Ellicott's Commentaries, Critical and Grammatical, on the Epistles of Saint Paul, with Revised Translations

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 Excerpt: ...II. 1, p. 345. These arguments must be nearly set off against one another, as the positive would have liccn mo.t natural in the latter case, the superlative perhaps in the former. As, however, the supcrl. would have tended to fix the locality (comp. Xelicm. iv. 13) more definitely rrfi yrp; o Karapai, avro; t than was suitable to the present context, and as the use of the term tftris would have marred the antithesis (yrj opp. to ovpav6s), it does not seem improbable that the more vague comparative was expressly chosen, and that thus its use is more in favor of (a) than (li). When to this wc add the full antithesis that seems to lie in vrtpivta Twv obpavav, ver. 10 (' sublimioru rcclorum ' opp. to ' inferiora terrorum, ' Tcrtull.), surely more than a mere expansion of tit ifyos (Winer, Mey.), and also observe the sort of exegetical necessity which Iva irATjpwoTj T4 trdvra (ver. 10) seems to impose on us of giving the fullest amplitude to every expression, wc still more incline to (a), and with Ircmeus (Har. v. 31, comp. iv. 22), Tertullian (tie Animd, c. 55), and the principal ancient writers (see Pearson, Creed, Art. v. Vol. I. p. 209, and rcf. on Vol. II. p. 195, cd. Bur: ), recognize in these words an allusion, not to Christ's death and burial (Cbrys., Theod.), but definitely to His descent into hell; so also Olsh., Stier, Alf., Wordsw., and Baur (Pauhis, p. 431), but it is to lie feared that the judgment of the lat writer is not unbiassed, as he urges the ref. as a proof of the gnostic origin of the Epistle. On this clause and on ver. 10 sec a good sermon by South. Sei'in. (Posth.) I. Vol. in. p. lfi'J sq. (Lond. 184.')), and for a general investigation of the doctrine of Christ's descent into hell, and its connection with the last things, Gudcr, Lihrr. v...