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98 w#ste, as at the beginning of chaps. vii., x.
99 Comp. Ps. lxxii.. (LXX. lxxi.) 5, 17.
100 Jer. vii. 11. Comp. Matt. xxi. 13; Mark xi. 17; Luke xix. 46.
101 Harnack says "The Jewish synagogue is the church of death." Lightfoot, more correctly, accepts a contrast "between mere external membership in the visible body and spiritual communion in the celestial counterpart."
102 Comp. Eph. i. 23 and many similar passages.
103 Gen. 1. 27; comp. Eph. v. 31-33.
104 The reference here is probably to the Old-Testament "books," while the term "Apostles" may mean the New Testament in whole or part. The more direct reference probably is to Genesis and Ephesians.
105 Lightfoot inserts in brackets le/gousin, dh=lon, rendering as above. Hilgenfeld suggests fasi\n oi#date, "Ye know that the books, etc., say that." Bryennios joins this sentence to the preceding, taking the whole as dependent on a/gnoei=n. Ropes renders accordingly, making a parenthesis from "for the Scripture" to "the Church." In any case a verb of saying must be supplied, as in the Syriac.
106 a!nwqen has a local and a temporal sense; the latter is obviously preferable here.
107 "Jesus" is the subject of the latter part of the sentence.
108 "Keep her pure;" comp. chap. viii. Lightfoot renders threi=n, "guard," here and elsewhere.
109 The verb corresponds with that rendered "partake" in what follows.
110 "Copy," a!ti/tupoj, a0nti/tupon. Comp. Heb. ix. 24; 1 Pet iii. 21. Our use of "antitype" is different. The antithesis here is auu/qentiko/n, the original, or archetype. This mystical interpretation has a Platonic basis.
111 Comp. the close of chap. viii.
112 Lightfoot calls attention to the confusion of metaphors; but there is also evidence of that false exegesis which made "flesh" and "spirit" equivalent to "body" and "soul,"-an error which always leads to further mistakes.
113 Here the word "flesh" is used in an ambiguous sense.
115 peri\ e0gkpatei/aj, "temperance" in the wide New-Testament sense. Lightfoot, "continence;" in these days the prominent danger was from libidinous sins.
116 Comp. Jas. v. 19, 20, with which our passage has many verbal correspondences.
117 "A favorite word with our author, especially in this connection."-Lightfoot.
119 ei/j to\ dido/nai tou= ai/tou=ntoj; the sense of the elliptical construction is obviously as above.
120 e0autoi=j. Here again in the reciprocal sense; comp. chap. xiii.
121 a0formhn labo/ntej, as in Rom. vii. 8, 11.
122 kairo\n e!xontej, "seeing that we have time" (Lightfoot). But "opportunity" is more exact.
123 a0potacw/meqa, "bid farewell to;" comp. chap. vi.
125 Comp. Isa. xxxiv. 4, which resembles the former clause, and 2 Pet. iii. 7, 10, where the same figures occur. The text seems to be corrupt: tinej ("some") is sustained by both the Greek and the Syriac, but this limitation is so peculiar as to awaken suspicion; still, the notion of several heavens might have been in the author's mind.
126 Comp. Tobit xii. 8, 9; but the position given to almsgiving seems to be contradicted by the next sentence. Lightfoot seems to suspect a corruption of text here also, but in the early Church there was often an undue emphasis placed upon almsgiving.
127 1 Pet. iv. 8. Comp. Prov. x. 12; Jas. v. 20.
128 Literally, "becometh a lightener (kou/fisma) of sin;" comp. Ecclus. iii. 30.
129 Lightfoot, with Syriac, reads i!na kai\ tou=to pra/sswmen. Comits i!na, and reads pra/ssomen, "If we have commandments and practice this."
130 Here Lightfoot thinks a verb has probably fallen out of the text.
131 Bryennios thus connects: "in order that all may be saved, and may convert," etc.
132 "This clearly shows that the work before us is a sermon delivered in church"(Lightfoot). The preacher is himself one of "the presbyters;" comp. chap. xix. It is possible, but cannot be proven, that he was the head of the presbyters, the parochial bishop.
133 e0ntalma/twn, not the technical word for the commandments of the Decalogue (e0ntolai).
134 Syriac, "praying," which Lightfoot thinks may be correct; but proserxo/menoi might very easily be mistaken for proseuxo/menoi. The former means coming in worship: comp. Heb. x. 1, 22.
135 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Phil. ii. 2.
136 Isa. lxvi. 18. But "tribes" is inserted; comp. Dan. iii. 7. The phrase "shall see His glory" is from the passage in Isaiah, The language seems to be put into the mouth of Christ by the preacher.
137 This implies various degrees of reward among these redeemed.
138 to\ basi/leion; not exactly "the kingdom," rather "the kingly rule." e0n tw= 'Ihsou= is rightly explained by Lightfoot, "in the hands, in the power, of Jesus;" cenisqhontai is rendered above "shall think it strange," as in 1 Pet. iv. 4, 12.
139 "He" is properly supplied as frequently in the Gospels. There seems to be a reminiscence of John viii. 24 and similar passages.
140 Isa. lxvi. 24; comp. chap. vii. above.
141 C reads u9min, as often, for h9mi=n, Syriac, accepted by all editors.
142 panqamartolo/j; occurring only here; but a similar word, parqama/rthtoj, occurs in the Teaching, v. 2, Apostolical Constitutions, vii. 18, and Barnabas, xx.
143 toi=j o0rga/noij; comp. Ignat., Rom., iv., Ante-Nicene Fathers, i. p. 75, where the word is rendered "instruments," and applied to the teeth of the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. Here Lightfoot renders "engines," regarding the metaphor as military.
144 The phrase ka@n au0th=j implies a doubt of attaining the aim, in accord with the tone of humility which obtains in this chapter.
145 Comp. the opening sentence of Barnabas, "Sons and daughters," Ante-Nicene Fathers, i. p. 137; see also chap. xx.
146 If any doubt remained as to the character of this writing, it would be removed by this sentence. The passage is elliptical, meta\ to\n qeo\n tnj= a0lnqei/aj, but there is no doubt as to the meaning. The Scripture was read, and listening to it was regarded as hearing the voice of God, whose words of truth were read. Then followed the sermon or exhortation; comp. Justin, First Apology, chap. lxvii. (vol. i. p. 186). That lessons from some at least of the New Testament were included at the date of this homily, seems quite certain; comp. the references to the New Testament in chaps. ii., iii., iv., and elsewhere. It is here implied that this homily was written and "read."
147 The word e@nteuzij, here used, means intercession, or supplication, to God (comp. 1 Tim. ii. 1, iv. 5) in early Christian literature: but the classical sense is "entreaty:" so in the opening sentence of Justin, First Apology (vol. i. p. 163, where it is rendered "petition").
148 Lightfoot, with Syriac and most editors, reads skopo/n; but C has konpon, so Bryennios.
149 C had originally filosofei=n (accepted by Hilgenfeld), but was corrected to filoponei=n. The latter is confirmed by the Syriac, and now generally accepted, though Hilgenfeld uses the other reading to support his view that Clement of Alexandria was the author.
151 C inserts tou/tw; so Bryennios, Hilgenfeld, and others. Lightfoot omits, with Syriac. The punctuation above given is that of Bryennios and Lightfoot. Hilgenfeld joins this clause with what precedes.
152 pei=ran a0qlou=men; the construction is classical, and the figure common in all Greek literature.
153 The verbs here are aorists, and have been rendered by the English past tense; the present participle (mh\ o@n di/kaion) describing the character of the "spirit" must, according to English usage, conform to the main verbs. Lightfoot says, "The aorist here has its common gnomic sense;" and he therefore interprets the passage as a general statement: "Sordid motives bring their own punishment in a judicial blindness." But this gnomic sense of the aorist is not common. C reads desmo/j, which yields this sense: "and a chain weighed upon him." Hilgenfeld refers the passage to those Christians who suffered persecution for other causes than those of righteousness. Harnack thinks the author has in mind Satan, as the prince of avarice, and regards him as already loaded with chains. If the aorist is taken in its usual sense, this is the preferable explanation; but the meaning is obscure.
155 Acts iii. 15, v. 31; comp. Heb. ii. 10.
156 The doxology is interesting, as indicating the early custom of thus closing a homily. The practice, fitting in itself, naturally followed the examples in the Epistles.
1 It was the old Creed of Jerusalem slightly amended, and made the liturgic symbol of Christendom, and the exponent of Catholic orthodoxy. Compare the Creed of Caesarea, Burbidge, p. 334. But see this whole subject admirably illustrated for popular study by Burbidge, Liturgies and Offices of the Church, p. 330, etc., London, Bells, 1885.