• συν.

hence used in the passive voice especially, in contradistinction το λαγχάνειν, "election by lot." χειροτονηθεὶς ἢ λάχων. Plato, Polit. 300. a. From this meaning of “ deliberate,” as distinct from "chance selection," in later Greek, it came to signify "election " or "choice" of any kind, whether by show of hands or not. Thus in Josephus, passim, e. g. Ant. vi. 2. 4. 9. 13. ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλεὺς κεχειροτονημένος. (See the other quotations in Wetstein, ad h. 1.) In the LXX. the word never occurs (except that in Isa. lviii. 9. xeροτονία is used in its strictly etymological sense for "putting forth the finger" in scorn.) In the New Testament it is always used, as in Josephus, for "election" generally, as in Acts, xiv. 23., of the choice of presbyters by the Apostles; and in this passage, of the election of the messenger by the congregations. It is the transference of the ancient forms of political speech to the general ideas of Christian life, life, as in the case of ккλŋola ἐκκλησία and TiσKOTOs in Greek, and "ordo," " ordinatio," "diocesis," in Latin. But from this use of the word in the Christian congregations, a new meaning sprung up in later Ecclesiastical Greek, of election by imposition of hands," thus returning in some degree

"dio

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τῇ διακονουμένη, " which is now in the process of ministration." See viii. 4.

pov, which occurs in B. C. D'. F. G. J. and the Versions, is clearly the best reading; and the reading of vμov may easily have arisen, partly from similarity of sound, partly because in this Chapter (verses 11.12.) προθυμία is generally used, not of the Apostle, but of the Corinthians. He thus states that there were two main purposes to be answered by the contribution: First, "The glory of the Lord;" as we should say, the credit which accrued to Christianity from the liberality of the Gentile Churches to the Jewish Christians. Compare Rom. xv. 16.,

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Ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be accept

able." Secondly, The proof of the Apostle's zeal for the Jewish Christians. (Compare Gal. ii. 10., "That we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do,” ἐσπούδασα).

20. σTεóμεVOι properly belongs to συνεπέμψαμεν, intimating that the reason of the Apostle's sending the brother with Titus was to avoid cause for suspicion, two going instead of one. But it probably refers to the whole sentence, not only to the Apostle's intention of vindicating Titus, but to the intention of the Churches, with the concurrence or at the suggestion of the Apostle, to vindicate himself from all suspicion. This agrees best with what follows, and also with the allusion to the same suspicion in xii. 18., from which it appears that he was charged with collecting money for his own purposes, through the means of his companions; and thus the "brother" here mentioned was added, first by the Churches at his own request, as a companion to himself, to act as a check upon his own conduct; next by himself, as a companion to Titus, to act as a check on the conduct of Titus. OTENXóμɛvo may either mean: (1.) Preparing for this," from the sense of "going on an expedition," as in Prov. xxxi. 16.

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(LXX.); 2 Macc. v. 1.; Wisdom, xiv. 1., which is also its ordinary use in classical Greek; or (2.) "Withdrawing from,"

shunning this," from the sense of "drawing in sails," in the phrase, ἱστία μὲν στείλαντο, Iliad, i. 433.; as in Mal. ii. 5., ἀπὸ προσώπου ὀνόματός μου στέλλεσθαι (LXX.), and again in Gen. viii. 1. of the flood subsiding. So in classical Greek στέλλεθαι τὸ πρόσwоv, "to draw in the face," Eur. Bacch. 669. So the Vulgate takes it here, "devitantes."

Either meaning will suit the context here; but as the second sense is the only one which will accord with the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament (2 Thess. iii. 6.: στέλλεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πάντος ἀδελφοῦ ἀτάκτως περιπατοῦνTos), it is to be preferred here.

μή τις μωμήσηται. See vi. 2., where the word occurs in a similar context. ἐν τῇ ἁδρότητι ταύτῃ. ἁδρότης is properly "thickness," as of snow; then then "fulness," "ripeness," as of corn; then "largeness' of any kind, chiefly of body. Hence aopos in LXX. is used for the "rich" or "great," like procerus in Latin (1 Kings, i. 9., x. 6. 11. ; Job, xxix. 10., xxxiv. 19.), in which sense only (except as applied to the unicorn or buffalo, the emblem of power, Isa.

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xxxiv. 7.) it occurs in the LXX.

In the New Testament, the word occurs only here, and is evidently used in the sense of "abundance," as in Zosimus, quoted by Wetstein; in this passage, apparently to indicate the need there was for caution in a contribution so large as this promised to be.

The

προνοοῦμεν γὰρ καλὰ οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον κυρίου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον ἀνθρώπων. These words occur almost verbatim in Rom. xii. 17. in speaking of dealings with the heathen world. προνοεῖσθαι is to take precautions for." words are taken from Proverbs iii. 4. (LXX.): προνοοῦ καλὰ ἐνώπιον κυρίου καὶ ἀνθρώπων. B. D. Ε. F. G. read προνοοῦμεν γάρ. The Received Reading (J. K.) is probably copied from Rom. xii.17.

22. For the conjectures respecting this third "brother," see viii. 16.

πεποιθήσει πολλῇ τῇ εἰς ὑμᾶς may be, I send the brother, &c., with the confidence which I have in you, whether on behalf of Titus," &c. But it is better to connect it with σπουδαιότερον,

which else wants an explanation: “ more earnest by reason of the confidence in you inspired by Titus's account.'

23. εἴτε ὑπὲρ Τίτου, κ. τ. λ. He now winds up his account of the messengers, with a general recommendation of them to the Corinthian Church. The sense is easy, though the construction is abrupt. After Τίτου must be supplied some such phrase as λέγω. For the use of εἴτε with independent nominatives, see 1 Cor. xiii. 8.: elte γλώσσαι... εἴτε γνῶσις, κ. τ. λ.

κοινωνὸς is generally used with some word to express in what it is that the person participates. But here and in Philem. 17., standing alone, it must be “ my intimate companion.

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καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς σύνεργος, “ and especially my fellow labourer towards you.'

ἀπόστολοι ἐκκλησιῶν. “ They are messengers of congregations." From the omission of the article, it is evident that the stress is laid on ἐκκλησιῶν, to express the authority with which they came. It would appear from this, that the expressions χειροτονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν in verse 19., applies