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no longer taking part in the assembly, but of abandoning, leaving the assembly exposed to peril in the conflict. Compare Heb. 13:5 note; 2 Tim. 4:10, 16 ( D. me ejgkatevlipen ); 2 Cor. 4:9 ( diwkovmenoi ajllj oujk ejgkataleipovmenoi ); Matt. 27:46 i{na tiv me ejgkatevlipe" ;
jEpisunagwghv , which expresses the assembly formed and not only the act of assembling (compare suvnaxi" Suicer, Thes. s. v.), occurs again in a different connexion in 2 Thess. 2:1, where the force of the ejpiv is seen, as marking a definite centre to which the gathering is directed, that is, Christ. Comp. Matt. 18:20 sunhgmevnoi eij" to; ejmo;n o[noma . The verb is found in significant passages: Matt. 23:37; 24:31; Luke 17:37; compare 2 Macc. 2:7. The use of eJautw'n (i.e. hJmw'n aujtw'n ) for the simple hJmw'n fixes attention on the meeting as characteristically Christian. For the use of eJautw'n see Heb. 3:13 note.

Wetstein quotes from Augustine ( Conf. 8.2, 4) the striking account of the conversion of the rhetorician Victorinus: dicebat Simpliciano [his Christian friend] non palam sed secretius et familiarius: Noveris me jam esse Christianum. Et respondebat ille: Non credam, nec deputabo te inter Christianos, nisi in ecclesia Christi te videro. Ille autem irridebat dicens: Ergo parietes faciunt Christianos? Et hoc saepe dicebat jam se esse Christianum; et Simplicianus illud saepe respondebat, et saepe ab illo parietum irrisio repetebatur.

The account of his public profession (§ 5) illustrates the oJmologiva . Chrysostom notices the twofold blessing of the Christian gatherings: oi\den ajpo; th'" sunousiva" kai; th'" ejpisunagwgh'" pollh;n ou\san th;n ijscuvn (Matt. 18:20)... ouj dia; tou'to de; movnon, ajllj ejpeidh; kai; ta; th'" ajgavph" aujxavnetai dia; th'" ejpisunagwgh'" .
kaqw;" e[qo" tisivn ] Vulg. sicut est consuetudinis (— ni V. L.) quibusdam. Such conduct on the side of Christians would arise partly from fear lest they should provoke the active hostility of the Jewish authorities; partly from self- confidence, as though they no longer needed the assistance of ordinary common worship where the general average of spiritual life might be counted too low to aid more mature believers. And yet more than this, the Christian assemblies must have appeared insignificant when compared with those to which the Hebrews were accustomed. Other traces of the practice are found: Jude 19 oiJ ajpodiorivzonte" (perhaps, though eJautou;" must be omitted). Barn. Ep. 4.10 mh; kaqj eJautou;" ejnduvnonte" monavzete wJ" h[dh dedikaiwmevnoi . Herm. Sim. 9.26 monavzonte" ajpolluvasi ta;" eJautw'n yucav" . Comp. Ign. ad Ephes. 5, 13; Did. 16.

And Primasius gives the same explanation of the evil habit: deserebant collectionem habitantes soli, ut deo liberius viderentur vacare.
ajlla; parakalou'nte" ] But on the contrary cheer (Vulg. consolantes ) the timid, and stimulate the backward, by your example. Comp. Heb. 3:13; 12:5; 13:22 tou' lovgou th'" paraklhvsew" .

Such ‘exhortation’ would have regard both to dangers from without and to dangers from within. Christians had need of courage and they had need of progress. [Hortatur] consolari simpliciores et suo exemplo confortare (Primas.). Sublevatio laboris est visio collaborantis ut in itinere fit (Ambr. ap. Pet. Lomb.).
kai; tos. ma'llon o{sw/ ... th;n hJmevran ] The actual position of the things,


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