tou;" proserc. dij aujtou' tw'/ q. ] Compare John 14:6; 10:9; 6:37. Something is required of men answering to the gift of Christ. They use the way of God, which He has opened and which He is.
The word prosevrcesqai (comp. ejggivzein Heb. 7:19 note), is not used in this sense by St Paul nor elsewhere in N.T. except 1 Pet. 2:4 ( proserc. prov" ). Comp. Heb. 4:16 note; 10:1, 22; 11:6; 12:18, 22. Theophylact expresses the thought very neatly: aujthv ejsti hJ pro;" to;n patevra oJdov", kai; oJ tauvth" draxavmeno" ejkei' kataluvei .
A remarkable reading,
accedens
(for
accedentes
), which is not quoted from any existing MS., is noticed by Primasius (so also Sedul.): Quod vero quidam codices habent
Accedens per semetipsum ad Deum
, quidam vero plurali numero
Accedentes
, utrumque recipi potest.
pavntote zw'n eij" to; ejnt.
]
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession
, Vulg.
semper vivens ad interpellandum
(O. L.
exorandum
). The final clause
eij" tov
... in connexion with
zw'n
can only express the purpose (aimed at or attained). Comp. Heb. 2:17 note. The very end of Christ's Life in heaven, as it is here presented, is that He may fulfil the object of the Incarnation, the perfecting of humanity.
The word
pavntote
belongs to later Greek and is said by the grammarians to represent the
eJkavstote
of the classical writers. In the N.T. it has almost supplanted
ajeiv
(which occurs very rarely), yet so that the thought of each separate occasion on which the continual power is manifested is generally present (e.g., John 6:34; Phil. 1:4). As often (speaking humanly) as Christ's help is needed He is ready to give it.
ejntugcavnein
] The word is of rare occurrence in the N.T. and is not found in the LXX. translation of the books of the Hebrew Canon; though it is not unfrequent in late Greek in the sense of meeting with (lighting upon) a person or thing. It is found in this sense 2 Macc. 6:12 (
th'/ bivblw/
). Comp. 2 Macc. 2:25; 15:39.
From this sense comes the secondary sense of meeting with a person with a special object. This purpose is sometimes definitely expressed: Wisd. 8:21 ejnevtucon tw'/ kurivw/ kai; ejdehvqhn aujtou' . 3 Macc. 6:37 ejnevtucon tw'/ basilei'...aijtouvmeno" . Sometimes it is only implied: Wisd. 16:28; 2 Macc. 4:36 ( uJpe;r tou' ajpektavnqai ).
The purpose may be the invocation of action against another: 1 Macc. 8:32 ( ejnt. katav tino" ); 10:61 ff.; 11:25.
This sense is implied in Acts 25:24 ( ejntugc. tini; periv tino" ); and the exact phrase recurs, Rom. 11:2 ( ejntugc. tini; katav tino" ).
Or again the invocation may be on behalf of another: Rom. 8:27, 34 ( ejntugc. uJpevr ), 26 ( uJperent . uJpevr ).
Compare e[nteuxi" , 1 Tim. 2:1; 4:5. The object of supplication in this latter case may be either help or forgiveness. In the present passage (as in Rom. 8:26 ff.) the idea is left in the most general form. Neither the Person who is approached nor the purpose of approaching Him is defined. Whatever man may need, as man or as sinful man, in each circumstance of effort and conflict, his want finds interpretation (if we may so speak) by the Spirit and effective advocacy by Christ our (High) Priest. In the glorified humanity of the Son of man every true human wish finds perfect and prevailing expression. He pleads our cause with the Father