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It is so used again Heb. 6:5; 9:1; 12:2; and in St Paul only Rom. 2:19; 16:26; 1 Cor. 4:21; Eph. 3:19.
fevrwn ...] bearing or guiding , Vulg. portans , O. L. ferens v. gerens. This present and continuous support and carrying forward to their end of all created things was attributed by Jewish writers to God no less than their

creation. ‘God, blessed be He, bears ( lbws ) the world’ ( Shem. R. § 36

referring to Is. 46:4; compare Num. 11:14; Deut. 1:9). The action of God is here referred to the Son (comp. Col. 1:17).

The word fevrein is not to be understood simply of the passive support of a burden (yet notice Heb. 13:13; 12:20); “for the Son is not an Atlas sustaining the dead weight of the world.” It rather expresses that ‘bearing’ which includes movement, progress, towards an end. The Son in the words of OEcumenius periavgei kai; sunevcei kai; phdalioucei' ... ta; ajovrata kai; ta; oJrata; perifevrwn kai; kubernw'n . The same general sense is given by Chrysostom: fevrwn ... toutevsti, kubernw'n, ta; diapivptonta sugkratw'n . tou' ga;r poih'sai to;n kovsmon oujc h|ttovn ejsti to; sugkrotei'n ajllj, eij dei' ti kai; qaumasto;n eijpei'n, kai; mei'zon ( Hom. 2.3). And so Primasius: verbo jussionis suae omnia gubernat et regit, non enim minus est gubernare mundum quam creasse...in gubernando vero ea quae facta sunt ne ad nihilum redeant continentur.

Gregory of Nyssa goes yet further, and understands fevrwn of the action by which the Son brings things into existence: ta; suvmpanta tw'/ rJhvmati th'" dunavmew" aujtou' fevrei oJ Lovgo" ejk tou' mh; o[nto" eij" gevnesin : pavnta ga;r o{sa th;n a[u>lon ei[lhce fuvsin mivan aijtivan e[cei th'" uJpostavsew" to; rJh'ma th'" ajfravstou dunavmew" ( de perf. Christ. forma , Migne Patr. Gr. xlvi. p. 265). For this sense of fevrein compare Philo quis rer. div. haer. § 7 (1.477 M.); de mut. nom. § 44 (1:6, 7 M.).

Philo expresses a similar idea to that of the text when he speaks of oJ phdaliou'co" kai; kubernhvth" tou' panto;" lovgo" qei'o" ( De Cherub. § 11; 1.145
M.). And Hermas gives the passive side of it
Sim. 9.14, 5 to; o[noma tou' uiJou' tou' qeou' mevga ejsti; kai; ajcwvrhton kai; to;n kovsmon o{lon bastavzei : eij ou\n pa'sa hJ ktivsi" dia; tou' uiJou' tou' qeou' bastavzetai ...
ta; pavnta ] as contrasted with pavnta (John 1:2). All things in their unity: Heb. 2:8, 10 (not 3:4); Rom. 8:32; 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6; 15:27 f.; 2 Cor. 4:15; 5:18; Eph. 1:10 f.; 3:9; 4:10, 15; Phil. 3:21; Col. 1:16 f.; 20; 1 Tim. 6:13.

See also 1 Cor. 11:12; 12:6; Gal. 3:22; Phil. 3:8; Eph. 1:23; 5:13. The reading in 1 Cor. 9:22, and perhaps in 12:19, is wrong.
tw'/ rJ. th'" dun. ] by the word —the expression— of His (Christ's) power , the word in which His power finds its manifestation (compare Rev. 3:10 to;n lovgon th'" uJpomonh'" mou ). As the world was called into being by an utterance ( rJh'ma ) of God (Heb. 11:3), so it is sustained by a like expression of the divine will. The choice of the term as distinguished from lovgo" marks, so to speak, the particular action of Providence. Gen. 1:3 ei\pen oJ qeov" .
dun. aujtou' ] The pronoun naturally refers to the Son, not to the Father, in spite of the preceding clauses, from the character of the thought. kaq. poihsavmeno" ] having made—when He had made—purification of sins. This clause introduces a new aspect of the Son. He has been regarded in His absolute Nature ( w[n ), and in His general relation to finite being ( fevrwn ): now He is seen as He entered into the conditions of life in a world disordered


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