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Heb_12:15-16. Further amplification of διώκετε τὸν ἁγιασμόν , Heb_12:14. That endeavour after holiness is not only to be in active exercise in the case of each one with regard to his own person; it is also, in equal degree, to be watchful that the Christian brethren preserve themselves free from immorality.
The subject in ἐπισκοποῦντες consists, as in διώκετε , Heb_12:14, with which the participle is conjoined, of all members of the congregation, not specially the presidents thereof (Heb_13:17) or ἐπίσκοποι (Böhme); and ἐπισκοπεῖν signifies: to direct one’s view to a thing with close attention or solicitude.
μή τις ὑστερῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ ] is no independent clause, so that ᾖ would have to be supplemented (so the majority, as also Böhme, Tholuck, Bloomfield, Ebrard, and Maier). For the choice of the tempus periphrasticum would be here unnatural and justified by nothing.[119] The words are a mere introducing of the subject, which is then further resumed by μή τις ῥίζα κ . τ . λ ., in such wise that ἘΝΟΧΛῇ forms the common predicate to both parts of the sentence introduced by ΜΉ (Heinrichs, Bleek, de Wette, Delitzsch, Alford, Kurtz, Ewald).
ΜΉ ΤΙς ὙΣΤΕΡῶΝ Κ . Τ . Λ .] that no one, in that he remains far from the grace of God, i.e. in that he turns the back upon the grace of God which was afforded him in Christ, by immorality withdraws from it, and loses it (1Co_6:9-10). The unusual ὑστερεῖν ἀπό τινος is consequently by no means equivalent in signification to the ordinary ὙΣΤΕΡΕῖΝ ΤΙΝΟς . While the latter would represent the coming short of the possession of the divine grace absolutely, as an objective result, the former includes the idea of voluntary activity or of one’s own culpability. Comp. Sir_7:34 : ΜῊ ὙΣΤΈΡΕΙ ἈΠῸ ΚΛΑΙΌΝΤΩΝ . Analogously stands also the mere ὙΣΤΕΡΕῖΝ , Num_9:7 : ΜῊ ΟὖΝ ὙΣΤΕΡΉΣΩΜΕΝ ΠΡΟΣΕΝΈΓΚΑΙ ΤῸ ΔῶΡΟΝ ΚΥΡΊῼ . Num_9:13 : ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟς , Ὃς … ὙΣΤΕΡΉΣῌ ΠΟΙῆΣΑΙ ΤῸ ΠΆΣΧΑ .
ΜΉ ΤΙς ῬΊΖΑ ΠΙΚΡΊΑς ἌΝΩ ΦΎΟΥΣΑ ἘΝΟΧΛῇ ] that, I say, no root (plant) of bitterness (of which the fruit is bitterness)—i.e. a man[120] in whom, in consequence of his unholy walk, the bitter fruit of everlasting perdition is ripening—growing up (as in the case of a plant, of which the root was before covered with earth) cause trouble or disquiet (to the congregation). The words are moulded after the LXX. of Deu_29:18, according to the corrupted text of the Cod. Alexandr.: μή τις ἐστὶν ἐν ὑμῖν ῥίζα πικρίας ἄνω φύουσα ἐνοχλῇ καὶ πικρὶα (distorted from the original text contained in the Cod. Vatic.: μή τις ἐστὶν ἐν ὑμῖν ῥίζα ἄνω φύουσα ἐν χολῇ καὶ πικρίᾳ ). That the reading in the Cod. Alex. of the LXX. only arose from a regard to our passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Jos. Hallet, Wolf, Delitzsch, Hofmann, and others) is not probable, since the author elsewhere in the O. T. citations follows the form of text in the Cod. Alex.
πικρίας ] Chrysostom: οὐκ εἶπε πικρά , ἀλλὰ πικρίας · τὴν μὲν γὰρ πικρὰν ῥίζαν ἔστι καρποὺς ἐνεγκεῖν γλυκεῖς , τὴν δὲ πικρίας ῥίζαν … οὐκ ἔστι ποτὲ γλυκὺν ἐνεγκεῖν καρπόν · πάντα γάρ ἐστι πικρά , οὐδὲν ἔχει ἡδύ , πάντα πικρά , πάντα ἀηδῆ , πάντα μίσους καὶ βδελυγμίας γέμοντα .
ἐνοχλεῖν ] in the N. T. only here (and Luk_6:18?).
καὶ διʼ αὐτῆς μιανθῶσιν οἱ πολλοί ] and by it the many (the multitude or the great mass) become defiled (namely, by infection), i.e. likewise led astray into an unholy walk. Comp. Gal_5:9.
[119] Hofmann will on that account have ᾖ indeed added in thought, but then have this explained not as a mere copula, but in the sense: there being present.
[120] Comp. 1Ma_1:10 : καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἐξ αὐτῶν ῥίζα ἁμαρτωλός , Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφανής .