The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 338

And boPt c~ee )Mt note). Th<> rea.ping is we ehllll be able to effect nothing." Indeed thC' Mme as that referr<>d to in the previous it ie questione.ble whethor the eense now' two venms. "If we faint not." 1'he verb pleaded for is not that which wall intended ,,,,_t',,,,..6a, in Me.tt. xv. 32 and Mark viii. 2 by the rendering in the Authorized Version. is t.o faint physioal.ly from exhaustion. In The pe.rtiole ws probably meo.ne " while," Heh. xii. 3, 5 it is used of succumbing, as it does in Luke xii. 58 o.nd in John xii. ~il'ing in, morally; not, morely feeling week, 35, 36, where it should replllce the ,.,, of bnt in consequence of weakness giving up the Textus Receptus; but this needs not all further effort. In this fatter sense it to be insisted upon. Anyway, we e.re re- o~ure in the Septuagint of Josh. xviii. 3 minded of the unoerte.in tenure by which and in 1 Maec. ix. S. And this last is its we hold the sellson for doing tlJBt whioh, if mp,aning Ji,,re. It expresses more than the done, will have IIO blessed a ~onsequenoe. fle.gging of spirit before mentioned; for Let us do good nnto all men (lp-ya;(,I,1,.8a; -rb that would not forfeit the rewnrcl of past a')'a8~v ,rpch ,,.,£,,.,.a;r) ; let m be workers of achievement, unless it led to the actual re- that whi'ch is good toioards all men. The linquishment of further endeavour; this last verbs lP'Yd(oµa, and ,ro1cii appear used inter~ would forfeit it (comp. Rev. iii. 11 and 2 changeably in Col. iii. 23 and 3 John 5; John 8). Ta.king it thus, there is no 0001\• bnt the former seems to, suggest, more sion for underst.A.nding this phmse, "not vividly than the other, either the concrete faintinc:," n.s se,·cral of the Greek commen- action, the lnov, which is wrought; or else tators do, including o.pp•rently Chrysost.om, the pa.rt enl\cted bf the agent as being a as if it meant thus: '' We shall reap with- worker of such or such a description-as if, out a.ny fear of fainting or becoming weary here, it were "let ue be benefe.ctors." The nny more;" which surely, as Alford ob- adjective "good" (ci.,,a;8&s) is often, perhaps serves, gives a VRpid turn to the sentence. most commonly, used to designate what is Yer. 10.-As we have therefore oppor- morally excellent in genera.I; thus, e.g., in tunity (;£pa oliv C::s 1<cupbv lxou•P); so then, Rom. ii. 10, "the worker of that which is ,chile (or, as) we hat1e a season for so doing. good" is contrasted with "the worker-out "Apa ol,v : this combination of particles is of that which is evil," as a description of a. frequently fonnd in St. Pnnl's writings, man's moral cha.meter in general. But on being so far a.s appears (cf. Winer, • Gram. the other hand, this adjective frequently ~- T.,' § 53, 8 a.) pecnlio.r to him (1 Thess. takes the sense of "benevolent," "bene~ v. 6; 2 Thess. ii. 15; Rom. v. 18; vii. 3, ficent;" as e.g. in Matt. xx. 15, "Is thine 25; viii 12; iL 16, 18; xiv. 12, 19; Eph. eye evil, because I am good?" 1 Pei. ii. 18, ii. 19). In every instance it marks a cer- "masters, ... not only the good a.nd gentle, tain pe.nse after a statement of premisses ; but also the froward;" Titus ii. 5; 1 Thess. in several, following a. citation from the Old iii. 6; 1 Tim. vi. 18 ; Rom. xii 21. In the Testament; the writer, after waiting, so to remarkable contrast between the righteous epea.k, for the reader dn.Jy to take into his ma.n a.nd the good man in Rom. v. 7 (see Dr. mind what has been already said, proceeds Gifford's note on the passage, • Speaker's to dmw his inference. The ftpa; seems to Commentary',' p. 123), the latter term ap- point backward to the premisses; the oi',v pears distinctly intended in the conception to introduce the inference. "Well, then," of virtuousness to make especially pro- or "so, then,'' appears a fairly equivalent minent the idea of beneficence. Naturally, rendering. In 1 'rheas. v. 6 and Hom. xiv. this sense attu.ches to it, when it describes 19 ftpa; oliv introduces a cohortative verb, as a.n u.ction done to another, as the opposite lo here; in 2 TheBS. ii. 15, a.n imperative. the "working ill to one's neighbour," men- The words which follow seem to be com- tioned in Rom. xiii. 10; "good " in suoh a monly understood as meaning "whenever relation, denoting what is beneficent in opportunity offers." But this falls short of effect, denotes what is also benevolent in recognizing the soleme consideration of the intention (see 1 These. v. 15). Indeed, that proprieties of the present sowing-time, the present clause points to works of bene- which the previous context prepares us to ficence " is made certain by that whioh is expect to :find here; the term " see.son,'' as added, "and especially," et.c.; for our be- Meyer remarkii, having its proper reference haviour should be in no greater degree already fixed by the antithetical sea.son of marked by general moral excellence in deal- reaping referred to in ver. 9. Moreover, ing with one cla.ss of men than in dealing instead of ws, would not the apostle, if he with o.ny others; though one particular ha.d meant " whenever,'' have used the branch of virtuous u.ction ma.y be ea.lied into intensified form ,ca.8,I,,? Chrysostom gives varying degrees of u.cti vity in different the sense well thus: "AB it is not al ways relations of human intorcourse. "Towards in our power to sow, so neither is it to show all men;" wp&r, towards, 68 in 1 These. v. mercy ; when we have been bome hence, 14 ; Eph. vi. 9. The spirit of universal though we may desire it a thousand times, philanthropy which the apostle inculc11,te1,t Cl&, VJ, 1-18,] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 305