ἐκ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων ἐπισκοπῆς. διὰ τὸν Κύ ε 3 3 ow ὡς δι’ αὐτοῦ wep νον δὲ ἀγαθοποιῶν -
59
ἐποπτεύοντες γητε 13
ὡς
ὑποτά βασιλεῖ
ποµένοις εἰς 14
” ειτε
ὅτι οὕτως 15 ποιοῦντας Φφειμοῦ. τὴν
(Mark xv. 39)—1i.e., recognise the finger of God either in the behaviour of the Christians or in the whole economy (see Rom. xi.).—év ἡμέρᾳ ἐπισκοπῆς, from Isa. x. 3, What will ye do—ye the oppressors of the poor of my people—in
day of visitation (App DD) i.e. (Tar-
gum), when your sins are visited upon you. But St. Peter looks for the repent- ance of the heathen at the last visitation (cf. iv. 6), though the prophet found no escape for his own contemporaries. Com- pare Luke xix. 44.
Vv. 13-17. The duty of the Christian towards the State; compare Rom. xiii. 1-7.--πάσῃ ἀνθρωπίνῃ κτίσει, every human institution, including rulers (14), masters (18), and husbands (iii. 1). κτίζειν is used ordinarily in many senses, e.g., of peopling a country, of founding a city, of setting up games, feasts, altar, etc. In Biblical Greek and its descend- ants it is appropriated to creation. Here κτίσις is apparently selected as the most comprehensive word available; and the acquired connotation—creation by God— is ruled out by the adjective ἀνθρωπίνῃ. It thus refers to all human institutions which man set up with the object of maintaining the world which God created. --διὰ τὸν κύριον, for the sake of the Lord. διά may be (1) retrospective— i.e., because Jesus said, Render what is Czesar’s to Cesar or, generally, because God is the source of all duly-constituted authority; oy (ii.) prospective for the sake of Fesus (Fehovah); your loyalty re- dounding to the credit of your Master in heaven.—Bagthet, the Roman Em- peror, asin Apoc. xvii. 9, etc.; Josephus B.J., ν. 136, v. infra.—iwe ρέχο ντι, pre-eminent, supreme, absolute, as in Sap. vi. 5, where τοῖς ὑπερέχουσιν corresponds’ to those who are underlings of His Sove- reignty (4), to whom power was given from the Lord (3); cf. δι’ αὐτοῦ below.— ἡγεμόσιν, properly Governors of pro- vinces, but Plutarch uses the singular = Imperator. Peter rather follows the con- ventional rendering of the saying of Jesus, ἐπὶ ἡγεμόνων καὶ βασιλέων σταθήσεσθε, interpreted in the light ot popular usage