The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 60

EXPOSITION, OHAPTER IV. whence it pMsed into tho.t or Deza and others. Tho Greek <J>8011,rr, appears, how• Vel'II. 1-12. - REBUKE OF QuARRET,S ever, in o. few later editions, e.g. threo ARnrrNG FROM PRIDE AND GREED. A terribly editions published o.t Basle, 1524 (Bebelius), sudden transition from the "peace" with 1546 (Herwagius), o.nd 1553 (Beyling), in v.·hi~h eh. iii. closed. that of Hnnry Stephens, 1576 ; and even so Yer. 1.-Whenoe wara &Ila whence :6.ght- late as 1705 is found in an edition of Oriti us. ing& among yon 1 The second "whence" In Enghmd the reading obtained a wide (..-&6,v) is omitted in the Reoeived Text, after currency, being aotunlly adopted in all the K, L, Syris.c,and Vulge.te; but it is supported versions in general use provious to tho.t of by N, A., B, C, the Coptic, and Old Latin. 1611, viz. those of Tyndo.le, Coverdale, Wars ... :6.ghtinga (,ro)\<µ01 .•• ,uc!.xa,). To To.\'erner, the Bishops' Dible, o.nd the Geneva what is the reference? Mc!.x«• occurs else- Version. The Authorized Version relegated where in the New Testam('lnt only in 2 Cor. it to the margin, from which it has been vii. 5, "Without were fightings, within were happily excluded by the Revisers, and thus, fClll'll;" and 2 Tim. ii. 23; Titus iii. 9, in it is to be hoped, it ho.s finally disappeared. both of which passages it refers to disputes Ye kill, and desire to have. The combina- and questions. It is easy, therefore, to give it tion is certainly strange. Dean Scott sees the same meaning here. Il0}\<µ01, elsewhere in the terms o. possible allusion to "the in the New Testament, as in tlie LXX., is well-known politico-religious p11rty of the ahvays used of actual warfare. In behalf of zealots," and suggests the rendering, " ye its secondary meaning, "contention," Grimm piny the murderers and ze11lots." It is, per- (' Lexicon of New Testament Greek') appeals haps, more probable tbat (:71)\ouT• simply to Sophocles, ' Electra,' 1. 219, and Plato, refers to covetousness; cf. the use of the word 'Phmd.,' p. 66, c. But it is better justified by (although with a better meaning) in 1 Cor. Clement of Rome, § xlvi., •1va Ti fpm ,c«l 6u,uol xii. 31; xiv. 1, 39. l<CU B,xoO'Tatrltu K«l uxluµaTO. 'lrOA<µ&r TE l11 Ver. 3.-An evident allusion to the ser- iiµiv--a passage whfoh hae almost the nature mon on the mount, Matt. vii. 7, "Ask, and of a commentary npon St. James's language. it shall be gfren to you . . . for every one There is then no need to seek an explanation that askcth receiveth." And yet St. James of the passage io the outbreaks and insur- says," Ye ask, and receive not, because ye rections which were eo painfully common ask amiss;" for our Lord elsewhere limits among the Jews. Lusta (715011ro11); R.V., his teo.ching, "All things whatsoever ye "pleasures." " An unusual sense of 1)0011«!, shall ask in prayer beli~ving,'' etc. (Matt. hardly distinguishable from ,1r16u,ula.1, in fact :uL 22). AlTErr< . . . «ITEio-8,, The active taken up by ;..-,6u,u••TE" (Alford). With and middle voices are simil11rly interchanged the expression, "that war in your members," in 1 John v. 15, on which Dr. Westcott comp. 1 Pet. ii 11, "Abete.in from fleshly writes as follows: "The di~tinction between lusts which we.r against the son!." the middle and the active is not so sharply Ver. 2 gives us an insight into the terrible drawn; but generally the personal reference difficulties with which the apostles bad to is suggested by the middle, while the request contend. Those to whom St. James wa.s is left wholly undefined as to its destination writing were guilty of lust, which actually by the o.cti ve." Thllt ye may oonsume it led to murder. So the charge in 1 Pet. iv. npon your lusts; render, with R.V., that ye 15 evidently presnpposes the possibility of may spend it in your pleasure,; .;,aov«l, as in a professing Chxistian sutforiug RB a. murderer ver. l, or thief. Ye kill The marginal rendering Ver. 4.-Ye adnlterers and adulteresses. " envy" supplies a remarkable instance of a Omit µo,xol ""'• wilh 111, A, B. The Vulgate false reading once widely adopted, although has simply adulteri; the Old Latin (ft'), resting simply on conjecture. There is no fornicatores. Similo.rly the Syriac. Vel'y variation in the manuscripts or ancient ver- strange is this sudden exclllmation, "ye sions. All alike have <J>o11,~er<, Bnt, owiog adulteresses I" and very difficult to explain. to the startling character of the expression The same word (µ01xa)\{r) is used as o in an address to Christians, Ere.emus sug- feminine adjective by our Lord in the ex- gested tl,at perhaps <J>8011,,.,.,, "ye envy," was pression, "an evil o.nd adulterous genera- tbi, origins.I ree.d.ing, and actually inserted tion" (Matt. xii. 39; xvi. 4; Mark viii. 38); it in the si,cond edition of bis Greek Testa- and in this possibly lies the cxplano.tion of ment (1519). In his third edition (1522) St. James's use of the term. 111ore probably, ht wisely returned to the true reading, however, it should be accounted for o.s o although, strangely enough, he retained the reminisoonce of Ezck. xxiii. 45, where we fal11co one, "invideta," ill his Laiiu version, read uf So.maria and J eruealeru under th~ en. 1v. 1-17.] Tllffi GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES.