[3926] Thus ends the ms., but what followed will be found in Clem. Alex. as just cited.
[3927] For details respecting the version here given, see Introductory Notice, [311]pp. 514, 515.
[3928] Or, more correctly, both here and above, "by this He meaneth."
[3929] All editors read oude`n phrone, but C has phronei which is ungrammatical. In this clause, after hina we would expect meden; but as Lightfoot suggests, oude`n may be combined as a substantive idea with theluko'n; comp. the use of ou with participles.
[3930] For mede' (so C) Gebhardt would substitute med' hede, while S supplies in full, quum soror videbit fratrem, an obvious interpretament.
[3931] This seems to be an explanation of the saying above referred to, and not a citation; similar cases occur in the homily.
[3932] The headings to the chapters have been supplied by the editor, but in so rambling a discourse they are in some cases necessarily unsatisfactory.
[3933] Hilgenfeld reads mou instead of houn; so S apparently. The chapters are usually introduced with houn (nine times) or oste (five times).
[3934] gino'metha; Lightfoot, "be found."
[3935] Literally, "ourselves," heautois; but the reciprocal sense is common in Hellenistic Greek, and is here required by the context.
[3936] Comp. Acts v. 41, where the correct text omits au`tou. The Revised Version properly capitalizes "Name" in that passage.
[3937] C here, and in many other cases, reads humas; comparison of mss. shows that it is a correction of the scribe.
[3938] Lightfoot renders dia` panto's, "every way;" but the temporal sense is common in Hellenistic Greek, and here required by the Hebrew.
[3939] Isa. lii. 5, with pasin inserted.
[3940] Lightfoot reads, kai pa'lin Ouai', following the Syriac. C has kai Dio'. There is difficulty in identifying this second quotation: comp. Ezek. xxxvi. 20-23. Lightfoot thinks it probable that the preacher used two different forms of Isa. lii. 5.
[3941] This sentence is not part of the citation, but an explanation, the words being used as if spoken by God. The Syriac text seeks to avoid this difficulty by reading, "by our not doing what we say."
[3942] Here ta` lo'gia tou Theou is used of the Scriptures, and with distinct reference to the New Testament; see next note.
[3943] In view of the connection, this must mean "God in His oracles;" a significant testimony to the early belief in the inspiration of the Gospels.
[3944] Luke vi. 27, 32, freely combined; comp. Matt. v. 44, 46. The use of cha'ris uemin shows that the quotation is from the former Gospel.
[3945] oste, as at the beginning of chs. vii., x.
[3946] Comp. Ps. lxxii. (LXX. lxxi.) 5, 17.
[3947] Jer. vii. 11. Comp. Matt. xii. 13; Mark xi. 17; Luke xix. 46.
[3948] Harnack says, "The Jewish synagogue is the church of death." Lightfoot, more correctly, accepts a contrast "between mere external membership in the visible body and spiritual communion in the celestial counterpart."
[3949] Comp. Eph. i. 23 and many similar passages.
[3950] Gen. i. 27; comp. Eph. v. 31-33.
[3951] The reference is here is probably to the Old-Testament "books," while the term "Apostles" may mean the New Testament in whole or part. The more direct reference probably is to Genesis and Ephesians.
[3952] Lightfoot inserts in brackets legousin, delon, rendering as above. Hilgenfield suggests phasin oidate, "Ye know that the books, etc., say that." Byrennios joins this sentence to the preceding, taking the whole as dependent on agnoein. Ropes renders accordingly, making a parenthesis from "for the Scripture" to "the Church." In any case a verb of saying must be supplied, as in the Syriac.
[3953] anothen has a local and a temporal sense; the latter is obviously preferable here.
[3954] "Jesus" is the subject of the latter part of the sentence.
[3955] "Keep her pure;" comp. chap. viii. Lightfoot renders terein, "guard," here and elsewhere.
[3956] The verb corresponds with that rendered "partake" in what follows.
[3957] "Copy," antitupos, antitupon. Comp. Heb. ix. 24; 1 Pet. iii. 21. Our use of "antitype" is different. The antithesis here is authentikon, the original, or archetype. This mystical interpretation has a Platonic basis.
[3958] Comp. the close of chap. viii.
[3959] Lightfoot calls attention to the confusion of metaphors; but there is also evidence of that false exegesis which made "flesh" and "spirit" equivalent to "body" and "soul,"--an error which always leads to further mistakes.
[3960] Here the word "flesh" is used in an ambiguous sense.
[3961] 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[3962] peri` enkratei'as, "temperance" in the wide New-Testament sense. Lightfoot, "continence;" in these days the prominent danger was from libidinous sins.
[3963] Comp. Jas. v. 19, 20, with which our passage has many verbal correspondences.
[3964] "A favorite word with our author, especially in this connection."--Lightfoot.
[3965] Isa. lviii. 9, LXX.
[3967] ei's to` dido'nai tou ai'tountos; the sense of the elliptical construction is obviously as above.
[3968] heautois. Here again in the reciprocal sense; comp. chap. xiii.
[3969] aphormen labo'ntes, as in Rom. vii. 8, 11.
[3971] kairo`n echontes, "seeing that we have time" (Lightfoot). But "opportunity" is more exact.
[3972] apotaxo'metha, "bid farewell to;" comp. chap. vi.
[3974] Comp. Mal. iv. 1.
[3976] Comp. Isa. xxxiv. 4, which resembles the former clause, and 2 Pet. iii. 7, 10, where the same figures occur. The text seems to be corrupt: tines ("some") is sustained by both the Greek and the Syriac, but this limitation is so peculiar as to awaken suspicion; still, the notion of several heavens might have been in the author's mind.
[3978] Comp. Tobit xii. 8, 9; but the position given to almsgiving seems to be contradicted by the next sentence. Lightfoot seems to suspect a corruption of text here also, but in the early Church there was often an undue emphasis placed upon almsgiving.
[3980] 1 Pet. iv. 8. Comp. Prov. x. 12; Jas. v. 20.
[3982] Literally, "becometh a lightener (kou'phisma) of sin;" comp. Ecclus. iii. 30.
[3983] Lightfoot, with Syriac, reads hina kai` touto pra'ssomen. Comits hina, and reads pra'ssomen, "If we have commandments and practise this."
[3984] Here Lightfoot thinks a verb has probably fallen out of the text.
[3985] Bryennios thus connects: "in order that all may be saved, and may convert," etc.
[3987] "This clearly shows that the work before us is a sermon delivered in church" (Lightfoot). The preacher is himself one of "the presbyters;" comp. chap. xix. It is possible, but cannot be proven, that he was the head of the presbyters, the parochial bishop.
[3989] entalma'ton, not the technical word for the commandments of the Decalogue (entolai).
[3990] Syriac, "praying," which Lightfoot thinks may be correct; but prosercho'menoi might very easily be mistaken for proseucho'menoi. The former means coming in worship: comp. Heb. x. 1, 22.
[3991] 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Phil. ii. 2.
[3992] Isa. lxvi. 18. But "tribes" is inserted; comp. Dan. iii. 7. The phrase "shall see His glory" is from the passage in Isaiah, The language seems to be put into the mouth of Christ by the preacher.
[3993] This implies various degrees of reward among these redeemed.
[3994] to` basi'leion; not exactly "the kingdom," rather "the kingly rule." en to 'Iesou is rightly explained by Lightfoot, "in the hands, in the power, of Jesus;" xenisthesontai is rendered above "shall think it strange," as in 1 Pet. iv. 4, 12.
[3995] "He" is properly supplied as frequently in the Gospels. There seems to be a reminiscence of John viii. 24 and similar passages.
[3996] Isa. lxvi. 24; comp. chap. vii. above.
[3997] C reads humin, as often, for hemin, Syriac, accepted by all editors.
[3999] panthamartolo's; occurring only here; but a similar word, parthama'rtetos, occurs in the Teaching, v. 2, Apostolical Constitutions, vii. 18, and Barnabas, xx.
[4000] tois orga'nois; comp. Ignat., Rom., iv., Ante-Nicene Fathers, i. [312]p. 75, where the word is rendered "instruments," and applied to the teeth of the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. Here Lightfoot renders "engines," regarding the metaphor as military.
[4001] The phrase kan hengus auetes implies a doubt of attaining the aim, in accord with the tone of humility which obtains in this chapter.
[4002] Comp. the opening sentence of Barnabas, "Sons and daughters," Ante-Nicene Fathers, i. [313]p. 137; see also chap. xx.
[4003] If any doubt remained as to the character of this writing, it would be removed by this sentence. The passage is elliptical, meta` to`n theo`n tes alnthei'as, but there is no doubt as to the meaning. The Scripture was read, and listening to it was regarded as hearing the voice of God, whose words of truth were read. Then followed the sermon or exhortation; comp. Justin, First Apology, chap. lxvii. (vol. i. [314]p. 186). That lessons from some at least of the New Testament were included at the date of this homily, seems quite certain; comp. the references to the New Testament in chaps. ii., iii., iv., and elsewhere. It is here implied that this homily was written and "read."
[4004] The word enteuzis, here used, means intercession, or supplication, to God (comp. 1 Tim. ii. 1, iv. 5) in early Christian literature: but the classical sense is "entreaty:" so in the opening sentence of Justin, First Apology (vol. i. p. 163, where it is rendered "petition").
[4005] Lightfoot, with Syriac and most editors, reads skopo'n; but C has ko'pon, so Bryennios.
[4006] C had originally philosophein (accepted by Hilgenfeld), but was corrected to philoponein. The latter is confirmed by the Syriac, and now generally accepted, though Hilgenfeld uses the other reading to support his view that Clement of Alexandria was the author.
[4007] Eph. iv. 18.
[4008] C inserts tou'to; so Bryennios, Hilgenfeld, and others. Lightfoot omits, with Syriac. The punctuation above given is that of Bryennios and Lightfoot. Hilgenfeld joins this clause with what precedes.
[4009] peiran athloumen; the construction is classical, and the figure common in all Greek literature.
[4010] The verbs here are aorists, and have been rendered by the English past tense; the present participle (me` on di'kaion) describing the character of the "spirit" must, according to English usage, conform to the main verbs. Lightfoot says, "The aorist here has its common gnomic sense;" and he therefore interprets the passage as a general statement: "Sordid motives bring their own punishment in a judicial blindness." But this gnomic sense of the aorist is not common. C reads desmo's, which yields this sense: "and a chain weighed upon him." Hilgenfeld refers the passage to those Christians who suffered persecution for other causes than those of righteousness. Harnack thinks the author has in mind Satan, as the prince of avarice, and regards him as already loaded with chains. If the aorist is taken in its usual sense, this is the preferable explanation; but the meaning is obscure.
[4011] 1 Tim. i. 17.
[4012] Acts iii. 15, v. 31; comp. Heb. ii. 10.
[4013] The doxology is interesting, as indicating the early custom of thus closing a homily. The practice, fitting in itself, naturally followed the examples in the Epistles.
Nicene Council
The Nicene Creed.
The Creed
As set forth at Nicoea, [4014] a.d. 325.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things, visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father;
God of God; Light of light; very God of very God; begotten, not made; being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in earth:
Who for us men and for our salvation came down, and was incarnate, and was made man:
He suffered, and rose again the third day:
And ascended into heaven:
And shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost, etc. [4015]
The Ratification.
And those who say There was a time when He was not, or that Before He was begotten He was not, or that He was made out of nothing; or who say that The Son of God is of any other substance, or that He is changeable or unstable,--these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.
Addenda,
As Authorized at Constantinople, a.d. 381.
(a) Of heaven and earth.
(b) Begotten of the Father before all worlds.
(c) By the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.
(d) Was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate,
(e) And was buried.
(f) Sitteth on the right hand of the Father,
(g) Whose kingdom shall have no end.
(h) The Lord, the Giver of life,
Who proceedeth from the Father; [4016]
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;
Who spake by the prophets:
In one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come. Amen.
This Nicæno-Constantinopolitan Creed was solemnly ratified by the Council of Ephesus (a.d. 431) with the decree [4017] that "No one [4018] shall be permitted to introduce, write, or compose any other faith, [4019] besides that which was defined by the holy Fathers assembled in the city of Nice, with the presence of the Holy Ghost."