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Χριστὸν ἀρνούμενοι. 5.
4-
Ὑπομνῆσαι δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι, εἰδότας
πάντα,] ὅτι 2 Κύριος ὃ ἅπαξ λαὸν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου σώσας τὸ δεύτε-
υμας παντα $YKL 31 syrr. Clem. Theoph. Oecon.+; vpas απαξ παντα B;. απαξ παντα AC? 13 vulg. + Ti. Treg. WH; απαξ παντας H. (Sel. Read. p. 106)
ὅτι SAB syrh; add. 6 C?KL syrp.
3 kuptos ΝΟΚΙ, syrh; Ἰησους AB + ; θεος C* syrp, Clem. ἁαπαξ λαον ΜΜ, 68, tol., syrr., boh. (οτι απαξ Ino. λαον) sah. arm. Did. Cassiod. λαον απαξ Clem.; λαον ABCL, Ti., Treg., WH.
word, as in Tit. i. 16; but it is more naturally taken as explicit, as in r John ii. 22, where Westcott notes that a com- mon gnostic theory was that “ ‘ the Aeon Christ’ descended upon the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His passion. Those who held such a doc- trine denied . . . the union of the divine and human in one Person . . . and this denial involves the loss of the Father, not only because the ideas of sonship and fatherhood are correlative, but be- cause . . . it is only in the Son that we have the [full] revelation of God as Father.” The phrase τὸν µόνον δεσπότην might also refer to the heresy attributed to Cerinthus by Hippolytus (Haer. vii. 33, X. 21) οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ πρώτου θεοῦ τὸν κόσμον Ὑεγονέναι ἠθέλησεν ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ δυνάµ.εώς τινος ἀγγελικῆς, and Irenzus Haer. i. 26. See Introduction on Early Heresies in the large edition.
Vv. 5-13. Illustrations of Sin and Fudgment Derived from History and from Nature. The judgment impending over these men is borne witness to by well-known facts of the past, and may be illustrated from the phenomena of nature. God showed His mercy in delivering the Israelites from Egypt, but that was no guarantee against their destruction in the wilderness when they again sinned by unbelief. The angels were blessed beyond all other creatures, but when they proved unfaithful to their trust they were imprisoned in darkness, awaiting there the judgment of the great day. The men of Sodom (lived in aland of great fer- tility, they had received some knowledge of God through the presence and teaching of Lot, they had been lately rescued from captivity by Abraham, yet they) followed the sinful example of the angels, and their land is still a prey to the fire, bear- ing witness to the eternal punishment of sin. In spite of these warnings the heretics, who are now finding their way into the Church, persist in their wild hallucinations, giving themselves up to
the lusts of the flesh, despising authority, and railing at angelic dignities. They might have been taught better by the example of the archangel Michael, of whom we are told that, when disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, he uttered no word of railing, but made his appeal to God. These men however rail at that which is beyond their know- ledge, while they surrender themselves like brute beasts to the guidance of their appetites, and thus bring about their own destruction, following in the wake of impious Cain, of covetous Balaam, and rebellious Korah. When they take part in your love-feasts they cause the shipwreck of the weak by their wanton- ness and irreverence. In greatness of profession and smallness of performance they resemble clouds driven by the wind which give no rain; or trees in autumn on which one looks in vain for fruit, and which are only useful for fuel. By their confident speaking and brazen assurance they seem to carry all before them; yet like the waves bursting on the shore, the deposit they leave is only their own shame. Or we might compare them to meteors which shine for a moment and are then extinguished for ever.
Ver. 5. ὑπομνῆσαι δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι, εἰδότας ὑμᾶς πάντα. Cf. 2 Pet. i. 12, διὸ µελλήσω ὑμᾶς ἀεὶ ὑπομιμνήσκειν καίπερ εἰδότας, 10. i. 13, διεγείρειν ὑμᾶς ἐν ὑπομνήσει, 7b. iii. 1, διεγείρω ὑμῶν ἐν ὑπομνήσει τὴν εἰλικρινῆ διάνοιαν, Rom. XV. 14, πέπεισµαι δὲ ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ µεστοί ἐστε ἀγαθωσύνης, πεπληρωμένοι πάσης τῆς γνώσεως . . . τολµηροτέρως δὲ ἔγ- ραψα ὑμῖνιάπὸ µέρους ὡς ἐπαναμιμνήσκων tpas. The word εἰδότας justifies ὑπο- μνῆσαι: they only need to be reminded of truths already known, so that it is un- necessary to write at length. The re- peated ὑμᾶς contrasts the readers with the libertines of the former verse. The words in themselves might be taken ironically of persons professing (like the Corinthians) to “ know all things,’’ but