gle exception (2 Cor. iii. 7), uses it of the dedter of scripture as contrasted with its spirit (Rom. ii. 27, 29; vii. 6; 2 Cor. iil. 6). In Luke xvi. 6, 7, it denotes a debtor’s bond (A. V., bell). In John vii. 15, Acts xxvi. 24, it is used in the plural as a general term for scriptural and Rabbinical learning. Compare Sept. Isa. xxix. 11, 12, where a learned man is described as émvotd- pevos ypdupara, acquainted with letiers. Once it is used col- lectively of the sacred writings—the scriptures (2 Tim. iii. 15), though some give it a wider reference to Rabbinical exegesis, as well as to scripture itself. Among the Alexandrian Greeks the term is not confined to elementary instruction, but includes exposition, based, however, on critical study of the text. The tendency of such exegesis was often toward mystical and alle- gorical interpretation, degenerating into a petty ingenuity in fixing new and recondite meanings upon the old and familiar forms. This was illustrated by the Neo-Platonists’ expositions of Homer, and by the Rabbinical exegesis. Men unacquainted with such studies, especially if they appeared as public teach- ers, would be regarded as ignorant by the Jews of the times of Christ and the Apostles. Hence the question respecting our Lord Himself: How knoweth this man letters (ypdupara, John vil. 15)? Also the comment upon Peter and John (Acts iv. 13) that they were unlearned (aypdyparot). Thus, too, those who discovered in the Old Testament scriptures references to Christ, would be stigmatized by Pagans, as following the in- genious and fanciful method of the Jewish interpreters, which they held in contempt. Some such feeling may have provoked the words of Festus to Paul: Much learning (1odrd ypdupara) doth make thee mad (Acts xxvi. 24). It is well known with what minute care the literal transcription of the sacred writ- ings was guarded. The Scribes (ypaymareis) were charged with producing copies according to the letter (kata 7d ypdupa).
The one passage in second Timothy cannot be urged in favor of the general use of the term for the scriptures, especially since the best texts reject the article before fepd ypdupara, so that the meaning is apparently more general: “thou hast known sacred writings.” The familiar formula for the scriptures was ai ypapai ayla. A single book of the collection of writings