0' etc.]." Or, "like as in the opening words of this discourse he speaks in lowly manner of themselves." Oecumen. "He still keeps to lowlier matters, both as to themselves, and as to Christ. As to themselves, in saying that not by their own power they wrought the miracle. As to Christ," etc.
0' this is one ground of excuse: the second is, `As did also your rulers:
0'" E. F. D.
3 h deutera etera, A. b.c. (N. om. h) Cat. Namely, the first, "Ye did it ignorantly, as did also your rulers." The second, "It was ordered by the counsel of God:" as below, "And he puts this by way of apology," etc. The Edd. have adopted the absurd innovation, "`Through ignorance ye did it:
4 Ei pepoiqen, A. C. F. D. N. Cat. and nun after katab. om. C. F. D. N. Cat.
5 Polemoij attested by Cat. and Oec. but A. has ponoij, E. and Edd. kakoij. In the following sentence, Proj gar ton kausoumenon kai paramuqian epizhtounta outoj an armoseien o logoj, B. and Oec. read klausomenon, C. F. D. N. klausoumenon, ("to him that shall weep,") A. kausamenon, Cat. kausoumenon, the true reading. The scribes did not perceive that Chr. is commenting on the word anayucewj, "refrigeration," as implying a condition of burning: hence the alteration, klausomenon, or in the "Doric" form (Aristoph.) klausoumenon. E. and Edd. Dio kai outwj eipen eiswj oti proj ton pasxonta kai paramuq. zhtounta k. t. l. "Wherefore also he speaks thus, knowing that it is to the case of one who is suffering," etc.-In the text here commented upon, opwj an elqwsi kairoi anay., E. V. makes opwj an temporal, "When the times of refreshing," etc. But here and elsewhere in the N. T. Matt. vi. 5; Luke ii. 35; Acts xv. 17; Rom. iii. 4; the correct usage is observed, according to which, opwj an is nearly equivalent to "so (shall);" i. e. "that (opwj) they may come, as in the event of your repentance (an) they certainly shall." And so Chrys. took the passage: Eita to kerdoj epagei #Opwj k. t. l. "Then he adds the gain: So shall the times," etc.
6 ton prokexeirismenon. Other mss. of N. T. read prokekhrugmenon, whence Vulg. E. V. "which was before preached."
7 E. V. has "all," and so some mss. pantwn, and St. Chrys. gives it a littte further on.
8 Instead of this clause, "by the mouth." etc. the Edd. have from E. "Still by keeping the matter in the shade, drawing them on the more to faith by gentle degrees."
9 Tewj kataskeuazei oti autoi epoihsan to qauma. i. e. "by saying, Why marvel ye? he makes this good at the very outset: You see that a miracle has been wrought, and by us (as the instruments), not by some other man (this is the force of the autoi here). This he will not allow them to doubt for a moment: he forestalls their judgment on the matter: you see that it is done by us, and you are inclined to think it was by our own power or holiness," etc. There is no need to insert the negative, oti ouk autoi: Erasm. and Ben. Lat.
10 Peter sharpens his accusation of them by the following contrasts: (1) This healing at which you wonder is to the glory of Christ, not of us. (2) God has glorified whom you have betrayed and denied. (3) This you did though Pilate himself would have released him. (4) You preferred to kill the holy and just one and let a murderer go free. (5) You sought to put to death the Author of Life. Vv. 12-15.-G. B. S.
11 The meaning of the following passage is plain enough, but the innovator has so altered it as to make it unintelligible. Yet the Edd. adopt his reading (E. D. F.) without notice of the other and genuine reading. "And yet if it was h eij auton pistij that did all, and that (oti) it was eij auton that the man believed, why did (Peter) say, not Dia tou onomatoj, but 'En tw onomati>\/ Because they did not yet," etc.
12 E. has oti ugihj esthken after ouk hdesan instead of after touto hdesan. So Commel. Erasm. Ed. Par. Hence D. F. have it in both places, and so Morel. Ben. All these omit oti before en tw on. "And yet in His name they knew not that he stands whole: but this they knew, that he was lame, (that he stands whole)." Savile alone has retained the genuine reading.
13 oude/ proeipen, A. b.c. N. i. e. foretold nothing concerning them. Edd. ouden peri eautwn eipen, "said nothing concerning (the hearers) themselves."
14 There is one extenuating circumstance: they did it in ignorance (Cf. Luk. xxiii. 34; 1 Cor. ii. 8; Acts xiii. 27). This fact forms the transition-point to the presentation of a different side of the death of Jesus. It was their crime, but it was also God's plan. They did it from motives of blindness and hate, but God designed it for their salvation. So that Peter, in effect, says: There is hope for you although you have slain the Lord, for his sacrificial death is the ground of salvation. To this view of the death of Christ he now appeals as basis of hope and a motive to repentance (oun v. 19).-G. B. S.
15 megalhn deiknusi thn boulhn, meaning the determinate counsel of God above spoken of. Above, after kai palin, some other citation is wanting, in illustration of his remark that the prophecies of the Passion are all accompanied with denunciations of punishment.
16 h gar kata agnoian, h kata oikonomian. Edd. omit this interlocution, Sav. notes it in the margin. "Repent ye therefore." Why repent? for either it was through ignorance, or it was predestinated. (Nevertheless, you must repent, to the blotting out of your sins, etc.)
17 touto monon, b.c. N. "this is all:" i. e. no more than this: he does not impute that one great sin to them, in all its heinousness: he only speaks of their sins in general. A. and the other mss. omit these words.
18 The reference is hardly to the resurrection, but to the Parousia. To the hope of this event, always viewed as imminent, all the expressions: "times of refreshing," "times of restitution" and "these days" (vv. 19-24) undoubtedly refer. So Olshansen, Meyer, Alford, Hackett, Gloag, Lechler and most recent critics.-G. B. S.
19 The modern text; "Saying this, he does not declare, Whence, but only adds," etc.-'Akmhn decasqai. Ben. Utique suscipere. Erasm. adhuc accipere. It means, Is this still to take place, that he should say on dei decasqai, as if the event were yet future? And he answer is, "He speaks in reference to former times, i. e. from that point of view. (So Oecumen. in loc. to dei anti tou edei.) And then as to the necessity; this dei is not meant in respect of Christ's Divine Nature (for of that he forbears to speak), but the meaning is, So it is ordered," etc. The report, however, is very defective, especially in what follows. He is commenting upon the words, "Until the time of restitution (or making good) of all that God spake," etc. pantwn wn elalhsen o Qeoj, which expression he compares with what is said of the Prophet like unto Moses, pantwn osa an lalhsn. Christ is that Prophet: and what He spake, the Prophets, obscurely indeed, spake before. He adds, that Peter's mention of the yet future fulfilment of all that the Prophets have spoken is calculated also to alarm the hearers. See the further comment on these verses at the end of the recapitulation.
20 Ou ouden newteron. Meaning perhaps, that as Christ was from the first designed for the Jews, the Gospel is no novelty, as if nothing had been heard of such a Saviour before. E. D. F. wste ouden newteron, which is placed before the citation ton prokex.-Below, A. b.c. N. 'Eplhrwsen a edei paqein\ 'Eplhrwqh a dei genesqai exrhn oudepw, which is manifestly corrupt. We restore it thus: 'Eplhrwsen; #A edei paqein eplhrwqh, a de genesqai exrhn oudepw. The modern text: 'Eplhrwsen a edei paqein\ 'Eplhrwsen, eipen, ouk eplhrwqh deiknuj oti a men exrhn paqein, eplhrwsen a de (deoi add. F. D.) genesqai leipetai eti, oudepw.
21 C. N. Ou gar dh kata Mwsea hn, ei gar paj o mh ak. ecoloqreuqhsetai, muria de eipen ta deiknunta oti ouk esti kata Mwsea. B. omits ou gar . ...hn, inadvertently passing from hn ou gar to the subsequent hn ei gar. A. omits the words muria . ...oti, which disturb the sense of the passage. In the translation we have rejected the second gar. For eipen, Sav. marg. gives eipoi tij an, which we have adopted. The modern text substitutes to, kai, estai for ei gar, and inserts kai alla after muria de.
22 Tauta ola epagwga is strangely rendered by Ben. hoec omnia adjecta sunt. But this is the comment, not upon the threatening in v. 23, but upon the matters contained in the following verses, 24-26.
23 Mh gar wj aperrimmenoi diakeisqe, B. N. oukoun mh gar, A. palin mh gar, C. mh oun, F. D. kai gar, Cat. oukoun mh. E. and Edd., which also add at the end of the sentence, h apobeblhmenoi, where the other mss. have, Palin h anastasij, as comment on anasthsaj.
24 To de, Wj eme oudamou logon an exoi. He had before said. that in the very description of "the Prophet like unto Moses," it is shown that He is more than like Moses: for instance, "Every soul which will not hear," etc. would not apply to Moses. Having finished the description, he now adds, You see that the wj eme nowhere holds as the whole account of the matter: to be raised up (from the dead) and sent to bless, and this by turning every one from his iniquities, is not to be simply such as Moses. The modern text adds, "Unless it be taken in regard of the manner of legislation:" i. e. Christ is like unto Moses considered as Deliverer and Lawgiver, not in any other respect.
25 E. and Edd. "that they shall hear all things which Christ shall say: and this not in a general way, but with a fearful menace" It is a powerful connection, for it shows that for this reason also they ought to obey Him. What means it, "Children of the Prophets," etc.
26 legw dh to mh orgizesqai, as the explanation of eij touto. The other text confuses the meaning by substituting kai to mh org. "Not to swear, and not to be angry, is a great help to this." Which increases the "intricacy" of which Ben. complains in the following passage, where oaths are first said to be the wings of wrath, and then are compared to the wind filling the sails. Here instead of, wsper gar pneuma thj orghj o orkoj, fhsin, esti, (cited as an apothegm), the modern text gives, wsper gar pn. h orgh kai o orkoj esti. "For wrath and swearing is as a wind." The imagery is incongruous: oaths, the wings of wrath: oaths the wind, and wrath (apparently) the sails: but the alterations do not mend the sense.
27 kan gar mh epiorkhte, omnuntej olwj ouk iste. The modern text, kai oute epiorkhsete, oute omosesqe olwj. Ouk iste. Which does not suit the context. "Make it a law with the passionate man, never to swear. ...The whole affair is finished, and you will neither perjure yourselves, nor swear at all." He seems to be speaking of oaths and imprecations, by which a man in the heat of passion binds himself to do or suffer some dreadful thing. "Suppose you do not perjure yourself, yet think of the misery you entail upon yourself: you must either study all sorts of expedients to deliver your soul, or, since that cannot be without perjury, you must spend your life in misery, etc. and curse your wrath."-'Anagkh tini kai desmw, with comma preceding: so Sav. but A. b.c. anagkh nom. preceded by a full stop: "For needs must you, binding yourselves as with a cord," etc: and so the modern text, with other alterations (adopted by Sav.) which are meant to simplify the construction, but do not affect the sense. Below, 'Epeidh gar hkousate, kai to pleon umin katwrqwtai. Ben makes this a sentence by itself, Quia enim audistis, magna pars ret a vobis perfecta est. Savile connects it with the following, fere dh k. t. l. See p. 53, where he alludes to some who laughed at him, perhaps even on the spot.
28 Touto gar orkoj esti, tropwn apistoumenwn egguh.
29 pistoumenwn eautouj, A. b.c. N. as in the phrase pistousqai tina (orkw), "to secure a person's good faith by oath." Edd. apistoumenwn eautoij, "being objects of distrust to each other."
30 omodoulon. So the mss. but we should have expected despothn, "the master."
31 'All' egw ou boulomai, fnsi. "I do not wish [so to insult God].-Then do not oblige the other to do so: [nay, do not suffer him:] just as, should he pretend to name as his surety some person with whom he has no right to take such a liberty, su ouk anexh you would not allow him." That this is the meaning, is shown by what follows: oti ton Qeon ubrisai anexh: "he insults God, and you suffer him to do it."
32 Touj perittouj, kai pantaj emoi agagete. E. and Edd. for touj perittouj kai have touj de mh peiqomenouj. The following passage relates to a practice of swearing by touching, the Sacred Volume on the Holy Table. Against this custom he inveighs in one of his Sermons ad Pop. Antioch. xv. §. 5. (t. ii. 158. E.) "What art thou doing, O man? On the Holy Table, and where Christ lies sacrificed, there sacrificest thou thy brother? .... sacrificest him in the midst of the Church, and that, with the death to come, the death which dieth not? Was the Church made for this, that we should come there to take oaths? No, but that we should pray there. Does the Table stand there, that we should make men swear thereby? No, it stands there that we may lose sins, not that we may bind them. But do thou, if nothing else, at least reverence the very Volume which thou holdest forth to the other to swear by: the very Gospel which thou, taking in thine hands, biddest the other make oath thereby,-open it, read what Christ there saith concerning oaths, and shudder, and desist."-Here, he forbids the sacristans to admit persons for any such purpose. "Let such be brought to me, since I must needs be the person to be troubled with these things, as if you were little children, needing to be taught such a simple matter as this."
33 i. e. to take an oath by_the head of your child. So in the Tract. de Virgin. t. i. 309 D. it is remarked, that "men of rude and dull minds, who do not scruple to swear by God in great matters and small, and break their oath without remorse, would not for a moment think of swearing by the head of their children: although the perjury is more heinous, and the penalty more dreadful, in the former than in the latter case, yet they feel this oath more binding than that."
34 kai xairontaj ekaterouj apopemyw. i. e. "both of them glad (to be rid of the quarrel):" unless it is a threat, in the form of an ironical antiphrasis. In a law-suit one party comes off rejoicing (xairwn): here let both exult-if they can.
35 Matt. v. 34. "Swear not at all:" which St. Chrysostom (as the surest remedy) would enforce literally, and without any exception.
36 A. b.c. N. Sav. Ben. 9Odoj epi filosofian eulabeiaj eisagousa: (N. agousa:) palaistra tij esti. E. F. D. omit eulabeiaj, and so Commel. Morel. It would be better transferred (as remarked by Ed. Par.) to the next clause: "a training-school for piety:"