon the extent to which they held the Torah to be binding. The writer of the Epistle is finding fault on two counts; firstly, the fact οἱ the brethren speaking against one another at all, and secondly, their presuming to decide what was and what was not Torah - observance. — κατα- λαλεῖ νόμου καὶ κρίνει νόμον: the reason why speaking against and judging a brother is equivalent to doing the seme to the Law is because the Law has been misinterpreted and misapplied ; the Law had, in fact, been maligned; it had been made out to be something that it was not. It is not a general principle, therefore, which is being laid down here, viz.: that speaking against a brother or judging a brother is always necessarily speaking against and judging the Law; these things are breaches of the Law, but not necessarily for that reason denuncia- tion of it; the point here, as already re- marked, is a maligning of the Law by making it out to be something that it was not. It is not a general principle, but a specific case, which is referred to here.— εἰ δὲνόμον κρίνεις, οὐκ εἶ ποιη- τῆς... κριτής: here again it is a specific case which is referred to; as a general principle the statement would be contrary to fact, for it is possible to give a judgment upon the Law, in the sense of criticising it, or even to denounce it, and yet obey it; the Rabbis were constantly discussing and giving their judgments on points of the Law, and were nevertheless earnest observers of its precepts. When a man misinterpreted the Law, and then
8 και AKLP, curss., Cyr., Thl., Oec., rec. 10 ποιήσωμεν ΝΑΚΙ,, curss., Treg. 12 Add eva AKL, curss., Syrr., Arm., Cyr., Thl., Oec., rec.
acted upon that misinterpretation, and de- nounced others who did not do likewise, then he wa; truly not a doer of the Law, but a judge,—and a very bad one too. Ver. 12. εἷς ἐστιν νομοθέτης καὶ κριτής; the words are intended to show the arrogant impertinence of those who were judging their neighbours on a misinterpretation of the Law. The
_word νομοθέτης does not occur elsewhere
in the N.T., though νομοθετέω and νοµο- θεσία do; cf. Ps. xxvii. 11.—6 δυν- άµενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι: Cf. Matt. x. 28, τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ, and Luke νὶ. 9.--σὺ δὲ τίς εἶ ὁ κρίνων τὸν πλησίον: we find very similar words in Rom. xiv. 4, σὺ τίς et ὁ κρίνων ἀλ- λότριον οἰκέτην; In Pirge Aboth, i. 7, we read, “ Judge every man in the scale of merit,” 2.6., Give every man the bene- fit of the doubt (Taylor); cf. Shabbath, 127b, ‘‘He who thus judges others will thus himself be judged”.