《Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary – Hebrews (Vol. 2)》(Henry Alford)
06 Chapter 6
Verse 1
1.] Therefore (on the connexion, see below) leaving (as behind, and done with; in order to go on to another thing. “Jubet omitti ejusmodi elementa, non quod eorum oblivisci unquam debeant fideles, sed quia in illis minime est hærendum. Quod melius patet ex fundamenti similitudine quæ mox sequitur. Nam in exstruenda domo, nunquam a fundamento discedere oportet: in eo tamen jaciendo semper laborare ridiculum.” Calvin) the word of the beginning of Christ (= ἡ ἀρχὴ τῶν λογίων τοῦ θεοῦ above, ch. Hebrews 5:12; that word, or discourse, which has respect to the fundamental and elementary things mentioned below), let us press on to maturity ( φέρομαι in this sense is not uncommon: see Lycurg. in reff.: Xen. Venat. 3. 10, ἄν ποθεν ἀκούσωσι κραυγῆς, καταλείπουσαι τὰ αὐτῶν ἔργα ἀπρονοήτως ἐπὶ τοῦτο φέρονται: Polyb. v. 26. 6, πᾶσιν ἄδηλος ἦν, ἐπὶ τί φέρεται, καὶ ἐπὶ ποίας ὑπάρχει γνώμης. Bleek cites on Valcknaer’s authority φέρεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν: and in the Pythagorean school our very expression, φέρεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα, was current. A question of some difficulty has divided the Commentators here: whether this sentence be meant as expressing the resolution of the Writer, as we say, ‘let us now proceed’ to this or that,—or as conveying an exhortation to the readers. Each view has a formidable array of supporters. On the side of the former are Primasius, Erasmus, Luther, a-Lapide, Grot., Limborch, Wolf, Bengel, Michaelis, al., and Storr, Heinrichs, Abresch, Wahl, Bretschn., Kuinoel, Baumg. Crus., De Wette, Tholuck, Conybeare, al. The latter is adopted by Chrys., Thdrt., Phot., and Gennadius (in Œc.), Thl. (not decidedly), Calvin, Justiniani, Estius, Jac. Cappellus, Böhme, Stuart, Bleek, Ebrard, Lünemann, Hofm. (Schrb. i. 553). Owen tries (and so also Delitzsch) to comprehend both meanings: giving, however, the alternative very lucidly: “The Apostle either assumes the Hebrews unto himself, as to his work, or joins himself with them as to their duty. For if the words be taken the first way, they declare his resolution in teaching: if in the latter, their duty in learning.” Between these two, both equally legitimate, the context must decide. And in seeking for elements of decision, I own that the alternative seems to me to have been put too exclusively. What I mean will be plain, when we consider on the one hand that θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι can hardly be properly said of any but a teacher: and on the other, that Hebrews 6:4 ff., ἀδύνατον γὰρ κ. τ. λ., must necessarily have a general reference of warning to the hearers. It seems to me that the fact may be best stated thus: The whole is a συγκατάβασις of the Writer to his readers: he with his work of teaching comes down to their level of learning, and regards that teaching and learning as all one work, going on together: himself and them as bound up in one progress. Thus best may we explain the expressions, which seem to oscillate alternately between writer and readers. And thus will διό retain all its proper meaning, which on the first hypothesis was obliged to be wrested: so Schlichting, its advocate, confesses, and joins διό to ch. Hebrews 5:11. But now it will mean, ‘Wherefore, seeing that we (you and I, by communication) are in so low a state, babes, instead of grown men, let us,’ &c.): not again laying the foundation ( θεμ. καταβάλλεσθαι is a phrase of common occurrence in later writers. Dion. Hal. iii. 69, ταρκύνιος.… τούς τε θεμελίους ( τοῦ νεῶ) κατεβάλετο: Porphyr. de Abstin. viii. 10, οἰκίας θεμέλια καταβάλλεσθαι: Galen, Rat. Medendi ix., χρὴ γὰρ οἶμαι τὰ θεμέλια τοῖς οἰκοδομήμασιν ἰσχυρὰ προκαταβεβλῆσθαι: Jos. Antt. xi. 4. 4, εὐθὺς τοὺς θεμελίους κατεβάλετο: ib. xv. 11. 3, ἀνελὼν δὲ τοὺς ἀρχαίους θεμελίους, καὶ καταβαλόμενος ἑτέρους. Cf. 2 Maccabees 2:29, ἀρχιτέκτονι τῆς ὅλης καταβολῆς, and see examples also of βάλλεσθαι, in Bleek. It is a curious instance of the occasional singularity and perversity of Ebrard’s exposition, that he insists here on καταβαλλόμενοι meaning “pulling down:” (which however, as Delitzsch remarks, partakes of the infirmity of all would-be original interpretations, falling under the proverb, “There is nothing new under the sun:” for the old Latin has “non iterum fundamenta diruentes.”) Not to dwell on the entire inconsistency with the context, how can one be said κατα βάλλεσθαι θεμέλιον, which is in the ground already?
The subjects to be supplied to καταβαλλόμενοι are the readers, with whom the Writer unites himself, as above explained) of (the genitives here indicate the materials of which the foundation consists. They are all matters belonging to the λόγος τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ χριστοῦ: extending indeed in their influence over the whole Christian life, just as the shape of the foundation is that of the building: but to be laid down once for all and not afterwards repeated) repentance from dead works, and faith on God (so in the opening of the Gospel, Mark 1:15, μετανοεῖτε κ. πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ: and in its progress, Acts 20:21, διαμαρτυρόμενος ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ ἕλλησιν τὴν εἰς θεὸν μετάνοιαν καὶ πίστιν εἰς τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ἰησοῦν. These were the common conditions on which all mankind were invited to embrace the Gospel. And as the readers here were Jews, so would these words especially remind them of the form in which they were first invited by Christ’s messengers. But we have to notice the qualifications which here follow each term— μετάνοια ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων— πίστις ἐπὶ θεόν. The νεκρὰ ἔργα are taken by all the patristic expositors to mean sinful works: so Chrys., τὰ ἡμαρτημένα: Thdrt., τὴν πονηρίαν: Thl., τουτέστι, τὴν ἀποταγὴν τῶν ἔργων τοῦ σατανᾶ: Primas., “Pœnitentiam ab operibus mortuis agere, est ipsa opera mala per pœnitentiam delere, quæ animum mortificabant: opera namque mortis sunt peccata.” And so the great majority of modern Commentators also. And the justification of such an expression as νεκρὰ ἔργα for sins is variously given: as causing death eternal, Schlichting, J. Cappell., Limb., Peirce, Stuart, al.: as polluting, like the touch of a dead body, Chrys. (on ch. Hebrews 9:14, καλῶς εἶπεν, ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων. εἴ τις γὰρ ἥψατο τότε νεκροῦ, ἐμιαίνετο· καὶ ἐνταῦθα εἴ τις ἅψαιτο νεκροῦ ἔργου, μολύνεται διὰ τῆς συνειδήσεως), Œc. (ibid.), Storr, al. But neither of these meanings is borne out: the former being contrary to usage, the latter far-fetched and unlikely. It is much better to take νεκρός in its common and obvious meaning; dead, devoid of life and power: cf. νεκρὰ πίστις, and νεκρὰ ἁμαρτία in the reff. St. Paul speaks, Ephesians 5:11, in nearly the same sense: cf. τὰ ἔργα τὰ ἄκαρπα τοῦ σκότους. And Tholuck cites from Epict. Dissert. iii. 23, 29, νεκρὸς λόγος, in the sense of discourse without convincing power. But such dead or lifeless works again may be variously understood: either of the works of the flesh in the unconverted man, or of the Jewish works of the law which could not give life. Considering the readers and object of the Epistle, it is much more likely that the latter are here meant: those works by which they sought to set up a righteousness of their own, before they submitted themselves to God’s righteousness. And so, nearly, Delitzsch, and Hofm. Weiss. u. Erf. ii. 166. The best explanation of πίστις ἐπὶ θεόν is found in St. Paul’s language, Romans 4:5, τῷ δὲ μὴ ἐργαζομένῳ, πιστεύοντι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἀσεβῆ, λογίζεται ἡ πίστις αὐτοῦ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. And by this, our expression is defined to mean, full trust, rested on God, that He has fulfilled his promises in Christ: so Wittich, cited in Bleek: “Fides evangelio adhibita, hæc fides dicitur ἐπὶ θεόν, quia dum evangelio creditur, creditur præstitisse Deum promissa facta patribus eaque in Christo implevisse.” We may observe, that the genitives arrange themselves in groups of pairs, of which this is the first),
Verse 2
2.] of the doctrine of washings (not baptisms: βάπτισμ α is generally the N. T. word for both Christian baptism and that of John. In reff., the word is used as here of washing, or lustration with water. On the meaning, see below. Our first question is, respecting the construction. The words are taken in two other ways besides that given above. 1. Some have taken βαπτισμῶν and διδαχῆς as two distinct genitives: so Chrys, (apparently, for he says, εἰ γὰρ πάλιν αὐτοὺς ἐβάπτισε καὶ ἄνωθεν κατήχησε, καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς βαπτισθέντες ἐδιδάσκοντο τὰ πρακτέα κ. τ. λ.), an interp. given in Œc., … λόγον· ποῖον δὴ τοῦτον; τὸν τῶν βαπτισμῶν καὶ διδαχῆς καὶ ἐπιθέσεως τῶν χειρῶν κ. τ. λ.: and so Cajetan, Luther, Semler, Michaelis, al., and De Wette. But this seems very improbable. The rhythm of the sentence, which in all the other cases has two substantives in a clause, seems to forbid insulating the two words and forming a clause out of each: besides which, a double objection arises from the words themselves; that thus the plural βαπτισμ ῶν would not be accounted for, and that thus also διδαχή would have to bear a meaning which it is very doubtful if it can bear. 2. The two substantives being taken together, διδαχῆς is made the genitive dependent on βαπτισμῶν,—those baptisms which were accompanied with διδαχή, in distinction from those other washings, which were not so accompanied. This view is taken by Bengel (“ β. δ. erant baptismi quos qui suscipiebant, doctrinæ sacræ Judæorum sese addicebant; itaque adjecto διδαχῆς distinguuntur a lotionibus cæteris leviticis”), Winer (making however the distinction between Christian and Jewish baptism, § 30. 3, Rem. 4, edn. 6), Michaelis, al. Still it cannot be denied that this would be a very strange expression, and that thus the plur. βαπτισμῶν would be more unaccountable than ever, seeing that it would apply to one kind of baptism only, viz. the Christian. As regards the plur. βαπτισμ ῶν, it has been very variously taken: by some as put for the singular, in which number the Syr. translates it: by Chrys. (to whom Calv. assents), as implying the repetition of baptism involved in the πάλιν,— τί αὐτὸ πληθυντικῶς εἶπε; διὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν, μὴ πάλιν θεμ. καταβ. μετανοίας. εἰ γὰρ πάλιν αὐτοὺς ἐβάπτισε, καὶ ἄνωθεν κατήχησε, καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς βαπτισθέντες ἐδιδάσκοντο τἀ πρακτέα, καὶ τὰ μὴ πρακτέα, διηνεκῶς ἔμελλον ἀδιόρθωτοι μένειν: by Thl. and Œc. as pointing to a practice among the Hebrews of frequently repeating baptism ( ἴσως δὲ οὗτοι ὡς ἔτι τοῦ νόμου ἀντεχόμενοι πολλοὺς βαπτισμοὺς ἰουδαϊκῶς καὶ ἐν τῇ χάριτι ἐπρέσβευον, Thl.): by others, as referring to the threefold immersion in baptism: by Grot., al., “de duplice baptismo, interiore et exteriore:” by Thdrt. of the plurality of the recipients, ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ τῆς τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἀπολαύουσι χάριτος: so Primas., Beza, Erasm. Schmid. But none of these seem to reach the point so well as that given above, which includes in the idea those various washings which were under the law, the baptism of John and even Christian baptism also perhaps included, the nature of which, and their distinctions from one another, would naturally be one of the fundamental and primary objects of teaching to Hebrew converts. This meaning, which is that of Jac. Cappellus, Seb. Schmidt, Schöttg., Wolf, al., and Böhme, Kuinoel, Klee, Bleek, Tholuck, al., is strongly combated by Lünemann, and the insecurity of the consideration arising from the different form of βαπτισ μός and - μα is urged on the ground that the Writer never uses βάπτισμα: but against this we may fairly allege that he does use βαπτισμ ός again (ch. Hebrews 9:10), and in the ordinary sense of Jewish washings, not in that of Christian baptism. When it is objected to the view (as e. g. by Stuart) that the doctrine of Jewish washings would have had nothing to do with the elements of Christian teaching, we may fairly say that such objection is brought in mere thoughtlessness. The converts being Jews, their first and most obviously elementary instruction would be, the teaching them the typical significance of their own ceremonial law in its Christian fulfilment. It is obvious from what has been above said, that we must not, as Erasm., Calv., Beza, Schlichting, al., understand “the teaching given as introductory to baptism:” Calvin identifying it with the other genitive terms of the sentence: “Quæ enim baptismatis est doctrina, nisi quam hic recenset de fide in Deum, de pœnitentia et de judicio, ac similibus?”) and of laying on of hands (first, it is almost necessary, on account of the transposed place of βαπτισμῶν, and the coupling by τε, to understand ἐπιθέσεώς τε as gen. after διδαχῆς, and not after θεμέλιον (of the succeeding genitives, see below). And thus the doctrine of laying on of hands, like that of washings, not being confined to any one special rite, will mean, the reference and import of all that imposition of hands which was practised under the law, and found in some cases its continuance under the gospel. By laying on of hands, the sick were healed, Mark 16:18; Acts 9:12; Acts 9:17; Acts 28:8; cf. 2 Kings 5:11; Matthew 9:18 al.; officers and teachers of the Church were admitted to their calling, Acts 6:6; Acts 13:3, 1 Timothy 4:14; 1 Timothy 5:22; Numbers 8:10; Numbers 27:18; Numbers 27:23; Deuteronomy 34:9; converts were fully admitted into the Christian Church after baptism, Acts 8:17; Acts 19:6 :2 Timothy 1:6. And there can be little doubt that it is mainly to this last that the attention of the readers is here called, as the Writer is speaking of the beginning of Christian teaching: so Chrys., οὕτω γὰρ τὸ πνεῦμα ἐλάμβανον: and Thdrt., διὰ τῆς ἱερατικῆς χειρὸς ὑποδέχονται τὴν χάριν τοῦ πνεύματος. Some have thought that the principal reference is to the laying of hands on the scapegoat as a type of our Lord’s taking our sins upon Him: but this is unlikely) and of resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (these words, as well as the foregoing clause, depend on διδαχῆς. This would be evident, were it merely for the sense, seeing that it is not the facts themselves of the resurrection and the judgment which would be laid as the foundation of the τοῦ χριστοῦ λὁγος, but the doctrine of these, that apprehension and recognition of them consequent on their being taught, as διδαχή implies. And then notice, that these also were points of Jewish doctrine, confirmed and brought into clearer light by the Gospel. Some, as Est., Schlicht., Schöttg., Michaelis, Storr, al., have supposed ἀναστ. νεκρῶν to refer only to the righteous, as in John 6:39-40; John 6:44; John 6:54,— κρίματος αἰωνίου only to the wicked. But it is more probable, in a passage of such very general reference, that the Writer speaks generally, without any such distinction here in view, of the two doctrines: of the ἀνάστασις ζωῆς and the ἀνάστασις κρίσεως of John 5:29. And it is probable that he uses κρίματος in the same indefinite meaning. Cf. ref. Acts.