thought is that the sympathy of Christ is grounded on the fact that He felt temptation when exposed to suffering.
According to the second view the thought is that the range of Christ's sympathy is as wide as His experience.
The second view seems to fall in best with the context. The region of Christ's suffering through temptation includes the whole area of human life, and His sympathy is no less absolute. The aujtov" is not to be taken exclusively either with pevponqen or with peirasqeiv" . Though Son Christ Himself knew both suffering and temptation.
Primasius (Atto) interprets very strangely: in eo, id est homine. ejn w|/ pevponqen ] wherein he hath suffered. The tense fixes attention upon the permanent effect and not on the historic fact. Comp. 2:9 hjlattwmevnon, ejstefanwmevnon , and 4:15; 12:3 notes. For pavscein see 13:12.
The suffering which was coincident with the temptation remained as the ground of compassion. For the general thought compare Ex. 23:9; Deut. 10:19.
peirasqeiv"
......
peirazomevnoi"
] The temptation of Christ is regarded in
its past completeness (cf.
metevscen
Heb. 2:14). The temptation of men is not future only but present and continuous.
bohqh'sai
] Vulg.
auxiliari:
Mark 9:22, 24. Heb. 4:16. The aor. expresses the single, momentary, act of coming to help. Compare the use of the pres. inf. 5:7; 7:25; and contrast 4:15
mh; dunavmenon sumpaqh'sai
with 5:2
metriopaqei'n dunavmeno"
.
duvnatai...bohqh'sai
] The phrase expresses more than the simple fact
(
bohqei'
). Only one who has learnt by suffering
can
rightly feel with another in his sufferings. The perfect humanity of Christ is the ground of His sympathy. Comp. Heb. 4:15; John 5:27 (
uiJo;" ajnqrwvpou
).
Chrysostom rightly dwells on this point: peri; tou' sarkwqevnto", ejntau'qa fhsivn ,... ouj ga;r wJ" qeo;" oi\den movnon, ajlla; kai; wJ" a[nqrwpo" e[gnw dia; th'" peivra" h|" ejpeiravqh : e[paqe pollav, oi\de sumpavscein : and again: oJ paqw;n oi\de tiv pavscei hJ ajnqrwpivnh fuvsi" .
So also Theodoret: tau'ta kata; to; ajnqrwvpeion ei[rhtai . ou[te ga;r ajrciereu;" hJmw'n wJ" qeo;" ajllj wJ" a[nqrwpo", ou[te wJ" qeo;" pevponqen ajllj wJ" a[nqrwpo", ou[te wJ" qeo;" dia; th'" peivra" memavqhken, ajllj wJ" qeo;" kai; dhmiourgo;" ginwvskei ta; pavnta safw'" .
The power of sympathy lies not in the mere capacity for feeling, but in the lessons of experience. And again, sympathy with the sinner in his trial does not depend on the experience of sin but on the experience of the strength of the temptation to sin which only the sinless can know in its full intensity. He who falls yields before the last strain. Comp. Heb. 5:8; 7:26 notes. Sin indeed dulls sympathy by obscuring the idea of evil.
Under this aspect we can understand how Christ's experience of the power of sin in others (as in the instruments of the Passion) intensified, if we may so speak, His sympathy.
In looking back over the whole section it is important to notice the stress which the writer lays upon the historic work of Christ. Christ is not simply a Teacher but a Redeemer, a Saviour. The Redemption of man and