<- Previous   First   Next ->

faithlessness (v. 17).

14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord; 15 looking carefully lest there be any man that falleth back from the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and through this the many be defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright. 17 For ye know that even afterward, when he wished to inherit the blessing, he was rejected—for he found no place for repentance—though he sought it diligently with tears.

12:14. eijr. diwvk. ... kai; to;n aJg. ...] Ps. 34:14; 1 Pet. 3:11; Rom. 12:18.
The writer extends his view to the wider relations of life; and the two commands which he gives express the aim and the necessary limitation of the Christian's intercourse with ‘the world.’ The Christian seeks peace with all alike, but he seeks holiness also, and this cannot be sacrificed for that.

The parallel with Rom. 12:18 suggests that pavntwn must not be limited in any way. On the other hand the next verse takes account only of members of the Christian society. But the thought of aJgiasmov" supplies a natural transition from a wider to a narrower view. The graces of purity and peacemaking are the subjects of two successive beatitudes: Matt. 5:8, 9.

The use of diwvkete marks the eagerness and constancy of the pursuit. Compare 1 Pet. 3:11 (Ps. 34:15) zhthsavtw eijrhvnhn kai; diwxavtw aujthvn

( .Whpâ ' d“r:w“ ). Elsewhere the metaphorical use of the word in the N. T. is

confined to St Paul. Diwvkete, toutevsti kai; povrrw ou\san th;n eijrhvnhn spoudavzete katalabei'n (Theophlct.).

For to;n aJgiasmovn (Vulg. sanctimoniam ) compare Heb. 12:10; Rom. 6:16, 22. The definite article (again only 1 Thess. 4:3) marks the familiar Christian embodiment of the virtue. (Contrast the anarthrous eijrhvnhn .)

The word aJgiasmov" is peculiar to Biblical and Ecclesiastical Greek. It occurs rarely in the LXX. (not in Lev. 23:27 according to the true reading). On the idea see Heb. 9:13, note. Perhaps it may be most simply described as the preparation for the presence of God. Without it no man shall see the Lord , that is, Christ, for whose return in glory believers wait: Heb. 9:28. For o[yetai see Matt. 5:8; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 13:12; Ex. 33:19 ff. (Judg. 13:22); and for to;n kuvrion , Heb. 8:2 note.

12:15, 16. The conditions of social intercourse impose upon Christians the obligation of constant watchfulness lest the unchristian element should communicate its evil to the Church.

The three clauses mhv ti" uJst. ajpov ..., mhv ti" rJivza ..., mhv ti" povrno" ... are in some sense bound together by the use of a finite verb in the second only. At the same time the element of evil is presented in successive stages of development. At first it is want of progress: this defect spreads as a source of positive infidelity: at last there is open contempt of duties and privileges.

The first and third clauses may be treated as parallel with the second, so that ejnoclh'/ is taken with all three; or (which seems a simpler construction) h\/ may be supplied in them, so that they become independent clauses: ‘lest there be any among you falling short...lest there be among you any fornicator...’ In Deut. 29:18 the verb expressed is ejstivn : ‘whether there be...’; but ejnoclh'/ more naturally suggests h\/ here.

Heb. 12:15. ejskopou'nte" mhv ti" uJst. ...] (1 Pet. 5:2; not in LXX. Vulg.


<- Previous   First   Next ->