* On the readings see Introduction.
oy
"ο.
pov [τοὺς] μὴ πιστεύσαντας ἀπώλεσεν, 6. ἀγγέλους τε τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν ἀλλὰ ἀπολιπόντας τὸ ἴδιον οἰκητή-
the broad distinction maintained through- out the epistle between ὑμεῖς and οὗτοι (the Libertines) forbids such an inter- pretation. If we read ἅπαξ πάντα with some MSS., it suggests something of anxiety and upbraiding, which may be compared with the tone of St. Paul in writing to the Galatians. See, however, the following note for the position of ἅπαξ. Instead of πάντα some MSS. have τοῦτο. The former finds some sup- port in Enoch 1. 2, “I heard everything from the angels,’’ xxv. 2, ‘‘I should like to know about everything,” Secrets of En. xl. 1, 2, ‘I know all things from the lips of the Lord. . . I know all things and have written all things in the books,”’ Ixi. 2 (quoted by Chase in Dict. of the Bible). It should probably be under- stood of all that follows, including the historical allusions, implying that those addressed were familiar not only with the O.T. but with rabbinical traditions: so Estius “ omnia de quibus volo vos com- monere”’. Bede’s note is ‘‘ omnia vide- licet arcana fidei scientes et non opus habentes recentia quasi sanctiora a novis audire magistris’’. In what follows he takes ἅπαξ with σώσας, “ita clamantes ad se de afflictione Aegyptia primo sal- vavit humiles, ut secundo murmurantes ‘contra se in eremo prosterneret superbos. . . - Meminerimus illum sic per aquas baptismi salvare credentes, ut etiam post baptismum humilem in nobis requirat vitam.”’
ὅτι Κύριος, ἅπαξ λαὸν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου σώσας, τὸ δεύτερον [τοὺς] μὴ πιστεύσαν- τας ἀπώλεσεν.] For text, see Introduc- tion on Readings. Clement in his Adumbrationes gives the paraphrase ‘*Quoniam Dominus Deus semel popu- lum de terra Aegypti liberans deinceps €os qui non crediderunt perdidit”’.
τὸ δεύτερον has given rise to much discussion. According to the reading I have adopted, it contrasts the preceding saving with the following destruction. The deliverance from Egypt was the creation of a people once for all, but yet it was followed by the destruction of the unbelieving portion of the people, 2.6. by all but Caleb and Joshua (Num. xiv. 27, 37). So in 1 Cor. x. we have the privileges of Israel allowed, and yet all was in vain because of their unbelief. There seems less force in the connection of ἅπαξ with
"σι. Exod. i004, ἵνα,
εἰδότας: ἤδη would have been more suitable. For the opposition to τὸ δεύτερον, cf. Heb. ix. 28, 6 Χριστὸς ἅπαξ προσενεχθεὶς εἰς τὸ πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας ἐκ δευτέρου χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ὀφθήσεται, Theoph. Avtol. ii. 26, ἵνα τὸ μὲν ἅπαξ ᾖ πεπληρωμένον ὅτε ἐτέθη, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον µέλλῃ πληροῦσθαι μετὰ τὴν . . + kptow, Liban. af. Wetst. ἐμοὶ δὲ ἅπαξ ἀρκεῖ γέλωτα ὀφλεῖν, δεύτερον δὲ οὐκέτι.
I am inclined to think that the article before µή is an intrusion, as it seems to be before ἐν in νετ. 12. Omitting it, we can take δεύτερον with μὴ πιστεύσαντας, getting the sense: ‘‘In the 1st case of unbelief (in Egypt) * salvation followed; in the 2nd (in the wilderness) destruc- tion,” lit. “when they, a second time failed to believe, He destroyed them”’. If this was the original reading, it is easy to understand the insertion of τούς as facilitating the plural construc- tion after λαόν. We may compare the solemn utterance in Heb, x. 26, ἑκουσίως ἁμαρτανόντων ἡμῶν μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἔτι περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν ἀπολείπεται θυσία, and the belief, apparently based upon it, in the early Church as to sin after baptism.
Ver. 6. ἀγγέλους Te Tots μὴ τηρήσαν- τας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν . . . cis κρίσιν .. . τετήρηκεν.] Cf. Clem. ΑΙ. Adumbr. ‘‘ Angelos qui non servaverunt proprium principatum, scilicet quem acceperunt secundum profectum.” This of course supplies an even more striking -instance of the possibility of falling away from grace, cf. Bede, “‘ Qui angelis peccantibus non pepercit, nec hominibus parcet super- bientibus, sed et hos quoque cum suum ptincipatum non servaverint. quo per gratiam adoptionis filii Dei effecti sunt, sed reliquerint suum domicilium, id est, Ecclesiae unitatem. . . damnabit’’. On the Fall of the Angels see Introduction and the parallel passages in 2 Pet. ii. 4, and in Enoch, chapters 6-το.