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Heb 12:10. Πρὸς ὀλίγας ἡμέρας) for a few days, of which our life consists in the flesh. Those days are not only denoted, during which the discipline lasts, but those [viz. all the days of the present life] to which the fruit of discipline appertains. The εἰς corresponds to this πρὸς at the end of the verse: comp. ch. Heb 9:13-14. In like manner Paul joins these prepositions, Eph 4:12, where see note.-κατὰ τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτοῖς, as they themselves thought fit) Such is indeed the case. Our fathers of the flesh commit great faults in respect of discipline, both in indulgence and in severity; nor do they so much chastise, as think that they chastise us. But the Father of our spirits altogether chastens us for our advantage: αὐτοῖς, to themselves, includes an antithesis to those who are chastened by the fathers of the flesh. So δοκοῦν and δοκεῖν, in the following verse, correspond.-εἰς τὸ μεταλαβεῖν τῆς ἁγιότητος αὐτοῦ, that we may become partakers of His holiness) ἁγιωσύνη, sanctimony: ἁγιασμὸς, sanctification: Heb 12:14; but ἁγιότης, sanctity or holiness.[74] The holiness of GOD: i.e. GOD, who is holy, whom men do not attain to unless they be sanctified; and they who attain to Him, shall obtain the enjoyment of the spiritual life for ever. [It is a religious obligation to pursue this Holiness with filial reverence; and yet we are not allowed to come near to it.-V. g.] An abstract appellation, as ἡ μεγαλωσὺνη, Majesty, Heb 1:3; ἡ δόξα αὐτοῦ, His glory, Jude, Heb 12:24; ἡ μεγαλοπρεπὴς δόξα, the excellent glory, 2Pe 1:17. And this expression, ἵνα γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φὺσεως, that you become partakers of the Divine nature, i.e. of GOD, 2Pe 1:4, accords in a singular manner with the passage before us.
[74] See note, Rom 1:4, on this distinction.