<- Previous   First   Next ->

Cyr. 8.2, 20. Comp. Apoc. 17:17 (the usage in Acts 19:31 is strange).

The result of didovnai eij" is marked in the phrase didovnai ejn ...2 Cor. 1:22; 8:16. Compare John 3:35 with John 13:3.
th;n diavnoian ... kardiva" ] Diavnoia expresses the discursive faculty of thought, while kardiva is the seat of man's personal life, the moral character. Comp. Addit. Note on Heb. 4:12.

Comp. Lk. 1:51 dianoiva/ kardiva" . 1 Chron. 29:18. See also Eph. 1:18 ( v. l. ); 1 Pet. 1:13; Eph. 4:18 ( diavnoia, nou'" ); 1 John 5:20.

Kardiva" may be gen. sing. or acc. pl. (Vulg. in corde. O. L. in cordibus ). Both constructions are good. The corresponding word in the original is singular, and so probably is kardiva" here: Prov. 7:3. kai; e[somai...laovn ] The end of the new Covenant is the same as that of the old. In both cases the purpose of God was to form a people truly His own: Ex. 6:7.

This end was accomplished externally and typically by the separation and training of the Jewish people; but more than this was required. The type had to find its fulfilment. To this fulfilment the prophets looked; and the apostles proclaimed it: Apoc. 21:3 ( laoiv v. laov" ); 2 Cor. 6:16.

Nothing is said directly in the prophets or in the Epistle of the admission of the Gentiles into ‘the Commonwealth of Israel.’ This fact is included in the recognition of the essential spirituality of the new Covenant. Compare Hos. 1:9; 2:1; Is. 61:9; Zech. 13:9; Heb. 2:17 ( tou' laou' ); 13:12 notes.

For the construction ei\nai eij" see Heb. 1:5 note. 8:11. A second characteristic of the new Covenant follows directly from the first. The people are brought into true fellowship with God, and this involves an immediate knowledge of Him. No privileged class is interposed between the mass of men and God. All are true scribes (John 6:45) in virtue of the teaching within them (1 John 2:20, 27). All have immediate access to the divine Presence.

The description marks the absolute relation, but does not define how the universal privilege will be in fact realised.
ouj mh; didavxwsin ] Heb. 8:12; 13:5; 10:17 (fut.). See Moulton-Winer, p.
636.

to;n pol. ... to;n ajd. ] The more general and the more special relations
have their respective obligations.
Polivth" occurs a few times in the LXX. as a

rendering of ['rE e.g., Prov. 24:43 (28); Jer. 36:23 (39:23). Comp. Heb. 11:10

Additional Note. gnw'qi ... eijdhvsousin ...] Latt. cognosce...scient .... The Lord will not be a
stranger to be first recognised: all will have an absolute, inborn, acquaintance with Him
from the least to the greatest (Latt. a minore usque ad majorem eorum ). There will be no distinction of age or station or endowments in respect of this fundamental knowledge.

This end was gained by the Incarnation (John 1:18; 17:6): tou' qeou' ejpi; th'" gh'" ejn sarki; diatrivyanto" kai; th;n fuvsinhJmw'nth'/ proslhvyei qewvsanto", e[lamyen ejn tai'" pavntwn yucai'" to; th'" ajlhqou'" qeognwsiva" fw'", kai; oi|ovn ti" ejpithdeiovth" ejnetevqh th'/ ajnqrwpivnh/ fuvsei uJpo; th'" cavrito" pro;" to; to;n o[ntw" eijdevnai qeovn (Theophlct).

Heb. 8:12. The third characteristic of the New Covenant is that which


<- Previous   First   Next ->