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or ‘think that he has...,’ are less natural and less forcible. uJsterhkevnai ] to have come short , Vulg. deesse , to have failed to attain the promised rest in spiritual possession. The tense marks not only a present (Rom. 3:23 uJsterou'ntai ) or past defeat (2 Cor. 12:11 uJstevrhsa ) but an abiding failure.

3:2. kai; gavr ...] For indeed ... Comp. 5:12; 10:34; 12:29; 13:22. The omission of the pronoun ( hJmei'" ) throws the emphasis upon ejsme;n eujhg. (comp. 13:10). ‘For indeed we have received a message of good tidings—a promise of rest—even as also they (5:6). For ejsm. eujhgg. see 7:20; 10:20 notes.

For the construction see Matt. 11:5 || Lk. 7:22; 2 Sam. 18:31; Joel 2:32; and compare Heb. 8:5 kecrhmavtistai Mwush'" : the perfect ( ejsm. eujhgg. ) marks the present continuance of the message, which was not simply one past announcement (4:6 oiJ pr. eujaggelisqevnte" ).

The Vulg. renders the phrase very inadequately: etenim et nobis nuntiatum est. It may be added that the noun eujaggevlion , which is found in all St Paul's Epistles except that to Titus, does not occur in the Epistle. kaqavper ] Elsewhere in the N.T. (not 5:4) only in St Paul's Epistles (about 15 times).
ajllav ... toi'" ajkouvsasin ] It is possible that there is here some primitive corruption of the text (see Additional Note). At the same time the general drift of the passage is clear, and both the readings which have found acceptance on adequate authority, (1) sunkekerasmevnou" [ -kekramevnou" ], and (2) sunkekerasmevno" [ -kekramevno" ], can be brought into agreement with it.

(1) If the former ( sunkekerasmevnou" ) be adopted, the sense must be: ‘But the mere hearing did not profit them because they were not united by faith with them that truly heard ,’ ‘with the body of the faithful,’ or, perhaps,
with them that first heard ,’ ‘with those to whom the message was given’ (comp. Heb. 2:3), that is, Moses and Joshua and Caleb. The verb sugkeravnnusqai is used of the intimate association of familiar friendship in classical and late Greek; but this pregnant sense of oiJ ajkouvsante" after oJ lovgo" th'" ajkoh'" and eja;n ajkouvshte of the Psalm appears to be unnatural.

(2) If on the other hand we read sunkekerasmevno" there is a choice of two constructions. We may either ( a ) take th'/ pivstei as the dative of the instrument joining toi'" ajkouvsasin closely with sunkekerasmevno" : ‘the word did not profit them because it was not incorporated by faith in them that heard ,’ ‘because they were not vitally inspired with the divine message though they outwardly received it.’ Or again ( b ) we may connect th'/ pivstei with sunkekerasmevno" , and regard toi'" ajkouvsasin as a dative of reference: ‘the word did not profit them because it was not united with faith for them that heard , ‘because the word itself was not quickened by the power of faith so as to effect its vital work.’ Of these two interpretations the former seems to be the simpler and more expressive; but both are open to the serious objection that it is strange that ejkeivnou" and toi'" ajkouvsasin should be applied to the same persons.

On the whole however, if it be supposed that the true reading has been preserved by our existing authorities, the former of these two renderings of the reading sunkekerasmevno" appears to offer the least difficulty; and it may be urged that the addition of toi'" ajkouvsasin is required to bring out the


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