form (as contrasted with hJ cavri" tou' qeou' 12:15), by grace, and that grace of Him Whose Nature is the pledge of its efficacy, see Heb. 3:4 note. Comp. Lk. 2:40; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 1:12.
The reading
cwri;" qeou'
is capable of being explained in several ways.
(1) Christ died apart from His divinity. His divine Nature had no share in His death.
(2) Christ died apart from God, being left by God, and feeling the completeness of the separation as the penalty of sin. Comp. Matt. 27:46.
(3) Christ died for all, God only excepted. Compare 1 Cor. 15:27.
(4) Christ died to gain all, to bring all under His power, God only excepted.
But all these thoughts seem to be foreign to the context, while it is natural to bring out the greatness of God's grace in fulfilling His original counsel of love in spite of man's sin. The reference to the grace of God seems to be the necessary starting point of the argument in the next section:
For it became
...
uJpe;r pantov"
] Vulg.
pro omnibus.
Syr.
for every man.
Comp. Mark 9:49; Luke 16:16. The singular points to the effect of Christ's work on the last element of personality. Christ tasted death not only for all but for each. The thought throughout the passage (v. 16) is directed to personal objects; and in such a connexion the phrase could hardly mean for everything (
neut.
). This thought however is included in the masculine. Creation is redeemed in man (Rom. 8:19 ff.). Comp. 5:11
ejx eJnov"
.
The notes of the Greek commentators are of considerable interest. ORIGEN: mevga" ejsti;n ajrciereu;" oujc uJpe;r ajnqrwvpwn movnon ajlla; kai; panto;" logikou' ... kai; ga;r a[topon uJpe;r ajnqrwpivnwn me;n aujto;n favskein aJmarthmavtwn gegeu'sqai qanavtou, oujkevti de; kai; uJpe;r a[llou tino;" para; to;n a[nqrwpon ejn aJmarthvmasi gegennhmevnou, oi|on uJpe;r a[strwn (Job 25:5) ( In Joh. Tom. i. § 40).
THEODORET: to; mevntoi pavqo" uJpe;r aJpavntwn uJpevmeine . pavnta ga;r o{sa ktivsthn e[cei th;n fuvsin tauvth" ejdei'to th'" qerapeiva" ...He then refers to Rom. 8:19 ff., and supposes that the angels will be gladdened by man's salvation: uJpe;r aJpavntwn toivnun to; swthvrion uJpevmeine pavqo" : movnh ga;r hJ qeiva fuvsi" th'" ejnteu'qen ginomevnh" qerapeiva" ajnendehv" ( ad loc. ).
CHRYSOSTOM: oujci; [ uJpe;r ] tw'n pistw'n movnon, ajlla; kai; th'" oijkoumevnh" aJpavsh" : aujto;" me;n ga;r uJpe;r pavntwn ajpevqanen . Hom. 4.2.
OECUMENIUS: ouj movnon uJpe;r ajnqrwvpwn ajlla; kai; uJpe;r tw'n a[nw dunavmewn ajpevqanen, i{na luvsh/ to; mesovtucon [ mesovtoicon ] tou' fragmou' kai; eJnwvsh/ ta; kavtw toi'" a[nw (Eph. 2:14).
Comp. 1 John 2:2. uJpevr ] not in place of , but in behalf of. Comp. Heb. 5:1; 6:20; 7:25; 9:24. geuvshtai qanavtou ] Comp. Matt. 16:28; John 8:52 note. Arist. Apol. p. 110, 50:19.
The phrase, which is not found in the Old Testament, expresses not only the fact of death, but the conscious experience, the tasting the bitterness, of death. Man, as he is, cannot feel the full significance of death, the consequence of sin, though he is subject to the fear of it (Heb. 2:15); but Christ, in His sinlessness, perfectly realised its awfulness. In this fact lies the immeasurable difference between the death of Christ, simply as death, and