perplexed by the phrase: ne forte pereffluamus; id est, ne forte pereamus et a salute excidamus; vel ne forte evanescamus, transeuntes in perditionem more fluminis currentis in mare...
The Greek Christian writers use the word in the same sense as it has here, and perhaps they derived the usage from the Epistle: e.g., Clem. Alex. Paed. iii. § 58 p. 288 P. dio; kai; sustevllein crh; ta;" gunai'ka" kosmivw" kai; perisfivggein aijdoi' swvfroni, mh; pararruw'si th'" ajlhqeiva" dia; caunovthta .
Orig. c. Cels. 8.23 The great mass of simple believers, who cannot keep every day as a divine festival, need sensible patterns in fixed holy days that they may not wholly drift away ( i{na mh; tevleon pararruh'/ ) under popular influences from the observance of regular religious duties.
Heb. 2:2, 3a.
eij gavr
...] The necessity of heedful care is grounded on the certainty of retribution. This certainty is proportional to the authority of the revelation. Comp. 1 Clem. 41:4
o{sw/ pleivono" kathxiwvqhmen gnwvsew" tosouvtw/ ma'llon uJpokeivmeqa kinduvnw/
.
oJ dij ajgg. lal. lovgo"
]
the word
the revelation
spoken through angels
, as the organs of the Divine communication, that is the Law. Vulg.
qui per angelos dictus est sermo.
The title
lovgo"
(not
novmo"
) is given to the Law in order to characterise it as the central part of the Old Revelation round which all later words were gathered. So throughout the Epistle the Law is regarded as a gracious manifestation of the divine will, and not as a code of stern discipline. The connexion of the angels with the giving of the Law is recognised elsewhere in the N. T., Gal. 3:19
diatagei;" dij ajggevlwn
; Acts 7:53 (comp. v. 38)
eij" diataga;" ajggevlwn
. So also Josephus represents Herod as saying that the Jews learnt
ta; oJsiwvtata tw'n ejn toi'" novmoi" dij ajggevlwn para; tou' qeou\
(
Antt.
15.5, 3). By a natural process of interpretation the attendance of the angels at the revelation on Sinai (Deut. 33:2; Ps. 68:17) was taken to indicate their ministration. The presence of angels is not noticed in Ex. 19, and Philo seems purposely to avoid referring the phenomena at the Lawgiving to their action (
de Decal.
§ 9 (2.185 M.)
keleuvsa"...dhmiourghqh'nai...yuch;n logikhvn
...).
ejgevn. bevbaio"
]
proved sure
, not only
was assured, confirmed
(
ejbebaiwvqh
v. 3) by some external authority; but, as it were, vindicated its own claims. There is in the divine Law a self-executing power. It confirms itself. Compare the significant variation in the construction in Rom. 2:6 ff.
ajpodwvsei
...
toi'" kaqj uJpomonh;n e[rgou ajgaqou' dovxan
...
toi'" de; ejx ejriqiva"
...
ojrgh; kai; qumov"
...together with Origen's note
in Rom.
Lib. ii. § 6.
The verb always retains its force in these periphrastic forms Heb. 3:14; 5:5, 12; 6:4; 7:12, 18, 20, 23; 10:33; 11:6 f.; 12:8; 1 Cor. 3:13; 11:19. paravb. kai; parak. ] Vulg. praevaricatio et inobedientia. Paravbasi" describes the actual transgression, a positive offence (the overt act); parakohv describes properly the disobedience which fails to fulfil an injunction, and so includes negative offences(the spirit). Comp. 2 Cor. 10:6; Rom. 5:19 (Matt. 18:17 parakouvein ). The word parakohv is not found in the LXX. ( parakouvein Esth. 3:3, 8 [4:13]; Is. 65:12). Praevaricatio est vetita facere, inobedientia vero jussa non facere (Herv.).
In Rom. 5 the sin of Adam is described successively as paravbasi" 5:14 (the simple fact); paravptwma 5:17, 18 (contrasted with the dikaiwvma of Christ: the fact in its relation to the divine order); parakohv 5:19 (contrasted